Should I cancel my plant order due to weeds?
Nicole z.5b IL
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charles kidder
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Help - When should I plant my plants?
Comments (15)I checked out our yard a few minutes ago, and found a crocus beginning to bloom, and a columbine that is beginning to leaf out. We have a number of daffodils that are about 6 inches high, no where near blooming yet. And our lawn is greening up nicely. So it is looking like a long, slow, spring. I picked up a three year old potted blueberry, Northland variety, today, & it is sitting outside on the back steps. It will be planted tomorrow. I checked out our everbearing raspberry plants, and I could not find any sign of leafing out yet. Prairie smoke, Geum triflorum, is green, but not yet blooming. I have a package of Liatris(prairie blazing star) roots that will be set out this week. They are supposed to be dug under about 2 inches down. Earlier today, I was able to mix up some Schultz' Plant Food-acidic formula, for the blueberry shrubs, and apply this without any sign of run-off, so it seems that the ground is free of frost, finally....See MoreShould I be planting my delphiniums now?
Comments (3)Thanks for the responses. I will try to protect them once it freezes. The ones I've planted in front will have good snow cover (if we get much) from shovelling plus I don't salt that walk, but the rest I'm putting in the back. So I'll continue planting them. It's southern exposure, and we have freeze and thaw throughout the winter, so it depends. This winter will be the most critical. Arrrrgh! Why didn't I think to pot them up larger? The big problem I was having is there was so much hard rain, and they were too delicate to take it so I had to keep bringing them inside (temporarily) or on the porch (for longer periods). Finally I got them big enough and in better light. Then they were able to handle the rain. I did one in a plastic cup, something knocked it over and split the sides and it's in the worst condition, will try to plant it anyway. The roots hadn't gone circular but were indeed packed. But maybe if I'd put them in bigger pots sooner, they'd have both grown and toughened up faster. Live and learn. I do try to gently loosen roots and spread out a bit but it's tricky not to damage them so often I do just a little and leave well enough alone. I'm digging a little wider and deeper than I ordinarily do and then backfill mixed w/compost to bring them up to the right level. I figure that will give the roots a better chance to spread out until they hit the harder soil; these are in existing beds. I will confess to being impatient by this time of the season, just want to get things over with whereas I enjoy it more earlier on. I kept a nice page of culture instructions I found on the web, and you're not supposed to cultivate too much around them and much else. I'm doing good to get things watered and weeded so don't fuss too much otherwise. I'm having a terrible time finding roomy enough spots in the taller rows for them! Thanks again!...See MoreAlmost had to cancel my Vintage order...
Comments (19)Sammy, are you trying to make me feel better by dupe posting also? ;-) I'm starting to think there's another GW bug... So yeah, you know, I know we're supposed to keep off-roses topics away, but I think info on gel fire retardant is good information to pass along as we have many members not just in fire prone Calif. but also the plains and desert states like Idaho, Arizona, etc. We can just say it's so our roses don't burn up, right? 'Gel' is a polymer that is extremely hydrophilic and thus absorbs many, many times it's weight of water. In fire prevention, the idea came to a fireman in Florida who noticed that baby diapers don't burn in house fires (wouldn't you know ;-) In gardening, I think the polymer may be similar to the crystals we buy to retain moisture in potting soil. Have you ever taken a teaspoon of the stuff and put it in a quart of water? If not, do try it to see how it works and it makes a cool science demo for the kids. All the same idea but somewhat different formulation/excecution. Segue a few years later and it has been available for home/consumer use for the last few years. For professional use, the San Bernardino Co. FD has a 'gel task force' of trucks that are used to spray homes on the front line of the fire, thus enabling firemen to not be in harms way. Also, according to forum members, there was a Liberty Mutual truck in town to do the same to it's insurees, the only problem was they were not pre-approved to go into the mandatory evacuation area, so that's something that needs to be worked out with departments in the future. I know SBFD had good success with it a few years ago with the Big Bear fire, but it was a new idea at the time. Some of the air tankers can use it as well, problme is, it is expensive. Gel vs. foam. Gel is much more effective retarding fire because it is water-based where as the red foam retardant that you see planes drop is a chemical 'fluffed' with air. Don't ask me how it works. Back to the home consumer. There are two brands that I'm familiar with, Barricade & ThermoGel, I'm sure that there are more. Preferences by fire personnel in town vary. Thankfully we were given a Barricade home kit by a fire inspector friend who moved out of town. We have another friend who uses it who's a retired captain and now works fires as an information officer. Otoh, the guys at our local station who live in town tend to have ThermoGel and that is what the hardware store carries. What's the difference? I honestly haven't done enough research to satisfy my science self yet. HOWEVER, Barricade touts being canola oil based, whereas other companies evidently use 'mineral oil' bases. Again, what's the difference? I haven't had the time to confirm Barricade's claims, but here's the problem they claim with other brands: "Q: WHAT IS NPE-FREE BARRICADE II? A: NPE-Free Barricade ® II is the result of 10 years of research and testing to eliminate nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) and petroleum distillate from the original Barricade formula. NPE-Free Barricade ® II has been approved for use by the US Forest Service in a wide range of