Is there any way to bring GW back to life?
dirtygardener
last year
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blfenton
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What is this and how can I bring it back to life?
Comments (1)Looks like Corn Plant. I believe you can break off the plants from the bark and root them in either water or peat moss with some root hormone powder. Or just keep watering your plant -- not to where it's soggy, though -- and it will probbaly survive. If you do decide to cut off the shoot(s), keep the bark watered also because it very may well have new growth once you remove the "old" growth from it. Hope this helped. :) Alicia...See MoreTrying to bring my yard back to life
Comments (23)Bermuda will quickly give you a spotty look if mowed wrong or with a dull blade, so keep that in mind. My method isn't very special or scientific, but it makes for a consistent color at any time. Bermuda can take a lot of abuse & won't burn up in the sun, so have fun with it--you can't kill it with anything but shade. You will have mountains of clippings, so work on your soil biology to help break it all down. If it starts getting scraggly & tall looking, check that thatch layer & dont let it build up....See MoreBringing an old garden back to life, couple of questions.
Comments (22)That the garden was "very productive" 5 years ago means nothing today, soil is not static and has changed though you have grown nothing there except maybe grass. Start with a good reliable soil test. Unfortunately Purdue does not do them, however the University of Kentucky will do this and maybe the people at the Purdue Cooperative Extension Service would be of help in interpreting the report. In addition to a good reliable soil test for soil pH and major nutrient levels these simple soil tests may also be of some use. 1) Soil test for organic material. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains’ too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell, to a point. Too much organic matter can be bad as well. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy. limmq is kimmsr...See Morevery sick/dying dragon tree, how can i bring it back to life?
Comments (14)There's a good chance the plant will break back (back-bud) low on the stem or right at the soil line, but no guarantee. Odds are high the top is a goner, but it depends on whether or not it suffered serious chill injury, which can occur at temps well above freezing if the temperature drop is sudden enough. All you can do is wait. The leaves will all drop off, for sure. If you don't see new growth emerging from the stem within 2 months, scrap away some of the periderm (bark). If there is a green layer just below, wait awhile longer. It's critical that you do not over-water. The plant will be using almost NO water, so use a "tell" to "tell" you if the grow medium is moist deep in the pot - water only when the tell comes out nearly dry. Keep it warm and in good light. Withhold fertilizer until the plant is pushing new growth. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al...See Morecarolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
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