Plant Propagation Basics November continued

JU, that sounds like the Seattle ground. Only theirs is like on rollers and slides back and forth instead of breaking. That is why they put all those tall buildings on rollers. Don't know, just what I am told.

I was awake when the quake it last night. At 1:41a.m. I felt something and the cat on my lap sat straight up. There was the briefest of pauses and then everything started shaking and rattling. Luckily, I had no real damage. I did have two very unhappy cats. I wasn't pleased either. I lived in California for three years and this was the strongest one I have ever felt.

One thing I had not considered prior to last nights events is my big,but skinny, TV. I need to figure out someway to keep that from falling over so it won't land on a critter if it takes a nosedive.

I was glad to read that everyone is safe and damage free.

I lived in Indianapolis in the 1970's , a 4.8 tremor or about that happened , Felt like sitting on a board , with a big dog scratching under it ,

Slim wall TV , Aquariums , all those things that slide or fall , Grandma's favorite vase ..
not good , when that happens ,

Yes the sinkholes, those are definitely scary. Every state has it's drawbacks, every state has it's draws. Michigan for instance is pretty optimal in the spring summer and fall.

LOL it does kind of feel like that.

I have a set of solar chimes which sit in the living room. From the time the quake started until it stopped, I heard the soft tinkling of the chimes. It was somewhat surreal.

I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night so I'm saying good night now. Hope you're feeling better Ju. I'm just about to kick this cold. It feels like it has hung on all winter long and winter hasn't even started. LOL

Oops, sounds like Northeast Washington is better. Apparently we have had tremors here in the past, I've just never felt them.

Even Chicago Had one year before last ?, really unusual their first since the middle 1800's or something like that , Sun sneezes ,, all that ,,

Jen asked me about my device t, the leaf shredder , Takes me about fifteen minutes to assemble or disassemble when I am in the mood of playing ,
Anyway , here is the inerds ,(guts) motor cutter , etc ,
Should make material for Happy Worms ,
20 $ leaf shredder and mixer , not impressive , but functional

This message was edited Nov 20, 2015 12:34 AM

Good morning, everyone. I am happy to find roots on my Begonia 'escargot' this morning - rooted in plain tap water. I haven't been able to root begonia leaves in the past, so this makes me happy - now, to keep them going is my challenge - they rot easily. Should I pot them up now or wait for more roots?

hmmmm. On male dogs, I have 4. First time leg goes up, smack (light) on the leg, with a firm no and a firm OUT, and it hasn't happened again. (my dogs run from 37 pounds to 100 pounds btw). Young dogs are the worst, when they first learn to lift the leg.

On earthquakes, glad you are ok Deb. I have aquariums and a pier and beam house. I am NOT sure how to secure the tanks but I did notice I don't have much heavy stuff high up. Will secure my prettiest vase with fishing line across its front 2/3 up, secured to hooks or screws in the wall behind it. tanks are SO heavy they don't actually tip that easily. If my bouncing rottweiler hasn't knocked it over.... and if they do, well they do. the fish have their own room unless grandbabies are here.

My first freeze will be fairly hard and it is scheduled for Saturday night. Going out to square the bees away and decide whether to cover the watermelons or pull the fruit and let them ripen on counter for a month, bring in a few tomato plants and move tender potted flowers to the greenhouse. I got the solar wrap on it a couple of days ago. Photos when it is presentable (right now it is a mess) I have to check on pond customers with canister filters. 2 of my guys retired, ponds that didn't get their filter cleaned will be vulnerable to freezing and the filter exploding, so I have to call them, but I think seeing them can wait until tomorrow. Not that many.

Stay warm

You're pretty industrious Ju, are you an Engineer?

Kay, Debra told me to go ahead and pot them up if they're showing root nubs (in the last thread).

Gypsi, yes dogs certainly learn if you're firm and consistent, it sounds like you are. Sometimes I even have to tell my cats what is not acceptable behavior, they listen too.

Hi Robin Only the tinker , Do have some science background though ,


Gypsi , We have had a couple light freeze nights here , Hard freeze here is 24 degrees ,

I am using my grinding device I will be back . want to see how the double blades work , Actually with a leftover fan motor , that can be done for 3 $'s

Whoohoo Ju! Sounds promising.

Well the one hour test , did not go as well as hoped, 1/3 of construction bucket of ground up for mulch ,
Thin fan blades bent .
shaft had some thin stem twisting blocking
and the locking screws on the round blades were to far forward , causing more twist blocking

I thought the round blade screws would twist , no surprise there
Shorter screws
shaft guard
stiffer blades
3rd try add these , if not ,, give up time

Camera went dead battery too , lol
I feel like such a Pansy some days , lol
At least I can still bloom after being frozen a few times ^_^

iF i COULD "LIKE" THESE POSTS, i WOULD lol ( FACEBOOK STATUS) YOU ARE ONE HECK OF A GO GETTER, jU. sorry caps lock I am at work.

