Propagation: part XIII based on my own experience

Hi everyone:
Jeanette: Sorry about not saying how they arrived. Yes I recieved the seeds. I deeply apreciate you taking the time to send them to me. I will be putting them out in my big wooden trays to germinate. I usually move the ones that sprout into individual pots and leave the trays out for 2 years to make sure every one is finished sprouting. Its funny, when I first started the big trays I was not sure I would have the restraint to leave them alone as I like to plant lots of stuff and 2 years sounds like a long time, but now looking back at the daylilies it seems like leaving things alone to root or sprout is pretty easy.
I was talking about doing a cover for the shelves to keep the humidity up on the shelves. I have noticed that on my plant cart I don't even need the heat mats as they dry everyone out in one day and I would be watering every stinking day. It works better with the cover and just heat from the florescent lights.
My plastic shelves are just geting the light from the windows on the garage door (2 windows 8' x 2') and the huge florescent lights in the garage itself. I am hopeing that by encloseing them the gremination will be quicker. Every one is germinating fine I just thing they would be happier enclosed.
JB: Did we lose you again?

Have a great day everyone....

Lynn, here are the pictures of my peony cage. Should have posted the other one first. Ignore that white thing running alongside it. That is the hose. Jeanette

Here is the other one Should have posted it first. Also, I looked at it again and I would say the legs are about 18 inches above ground. Don't know how far down they are. Probably 3 or 4 inches. Jeanette

Looks good. Thanks, I hope my peonies come up now. I will definitely make some of the cages.

Pughbear...what seeds do you need? I sent you a partial list of some of the veggies, but I have more...if I don't have what you need, I can send you money for the trays...

How do you guys do the stratification on hard seeds--like morning glory, moon flower vine, etc? Do you think soaking is just as good? Laugh if you want, but I cannot grow morning glory unless it is by accident. Jeanette, does the morning glory tree need this special attn, and also the kangeroo vine. Dont know the name of the other one you sent, but the seeds appear kinda like mg. Thanks for the info. Feeling like a newbie this year with the seeds I don't know anything about:) :) I am NOT complaining tho. hehehe Lee

I am not sure about the seeds Lee. I got the Kangaroo vine (think that is a Swedish Ivy, remember the indoor plants we used to get?) That's what that is. The envelope said it would be a good hanging house plant. I used to have one years ago that grew all around my windows etc.

The Morning Glory tree were seeds given to me Lee so I don;t know. But, you know, I think on any of those type of seeds, I would nick and soak overnight. Pretty much the same with any that are a hard shell.

If some tells you different I would be interested.

I am not sure about the seeds Lee. I got the Kangaroo vine (think that is a Swedish Ivy, remember the indoor plants we used to get?) That's what that is. The envelope said it would be a good hanging house plant. I used to have one years ago that grew all around my windows etc. I got those from Summer Hill Seeds.

The Morning Glory tree were seeds given to me Lee so I don;t know. But, you know, I think on any of those type of seeds, I would nick and soak overnight. Pretty much the same with any that are a hard shell.

If some tells you different I would be interested.

Sorry, I added the line on the Summer Hill Seeds without realizing it was already going.

Hi everyone, I am still alive and kicking. Snow is melting and temps are rising. I wanted to show you the daffodil field. You can see the rows of the new bulbs we planted in the Fall. they are all coming up. The older bulbs are to the left and they are still snow covered.
They started to come up in January and then the snow hit the fan and they have been covered since then. I hope you can see their little heads looking for sunshine.

Hi Lee:
Acording to the "experts" In the book "Parks suucess with seeds". They recomend to chip or notch the seed OR soak the seed 24 hours before sowing. they recomend 68 to 86 degree's in the soil and they should take 5 -10 days to germinate.
I know I use a pill spitter on the hard seeds I notch or chip and then I like to soak them in my special mix for watering in my plants. I think I have some room in my shelves I will try to sow some of the ones I have to see if they give me any issues.
We got out yesterday afternoon and pulled most of the leaves off my containerized plants. I had to relocat about 25% of them because my bro-inlaw is suposed to be borrowing a mini excavator to level out the yard both front and back as the tree's we had removed are now mounds of good soil. we had the stumps ground down and when they did the grinding they mixed some of the soil into the mix, so now we have low spots in front and behind the mounds. Now he has been "going to get" the mini for over a year now so I just using it as an excuse to clean up all my area's and to neaten up everyone.
we took out 4 huge bags of leaves. I know its a waist but I don't have composter yet and It might not appear this year so it out to the dump with the leaves. I am planning to try some of my tropicals burried and split off a few to try over the winter. I have a tropical bananna and a hardy one and for the life of me I don't know which one is which. I am also going to try a few of my ginger's as well as the black bamboo I have been carting around for a few years.
I had seen the black bamboo in one catalog that says its hardy to zone 6 and others say its only good to zone 7. we are boarder line 6 to 7. He is a pricey one to get a replacement so I will just try a small pice and see how he does. He just started turning black finally.
well I am off to do some more cleanup
Dave

JB thats some row of daff's

Those daffs look pretty good JB. You know what? My helebores did not bloom this year. The ground was/is frozen so hard that they probably couldn't get thru it. I hope it didn't kill them. We didn't get any snow over them. The ground is still frozen when you get down 4 inches my sister said. It is taking a long time to thaw out. Amazingly, so far my Rhodies look like they are ok. If they make it almost anything should.

