I've found those same baskets, but without the insert. Boo!
Keep an eye on those wire baskets lined with coco fiber...my 24" ones have branches growing through the sides. I just cut them off, because there's no way to ever get the plant out in one piece.
A new year begins
Greenhouse Megastore online. I buy all my greenhouse supplies from them and the prices are good. They have a variety of hanging baskets and hangers for that matter. I prefer the wire ones as the plastic ones get brittle pretty quick in the sun.
Microb, I think I sent you a NOID red last year, I hope it is doing well for you. Mine has like 100 buds on it, it's going to be spectacular.
Those plastic pot tend to split too after a few years in the sun.. I have a few that need to be replaced. I do replace the hangers with wire hangers, but....
HI Dee, I checked on that NOID Red and Pink. Its doing well. Will not bloom this year but should be in good shape next. Prompted me to check on other trades that I received. I don't keep them all together so had go through the pots and look at labels. Those that I have found so far are doing well. There are more out there but did not get time to check every label. As I find them I'm grouping them together. Thank you to all the traders. Hope mine are doing well for you.
I checked out the Greenhouse Megastore. Prices look good and saw some hanging pots with the plastic inserts. What kills us in Hawaii is shipping. Sometimes doubles the price.
Is anyone using MiracleGrow Potting Soil. Just curious on prices. I picked up a 2 cu ft bag last weekend for $16.50. Super soil potting mix was half the price but stores have stopped bringing it in. Quality was so-so and inky toadstools popped up from some bags.
I have found I like Unigro which is about $10.00 a 2 cu ft bag locally. I used to buy Super Soil but I can't get it locally anymore either. I've never been a huge MiracleGrow fan.
I can only imagine the shipping costs you face. I'm always so careful when I order anything online to get the best deal on shipping, sometimes that means ordering more so the box is full.
All of the cuttings you sent me are doing great. They have all put on growth and I expect to see some blooms this year. What fertilizer do you use on them? I bought a large bag of pelleted stuff from a local seller and it has worked well on everything else so I'm thinking maybe a little would be alright?
I use an all purpose fertilizer like 16-16-16 around October and January. Then a 10-20-20 in Feb and March just before blooming
My neighbor is a PhD in something and is national orchid judge and specialist. He knows the science of botany and mixes his own formulae and feeds through overhead automatic system. He has about 60 pots of epis which look like they are on steroids. Huge bulky thick branches
On his advice I purchased some water soluable fertilizer with a strange number mix. Trouble is I don't take the time to mix it. I must get a fixture for my hose and see if I can liquid feed them.
Dee - I did find another of your cutting listed as NOID Red Vern's also doing well.
That's the one, NOID Vena's red. MIne has like a hundred buds on it. It's from my neighbor Vena, who is in her 80's. I think I'll go ahead and put the slow release stuff on them, I learned the hard way to be careful with fertilizer. I used some cheap stuff on my flower garden like five years ago and the daffodils had like 3 foot leaves, it took 3 years for them to bloom again. I'm real careful with nitrogen now.
First Queen of the Night. Early this year.
It's gorgeous!
This latest bloom is Vern Pettinger.
I'm so glad I do these posting with names. The label fell out of this one so it was a NOID until it bloomed. I was able to go to last years forum and found it there with its name. I must remember to go back and print it
you're lucky. most of mine end up being noids forever.
Lots of new blooms but no new varieties yet.
It was a double Strictum last night.
Vern Pettinger is a beauty! Nice coloration.
No new pics to post but plenty of new blooms from Grand Prize, some small red NOID, Strictum and Acadia. Bloom count for April has just past last years count.
Notes to myself: My neighbors mother who lives in CA sent over a few cuttings with her son beginning of 2015. New growth is great. Her parent plant back in CA was getting too big for her small lanai so she gave it a good trim while keeping the large plant shape and asked what to do with the trimmings. My neighbor asked if she wanted to mail them to me. So he did.
I now have 42 new pots of the NOID that we have named Levinicus.
For some reason this year I'm having more that the normal number of buds dropping off. They get to an inch in size and then turn orange and fall off. Looks like the branch cannot support the number of buds on the branch and only allows the strongest to survive. Might be losing 15-20%. Never had this happen before. Any thoughts?
I have a few doing that, but I think it is our yo-yo weather...hot for a few days, then cold for a week. Just a guess.
Gold Charm in full swing and could not resist these two Grand Prize
New today, Morocco. Blooming on a cutting taken March 2014.
We've had so much rain that I considered moving mine back inside for a while. I have potted up some little ones into bigger pots and I have lots of new growth, but no buds set yet. I have almost decided they aren't getting enough sun.
I am feeding them bloom food again in May and then will switch to the normal Peter;s fertilizer at 1/2 strength.
I am finding that the ones I have repotted aren't root bound, so I am sure that is another reason I am not getting buds.
Not to worry though, I am enjoying your flowers.
Morocco is a very pretty pink and Gold charm is gorgeous.
