general list of plant culture variables
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
5 years ago
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Embothrium
5 years agoperen.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoRelated Discussions
Selling plant divisions on Craig's List - worth it?
Comments (14)Karin - I don't pot anything. Before I place my ad, I divide everything I want to sell, replant the divisions somewhere in the garden and then when people come over simply pop the plants out of the ground and bag them. I save plastic bags for months before and even have friends and neighbors save them for me. After bagging, I slap a label on the bag so people know what they have when they get home. By doing it this way, if something doesn't sell, you don't have to replant all those pots of plants. Plants in the ground also don't dry out as fast as potted plants, so they're easier to keep watered. Whatever you do, don't make the mistake of thinking you'll divide the plant on the spot. I tried that once and it was a nightmare. It just takes too long to do while someone is standing there looking over your shoulder. Pricing can be tricky, but you have to make it worth your effort. I rarely sold anything for less than $4 - usually in the $5-6 range and for something like a nice sized division of a Cimicifuga - $8. In the fall when I sold Peony divisions, I charged $12 for an 8 eye division. I had no problems getting $25 for a division of one of my fern leafed peonies. I also propagate various Colocasia and sold those for something like $7-8 for a 3-4 inch pot. Customers constantly told me, they would much rather buy from someone like me rather than one of the garden centers because the plants were healthier, well cared for and locally grown. They also liked to see what the plant looked like growing in the garden. Kevin...See Moretomato deep water culture grow (few questions)
Comments (10)I grew hydroponic tomatoes last year in DW and had very good success. To be honest with you tomatoes are easy to grow in DW, but there are some things that are extremely important to success. Space: Tomato plants use tons of space. I grew the Money Maker (4" red globe), Heirloom Organic Beefsteak, and Cherry Tomatoes. Each plant took up a 3 x 3 foot square on the floor and grew all the way to my 8' ceilings. Light: I found using both MH and HPS lights at the same time work well with tomatoes. The HPS light seems to spread, and penetrate the plants better, while the MH light keeps things nice a green. I had two 1KW lights going on at the same time. Ventilation: One of the keys is good air flow. If you see the plants leaves and flowers moving then you have enough air. The temp got up to 85 deg F every day in my grow room, and sometimes in the summer, I had to open up the windows. Bugs: Opening up a window, or bringing in plants from other gardens opens up your grow room to bugs, which can be very difficult to get rid of. Nutrients: I used the General Hydro Flora Nova Grow and Bloom nutrients with no Micro Nutrients except for a Calcium and Magnesium supplement. I started them out at 1.0 EC (by starting I mean they were 6" tall second set of leaves were out), and finished up with a strong 3.5 EC. I started with Grow until the plant was about 3' tall and started to bloom, then after blooming set in full I switched to the Bloom nutrients. DW: The most critical thing about tomatoes in DW is aeration of the water. I would strongly suggest you start your plants out in 2 gallon buckets, and then move them to 5 gallon buckets once they get about 3' tall. It is much harder to aerate the 5 gallons then the 2 gallons. You can tell when the plants roots are not getting enough air by the roots being brown, they should be white. I would also strongly recommend getting the General Hydro dual diaphragm 4-valve air pump, and using one 4" air stone to each pump when in the 5 gallon buckets, and two 4" air stones in 2 - 2 gallon buckets. You cannot give the plants too much air around the roots! Media: I started my plants out in rock wool, and finished them in rock wool. The secret to tomatoes is getting air to the roots during the entire growing stage. If you do not get enough air to the roots when they are young, they will never make it to adult plants. The problem with rock wool blocks and DW is that the air just goes around the block while it sits in the solution. You need to get air directly to the roots. To do this, I drill a hole through the center of the block, then use a plug (half the depth of the hole to hold the plant, while the roots hang below directly in the solution). Make sure your air stone is directly below the center of your basket and that your net pot or basket does not prevent air from entering the hole you drilled in the center of the rock wool block. In case the link part does not work: http://picasaweb.google.com/MEHargraves/Hydroponics# I hope this helps! Here is a link that might be useful: My home garden last year....See Moretomato culture in the Puget Sound area
