How are your plants doing under lights so far?
Meyermike(Zone 6a Ma.)
2 years ago
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poncirusguy6b452xx
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How are your unprotected palms doing so far?
Comments (16)My pindo is the only protected palm in the garden. Last winter we didn't have a single daytime high below freezing. Last week we had four in a row and bottomed out at 13, coldest night I've seen since I moved here full time four years ago. We've had a few minor, dry snows this past week too from a trace to 2". Even protected, I expect a bit of damage to new fronds emerging from my pindo like last year. Other palms are unprotected. 11 windmills all look fine, other than a few ratty tips to some fronds from wind and icesickles dangling. They looked stressed during the coldest and snowiest of last week, but bounced back quickly when we got above 40. Sort of like acuba. Two 7 gal palmettos from Gary's Nursery in NC look better than the windmills. Their stiffer fronds seem to handle the light snow better. One Sabal Birmingham (also from Gary's) looks fine. One lower frond looks like its bronzed, but could just be the oldest one reaching its end. Three Med fans (all blue pots); the largest (planted as 7 gal two years ago) is well sheltered from wind by two larger camellias. However some fronds appear bronzed, probably because it also gets full afternoon sun on cold clear days. I've read that warm direct sunlight after extreme lows or winter precipitation can cause this. The two smaller ones out back, get less sun and look great. Last year, they had a tiny bit of new frond/petiole damage after they started growing. Six (blue pot needles) all fine. Many seedlings (sabal minors and palmettos, med fans and windmills from seeds scattered around my beds) mostly are unaffected. The only ones that seem to be suffering are palmetto seedlings out front, also in bright afternoon sun light and exposed to northwest winds. The strap leaves are burned to the mulch level, but are green below the mulch. Last year they recovered and grew several more straps. Long term survival questionable there. Happily the other palmetto seedlings in more sheltered settings are fine. The palms I'm most concerned about are two saw palmettos that were planted last spring. A friend brought them back from Florida last year and they are purely experimental. Mostly they look well, but some burn on some frond tips. But the new emerging spears look really brown. I will resist tugging on them for now. But if I lose them, ill replace with something less tender. Overall, I'm confident the core of my palms will be fine....See MoreHow's Your Garden Doing so Far?
Comments (11)Susan, Parts of the yard and garden are doing well. Others have been slow to recover from the deluge of rain and the standing water that persisted for so long. The six peach and plum trees are heavily laden with ripening fruit. All the trees in our landscape have a lot of new growth and seem to be quite happy. The same is true of the shrubs. The purple wintercreeper is about to bloom. It is always one of the last of the trees/shrubs/groundcovers to bloom in the springtime. Vitex and desert willow have begun blooming, as have the trumpet creepers 'Madame Galens' (orange) and 'Flava' (yellow). The mimosa tree I planted last year for the hummingbirds has buds and I wasn't really expecting it to bloom until next year. The hummers will be thrilled.In the butterfly bed out back, the climbing roses are done, the larkspur still looks spectacular, the sumac is in bud and about to bloom, and I need to do some weeding so the summer annuals don't get crowded out! In the front yard, the David Austin roses have finished their first bloom cycle. I have deadheaded them and they are putting on a lot of new leaves, and I am looking forward to them reblooming in June. Some of the 4 o'clocks are blooming early. The cannas have begun to bloom too. The Texas Star hibiscus has buds! Yarrow is about finished with its first blooms. Also in bloom in the cottage border on the eastern edge of the veggie garden: zinnias, larkspur, blue salvia, red salvia, tons and tons of verbena bonariensis, red poppies, sunflowers, and nasturtiums. Companion plants inside the veggie garden that are blooming include: veronica, dianthus, zinnia "Profusion Fire", orange and yellow marigolds, red celosias, begonias, and tons and tons of nasturtiums in shades of yellow, peach, salmon, red, coral and orange. The hummers love, love, love the nasturtiums. Inside the veggie garden, the onions are beginning to bulb up and should be ready for harvest in the next 4 to 6 weeks. The leeks have grown quite a bit, but still have a ways to go