A beginners 1 year old shade garden ...
Claudia _michigan
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
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steve duggins(Z6a) - Central Ohio
5 years agoClaudia _michigan thanked steve duggins(Z6a) - Central OhioRelated Discussions
1 year old Lawn in Full Sun; Massachusetts
Comments (12)Good so you have a good root system. Now all you need to do is stretch out the watering. Start by skipping one water cycle and see how the grass goes. If you already know it can't make it, then double your watering time and try it. Are you interested in taking over and letting your lawn service go? If you are in reasonable physical condition, it is not that hard to apply fertilizer. Most people simply don't know when to apply or how to diagnose issues. We can help you learn that. Here are the very basics of lawn care - I call it Lawn Care 101. You can get a lot more into it but if all you do is this, you won't have many issues to deal with. Basics of Lawn Care After reading numerous books and magazines on lawn care, caring for lawns at seven houses in my life, and reading numerous forums where real people write in to discuss their successes and failures, I have decided to side with the real people and dispense with the book and magazine authors. I don't know what star their planet rotates around but it's not mine. With that in mind, here is the collected wisdom of the Internet savvy homeowners and lawn care professionals summarized in a few words. If you follow the advice here you will have conquered at least 50% of all lawn problems. Once you have these three elements mastered, then you can worry about weeds (if you have any), dog spots, and striping your lawn. But if you are not doing these three things, they will be the first three things suggested for you to correct. Watering Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an hour in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. Do not spread this out and water for 10 minutes every day. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. If that does not work, then you might have to water more than once per week during the summer's hottest period. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. You will have to learn to judge when to water your own lawn. If you live in Las Vegas your watering will be different than if you live in Vermont. Adjust your watering to your type of grass, humidity, wind, and soil type. It is worth noting that this technique is used successfully by professionals in Phoenix, so...just sayin.' The other factors make a difference. If you normally water 1 inch per week and you get 1/2 inch of rain, then adjust and water only 1/2 inch that week. Mowing Every week mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. However, bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses will become the most dense when they are mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. In fact there are special mowers that can mow these grasses down to 1/16 inch. Dense grass shades out weeds, keeps the soil cooler, and uses less water than thin grass. Tall grass can feed the deep roots you developed in #1 above. Tall grass does not grow faster than short grass nor does it look shaggy sooner. Once all your grass is at the same height, tall grass just looks plush. One last exception is Kentucky bluegrass. The experts mow it at 3.5 inches (one notch below the highest setting). Fertilizing Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 5 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above. Follow the directions on the bag and do not overdo it. If you are using chemical fertilizers, too little is better than too much. If you are using organic fertilizers, it is the other way around. At this point you do not have to worry about weed and feed products - remember at this point you are just trying to grow grass, not perfect it. Besides once you are doing these three things correctly, your weed problems should go away without herbicide....See More1 year olds-- need repotting advice
Comments (1)Please post some photos of these sedlings. To make things practicable and comparable I would plant them all into 50cm balkony boxes, 10 per box in 2 lines x 5 bulbs. (You can place these boxes everywhere and accomplish your comparative environmental observations very well) Plant them that the noses of the bulbs are poking out of the substrate, and plant very carefully to minimize root trauma and to give them a good start. I always put a layer (I recommendc coco fiber substrate) but of a few cm in height, then I place all the plants very carefully in order not to break any roots nor to bend them to strongly. Then I fill up with substrate. Now I carefully PULL each plant upwards so that the bulb reaches its finally intended height and the roots are somewhat stretched and the previous "bulk" of roots will become "dissolved" now (sorry for possibly inadequate terminology) During this repositioning of the individual plants I knock with both hands (as far as possible) on the container walls to distribute the substrate more uniformly between the roots. I use not-too-moist substrate for replanting, but now - and this is certainly an alternative practice - I do not water "in" when I have planted. Definitely not. I wait some days until the substrate surface becomes dried up to a depth of few cm's and the box has become obviously lighter. THEN I apply water for the first time, and I water exclusively from the bottom; such a lot of water that the box becomes heavier now - heavier than it has been at the moment of replantation accomplished but at that point that the upper cm of the substrate surface remain DRY. Repeat this cycling between dry and wet, and use lukewrm water with fertilizer every time, as I described elsewhere. Hans-Werner...See MoreMy 1,5 year old citrus tree
Comments (2)Sjoerd, it is very likely you have whatever lemon cultivar you bought from the store (which is probably Eureka or one of the Italian lemons). Lemons tend to be highly polyembryonic, which means they send up more than one seedling per seed, and those seedlings can be either a clone seedling (clone of the mother plant) or a hybrid seedling. Clone seedlings will pop up first, and are the strongest seedling. So, most likely you've got a clone seedling growing, which means it will produce the identical fruit you purchased ft can take anywhere from 3 years (limes) to 12-20 years (grapefruits.) The only real way to know is to see what ort of fruit it produces - then you'll know if you've got a clone of the mother plant, or some sort of hybrid citrus. Very pretty little tree, btw. It should be outside as much as possible, gradually acclimating to full sun. Be sure you fertilize it regularly, and watch for pests when you bring it in for the winter (usually spider mites or scale as the two most common citrus pests), and treat right away, repeatedly, and accordingly. Patty S....See MorePlease Help! 1 year old Meyer lemon in FL possible HLB
Comments (2)Did you ever figure anything out with this? I'd like to know!...See MoreClaudia _michigan
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agopopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoClaudia _michigan thanked popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)Claudia _michigan
5 years agoKaillean (zone 8, Vancouver)
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoClaudia _michigan thanked Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver)Claudia _michigan
5 years agowhitewatervol (Z 8a/7b Upstate SC)
5 years agoClaudia _michigan thanked whitewatervol (Z 8a/7b Upstate SC)Claudia _michigan
5 years agoClaudia _michigan
5 years agoUser
5 years agoClaudia _michigan
5 years ago
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