Pansy's are tough little plants...and they look real good too. I want to feel like a Pansy. There's no such thing as mistakes, just trials that show you what doesn't work.

Oooh Deb, just one more year of caps lock.

Debra Caps lock are easy reader , lol Thank you for the support .


Robin thank you also . the support , Flowers in the cold weather are nice , too bad the Iceland poppy did not make it , it would look good about now ,

My new configuration , The motor only got a tiny bit warm ,hardly noticeable after chopping for about that hour ,
Gonna try this next chance

Oh the reason I said failed was the blade being made, the fan type to see if I could , well , that part I have failed but I will try again sometime , I always seem too , lol
That above and this you have all probably seen long ago ' The screws mix but they do not cut much at all , this way though they don't jam ,the circular saw blades keep that from happening usually .. anyway ,
But about together ready for another try ,

Well you need a mechanism to agitate the leaves, screws would do the job. Would another blade set agitate and supplement shredding? Just an idea.

Oh by the way, support is well deserved. Rest is well deserved too.

hi Robin Rest part I really get , I have been asleep for the past four hours or so , lol
Screws pointed forward jam , leaves stick to them ,It the mechanism . is all assembled once again , I am thinking the flashing pieces , made like a potato peeler handle (sort of) might work ,
that is about the only thing I have not tried over the years ,
I do know real thin blades , with these light duty motors are about all that work , to accomplish ,

After I put it back together tonight I ran a piece of paper towel through it , it cut larger , and stuck to to screws partly , sooo I know these will work ,this set , but it cuts larger pieces , so once again , if I wanted small mulch pieces I will have to block the bottom or run things twice through the device ,
I am contemplating these three
1 plastic knife , super glue reinforced to the blade edge for the fan
2 doing another device with gears
3 and most likely , the flashing made into blades ,

Devices are so light there is only a very limited amount of weight as to blades and fan ,
Gears in process , lots to do to these yet to come , custom gears are not easy for me to do


As not really sleeping well my musing has me , I think I will spend something on a next larger size circular blade , lol


This message was edited Nov 21, 2015 2:21 AM

Custom gears aren't easy for anybody to do.

please tell me what "flashing" is and does to your shredder. It is nice to see someone trying to get to that goal of completion. ( o= thinking is good, doing what you thought up is even better.

work is gonna be crazy tomorrow , we have freezing temps right now , so there will be a lot of tire lights on and will need air in tires, and then there are the "oH! winter is coming! let's go get winterized. " crowd butting in between the set appointments, we are down 2 people so that is even worse. UGH one year, 4 months to go..
or not.
Joe picked all the tomatoes he could find, what was really green is wrapped and layered in a box.
one limb of large cherry fruit is hanging on their vine, over the kitchen sink, on a hook. One limb is in water downstairs. If I didn't work tomorrow, I'd stay up all night..

Beautiful Hibiscus the first photo Debra , Others are phantasmagorical !!!
This is what happens when I don't sleep ""right ""
Flashing is the thin metal that goes around chimney's roof fans , vents etc , it is extremely sharp edged , My thought is it could imitate shredder plate food processor blades , it is plenty sharp enough ,
I went ahead and got a couple new motors . little larger than the one I have been playing with ,
I will use this one as is , seeing if I can let it stat together , at least for a while , gave it a push through lid feature , push the stems and leaves through the lid ,

I had a little trouble setting it on a bucket , not much though ,
My only problem now is I don't like standing in the cold outside using it , oh well ,, cold hands , happy spring worms , = happier healthier plants and soil

Very beautiful Hibiscus Deb, I've never seen one like that before. Just like Ju's worms, I'm looking forward to spring.

HMMM rOBIN, i WILL HAVE TO TAG A CUTTING FOR YOU OF THAT hIBISCUS. :d

Nooo, that's a tropical, I've got my hands full at this moment. I'm trying to root some and grow others someone so generously sent me. Thanks for the gracious offer though, my basement isn't as well set up as yours, mine is only set up for seed production.

I built the seed unit and my hubby soon after built me a potting bench I stained white...here's my nasty basement...

I would wish for a basement but I doubt it would do any good , I am having difficulty keeping the plants I have ,
Nice to have the winter capable though ,
snow and 33 degrees outside , 15 or so tonight , , winter is here ,
Things I did not get done , too many , things I got done bunches ,
Now it is time to hope warmer weather returns , I am a lazy hope farm , fantasizing

Or not, Deb?!!!! That's what I told you before - OR NOT! Let's do it NOW!