before harvest. Many sweet and hot pepper plants are in bloom and some have formed fruit although the fruit are still very small. The bush green beans did not like being wet and just sat there with little if any growth for the last month, but are finally putting out new leaves. The early corn is just tassling now, and the mid-season corn is about thigh-high, so it is time for me to plant the late season sweet corn in one location and the Indian Corn for fall decorations in a far-away location so the two don't cross. The pumpkins and winter squash are growing again (finally!) after sulking their way through all the rain and wet ground, and the melons (cantaloupes, muskmelons, casabas, watermelons, etc.) are covered with flowers, but have no fruit forming yet. The sweet potatoes, okra and southern peas (crowders, black-eyed peas, cream peas and lady peas) are small as they love heat and we haven't had much heat yet, but at least they are up and growing. They will take off just as soon as it warms up a little bit more. Then there's the tomatoes. They are truly a mixed bag. This weather has NOT been kind to them and I have had all sorts of problems with them. The plants in the two beds that were planted first had a chance to get pretty big before the late cold spells and rain hit, so they are 4' to 5.5' tall, look pretty good and are covered in green tomatoes. They have had bacterial speck on the foliage from all the rain, but have pretty much recovered from it. The remaining eight beds of tomatoes have struggled with the wet soil. A lot of those plants have just sat there and done NOTHING since it rained. I have been so disgusted--not really with the plants as it is not their fault that the soil stayed saturated for so long, just disgusted with the wet soil's effect on them. Finally, finally, finally these tomato plants are beginning to recover after looking so pitiful for so long. All of them sulked and didn't grow much, if at all. They had bacterial speck and other leaf problems, including physiological leaf curl that had me worried for quite a long time. I was pretty sure the leaf curl was because of the wet soil, but it went on for so much longer than I thought it would that I was worried I might have weedkiller drift damage from a local farm or ranch, or even curly top virus, which I had on one plant 5 years ago. This week, though, the leaves are uncurling and the plants are showing new growth....and it is about time. I was getting ready to yank them out! I have had 10 ripe tomatoes so far, all from the two Better Bush plants in containers. I had three tomatoes ripening on the Kimberly plant in a 10-gallon container, but the birds got them. The first fruit on in-ground plants will be ripe in two or three days and it will be Celebrity. Other fruit is quite large on Black Krim, Black Prince, Cherokee Purple, Snow White, Orange Santa, Beam's Yellow Pear, Black Cherry, Wisconsin 55, Early Girl, Ultimate Opener, Red Star, Galina's Yellow, Orange Banana and some others I can't remember off the top of my head. The Martino's Roma is covered in tiny fruit and so is Principe Borghese, but they won't ripen for quite a while yet. The herbs are growing like gangbusters after sulking their way through the overly wet soil for quite a while. The lemon balm was a huge monster about 18" tall. I just cut it back. All the basils (lemon, lime, spicy globe, purple ruffles, red rubin, green ruffles, littleleaf, cardinal and Italian largeleaf) are growing well, as is the dill and parsley The lemon verbena that I planted recently is putting on new growth as is the two lavenders. I have LOTs of large tomato hornworms on my tomato plants. The gardener in me watches them chomp their way through the plants with the tiniest tinge of worry, but the butterfly lover in me just ignores the damage to the plants and hopes for lots of moths! I also have parsley worms on both the dill and the parsley, and lots and lots of them too. Those black caterpillars are eating their way through all the sunflowers. I have tons and tons and tons of butterflies and moths everywhere, including clearwing and sphinx moths. I have tons and tons of packets of annual flower seeds that I haven't even planted, since it has been too wet to till up a spot to put them. I hope to get that done later this week if the forecasted rain doesn't fall. A lot of them are sunflowers, zinnias and cosmos so they will put on a good show in July if I hurry up and get them into the ground. In the lily pond, I have water lilies blooming in red, pink, white and yellow. We have lots of frogs in the pond, and a huge turtle that is about 14" to 16" long and 10" to 12" across. We also have baby turtles. We've never had turtles in the lily pond close