Comments (27)This is a reworked note (changes/adds)working off of an earlier 'incomplete' note based on Mary PNW and Jim's comments this afternoon--thanks to both of you, really! Question: I up a tree when it comes to tomatoes (sweet peppers as well, but lets leave that for another time.) Ie, I don't have another 30 years of calender pages left to sort through varieties that have: 1) "reasonable" taste ..Brandywine is the taste marker for me), 2) are "determinatish" (however both houses I grow in have a line of vertically trained varieties), and 3) medium to short day (55-75.) At the end of this note I've listed the varieties I trialed in 2005. The cherry varieties do swell (I continue to prefer Sweet Chelsea/Sweet Million.) Boa (I), Classica (D), and Peto/Italian Gold (D) have done the best for me to this point inside - all three look great but taste on the insipid side (for me.) The blacks (my first year with them), on the whole, seem to have had more acid/texture=better taste. Let's see how hey perform in 2006. I trialed 30 or so varieties (see the list.) Most, not all, were quite forgettable when it came to taste. I'll probably repeat on no more than 15 or so. I grow in two small green houses(8x20 poly covered/cool)and 10x16 glass/heated); and in an outdoors raised bed fenced garden. Outside I used base (24") covered cages and a boxed canopy 2x6x12 open at the bottom-sides for air circulation. In the glass house I've used shade cloth mid-June to late August mainly because the container cuks wilt down way too much. Outside my 3 yrs experience has been that the fruit doesn't color up until mid-to-late August, although the box canopy seems to have hastened coloring by 10-14. In the greenhouses the earliest varieties started to color in early July. I grow all my seedlings/start in February..repot several times ending with gallon containers. I plant the tallish seedlings (20-24") by laying them down so that the first truss pokes/is 10-12 above ground level. Water, early on with warm water. I hope this makes sense..and thinking/help/ideas will be much appreciated re varieties..culture. P.S. At this point reality seems to be telling me that unless I can do a better job of capturing sun heat (air and soil temps) I'll just have to settle for a trip back to the farm in southern Illinois/bring back tomatoes (+sweet/hot peppers) that taste...now, as for garlic our Hood Canal location does fine! Ted Buila ..on the Hood Canal near Seabeck/Silverdale Wa 2005 Tomato Variety Trials 8850 Anderson Hill Rd Silverdale, Wa Variety Type Color Source Extreme Bush-50d det r Victory Seeds Orange Pixi-52d det o Container Seeds Sophie’s Choice-55d det r Southern Exposure Glacier-56d det r Fedco Red Robin-55d det r Container Seeds Matina-58d ind r-p Tomato Growers Zarnitsa-60d det r Southern Exposure Viktorina-60d det r Southern Exposure Grushovka-65d/roma? det p Tomato Growers Dr.Carolyn-65d/cherry ind y-o Southern Exposure Cosmonaut Volkov-65d det r Fedco Black Cherry-64d/cherry ind dkr Tomatofest Gregori's Alti-67d ind p-r Tomato Growers G-ma Mary's Paste-68d det r Fedco Cobra-70d/g-house var ind r Tomato Growers ) Bush Champion-70d det r Tomato Growers Azoychka-70d ind y-o Tomato Growers Elim-75d det r Tanager Paul Robeson-75d ind dkr Tomatofest Classica-76d/roma det r Tomato Growers San Marzano Redorta-78d ind r Tomato Growers Debaro Black-78d ind r Tanager Kellogg's Breakfast-78d ind y-o Pinetree Mountain Gold-80d det o-y Victory Seeds Amish Gold-80d ind o-y Tomatofest Farbio Goldheart-81d ind o Tomatofest Black Plum-82d/cherry ind dkr Tanger Moonglow-85d ind o-y Tomatofest Orange King-85d det o Victory Seeds Mariana's Peace-85d ind r Victory Seeds 1884 Pink Beefsteak-85d ind p Tanager New Big Dwarf-90d det r Victory Seeds...See More8 Must have plants of 2019. Which of your plants made it in the list
Comments (47)I can see trends relevant to growers and sellers, and maybe a few buyers too, but the rest of us are just growing what we like. I notice that garden centres get new perennials in that are expensive when they are 1st introduced, and they either prove their worth or fade away again, like so many “black” tulip varieties. For me, some plant types click and others don’t work, like english ivy?, boston ferns, most palms, ficus trees and african violets. I’ve got some stalwarts I’ve had for years and years, and some came from cuttings from people I’ve known, so they are like living history. I really love my plants and they would have to die or really p— me off for me to get rid of them....See MoreJay 6a Chicago
5 years agotsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
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5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
5 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
5 years agorob333 (zone 7b)
5 years agogardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
5 years agoSara Malone Zone 9b
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5Original Author