Brandon our posts must have been at around the same time, I just read your question of me sorta confusing the issues. The point of bringing the glacier trees was just me wondering that if nobody was polluting the air causing the warming effect all those years ago, that the warming could possibly be something that has nothing to do with human related climate change.Because this has happened before when people weren't enhabiting earth. It was not my original question because you did answer that. I got caught up in all the debating and went from my original question to thinking about the warming being our fault or gonna happen anyway.Toronado brought up that it's possibly human related and that's where my topic switched. Not anything against Toronado, but him stating that got me wondering if we're the cause why has this mummy tree thing happened before we were on earth? There is alot of science put into the human pollution, man caused, warming theory, and I even sorta think it's true but if that's true, why was there climate change before humans?I got fossil and mummyfied mixed up. I hope I've explained my leading off in another direction good enough.And the zone maps (as far as I thought) were very rigidly based on a zones lowest temp being the coldest each plant will survive.In other words I buy a Bur oak which is (guessing) zone 3 -8. I based on that map can be sure that tree is hardy to what zone 3 is on the chart, being -30 or whatever zone 3 is. That is what I,ve always thought. Well, according to that map the Live oak Q.Virginiana should not have died because last year our lowest temp was 12F and if the tree was labeled zone 7 that is 10 - 0 F if I'm not misstaken. (Even though My tree was labeled zone 6, but was from a Florida store).By the way that's something else about the hybrid tree thing.They must have been an extremist.It would be like saying that a mutt is a satanists dog.Sorry this is so long.

juju, it's best not to use manure in pots, even composted one. and certainly not raw! begonias are very prone to all kinds of fungal issues and you are taking a big chance. use seaweed/fish emulsion instaed, if you want organic fertilizer. and it is best to start them in small pots and then uppot a couple of times until you reach a 12" pot. you started yours outdoors way too early. when tubers do not have enough roots they rot easily when temps are below 55f. temperatures ARE of issue. both low and high. they hold foliage well and even bloom in the 50s, but they need a well developed root system to do that. and also need to be kept on the dry side. but... when plants are young and tender, roots need higher temps to grow faster - 60s at least. your plastic covers are a good idea! the big one looks good - but you need to stake it, or it can break off very easily at the base. the link below is the most detailed guide to cultivation i've ever found. they are grown for cut-flower competition, so you won't necessarily do the same, but there is a lot of detail that is very useful. Here is a link that might be useful: british grower diary

I've come late to the party, but thought I'd post anyway... I bought a jicama from the store which sprouted two vines off the top when I left it too long. I decided to try to plant it just to see what would happen. Although I cannot yet report back on any progress because it's only just happened, I thought I would pass along some information I got from a very nice man who grew up in the countryside in Mexico where people commonly grow jicama plants. My largely forgotten high school Spanish didn't permit me to understand everything he said, but here's the gist of it: He said I should cut the jicama in half and only plant the top of the tuber with the vines coming off of it - in other words use only the tuber's "northern hemisphere". You want loose soil that will allow the tubers to form easily. The vines should not be trellised unless you want an ornamental vine and no jicamas. If you actually want to harvest some tubers you need to bury the vine in the ground. Examine the vines and you'll see that every so often there are buds which you should leave uncovered. The plain stems between those buds should be covered with earth and they will sprout roots and tubers. Note: these should not be regarded as separate plants. Everything should be left connected together. Those buds will sprout leaves to feed the plant, and you just keep burying the new vining parts as they appear. It sounded like this would take up a fair amount of ground space. He was also saying something about circles and digging trenches to water the plants, but try as I might I couldn't quite make sense of it. He might have meant planting the jicama in a mound of earth and training the vines out from the center in circles... or something. Best of luck to all of us in our jicama endeavors!

Storage can be tricky with dahlias, and the work involved in digging/storing is cited as the main reason why folks don't bother grow them. As is anything, it is important to find a way that is within your tolerance level of work-to-enjoyment ratio. One casual gardener I know had kept her washed dahlia clumps in paper grocery bags, tops folded, placed in a single row within a cardboard box. She misted the outside of the bags with water once a week during winter. Result? A bit wrinkled with dehydration, but tons of sprouts from each clump. Tough to divide clumps in the spring, so her husband chopped off sprouts with as much tuber as he could, which wasn't much. Not ideal results, but they were happy with the survival rate, and felt that multiple sprouts per clump going into the ground was good. One oldtimer casual gardener had always wrapped each unwashed clump in a single newspaper sheet, and popped it into an open plastic grocery bag. Stored them in his root cellar, and chopped them in half the following spring. He swore by it... I know a couple casual gardeners that covers their unwashed clumps in dirt-floor cellars/greenhouse with potting mix. The clumps don't really go dormant, but growth slows down substantially. The added protection keeps them from freezing or drowning with too much rain/snow water. Notice how many times I refer to the 'casual gardener.' This is someone that often doesn't care as much about variety name, or about getting as many tubers off each clump as possible, and is often thrilled to just have as many plants the following year with minimal work and money. Keeping the clumps intact and not getting as many new plants in the spring tends to work best for these folks. Or... not worrying about digging/storing at all is a possible solution, and simply purchasing new ones each year as one does annual flowers is a major de-stressor. Any plants that come up on their own is a bonus. The serious dahlia grower is typically obsessed with correctly labeling each variety, and tries to maximize the amount of viable tubers off each clump. The extras are planted for profit, sold or donated/gifted. These growers normally divide the clumps in the fall when the eyes are the most visible on the tubers, and takes great care in packing the tubers into some material (peat, vermiculite, perlite, wood chips, etc) or wrapping each individual tuber in saran wrap. Serious growers often derive almost as much enjoyment in the storage/prestarting process as in the blooms themselves, making dahlias a year-round hobby with skills learned through trial & error. In reality, there are folks that can identify with both casual and serious growers, and are somewhere in-between. But understanding the basic differences may help you choose some methods to start with, instead of feeling vaguely guilty for not doing dahlias 'right.' The only 'wrong' way to do dahlias is to stop trying because it all seems too hard. What's the fun in that?