Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Ravages of Fall, 1 by GordonHawk

GordonHawk wrote:
Shirleyd...Yes..I've given my programany number of times.. but I'll run it downagain for you..I'm all in containers..../potting soil.. which has NO nutrive value at all..something akin to useing shredded cardboard.. only it doesn't wet out so.. and it actually consumes nitrogen as the moss breaks down..
I start in the winter with a blanket of alfalfa pellets covering the soil.. to breakdown and become folded into the mix during planting in the spring.. when I mix into each hole a generous portion of decomposed and dehydrated cow manure.this is all manuer not the stuff most places sell which is blended with a bunch of dirt with which it is decomposed.. these are the base for soil building for my used potting mix.. this has built up over a decade... occouring every year..
I put in a time release rose tone... flower tone when starting off the year..
perhaps some osmacote also..
this year in the spring I start off a weekly/five day regimen of MG... the balanced 20-20-20 type in the water..
I use Spray - n - Grow ....about every week after a month or so of growth...every three weeks I substute a messenger spraying for this..
as I get flowering I change the 20-20-20 for the bloom booster type ferts ..every five days...
in the early spring thisyear..before putting anything out..I started spraying the Recipe every evening...at first it has a bunch of 20-20-20 in it... then I switch to including the bloom booster type in it..again this is sprayed on evrything every evening or early morning..
thisyear I've also about eliminated my insect feedingonmyplants... this has helped their food uptake..as they aren't depleating their growth...
This year I've also tried useing a couple of Russain sold.. US developed hormones.. sold only by top tropicals...can't say as yet what their ultimate benefit is... and I've used them a couple of time through out the season.. they did no harm... so they qualify by medical standards as OK
yes..sorry..I should be listed as7A.. it is the same here as north MS.and my mother in north Alabama .. REMBER....the zones only look at how low winter temps are ...not the quality of the weather.. or how long it is that low... and no consideration to how hot it is in the summer... as you know microclimates trump zones.. I figure I'm in Zone 4 - 14 .. as everything is up off the roof.. in the air... I freeze solid in the winter... ala zone 4... [ remember the road signs... bridge freezes before roadsurface ] .. now... I'm also over a hot black rubber membrane.. when it gets to be 80* in thespring... myroof is usually at about 145* F... the winds blowing offf this heat increase the temp andwinter zonesconsiderably... as doesheat lossthrough my rof into the above plant areas.. so I'm not far from a7B.. if I start at 7 A.. http://www.growit.com/bin/USDAZoneMaps.exe?MyState=NY
see..a little sliver of long Island is listed as 7A..
Thanks for the complements... all thebest there... Gordon
OH..as a delta born lad... [ Bolivar Co] I carry alot of that zone love with me...
Georgia Peach pictured