Placed my seed order today - got stung on the shipping
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Comments (25)I'm not discouraging anyone from getting an epi-pen, but let's distinguish between a local reaction and systemic reaction to bee stings. Local swelling, itching, burning where one is stung is a healthy immune system's response: the body's cells are releasing histimines. Get stinger out, if there's one, take some benedryl or any anti-histimine, and ice it. Now,if your throat begins to feel tight and you have difficulty breathing, you are having a systemic reaction so get the epi-pen out and get to the hospital. If the limb where you are stung swells up to twice its normal size, I'd take the anti-histimine first, observe carefully, and go to the doctor. The doctor can help you decide whether you should keep an epi-pen on hand. Not everyone's allergic reactions get worse when they are stung. I've been several times by my bees (always my fault) and the reaction is the same; it has never gotten more serious. But something different must have stung me the other day because my hand was twice as big as normal. There was no visible site of a sting. After a couple of doses of anti-histimine it rapidly improved. Marie...See MoreOrdered Seed from Pine Knot Farms Today
Comments (13)one of the fascinating parts of hellebore culture is how you never know what you're getting until 3 or 4 years later, yet people are still willing to pay interesting rates for unconfirmed seed. so far the seedlings I've grown from E Town have been somewhat disappointing. I will be able to probably see the first pine knot seedlings bloom next year or so. I only bought the mixed since at that time it was the only option.... and since i did not thin and transplant them in their first two seasons they are a bit behind what they would have been. I am also growing ashwood seed and seed from other sources (such as from gisella schmiemann, etc...). it will be interesting to compare the results. many places now claim to offer hand-pollinated seed and to have great plants. i hope that others will post results here when their plants bloom so we can once and for all get an idea of whether it is really possible to mass produce hand-pollinated seed and have good results. at this point i am very skeptical but still hopeful. hellebore genetics are too mixed for me to pay a dollar per seed. i'd rather buy a blooming double plant and pollinate it myself under controlled conditions. still, it's interesting and encouraging to see so many people willing to pay for hellebore seed and grow it on for years. maybe we will learn something through the process. hopefully in the next year many will post their results.... for example many people ordered from elizabeth town a few years back and should be getting first results. yet, i'm only aware of a couple of people's results. so far it has not been very encouraging. many of the plants are typical at best, and many from the double batches have not produced doubles (certainly they are not "coming true" at 80-90%, etc...). and the ones that are double are extremely variable... some quite ugly really. :) it is fun to grow from seed and there are always pleasant and unpleasant surprises. i believe the best deal still may be the ashwood seed because from what i can tell, they likely produce the best hybrids in the world in terms of genetic stability and range of color patterns and saturations, etc (at least outside japan where much of the work is done in labs, and the genetic material is mostly from europe and australia and seed mostly inaccessible for now). i think E Town's best offerings are its doubles (e.g. mrs. betty ranicar is still hard to beat) but they clearly don't have the range or quality that ashwood has. pine knot uses ashwood material and has for years, so it is a good bet too. i've certainly been happy with the plants i purchased from pine knot, but having been there i know the majority are not plants that i would want... perhaps 30-40% are what i would call "good" or better. of course it's one of the only places in that part of the country to get high quality plants. still pays to buy a plant in bloom if possible and to know something about its provenance and lineage. for those who would be happy with any hybrid that is decent, i understand that these concerns are of little value, but in such cases it would of course not be necessary to pay such prices. i hope that other consumers will become interested for the sake of increasing transparency between producers and consumers. i believe there are quite a few ripoffs these days as hellebore popularity has grown so dramatically and many gardeners aren't aware of the difference between really elite plants and more typical ones. for anyone interested, an interesting discussion about the topic can be found below. Here is a link that might be useful: hellebore seed prices...See Moreplaced a seed order with Dust Bowl Seed
Comments (7)Carol, I wonder if it was Bluebonnet Feed? We went in there once looking for some sort of supplies for our chickens or guineas long, long, ago. I don't even remember seeing seeds but it was a big, cavernous feed store near downtown and it did have gardening supplies. The only other off-the-beaten path feed-and-seed store I found there in Ardmore was Agri-Products, which also is a feed-and-seed, and the first time I went in there, they had Willhite Seeds hanging on a seed rack on the wall in Willhite's distinctive plastic bags. It was the first time I'd seen Willhite's seeds in a store in a long time. I guess that was about a decade ago. Shelly, Most places have a guarantee of some sort. I didn't look to see what theirs was. Normally it is a guarantee that the seeds will meet the minimum federal standards for germination, which is the minimum germination rate (by percentage) that is required. I look forward to seeing how their seeds grow for you, and I imagine they'll grow just fine since any reputable seed company will do germination tests for each batch of seeds before they package them and ship them just so they know they are sending out seeds that meet the germination standards. I know that some of the seed companies I buy from will send you seeds from a batch that failed a germination test, but they'll double the seed count and note on the packet that you need to sow more seeds because that batch has a low germination rate. When I've gotten a batch with that note on it, I'll usually sow twice as much as usual....and sometimes all of them sprout, which makes me wonder why they failed the test to begin with. Dawn...See MoreGot my worms and cocoons today!!!
Comments (7)I put the pound of worms in one 18 gallon Sterilite plastic bin. I put the cocoons and the young worms that came with them in another one. I'll keep a very close eye on the bin with the cocoons and worms in it. And, when I notice the slightest indication of overcrowding, I'll split it into two bins. And, I'll do that as often as I need to. My biggest problem right now is the fact that I have an almost uncontrollable urge to dig around in the bins to see all of them!! LOL But, I know that I wouldn't like a huge hand digging around in my house and dislodging me from where I choose to be. And, it's my understanding that the worms like that sort of disturbance less than I would. So, I'm trying to fight my urges! But, it is hard... real hard!!! ;>) Robert...See MoreCA Kate z9
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