Deb, I hope you survived your crazy, short staffed work day. I also hope you kept some energy reserve to play in your basement.

oh I am not wanting to work past my 65th birthday, dear Kayjones. no way. I am forcing myself to go every day as it is. so cold here.. I had to drain the last of the rainwater barrels for the low is 27 tonight. got a lot of it jugged up, tho. I have a guest, the 4 legged kind for a week, his name is Oreo. He is scared of the stairs, so we will see how long that lasts. Robin, I meant to root you a cutting here and not send until spring. I love your set up, your hubby did good. Wish I had a potting bench down there, I am putting in for the standing wash tub at work, when they move all the old stuff out, I want it for the faucets downstairs, then I can have something to wash my hands in and empty buckets into . we have the plumbing, just need the tub.

Your pictures are beautiful Debra, Besides the gorgeous Hibiscus, the others are so very pretty. That blue, what is it? Looks almost the same color , shade of blue, that JU's chicory is. Wish you had told us what each was. But, I guess we should be lucky we got the pictures.

Yours too JU. I am following your trials and tribulations with your mulcher. Fun to try different things. Keep in mind to wander thru the thrift shops just looking. Something might jog your mind or be just the thing.

Robin, there is nothing wrong with your basement. It is nice and neat. I am afraid to go down in mine. Bob has had it all to himself for the last couple of years so who knows how it is down there? Yours just doesn't have all the plants Deb's does. OH, and more than the plants, the lights. Those lights are expensive. Especially the T5s. I know they are called something different but can't remember what it is.

Thanks, Jen.. there is a peach hibiscus, a cyclamen, some cuttings from Buffalo, and the chi chi and the vine from a good friend here in those pics above. chichi is really purple, but the light made it look blue.
you have the correct name for the overhead lights i use, they are T5's they put out all the lumins of daylight down there. it did cost a lot for the three of them. 1800 installed.

I would have guessed more. What is to installing them? Special wiring to/in the breaker box? 220 breakers and wiring?

yes they had to re-wire, I spent another 900 on a new breaker box for all the new outlets. more wattage on each outlet, too. these guys are really good. our old wiring was really really old.

Then there are the benefits of of fresh herbs when it is below the being ,
such as a 15 degree night here and Basil and chicory in the pasta sauce ,,
Leaves of these , something healthy in tonight's sauces

How lucky are you Ju? Mmm fresh herbs.

Jen my lights are T12's and T8's just regular daylight and sunlight fluorescent tubes in regular, old school type shop lights with plugs. I'm lucky to have something, it keeps me off the streets, lol. I've been waiting for you to ask about the beautiful blue flower, thanks so much!

My neat basement is my DH's fault, when stuff is out of sight I forget I have it. Argh, I'm forced to be neat.

I never thought about having to drain the rain barrels. One of these days, I'm going to have one of those to drain too.

Just lost another post on here. Guess I'll go watch the second half of this football game. Not a very good game. Guess I shouldn't complain, the Seahawks are ahead. But the 49ers have a worse record this year than the hawks do. Now they are getting cocky so they will probably lose.

That's all I have too Robin, but I get the Metal Halides and the others, can't remember what they are. The MH are for foliage and the others for blooms and produce. I put those 2 on reflectors for the houseplants. The florescents in the shop light fixtures I use for my seed starting. I buy the ones in the reflectors from the hydroponic stores. Actually, I buy a lot of my stuff from them.

Bob has a young guy coming over to help him put the blade on the ATV to plow the driveway this winter, and some other things. So I will have him turn the rain barrels over so they don't get water in them, freeze, and split. Bob won't put the gutters up, says the snow rips them right off when it comes off the roof. The roof is real steep. He had the barrels rigged to water his vegetable garden. But not from the gutters.

Congrats on the Seahawk win Jen! Your ATV sounds like fun, more fun than a snow blower.

well we had a fairly solid freeze here, although Dallas proper did not freeze. I got my plants in, haven't got the aquarium "greenhouse" lit in the fish room but I did bring in a tomato plant from my pond tray and a pepper plant and stuffed them in it. Then spent the day stripping out the old hardwired garage lighting and installing a switched outlet with a hanging shoplight to replace it.

that had to be done in daylight Whole thing was gradually failing due to transformers for years, replacing the transformer is a 1 week fix, after spending $14 for the transformer and the time to change it, so I had let it run til the last light went out.

My greenhouse photos are in the Texas Gardening section, I am too pooped to read upthread, will try to catch up Thursday (thanksgiving) if not sooner. Just have a short dinner I think.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1409693/ greenhouse is stuffed, can't find my lighting 3 way...

my bog tray by moonlight. Peppermint didn't freeze. or the chard, but the rest all did