Yes, Martha - that's the red ones I have pictured above.
Alice - but OF COURSE I want the bestest one! LOL
Tropical Gardens and Plants 108
We have 4 water sources. Right outside my desk window is a two tier fountain/bird bath. A 350 gallon horse trough that used to have fish. A small statue/container on the ground. Another smaller bird bath filled with rocks so the little ones can drink.
Wow Christie,
I live in Caddo Mills, we just went into stage 2 water restrictions. I get to water on Tuesday and Friday before 10 AM and after 6 PM. We just bought our property so most of my plants are still in pots. I have 1 birdbath, 2 wading pools for the dogs and several bowls for dogs, chickens and the cat. I'm moving some things around so that they are in the very little bit of shade that I have so that maybe the water doesn't evaporate as quickly.
God Bless you guys!
Sorry ladies, but until I get these AeAe's figured out, I won't be letting any part the Mothership! Even for CASH... LOL
I admire you Texans that are trying your best to save the trees, wildlife and etc. during such a drought. I hope Rita, Jerry, Randy and Patty would let us know how things are going as well...
LoveForests, I admire you for caring and making sure your dog is secure and taken well care of.
I hitting the hay! big leg workout today ..sore already...Real sore Wed...always that second day after ... with spin class tomorrow I will be moving slow at Sams
Goodnight all!
Drew, what is 'spin class' and what's going on at Sams - do you work there? You don't have to tell us - inquiring minds just have to ask!
It's like a 20-25 mile bike ride through the mountains with jammin music, but you are stationary in a class setting at the gym!
Sams... like Costco... making a run today!
Man, you are a man for all reasons! What do you find to do with all your 'extra' time ie HOW DO YOU DO IT ALL?!!!
We did our run to Sam's yesterday for hurricane supplies. Doesn't look like we're going to need them this time.
But Drew, how are you going to protect your plants? I've seen people around here tie the leaves of big-leaved plants all together in a bundle to minimize windage and flapping. One fellow uses duct tape - you living in NASCAR country up there would know this as "200mph tape". He also lays plastic over the root systems held down with rocks and mulch to prevent the rain from flooding the root systems which can lead to the plant blowing over, as well as root rot.
To be frank, I'm not sure how well all this works, but the one guy who showed me his pictures of his garden in "hurricane mode" sure has a gorgeous garden!
Alice, glad to hear you have reservations and are ready to fly the coop! Don't know if you'd get a hurricane surge on the left quadrant as it goes by, but there sure could be a lot of water flying around there this weekend if this storm goes the way they're saying. Be safe!
Another shot of Debra's Monster White - I'm just so tickled with it, coming from a little cutting with 3 leaves in April! This is its second set of blooms, too! I missed the first ones while on my last trip.
Drew, call one of your local Florida room screen replacement companies and ask for some discarded vinyl screening - they just toss it in the dumpster. I use SO MUCH of this product to protect my plants. I use it to protect young plants from the hot sun, for keeping the leaves on tall plants from being ripped by the wind, for keeping critters off my fruiting plants - LOVE this stuff!
Oh my. Just watched the latest on Irene. I am praying for all of my friends in Florida and along the east coast. Can you imagine? a earthquake on the Colorado/New Mexico border last night and now one in Virginia today that was felt in the Capitol and New York City. My heart is with you.
Christi
Christi, thanks for the prayers - my middle Son lives in Virginia and his wife is almost 9 months pregnant - I am worried and hope to hear from them this evening.
Rachel, Thank you. I would get sickened badly if anything bad ever happened to my old dog. Most of my money always goes towards him.
In an emergency, 80% percent of my weekly income would go to him and my two cats (food, comfort and water for them. They are first, I am second.), ... But as far as I go, I would just put up with as little food and necessities for me as possible for a long time (I would literally eat a handful of cereal twice a day for a long time if I had to, until things recovered from a storm here).
Have had my old dog since he was 1 years old and he's now 11 years old. If he gets separated from me for a period of time he gets sick with stomach problems, I never want to be separated from him ever again, He's been the absolute best to me. He's all I got besides the two kitties right now.
Christi, my goodness that is expensive to use water there. You are such a trooper. I personally would be so depressed seeing plants/trees dieing from lack of water. For now, we have wells, we are not on city water (that will be changing though).