to the house. They usually stay in the larger ponds farther from the house. The pickerel weed isn't blooming yet and neither is the sagittaria, but I am expecting a few blooms from them soon. Down at the big pond, the swamp mallows are getting quite large but none of them are blooming. They are no lilies left down there as the pond dried up during the drought and they finally died. I don't think I will put water lilies back in the big pond until it is completely full again. In spite of all the spring rain it is only half full. The wildflowers have put on an amazing show this year. We still have a lot of spring bloomers in bloom since it has been so cool and cloudy. The early summer bloomers are putting on buds. The prickly pear cactus is blooming right now and I just love those flowers too. I am outside all the time and can't even get caught up on the mowing, weedeating and weeding. I haven't watered much, except for all the plants in containers. In those containers, all the coleus and and ornamental sweet potatoes are looking mighty fine! I have recently planted a lot of new gladiolas and caladiums and they are beginning to come up. In the dog yard, their forest of sunflowers are now about 6' tall and are making enough shade that the dogs can lay in that shade part of the day at least. The gourds and winter squash that Duke (my rottweiler-terrier mix) planted by burying squash and gourds after he was through playing with them in the winter have sprouted and are growing. He is such a good gardener dog. The scarlet runner beans I planted near their east-facing fence are just beginning to bloom. These plants will help shade the dog yard and also provide the hummers with lots of lovely red flowers. That's all I can think of now, and I am sure I forgot to mention a lot of things. We have rain in the forecast for just about every day this week, but none has fallen. Dawn...See MoreWhat's planted/growing in your yard so far?
Comments (9)I think I have too many things growing and blooming to even list them! My snow crocus that have been in the ground for years are already finished blooming--sometimes they get a second flush and I hope they do this year! I got 250 “new” snow crocus at the VanEngelen 40% off sale in fall and the 125 I put around the pine in my front yard the end of January started blooming about a month ago, more every day, with a slight hesitation during our last storm. Another batch I put in the backyard mid-February is starting to bloom and the other batch is up but not blooming yet. Other bulbs! Ipheion and Chionodoxa planted last year blooming. Eranthus blooming, but the one batch the squirrels have access to “lost” most of the flowers! The Squirrels seem to consider the flowers a delicacy for breakfast! Rock garden iris, Iris reticulata, the blue ones are done but expecting other colors to bloom yet. Geranium tuberosum that never came up at all last year--thought they had rotted in the ground, are coming up this year! My “old” grape hyacinths are budding and starting to open. Last year’s ‘Valerie Finnis’ grape hyacinths (sky blue) are growing like crazy but no buds yet. A species tulip, Tulip dasystemon from last year, a few are up but it looks like many of them may have rotted in the ground over winter--gives me somewhere else to plant some new bulbs this fall! The new Hyacinths I planted over winter aren’t up yet, but my old ones are up and all with buds or a couple of them wide open already--I love the scent of hyacinths! The daffodils, ‘Faith’, which are supposed to be pink, are blooming but it’s most definitely not pink! Another “pink” I got last year had one bud when we got the last snow and it’s head broke over so I brought it in and stuck it in water but I think it had been too long before I got it in water and it did kind of open but didn’t look very good! It’s not pink either--I think I’m gonna give up on getting a pink daf! A few of my old yellow dafs are blooming---cut a couple of them before the last snow so they wouldn’t break off and had them in the house for a week--which was really nice when it was snowing outside! The ‘Ronaldo’ tulips I got from TreeBarb are way up and budding. Lilies ‘Monte Negro’ and ‘Red Electric’ I got from Barb last year are up and multiplying like crazy! Four varieties of German Iris are growing like crazy but too early for buds. The ‘Star of Persia’ Allium from a swap long ago is a foot tall but not budding yet. Regular perennials! The Rockcress, both Arabis and Aubrietia are blooming. Pasque flower, Pulsatilla, three blooming--P. vulgaris in white and purple, and the purple P. patens. Primroses starting to bloom, Johnny-jump-ups starting to bloom ALL over the place, and sweet violets blooming--at least the