Tropical Zone Gardening: THE COCONUT WIRELESS - CHAT THREAD 4., 1 by lourspolaire

lourspolaire wrote:
Hi, everyone.

Not much new here to report in way of gardening.

I have an oncidium orchid blooming (picture attached) right now. While I was in the hospital, and throughout my recovery, acalypha infernos took advantage of the fact that I wasn't around to tend them. They had grown to obtruct 3 windows in our house. What good is a sun room when you can hardly see outside? It defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

When I got to them with my trimmers, I found out that the blade was blunt. One of the principles I sincerely belive: nothing in a kitchen is more dangerous than a blunt knife. I always keep my knifes' blades razor-sharp and people are warned about that stuff if they remove one of my kitchen knives from the magnet where they are stored vertically against the wall. So, it's sharp blades for me, or nothing. I did a Google search on sharpening garden shears. I found a YouTube video (4minutes) where a guy shows how to sharpen those, and loppers.

I had a pair of blunt loppers that I never used because of their lack of an edge. Chucking them was on my to-do list. What good is long handles and leverage action if there's no edge? The video lasts 4 minutes, but it turns out the actual sharpening only takes 30 seconds. So, I got out my file, my diamond stone and to sharpen, I endeavored. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Keep your fingers away from those blades. The task was an unmitigated success.

When I got to trimming, I found that I could cut acalypha stems up to 1 inch in diameter in one neat cut. Now, the acalypha infernos are down to size but I know them. As I type these lines,they have already started growing new stems again. Gotta love them.

Take care, all.
Sylvain., a.k.a. Pu'ole.