firefighting functions including application by large air tankers, smaller Single Engine Air Tankers (SEATs), helicopters using buckets as well as firefighters on the ground using fire engines. Barricade ® II is the first and only liquid fire gel concentrate that has been approved for use by the Forest Service that does not contain toxic chemical additives known as NPEs and petroleum distillate oils. Environmental organizations have called upon the U.S. Forest Service to ban the use of other firefighting chemicals that contain NPEs. Barricade ® II was specifically developed for use by commercial and government entities where a large quantity of gel is used or there is frequent contact by firefighters. Q: What are NPEs and are they dangerous to animals or humans? A: NPEs (a.ka. Nonylphenol Ethoxylates) are surfactant components found in some other brands of fire gel products. Recent scientific studies have shown that NPEs have negative effects on the reproductive systems of animals and humans in extremely low doses which can cause birth defects in future generations. Currently, the US Forest Service testing program that approves chemicals for use in wildland firefighting does not examine the potential effects on future generations...it only looks at the short-term. Environmental groups have requested that the Forest Service cease using and rescind approvals on fire chemicals that contain NPEs. Barricade is proud to offer the ONLY liquid fire gel that is completely free of toxic NPEs and petroleum distillates. Barricade is the only fire chemical of any kind to be awarded the prestigious "Champion" award from our nation's EPA." Ok, so I'm a microbiologist and chemist, I'm not. Is this a warning where if you give 3 trillion times the dose to a rat it keels over dead, I dunno. According to Wikipedia, "Toxicity concerns Since these compounds are widely produced over the world and are designed to flush down the sink, concerns about their safety has increased in the past years. Several research programs have shown that these surfactants have a mild to medium estrogenic function. [1] Consequently, this class of detergents has been effectively banned for commercial "down-the-drain" applications in Europe, and these compounds are not found in laundry detergents in the USA." I don't have access to the referenced article. I did try to find the MSDS for a couple of other products and so far, haven't found comments about this chemical. So anyway, point being, we are all somewhat new to this type of product, I am doing as much research as I can. Performance being equal, I guess we'll continue with what we have pending more study/information on my part. Price point. Well, a 4 gallon home kit of Barricade with sprayer attachments for your hose run around $326. I assume other brands are around the same. Shelf-life. That's a conundrum. Guaranteed shelf-life of Barricade is 3 years. I know ours was older. All mfgrs recommend shaking the gallons every so often so that it doesn't settle which will cause nozzle clogging because the gel won't siphon out. It may be over time that the warrantied shelf-life increases as companies keep their stock longer or come up with more stable formulations, but bear in mind that's also a liability issue for the companies. Use and clean up. Use, well, wear a rain coat and make sure you've read the instructions before the call to evacuate. ;-) The stuff is mess if it's windy, which it usually is for fires like these. Also, coverage depends on your water pressure. Our clean up was pretty easy because as I said, we should have shaken it (but didn't know) so we didn't get it on thick enough. 'Stickiness' depends on surface and they recommend that you spray water on it to rehdrate and then come back with a stream of water. Ours came off of old paint fine, also windows. Faux shutters required more water. We also sprayed the attic vents. Plants. Barricade is safe for plants, you can read up on other brands if you decide to buy. Our only no-joy was that we couldn't get the crowns of our pines, the bigger ones are about 80' or so with the 3/4" home hose setup. All in all, moving forward, we plan to replenish what we used. If you live in a high fire danger area, it's cheap insurance....See MoreWhat should be my first steps if I want to begin selling plants?
Comments (4)I'm late to your question, but the very first thing you need to figure out is what plants are worth selling. What is selling NOW in YOUR market area? If your market is eBay, that's one thing. If your market is 4078 Downing street, then you need to know what your neighbors are willing to buy. If you have access to someone's driveway, then you can have a yard sale setup where all you sell is plants. I've done that as a charity fund raiser. It worked great! If it was a hot day we made almost as much selling ice cream as selling plants. We have a house, so we're different. One thing we have noticed while landscaping is that some plants which we have a lot of and can grow in the ground quickly/easily, sell for a LOT of money at the nurseries. We're digging them up and throwing away about $1,000 worth a year, because they are overgrown. If we wanted to get into the business of selling, we have a seemingly ready made supply. Ask your friends with houses if they have a situation with plants and would they be willing to lease you a part of their back yard? Consider selling seeds. Some plants are extremely prolific with seeds. Zinnia comes to mind. You can get a couple seed crops a year. Some of the butterfly plants grow like weeds (because they are weeds - shhh, don't tell anyone), but you can sell their seeds to butterfly enthusiasts. Another thing I read might be pertinent. If you think rabbits breed like rabbits, then try breeding rabbits. This guy took on rabbit breeding as a side gig, because he bred a few rabbits as a Boy Scout 20 years earlier. But as a business he could not keep up with demand until he finally had 1,500 pairs of breeders. If people cannot rely on you as a plant supplier, they will quietly go elsewhere for their plants....See Moreken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
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last yearNicole z.5b IL
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