I have two Adenium brown thumbs:(
Kara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years ago
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Peter Newcastle Aust spider mite breeder
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total brown thumb or what?
Comments (15)Try adding soil amendments with organic manures such as chicken/cow/horse manure and digging it into the soil before you plant and then mulching the bare soil. Adding organic amendments will help greatly with regulating soil moisture, which is the greatest problem with starting new plants from seed. A simple trap for earwigs is to leave rolled up newspaper in the garden, and the earwigs will gravitate to hide in them, you can then toss into the trash or shake them out and stomp them. The Bananas, Brugmansia and Calla Lilies are all likely to do better in a sheltered spot with mostly shade, unless you are in an area with direct coastal fog influence, and all will want to stay moist in the warmer/drier months. Brugmansia in particular will look better if you give it some time release fertilizer such as Osmocote or feed with fish emulsion regularly. The Zantedeschia aethiopica is more of a winter grower in southern California/northern Baja California, and is inclined to go dormant once the temperatures get warmer. If it gets winter rains and is planted in a spot with shade or only morning sun, it will likely burst into full growth again next rainy season. If you want Calla Lilies, the summer blooming hybrids with yellow/orange or pink flowers are probably better for Tijuana conditions, just keep them well watered and fed. Nasturtiums are probably also going to do better for you as a fall planted seedling growing through the winter, and declining as it gets warm, unless grown with sufficient shade and water. I'd suggest sticking with flowers that really prefer heat and can take a bit of drought, and African and French Marigolds should thrive for you, as should most Verbena species and hybrids such as V. rigida, V. bonariensis, and V. hybrida. If you have room for some rampant vines, I'd bet that common Morning Glory would do well, as would Bougainvillea, Thunbergia alata or T. gregorii. Succulents such as Cotyledon orbiculata, Sedum dendroideum, Euphorbia xantii and E. tirucallii 'Sticks on Fire', Echeveria agavoides and E. imbricata, Agaves such as A. parryi, A. bracteosa, A. attenuata, Aloes, etc. Now that it has finally warmed up, it is safer to be overwatering new plants, and they won't rot/drown from too cold/wet soil conditions. It may have been mostly a problem of too cool conditions for new warm season seedlings, in combination with soil with insufficient organic content to hold onto to soil nutrients and water. Aged chicken manure or rabbit manure and/or liquid fertilizers such as fish emulsion on a periodic basis should turn your luck around immensely. Don't give up, enjoy your garden, and good luck on the employment aspect!...See Moretwo_brown_thumbs
Comments (0)I would happily trade with two_brown_thumbs again anytime! Our trade went very smoothly and quickly and my package arrived in perfect shape. Thanks so much!...See Morebrown thumb confirmed! Jiffy Pot failure
Comments (19)It's either too wet, too humid, not enough sun, or some combination of the three. If you had the plastic dome on, try without it - if not, try less watering. I usually use peat pots (never tried jiffy pots) for seedlings, and have had decent luck this year (though I rarely get fungus - I usually forget to water and kill everything later on though). The plastic dome shouldn't be neccesary for most seedlings (unless it's plants that like wet conditions all the time)....See MoreHelp - I have a brown thumb
Comments (6)Pictures, yes. The best pictures of gardens are taken on cloudy days or in the shade. Videos of grass growing, not so much. Your grass is a relatively primitive form of fescue turf. Back before fescues were hybridized in the mid 20th century, Kentucky 31 (your grass) was the lawn to have. But since then it has been improved to be more manageable with nicer blades and color. You are about 45 days early for spring fertilizer. I realize they have been advertising for weeks now, but waiting has benefits. You might see the color go a little more yellow in late May. If you see that, then fertilize again with just a fertilizer - no weed control. Generally weed n feed products are not what all they're cracked up to be. If the fertilizer you applied was a weed n feed and you applied on a dry day without watering FIRST, then you wasted the herbicide. From what you said I'm not sure whether the grass was still wet or not when the product went down. Weed n feed products are different in that they go down onto wet grass. Regular fertilizer goes down on dry grass and gets watered in BEFORE the next day. Dew on dry fertilizer is the problem if you don't water it in the night before. There might be a slightly different Turf Builder that has a crabgrass preemergent in it. If that is the case, then putting it down on dry grass is correct. And yes if you used this one then you should delay seeding. In fact, if you can stand it try to delay until September. Seeding now or in a few weeks will result in a crabgrass lawn by July. Why? Because crabgrass seed is sitting there waiting for water to sprout. It sprouts faster than other grasses and grows more aggressively. Lawn maintenance comes down to three main elements. Those are, in order of importance, watering, mowing, and fertilizing. If you don't get the watering right then you will make mistakes on the other two. Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall. Mowing: Mulch mow your lawn at the mower's highest setting every week during the growing season. Fertilizer: Fertilize first on Memorial Day. Next on Labor Day. And last around Thanksgiving after the grass has stopped growing but before it goes completely dormant....See MoreKara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years agoKara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoKara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years agoPeter Newcastle Aust spider mite breeder
6 years agoKara 9b SF Bay Area CA thanked Peter Newcastle Aust spider mite breederKara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years agoKara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years agoKara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoMaria Elena (Caribbean - USDA Zone 13a)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoKara 9b SF Bay Area CA thanked Maria Elena (Caribbean - USDA Zone 13a)Kara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years agoMaria Elena (Caribbean - USDA Zone 13a)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoKara 9b SF Bay Area CA thanked Maria Elena (Caribbean - USDA Zone 13a)Kara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years agoMaria Elena (Caribbean - USDA Zone 13a)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoKara 9b SF Bay Area CA thanked Maria Elena (Caribbean - USDA Zone 13a)Kara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years agoMaria Elena (Caribbean - USDA Zone 13a)
6 years agoKara 9b SF Bay Area CA thanked Maria Elena (Caribbean - USDA Zone 13a)Kara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years agoMaria Elena (Caribbean - USDA Zone 13a)
6 years agoKara 9b SF Bay Area CA thanked Maria Elena (Caribbean - USDA Zone 13a)Kara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years agoMaria Elena (Caribbean - USDA Zone 13a)
6 years agoKara 9b SF Bay Area CA thanked Maria Elena (Caribbean - USDA Zone 13a)Kara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years ago
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Maria Elena (Caribbean - USDA Zone 13a)