Down the road I saw someone had planted a Norwegian Pine tree in the patch of grass that separates the two roads near here. The tree was only 3 feet tall, and started to turn brown. I wanted to drive by it and dump a gallon of water on it twice a week, but I did'nt and the tree dried up and died.
I really really hope you get rain soon there in Texas. And for those in the Carolinas, I will be thinking of you. I'm hoping so much that this hurricane will just make a sharp right turn, away from the east coasts or the strength of it will dwindle alot.
--Christina.
This message was edited Aug 24, 2011 12:50 AM
Christina, it is very depressing. There are more dead/dying trees now than healthy green ones. Even things in the shade with adequate water have died. The continuing high air temps with extremely low humidity is doing a number on the vegetation.
Goodmorning America and to all Tropical Gardeners.
This just about somes up the story
of my little garden in the big state of
Dust Bowl Texas 2011
ps,I still have green to show later. Jerry
Hi, Jerry. Where have you been hiding? Rita is not posting. Do you know if she is ok?
Christi
Dear Christi.
I had a power outage and my computer is acting up.
Rita is find and watering all the time. All i've been doing
is working and watering,WATERING and Working to
pay for the water bill! Grass is dead as last years hay!
Ole dust bowl jerry
In that the three of us live in a triangle, it is the same here. So many dead trees everywhere.
I've been talking to another friend who's describing all her extreme measures to use every bit of water. She collects up water in the hand basins and kitchen sink (keeps the drain plug in) and uses a scoop (or what we sailors call a bailer) to put it in the watering can then carries it out to her potted plants. Same with shower/bath water.
The plants are all gathered under a tree, so they help humidify the area around them a bit, and when any water runs through the pot plant, it goes to water the tree.
She says she also hasn't used any of her 'regular' sprinklers in months because so much of the water sprayed up into the air is wasted when it evaporates before hitting the ground.
Dyzzypyxxy, what an "excellent" idea your friend has!
Many many months here in the late autumn to late spring we get barely no rains, so the grass turns brown and black, as well as the plants. The fruit trees shrivel and droop. But what a great idea about trying to save the water being used in your house to then use outside (providing there aren't too many chemicals in it like shampoo or soaps). Might look into a 'rain-barrel' or two also.
Wish I could send Christi and Jerry water. Have a good amount of water here for about 4 months during the late summer.
The little bit of soap or shampoo in washing water won't harm your plants. If you consider the gallons of water you use, compared to at most a couple of teaspoons of soap, it's insignificant. In fact, it can help wet the soil if it's really dry as soap is a surfactant (wetting agent). Some places even allow laundry water from washing machines and dishwashers to be used as gray water. Again the small proportion of soap to the large amount of water lets it do no harm.
Here are scoops (bailers) I use to transport water from my rain barrels and various tubs to my plants, made from various plastic bottles - the right hand one is a gallon milk jug. (screw-top lids are best, snap tops need to be glued on). Just cut the bottom out of the jug with a pair of sturdy scissors, screw the lid on tight, and you have a nice gallon-sized scoop with a handle!
We've used these in our boats for years, because they're cheap, flexible and so easy to use. Anywhere water collects, you can easily scoop it out and use it for your plants with these guys.
dyzzypyxxy, wow!
What awesome information about the plastic scoops. And thank you for the info about household soaps being safe in the water that could be used outside :]
In earlier days our grandmothers always threw the dish water out on the garden and it is thought that the soap, which was very harsh in those days, served as a deterrent to the insects.
We do not have a water shortage here at this time but I have a very thrifty neighbor who uses a little aquarium pump to pump her bath and shower water out the window into a rain barrel. All the kitchen water that runs while it is getting hot is caught in a bucket and transported outdoors. She would do well in TX this summer. :-)
I think I have mentioned this somewhere before, but, just in case.......I believe in the near future all new homes will be plumbed to route the grey water to the outside. Actually this is the first generation to be so wasteful. My mother and her mother had the water from the washers drained to the outside. Grandmother was on a septic tank so that took care of everything else and the grass was always so green in that area. I can well remember the older family members throwing the dishwater (in a dishpan) outside and all the scraps from any meal went into the chicken yard. Now I was born and raised in the great city of Dallas, Texas. (being sarcastic) That was 1941 and it was little more than a hick town. Still is. Just there are those that "put on airs" as my grandmother would say. I married in 1961 and that is when the generation of wastefulness got into full swing. What does this have to do with Tropical Plants. Everything at my house. They are dying......