Here's todays new bloom - Bumpkin. Have to check but I don't think I've had this bloom before. The pic does not do it justice. There is much more contrast between the white and pink of the petals. There are two or three more buds so maybe they will look better.
Progress pic on Curly Locks. Branches are getting really thick and chunky.
Talking of rain its really coming down right now and blowing as well. We are getting big swings between rain and showers.
Your Curly Locks look so much better than mine. Mine kind of stalled out, the weather has been moderate here. Do you have them under shade cloth? I'm thinking I may need to get mine out in the sun, or maybe in the greenhouse with a mister on them would be even better. I need to work on the humidity factor, the papaya I have in the greenhouse isn't very happy either. The pink and white one is beautiful.
The Curly Locks are in a greenhouse with clear plastic sheet roof. Quite bright light. They had 16.16.16 fertilizer and water about every 10 days. Temp goes down to low 60s and up to mid 80s but mostly we are in the mid 70s. This is their third step up in pot size. Will probably leave them their until about October before going into hanging pots and their permanent home.
Oh, I do talk to them quite often with my English Gardeners accent. That seems to help:)
They look gorgeous!
A couple of new ones - the first is a NOID and the second is Peach Magic.
I read over last years posting and was surprised at using the same phrase at the same time of the year last year - overwhelmed by the number of buds forming!
Both are beautiful!
I'm just drooling over your blooms. We had a couple of weeks of hot weather and now it's cool again and the cactus have stopped making buds.
Of course knowing you're in Hawaii doesn't help either, I need a vacation and Kona sounds like just what the doctor ordered.
They are gorgeous. I have a tiny peach magic epi, so seeing your picture let's me know what I can look forward to.
I don't have any visible buds except on my acanthorhipsalis monacantha. I am still feeding them and I have begun to re-pot those that I know will not bloom this year. I didn't realize I had so many.
Here's a better pic of two new Bumpkin blooms.
New ones are a cream colored NOID from my neighbor Glen and Wild Plum. Both the new ones are blooming on last March cuttings so nice to have them on the kitchen table. I think the quality of the cream bloom will be better on a mature plant.
Dozens of new Grand Prize blooms this year (April 7th pic). Real showy.
Epis never seem to stop growing. Last pic is my third greenhouse. It only has two variaties, a red Noid and Grand Prize. These mature plants are in two gallon pots and about 4 years old. Branches are stretching out and intertwining with each other and blooming too. Not sure what I will do with these over the next couple of years.
New Bloom this morning - NOID White
Beatiful! Love bumpkin! 1 of my noid's is a bumpkin. I just don't know which 1. LOL
Wild plum is pretty too. Oh what am I saying, they are all gorgeous. LOL
Latest new blooms - first two are NOIDs, third one is ChiChi Costanaga (spelling might be off). Chi Chi was a slightly deformed bud caught between two branches. Two more buds coming will look better.
Surprised to see so many Queen of the Night buds ready to open.
The Strictum on the driveway has about 20 new buds coming for next month.
So far over 100 blooms this month.
New this morning is a NOID unofficially we named it Levinicus as it came from my neighbors mum in CA and their last name is Levin. Goes back in their family over 80 years.
The other pic is two blooms that I have thought to be the same variety but comparing the two seems like they maybe different. I thought it had red petals with a fuschia tint on the center but now the second plant is showing much more of the Fuschia color. I thought they were cutting off one of my original plants. Could there be that much variation?
Those Curly Locks seedlings that started last November are growing fast. Tapped one out the pot today and found roots curling around the inside of the pot. Will be potting them onto to hanging pots and putting them in a better location. They need to have somewhere to hang and not be in a bench pot.
Tonight's new blooms - Queen of the Night
Love to see them bloom!
Lots of new blooms every date but here are the three latest new ones
Zorina, Dark Passion, Mary Betty.
Its difficult to get the photos to do them real justice.
Queen of the Night blooms are amazing but the plant is to difficult to manage. I have two mature plants.
One has long 6-8ft long dowel rod shaped branches with other branches shooting out every 18 inches or so. These off shoot branches are where the "leaves" are that hold the bloom. I've never trimmed it. Its about 8 years old.
I'm thinking of cutting these long round branches back to the offshoot branch nearest the base. If I cut these long dowel rod shaped pieces into 8 inch lengths will they grow. I'm probably going to do it anyway at the end of the blooming season but wondering what other folks do to control old large plants. I know they will grow from the flat leaf cuttings. But what about the woody branches.
They respond to pruning very well. I've never tried to start those round branches though.
They will grow from sections of rods. I prefer to leave a branch junction attached as it speeds up the process.
Thanks for the advice.
Here are the latest blooms for this year.
Meadow Rose,
Three Oranges
NOID Orange
Getting some new blooms, love the oranges.
1. My first orange bloom
2. King Midus
3. NOID pinky red near the Hobbit House
Very nice. Love the Hobbit House