pink ones are! My orange creeping wallflower, Erysimum, is budding, along with ‘Waterperry’ creeping Veronica and also creeping Veronica repens, and all the Ajugas are starting to bud. Not budding/blooming! Everything else except the “late” things (like hosta) are up anywhere from just a couple inches to about a foot. Several varieties of daylilies, small but up and looking good. My two dark foliage upright sedums are 6-8” tall already. All my different hen & chicks are in the process of turning their wonderful spring colors! Old fashioned bleeding heart well up but not budding yet, and I’m glad for that ‘cause for something that likes to come up and bloom so early they sure don’t seem to understand the concept that they’re not supposed to freeze when it gets “too” cold and I’ve had the buds/foliage freeze a couple times with late freezes! I’m jumping up and down about the ‘Looking Glass’ Brunnera I got from Dryad58 at the Spring ’09 swap--this is the first year it’s really noticeably getting bigger (all about that Heavy Clay I have!) and I think it’s gonna look REALLY good this summer! Wonderful foliage plant--with flowers, albeit small flowers! I have three seedling columbine from a ProvoGirl swap plant that are looking really good this year (the original plant died) and I can’t wait to see what color they are! And then! My “regular” yellow iceplant died off the whole way this winter--and that’s ok with me! Something else will go there! Right now it looks like most of my ‘Black Scallop’ Ajuga may have died, but some of it is still alive so I’ll just get the patch going again! And I’m not sure, but it looks like my Mesa Verde iceplant may have died off completely! Will know for sure in a month and then will need to decide if I want to replace it or not if I’m right! And my ‘Tricolor’ sage died! Not too surprised! It was about 7 years old and I think it had Alzheimer’s! No seeds! Didn’t get winter sowing done and then decided to skip it all together this year since I’ll be gone a while in May and there wouldn’t be anybody to take care of them. And, had been planning to get my tomatoes and eggplants sown on the first, so I’m a few days late! As usual! I spent three hours yesterday out turning over my tomato/veggie garden for the first time this year (that means it’s badly packed down!), and starting to turn in bags and bags of whole leaves from last fall. With all the wintertime vermi-procreating I’ve had going on under the leaf bags for the last few years the worms are “thick” out there now! (And after turning in all the whole leaves last spring the “soil” is FINALLY starting to actually get better!) But the first “row” I dig is immediately along the fence and it’s infested with cottonwood roots so it takes forever to get that 18” done and it’s incredibly hard work since I dig down as far as I can--and even slightly under the neighbor’s fence, to cut the roots off as far down/back as I can! And after getting that started I “reset” all the pieces of flagstone that are my path thru that part of the garden and redid another big stepping stone on the other side of the yard in the perennials. Boy, was I tired and sore last nite! And I’ll be heading back out there today to do some more! Takes a while to get the muscles back in shape after sitting inside all winter! And if predictions hold up we could get a GOOD storm on Monday/Tuesday! Yesterday one of the weathermen said we could get up to two feet in the mountains and up to two inches of precip down here! Finger’s crossed! Time to head back outside, Skybird This post was edited by skybird on Fri, Apr 5, 13 at 14:50...See MoreSo when do you put your sprouts under lights?
Comments (11)My entire set up is in the garage. I have a thermometer set up next to the seedling rack, and the coldest I have seen it get down to is 49 degrees and that was when the highs were in the low 30's and the lows were about 14 outside for several days in a row. Of course those temps are out of the norm for here. I have actually seen it get as high as 80 in my garage this winter during a warm spell last week. I have a heat pad to keep the soil warm for germination and they usually pop up in about 3 - 5 days even when the air temp gets a little low in there and get light immediately. If they don't get light soon, those little heads that are poking out will be several inches tall before you know it. The rest of them should follow in the next couple of days. Besides, with the shop lights only a few inches from the starts, it will give them a little more heat as well. jj...See Moreponcirusguy6b452xx
2 years agoJohn (Zone 5b/6a, IN)
2 years agoMeyermike(Zone 6a Ma.)
2 years agoMeyermike(Zone 6a Ma.)
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