Success With Houseplants book vs binders
Mentha (East TN, Zone 6B-7A)
8 years ago
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jentsu926
8 years agodellis326 (Danny)
8 years agoRelated Discussions
gritty mix vs semi-hydro comparison?
Comments (16)if you are making your own nutes using individual chemicals, then yes you will want to test the pH initially. However once you have a recipe, you don't have to test. If you want to reuse nutrient solution in a to waste system, then yes you would have to test the pH. If you just drain the waste to say landscape plantings then no you would not test that. Hydro is usually done in an inert medium. However, as the u. of arizona quote above shows, non-inert media like sawdust can be used. I will agree that the line between hydro and conventional starts to be blurred by using non-inert ingredients. But I think that the intent of the nutes being used helps clarify that. If you are using nutes that don't require biological breakdown like nitrates it's closer to the hydro bright line. If you are using nutes like urea that do require breakdown and will work on the medium it's closer to the conventional bright line. there is definitely a continuum. Not every synthetic would be hydro. Urea and ammonium are going to require biological activity (yes you can use those in a recirculating hydro setup but the results are generally not great). Those are the most common synthetics used by commercial growers. Nitrate based hydro nutes are much more expensive. A lot of commercial growrrs also use composted bark for moisture retention. That combo is much more conventional than hydro. Those media breakdown quickly and they have to repot evey season. that last bit about organc and synthetic is just confused because of the erroneous vernacular use of 'organic'. Organic hydroponics are just nutrient solutions of immediately available nitrates from 'organic' sources. The whole semi thing cracks me up a bit. 20 years ago if you walked intoa hydro store you would find decorative cotainers for houseplants that were passive systems that look exactly like the semi containers. They were rightly called hydroponics. They were usually from Europe and they would be filled with hydroton or leca. Then along comes one orchid grower in the US that felt that people were afraid of the word hydroponic does the same thing and brands it semi-hydroponics and puts it on the web and poof, people start calling passive hydroponics, semi-hydroponics. Of course, all the people in Europe that are still doing the same thing are doing passive hydroponics. Books on hydroponic houseplants still refer to that system as hydroponcs. But that guy sure gets a lot of hits because he convinced people that semi-hydroponics is something different than what people have been doing for decades....See MoreKeeping books
Comments (15)Do you ever get the comment from repairmen, "You must be a teacher", or "Do you read all those?". LOL Even after heavy culling a few years ago we still moved hundreds of books. But they are my travel, my continuing education, solace and amusement. I've learned to garden from books, cook, do crewel embroidery and crochet (still amazed at what I can do with a curved stick and ball of yarn!), and so much more. I've a shelf of art books, diaries/memoirs, novels, history plus illustrated books on India. I''ll fix curry and hot tea and wallow in the Raj period for a few days every year or so. My fascination with India grew out of my interest in English political and social history .A few books on gardens and the early botanists and their travels led to still other books on sailing ships 'round all the continents and coaling stations on tiny ocean isles. Then to wonder how all those colonies fared...on and on. I don't want just a broad from the top historical overview, I like to read the novels or travel books written at the time. Strange to say, these type books aren't always available at my library...LOL And I'm hanging on to most I've collected. Other keepers are like E.F.Benson's Lucia stories or Trollope's many novels, John Galsworthy's work. The library may have a few but not all, and I want to read all by a favorite author. I do read some current fiction but rarely hold on to those books, (and even more rarely do I remember the characters or plot). My gardening books are probably less than300 but I still use them often. Taylor's Encyclopedia of Gardening in the mid 1960's was my first purchase after exhausting the library's shelves. I made notations on almost every page ...it's a 35 year record of my old garden...successes and failures. The others like Henry Mitchell and Margery Fish are like old friends Still make out wishlists from A.B.Graf's marvelous books on Tropicals...if I just had more windows!. I culled most cookbooks, kept Joy of Cookng, James Beard, Rene Verdon on techniques, Tassajara on Veggies and Bread, Julia Child, a few community cookbooks. A few interesting like the Alice B. Toklas Cookbook which has good recipes and gossip about the many authors and artists that hung out in the Gertrude Stein salon. And LaRousse Gastronomique which my Mom bought for me when I finally started cooking in my forties...LOL Actually, it's an interesting read, but I don't use it for recipes. Whew! But I do love books! josh...See MoreWANTED: Success With House Plants
Comments (69)For MCMXXXIX 1989 ; Category 1 - Flowering Plants: 1-77; Category 2 - Elegant Palms, cards 78-98; category 3 cards 99-122; category 4 Interesting & Colourful Cacti-cards 123-224; Category 5 - Herbs For Your Kitchen - cards 225-259; Category 6 - Beautiful Plants From Bulbs - cards 260-297; Category 7 Climbing & Hanging Planting - cards 298 - 355; Category 8 Easy-Care Green Plants 356 -462; Category 9 Imaginative Miniature Gardens cards 463-480; Category 10 - Plants For Window Boxes & Tubs; cards 481-627; Category 11 Orchids For Beginners - cards 628 - 684, Category 13 Exotic Plants For Your Home - cards 685-707; Category 14 Plants For Special Places cards 708-784; Category 15 - Display Ideas For Your Plants - cards 785-857; Category 16 - Understanding Your Plants 857-874; Category 17 Diseases & Pests cards 875-894; Category 19 - Practical Tips & Hints cards 895-949; Category 19 Helpful House Plant Accessories - cards 950-972....See MoreBooks on Foliage Plants?
Comments (1)Mk, I was searching for a book like you're describing for years. The closest I've come are a 5 binder set, filled w/ plant cards I bought via a club. The binders are called, Success with Houseplants. You can sometimes buy these cards on Ebay..believe me, I've got quite a few plant books, and none compare to the binders. Toni...See MoreMentha (East TN, Zone 6B-7A)
8 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
8 years agoPaul MI
8 years agoMentha (East TN, Zone 6B-7A)
8 years agoMentha (East TN, Zone 6B-7A)
8 years agoSans2014
8 years agoMentha (East TN, Zone 6B-7A)
8 years agoSherry8aNorthAL
7 years ago
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