The field has about 10 rows of daffodils in it. They are double rows. I begin cutting as soon as the bloom. Some people want to buy them in bud, but mine are so mixed I can not tell which is white, pink, orange, or yellow and must wait until they bloom. There are several years work in that field. I started it in 2005 with 600 bulbs. I add another 300 to 500 each year since then. Just started as my fun thing, now the field is half full of daffodils. I only put 300 in this past fall. They are all dutch bulbs too from Brecks and one year I lost all the pink ones and they replaced them for nothing.

My snow is melting today as well, but my daff's are not up yet.

Wow!! NJ beats CA. That is amazing. JB, you must have help to work with all of those bulbs! Where do you find the help? That's a lot of bulbs and they probably come on all at the same time? Or do they?

Do you have your stand all rebuilt. Didn't the weather do a number on it last year? Gotta get it all spiffied up you know. What do you plant the daffs with? Bone meal? Or do you have your soil worked so good that you don't need to add anything?

My son in law is a gem. He also has been in the nursery and farm business all his life. He was VP of one of the largest nurseries in NJ up until last year when they just closed. He helps me plant. I drop and he plants...only takes us a short time. The soil is so good we never add anything except my soil from the GH and other things that will rot and feed at the same time. LOL I have two white stands that are portable. We only put them out when we have something to sell. When we did veggies we had a wagon with a top on it
but we got rid of that years ago since we no longer do veggies. All we do now are Christmas Trees, Daffodils, Iris , Pussy Willows, Holly and the plants in the greenhouse.

Evelyn, that is a beautiful sight. It reminds me of my place before I came here. I love the big trees, but we had so many ticks to go with those trees. LOL. I got Lymes and the dog got Rocky Mt. Spotted Fever and had to be put down. All from living in the NJ woods.

good mornin: well we have finally got a good week going this week. we are suposed to be in the low 70's last nights low was like 48 so its not too far down the raod for outside planting. . Jb: Those are nasty diseases to deal with. I had the rocky mt spotted fever. To this day if I get so sick I throw up i get spotts on my face from it. I think it through my pottasium off in my body.
sending warm thoughts to everyone
Dave

Dave

Warm weather hopes coming to you.

We are suppose to be in the 39-43 degree today and SUN!!!!!!!!!!!!! hurray.

I just wish I was feeling well enough to get my little hoop house up today. This would so help when I go to look out the window and could see it.....knowing that spring really will come again!

Janet

I feel crapppy too, Janet, and I honestly think it is the lack of sunshine. My body is just totally out of sinc. I wish I had more energy and less fat. I sent you a private dmail. Is anyone having problems on the other list that was started. I am always lost on that one.I can not seem to find many of our friends on there. Dave, you went over there too didn't you? I am brain dead so help me. Later. I need to get back to the GH and get some work done.

I AM A MOMMIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have some babies up already, hopefully I can keep them going, didn't expect them to be so fast. Guess they are as anxious as the rest of us. Sure wish I had heat in my GH. Sno is finally starting to melt, slow but sure. What is Cubits?? Lee

I'm rather lost on cubits too, so don't feel alone.... 8 ~ )

Janet

Jnette, you must be kidding!

I have hard clay soil...double dug and added many amendments over a period of time. I have two dedicated bulb gardens, as well as a few bulbs in the ornamental beds, and this year, I dug some out and just found some a couple of weeks ago under my makeshift potting bench on the back porch....I planted them in a color bowl and they are peeking out. There is a variety of different ones, so it will be a surprise when it is in bloom. I'll take a picture of it, if it looks nice. Right now I am going crazy tryin' to figgure out which of my seeds need starting, and it seems that many of them should have already been planted, so I will get back with you later. I am doing WS, Deno and sowing in fruit containers wrapped up in plastic bags and put on heating pads. I checked the temp with a soil thermometer and it said 70 degrees! Boy, I got lucky not to cook them! They are in a bag plastic tray which is a bit thick and the heating pads are wrapped in two towels. Some are up already - lobelia, several varieties of tomatoes, diascia, and some old alyssum seed - that one is very old, and I messed it up with taking it off the heat too soon as well as taking the bags off, so it may have dried out a bit since there are less seedling there than there were...live and learn.

Now I just take the bags off for part of the day, so it will just dry out a little bit, to keep it from being soggy. Anyway....gotta go now..you take care, OK?

Good evening everyone:
i managed to spend the day with my dad. he had to trim his tree's. he like to have me there for input and to hold the ladder for him. he has this howwid silver maple that keeps putting on succker growth and downward growth to annoy him when he is mowing.
I also went to lows and got some onion sets and a new peoney and dahlia. they are the ones in a bag but I have had good luck as long as I feel the tubers in the bag and they are solid not mushy or nothing but peat moss they do real well for me.
Congrats evelyn on the new babies.
My brother in law borrowed a mini Trac hoe from work for the weekend. he is leveling the yard and trying to fix the drainage here at home. It looks so much better in back. got all the crap ready to be hauled off and most of the low dips are gone. Pic later. I plan to take a bunch of them.

