Lisa: I'm praying that your trip is safe. Thank you for posting your vigorous P.C. de Monaco. How's your hip are doing? I recently turned 59 (born in the same year as JimPA in 1961.
Floweraremusic (Andrea): I'm so sorry to hear about your cracked tooth with hard-gristle inside a hamburger. I'm praying for the best treatment. We joined Sam's club just because they have the FRESHEST ground hamburger with no bone-piece. Aldi's ground beef has tiny pieces of bone, same with Trader's Joe. I'm addicted to Sam's French Baguette with President Brie Cheese. I'm allergic to peanut butter so cheese is my treat, rather than sugar.
Deborah: Love your dark-pink Yves Piaget !!
Ann: Thank you for your fantastic pics. Is your P.C. de Monaco grafted or own-root. Mine is own-root and it LOVES alkaline & high pH.
Last time it rained all week, and P.C. de Monaco had some blackspot leaves & less petals .. so I knew that nutrients are less available due to acidic pH. P.C. de Monaco needs an ungodly amount of alkaline calcium, otherwise blooms become single-petals.
Husband burnt a big pile of wood to make biochar, plus got horse manure at pH 8 for my birthday (I turned 59). Topped P.C. de Monaco with such alkaline stuff ... plus 16 hours rain, and it's looking better than the last acidic rain. Getting horse manure is a big nuisance, but I have to do that before week-long rain. pH of rain here is 4.5, and roses blackspot if there's zero buffer on top to neutralize acidic rain. Horse manure here has oyster shell lime added to deodorize & growth hormone from alfalfa, and biochar is high in calcium & potassium.
Biochar at pH over 13 is best used with acidic rain (pH 4.5) so it won't limit phosphorus. My P.C. de Monaco blooms easily, but lesser quality blooms with acidic rain due to less calcium available, thus less petals. Here's our firepit to make biochar:
Here's Princesse Charlene de Monaco cluster blooming (10 blooms per branch) & more petals in late June when topped with biochar (prior to spring rain):
I like biochar more than woodash. Tested whitish woodash and that produce UGLY leaves. Biochar is black charcoal wood (half-burnt wood, so it's less alkaline & less caustic than woodash) .. it's slow-released, rather than fast-released like wood ash.
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biochar vs. wood ash
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