Don't know about you guys, but a 2gal. pump sprayer with a mild solution of soapy water is always at the ready in my garden. About a tablespoon of dish soap to the 2gal of water. When the veggie garden is going in the spring and fall, I spray that stuff around at least twice a week - and after it rains - to keep the aphids, spider mites and whiteflies at bay. Also use it along the pathways that have the jasmine groundcover next to them, to keep the chiggers from biting my ankles. They love that groundcover!
This time of year, I also keep a 1qt. spray bottle of baking soda and water solution to help ward off fungal infections like black spot and powdery mildew. I don't grow a lot of plants that get these problems, but there are a few! About 1/2 tsp. baking soda to a quart of water seems to keep the leaves of my roses and the two hydrangeas nice and healthy.
I've also started using it on the new little fig tree, as earlier in the summer it had a case of rusty fungus and dropped most of its leaves. It's got a whole new set of nice clean leaves now, and has a little crop of figs coming along, too. See them up top, middle and lower left?
So glad that you are going to have figs. My mother made fig preserves and added a package of strawberry jello....hence, strawberry jam. You cannot tell the difference.
Christie, you just reminded me that one time, many years ago, we bought a home that had a septic tank. Not long after moving in my son, who was about 8, came running into the house and said Mom, there are suds in the woods. We learned that the washer was not connected to the septic tank but just drained into a swampy area. I was careful to use phosphate free detergent after that. .
Oh, ho! That sounds delicious! Gonna be a few years before I have enough figs to make preserves, though. I just love eating them fresh. If I can just get to them before the birdies and squirrels . . .
But I do think I"m going to try planting some strawberries in my raised bed this winter. Just can't get a good strawberry at the store these days! I have sweet potatoes growing in there now, and once they're harvested the quest for a perfect fresh strawberry in February will begin.
Here's another recipient of the soapy water spray program, my little brug "Charles Grimaldi" who was a tiny sprout in a 3" pot in April. They get infested with spider mites overnight, it seems. Debra says putting Windex in the soapy spray helps, too. I just added it to the last batch, so I'm trying it starting tomorrow.
The house I grew up in had a drain out in the yard that the Cloths washing machine drained out into. The grass always grew extra nice there, and Clover went wild. My horses loved it. We have a septic tank here, with the super duper drains, and the grass is always extra nice over them also.
We're planning on rain barrels here soon also. In the meantime I take tubs, and place under the eves of the horses sheds that are out near the greenhouse, and use it to water as much as I can in the greenhouse and plants in that area.
Elaine, I have a Turkey Fig; what is yours?
I bought 'Celeste' because it has dependably two harvests a year around here. Also the figs are green until they're ripe so not as evident to the birds and critters (wishful thinking??).
How's your hurricane prep going up there?? Looks like you might get wind, but maybe not so much rain.
Oh my gosh!, you guys have such great ideas and info, so glad I stumbled upon this post :]
Here in Florida, the insects, fungus, blight and black-spot are excessive, so will try the soapy water ideas from now on.
No need!!! 15-20... gusts to 25 for maybe a few hours Sat. morning!
That's great, Drew. Phew!
We'll even be getting an extra-dry day courtesy of the hurricane going by and sucking all the moisture in as it goes. A benefit of a near miss, I guess.
Cheers Elaine
This message was edited Aug 24, 2011 11:36 PM
What amazes me is, my 'pigmy palm trees' are looking more horrible with every heavy rain we get! Aren't palm trees supposed to be happy when they get frequent rain & humidity?? I just don't get it. Thinking of chopping down those little palm trees and replacing them with something else.
Yea,I think the outflow air from the storm ends up like high pressure and sinks. You guys my be a couple of degrees warmer, but less humid.
Pygmy palms possibly to low in the ground? Does water gather around them during a heavy rain?
Pygmy palms are very resilient, don't give up on them too soon! As Drew says, too much water can cause problems, though. We planted new ones at the end of our driveway this spring. Well raised up as you see.
Water collects at the end of the driveway in a big puddle, but the little palms are 'islands' and seem to be doing well.
Can you post a picture of your palms, LoveForests?
Relieved for you guys that Irene is not going to do a hit on you. We are to be at 108 today.
Looks Good Elaine!