OK the propagation hint I recieved with some bamboo seeds. they said to use plain clay kitty litter. the kitty litter had to be the non clumping and non scented. they said it has no soil so it does not have the soil borne issues other media has. I hope to try it soon.

Have a great evening
Dave

What is the kitty litter for Dave? You mean to plant bamboo in? That's interesting. I suppose the clay we have in our yards is the clumping kind.

What a big help to get a machine like that to help with the yard work. When you go to rent them it costs a lot, plus, how long does it take of practice to be able to do anything productive with them? By then it has cost you for the entire day.

Nice that your dad lives close by so you can go help him. Bet he really appreciates your help.

Hi Jeanette:
Its no big deal about getting the stuff done... I guess it was the last min. thing... I don't do the "drop everything we are doing this now" very well. It looks great I will try for pics as soon as it quits the raining and wet stuff.
I fell fortunate to have them so close and both in reasonablly good health. He looks forward to the tree trimming every year. we had to cut the crape myrtles back hard. he does it every 5 years. some of the staks are as big arround as my arm. they really have nice color to them with the pealing bark and all. They were about 15 feet tall on friday now they are about 4 1/2 feet tall. He has whats called a gator trim saw. it has a small chain saw chain and a clamping action to make it safer. Its great fun to use.
I hope everyone is doing well
Dave

Jen, go to your private dmail. Surprise!

When I first come on Dave's Garden, it takes forever now to load the home page. Is anyone else havring probmems with this? It only started to happen since last week when they did maintenance. If it is just me, then I need to check my settings or something.

JB I am having the same problems. Last week I couldn't log on at all for a couple of days, then I saw the maintenance notice, but like you, it has been so slow to load. Don't think it can be our settings if we both have the same problem. Anyone Else?????

me three on the slow downloads and changing between the forums.

Maybe that is why they are taking it down again tonight. Hopefully it will be fixed.

Janet

Mine started out that way but straightened out soon. I see they are going down again tonight in an hour and a half for maintenance so maybe they can fix you guys.

Mine started out that way but straightened out soon. I see they are going down again tonight in an hour and a half for maintenance so maybe they can fix you guys.

One other thing you might try to do a defrag on your computers, or run a few other cleanups. i.e. avg, adaware, whatever you all have. I think anything kind of cleans it up once in a while.

I spoke to Melody and she told me they are working on the problem and will be hopefully having it solved soon. We just need to bear with them.

Have you had any orders for the "ghoast customers" The ones who order, you invoice them and they never reply? do you have any suggestions how DG could change things to keep those people from purchasing. They sign in and order and disappear. There should be something they should have to do to purchase on the Market Place but I do not know enough about it to make any suggestions. Melody would love to hear from us if we have any ideas how to keep them from doing it.

JB, you mean you actually send them the product before they send the money? I have never had a vendor do that.

Or are they placing orders and not following thru with the purchase? Are there a lot of those?

JBerger,
I have had qite a few of those ghosts buyers also. All are new members who signed in recently, sometimes the day of purchase. I give them 1 week to pay and contact me. If none, I Dmail them that their order is cancelled along with future orders. I then put their name in a folder labeled NON-Payers. That way I can easily refer to it when an order comes in.

The only suggestion I can give is like Ebay have---a button to block a buyer from future ordering.

No Jen, I never send anything without payment unless it is someone like Dave, you or someone I know.
When I get an order, before I go getting the USPS postage and filling out that 15 minute form, I send a confirmation via Dmail to the person, thanking them for the order, telling them how I send it and asking them to confirm the order. If I do not hear from them, I cancel the order. I usually give them about 7 days.
I suggested to Melody maybe they could have two forms. One confirmation to use on those people who sign in and order on the same day and an Invoice form for us to use on our regular customers who we know are legit.
It would same some time in the long run and what a good idea it is to keep a file on duds. I should do that when I have time. LOL

Jeannette I have sent you two Dmails regarding the shipment. Have they gone through or did something happen to them. I have not had a reply from you which is very unusual.

I agree with Jeanette. defrag, dump the temp internet files and cookies. I find that helps me speed back up. I have had 2 ghost orders but I just put it in the live and learn. Now I had a huge trade that failed to send me my plants as part of their end. They tried to use the poor me I am disabled and don't get around well. I think we all fall under that as we spend too much time down low in the garden weeding planting triming etc. as you can tell it still bugs me.... it was a dozen jap maples and some other of my prized starts.
oh well I can only hope they try to order or trade with mein the future.
I managed to get my spider lilies, reserection lilies, the onion sets I bought and the baged flowers I bought. It looks pretty good for now.
I guess its nap 30 so stay dry and warm
Dave

JB, I have been answering every one of your posts that I have gotten. Jeanette. (Jen)

There is a problem on this site just now, we need to be patient. I got the answer you sent today on my last post.