Al's (Tapla) Greatest Hits
Treegeek Z6a (Boston)
5 years ago
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Treegeek Z6a (Boston)
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Question for Al Tapla
Comments (10)The plants will wake up fine on their own. If you have a problem, it may be in that the cold storage area is too warm and the plants will be pushing etiolated growth that saps energy. Stick a thermometer in the soil with the plants on the floor, and then again with them on a wire rack. Keep them in whichever place is colder. The drawback in an early start, from an energy management perspective is that the plants will likely be using energy and producing none. Foliage doesn't give a net return on the energy outlay it takes to push it until the leaves are about 75% mature, and in good light. That just isn't going to happen indoors w/o a very good light set-up. Years ago, used to try to bring various deciduous trees indoors and force them, partly because I was just excited to see them spring back to life, practically in front of my eyes (very gratifying), and partly because I thought I would be doing them a favor by extending the growth period. Those trees never did as well as those I just left in the cold garage. Even those trees leafed out several weeks before I would have preferred, so in order to ensure they weren't starved for light, I shuttled them in and out from under cover as temperatures allowed. Let us know about the temperature difference between floor & the rack, and try to keep some sort of record on how the temperatures range in your storage room, and of course whether or not your trees are stimulated to growth. Al...See Morelink for sieves used by Al Tapla for mixes?
Comments (5)Hello Andy and Rina. Thank you both for your help. Rina - these are exactly the ones I was looking for. Andy - are the screens inserted into the frames for the ones that you show or are the screens made so that they are a permanent part of the sieve? Also, approximately how long would it take you to screen a 50 lb bag of turface using the sieves? The descriptions list the outer diameter at the top of the screens as ~ 13 inches - what is the diameter at the bottom? I understand from the descriptions the bottom diameter is made such that the sieve perfectly fits over a 5 gallon bucket to catch the material that falls through, Thanks, Brian...See Morepruning Benji ficus
Comments (9)Just noticed your PM. My suggestion would be to avoid rushing things. It's not a good time to do heavy pruning because A) the plant needs it's foliage to produce enough food to avoid the need for the plant to rely on stored energy reserves. Reducing the foliage mass can limit the plants ability to make food/energy to the degree it's using more than it's making. Obviously, this is an unsustainable condition for the long term, and pretty much ensures the plant exits the winter at very low level of vitality (health). B) There is also the consideration that pruning out of sync with the plant's natural rhythms can find you removing the desirable compact growth which occurs during the summer months, and keeping the long/ lanky growth you don't want - the stuff that occurs between now and May. The ideal pruning strategy allows the plant to grow freely during the dark months. Asa the summer solstice draws near, all the long growth is removed. This even makes a difference in any future back-budding you can force by hard pruning. Judicious pinching during the summer months forces the back-budding that keeps your tree full. If it was my tree, I'd maybe do some light pruning now to keep the tree in-bounds; or, if you consider it to still be in-bounds, do nothing insofar as pruning is concerned. Next late spring, prune it hard, followed by a full repot when it starts back-budding (about 2 weeks). If you live in Alaska and because of the radical shift in day length, the timing I mentioned would need to be adjusted so you can plan the work when the plant's ability to produce food/energy is about to peak. Consider this reply to be a broad overview of my thoughts. If you want to delve deeper into anything I said, or have questions about factors I didn't cover - feel free to ask. I can also put you onto other threads that provide an overview of good growing habits, specific advice about tending Ficus trees in pots over the long term, or more general advice about long term care of woody plants in general for the long term. The later goes into more detail about repotting, and I can also post a pictorial tutorial (I know that would make a good starting point for a limerick) about repotting. What say you? Al...See MorePonytail palm dying - Help
Comments (8)I noticed that the trunk is also soft when I press it. Same for the round part in the planter. Sounds like another case of root rot gone systemic. Not much to be done other than allowing the plant to go completely dry before you water it again. I suggest using a "tell" to "tell" you when it's time to water (see below). If you're the proactive type, you could lift the plant from the pot, remove all soil from the roots, inspect roots and caudex carefully for symptoms of rot, and, if appropriate (you think the plant is still viable), repot into an appropriate medium (one that is very well-aerated and drains exceptionally well. What I use: Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al...See Moretapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
5 years agotropicofcancer (6b SW-PA)
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5 years agoPaul MI
5 years agoTreegeek Z6a (Boston)
5 years agoTreegeek Z6a (Boston)
5 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
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4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoNeed2SeeGreen 10 (SoCal)
4 years agotropicofcancer (6b SW-PA)
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoNeed2SeeGreen 10 (SoCal)
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2 months agoMichele Rossi
2 months agotropicofcancer (6b SW-PA)
2 months agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
2 months agoMichele Rossi
2 months agolast modified: 2 months agotropicofcancer (6b SW-PA)
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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)