Too soon, too soon
5 years ago
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How soon is too soon to prun my seedling?
Comments (3)This is a picky matter of semantics, but one would more properly refer to "pinching" seedlings as opposed to "pruning" them. I have a vision of you approaching a flat of little seedlings, lopper and pruning saw in hand... LOL Lillies4supper, we could help you better if you would tell us what seedling plants you are growing. There are a number of plants that benefit from pinching back to a set of leaf nodes. The purpose of pinching is to encourage additional side shoots to grow; for annual flowers, this will produce a more floriferous plant, a definite plus! I also regularly pinch back my seedling herbs since I want lots of foliage. If your seedlings are leggy due to too little light (as gcreek suggests may be the case), depending on the plant, a bit of pinching may be in order, too. Some plants may be pinched earlier than others; some need to grow more. A plant with but 5 leaves may or may not do well; again, if you tell us what the plants are, we may be able to guide you better. CK P.S.(have you really eaten lillies4supper?--I have: day lilies--but of course onions are also members of the lily family and I am sure you have eaten those!)...See MoreHow soon is too soon?
Comments (13)I have never left the seedlings in water long enough to develop a leaf, probably because I never understand the benefits of waiting for a leaf. An important point about seedlings is that they seem to be extremely forgiving, so it probably does not matter what you do. Despite what is true about larger bulbs, seedlings seem very tolerant of flooded conditions, so they appear content to sit in water for a while. In fact before I knew anything about Hippies, I once had a batch of seedlings growing in a pot that had no drainage holes. I left it outside all summer, and on occasion I would lie it on its side to drain the water out. After rain, sometimes there would be standing water above the soil level for several days before I would get around to draining it. The seedlings thrived despite the neglect and were quite robust by the end of the summer. If these had been adult bulbs, I probably would have lost them all to rot. I don't recommend this as a way to grow seedlings, but just want to emphasize how forgiving seedlings are. Also, once potted in soil, initially it is probably better to err on the side of overwatering rather than underwatering. So plant the seedlings whenever it is convenient. I cannot attest to the ease of planting after developing a leaf, but I can't imagine anything being much easier than planting them when the root is still quite short. I just lay them on the soil, making certain that the root is inserted into the soil. Depending on the length of the root, it may be necessary to make a cut or hole in the soil to avoid breaking the root. Then I sprinkle perhaps 1/4 inch of soil on top. The reason I pot them up early is that it seems logical to get the root in contact with the soil as soon as possible so that it can begin taking up nutrients to sustain more growth. And I worry that I could easily break a longer root when planting. And finally, roots that develop underwater are anatomically and physiologically different than those that develop in soil, and may perform less well when later exposed to drier conditions. This is often a problem when cuttings of other house plants are rooted in water, and they can experience substantial shock when transplanted into soil. But these are all "theoretical" arguments that clearly must not matter much for hippeastrum, based on the experience of others. Whew, sorry for the long email, and I hope it did not sound like I was trying to lecture anyone. I mostly wanted to emphasize that there is little need to fret over planting too early or too late, and I got a bit carried away! Bill...See MoreHow soon is too soon to research?
Comments (11)Fraid you've got me confused with someone else re building a barn on the property and living in that while building the house. DH and I bought our land by refinancing the house we then owned in order to pay cash for the land b/c mortgage interest rates on the refinance were MUCH lower than interest rates on a raw land mortgage. We then spent five years paying down the refinanced mortgage before felt financially ready to start building. We finished paying off our mortgage on the first house while we were in the process of building the second. So even tho we weren't able to sell our first house as quickly as we would have liked after moving into the new dream home, we never had to worry about making two mortgage payments at the same time. I was terribly impatient during that entire five years to just "get started" but in fact, the wait gave me plenty of time to educate myself and to design a home that FITS our property and our lifestyle. So, IMHO, you can't start too soon. Yes, prices will change but the relative cost to build various houses will stay about the same. (i.e., if the build price on plan A is twice the build price of plan B today, five years from now, plan A is still going to cost about twice as much to build as plan B.) Instead of obsessing about costs tho, use your time to learn all you can about the pros/cons of various building practices. For example, while it isn't exciting, spend some time learning about various types of foundations and how each type is PROPERLY INSTALLED as well as all the ways a particular type of foundation can be screwed up by someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Then when you're choosing a house plan, you can make an informed decision about what type of foundation you want. Ditto with framing. Learn as much as you can about how a house is framed up and some of the options you have. Terms like "open web joists," "i-beam joists," "California corners," "sole plate," "king stud," "cripple/jack stud," "ridge pole," "purlin," and "load bearing" should become familiar to you as you learn how framing should be done right and all the ways that bad builders can screw it up. Likewise, get a thorough grasp of the concept of "drainage planes" and how flashing, house wraps, claddings, etc. SHOULD be installed in order to contribute to properly functioning drainage planes. Basically, work your way thru every "system" within a house. The more you understand about how a properly designed and built house WORKS, the better off you'll be when dealing with a builder. Or, for that matter, when trying to communicate with your architect. And, of course spend time doing the fun stuff like thinking about how you and your family actually live. What in your current home makes your life easier and what are the little things that just drive you bonkers. Like maybe, you actually love having the sun wake you up in the mornings thru your east facing windows but hate the way everything always seems to wind up stacked on the dining room table b/c there isn't really any other place to drop stuff off as you come in the door. Or you love your big kitchen island but hate the the way your top kitchen drawers are half-an-inch too shallow to hold rolls of waxed paper and tinfoil. Make notes about these things and, when you're designing your new home, incorporate the good things and find ways to fix the annoying things. And of course, spend time finding and saving "inspiration" pictures for the really fun part which is decorating that brand new space! Three years will fly by!...See MoreHow soon is "too soon" to select a realtor?
Comments (14)Thanks, all. The market here is quite hot, though I suppose it could cool in the next year. I doubt it, though-- it seems like more people want to live closer in and have shorter commutes and we are within a couple of miles of a new high-tech employment area, near the university, and not far from downtown. I talked to a neighbor recently with a very similar house. She has a realtor (lets call her Realtor #1) she's worked with for decades who only works in this area. Realtor #1 gave her very specific recommendations for what to do in advance (she plans to sell in August), and told her that her house would probably sell in 3 days. So I'm thinking we won't list until we are truly ready to go, which depends mostly on precisely when we decide to retire. I think we will probably wait a month or two and get some "known" issues taken care of, then set up something will Realtor #1. Then I suppose to be responsible, we'll have to find Realtors #2 and #3 as well. Although to be honest, I wouldn't mind skipping that... I guess I understand the criteria for selecting someone with a good track record of short times on market, etc. But when inventory is low and demand is high, what do you look for in an agent? Is it different?...See More
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LoneJack Zn 6a, KC