kell, this is the timer i bought, and one of the 12 valves in my drip system (hubby installed). setting this up wasn't for me, but putting together the drip ends was kind of fun. they are color coordinated: 2g per hour, 1g per hour, 1/4 g per hour (yellow, blue, and red - - - NO PINK).
you just have to HIDE the timer and the valves. the timer you can lock.
Oooh, Moonglow, the photo of your timer gives me a bad headache!!! I know I should do that and I bought all the stuff but I just cannot work up the enthusiasm to tackle it....
oh, sorry about that sherry. i used to water my plants manually, but somehow hubby discovered my plant collection has grown in one season, and i'm spending way too much time outside. he was worried our three year old will roll down the berm with me, pail and all. lol.
Kell, My system is extremely easy. No electricity or wiring or valves (ok, the timer has a ball valve, but you don't have to fiddle with it), just put the batteries in, hook up the tubing and water. I did my greenhouse in about 45 minutes.
You can download this and print by clicking this link http://www.cutebassethounds.com/drip_for_ghse.jpg"
(hoping the link works!)
attached is a mini tutorial for the drip for my greenhouse, but the theory works for your garden as well.
This message was edited Nov 2, 2005 2:56 PM
cool.
I am off to work. I can't wait to get home tonight to look over all this info.
THANK YOU so much!
Gosh, Moonglow, I cannot imagine how you manage brugs and a three year old, wow, I'm impressed! I 'like' watering with the buckets, I need the exercise, and i hate to give it up but I'm going to have some areas next year that will not be as convenient and I'm going to be forced to put that drip system together and give it a try, but I'll drag my feet as long as I can...................question: what can I use for shelves in my GH that the water will drip through?? I haven't been able to think of anything, with exception of several iron bakers rack I have, but they won't hold everything...
Do you believe I hand water at home too? I have always enjoyed it being outside and because it my time to day dream and also to really give my plants a once over. But perhaps it is time to go modern. It is getting to be more of a chore than a joy. LOL THANKS Annapet and Laurie for all the info.
I am surprised though you do it in your GH, Laurie. In my hoophouse, even in my yard over winter, they get so wet I have to fight rot. The moisture beads up on the ceiling of the hoophouse and constantly drips. That is why I want heat in there, to try to dry it out some. The air itself just get so wet!!
Sherry, I use the tall heavy plastic racks that HD sells for about $50. There are 5 shelves and I do not connect them as a unit but use the legs attached to one shelf and put them like that right on the ground. They work great. They have slot holes in them, so they drain freely! HD sells 2 sizes, I buy the biggest one, I can get gallon pots 4 deep.
You will never believe this Kell, but I went out to my GH and learned that my son's wife gave me one of those very things that she no longer needed.
Re the root rotting and H202 - Kell, you should talk to someone that knows more about H202 and root rot than I do, root rot is one of the very few problems that i seldom encounter and then it's generally with teeny, tiny green cuttings. I do know that Loretta uses it for over watering and root rot, but i cannot remember exactly what she does. I should have used it on one brug for over watering but didn't because the brug is in the ground and I already had a rooting and a shoot grew out the bottom, so I just cut off the over watered part and all seems well. At this point, H202 is the most amazing product I've used. I've used it to root and for seeds, getting almost instant nubbies, rootings, and sprouting, with seeds. The best I can see, the H202 pulls the roots/spout out - hey, that's what it looks like to me and it keeps everything very clean and since I've been using it, I have not had one single mushy bottomed cutting. I have not over used H202 or made a move that has caused a disaster, but it is strong and I'm sure overuse is possible. I'm cautious with it, but I'm becoming more confident with each use...
Someone asked me on a thread last week how to root a big cutting. I tried to find this thread then but couldn't, but I found it now that I had a few minutes to look. But of course I can't remember who asked me now or on which thread. LOL
Kel:
In the original picture (which is truly amazing by the way) what is that pretty purple bush/hedge in the background?
I want one just like it..... hee hee! I can't wait to see what my brugs do... I only just started with several small ones last year.... wish me luck!
c
Isn't that a great bush? It is a bougainvillea and you can't beat it for mass color. I have one at home that is over 30 years old and is about 25 ft. high. It just is so purple in the summer. They come in all colors too.
I can't find a pic of my big one right now but here is a standard I have in my courtyard. So PINK!!! LOL
When is the bes time to take those big cuttings? I have a few candidates in mind. I'm gettings a transition place ready for my Brugs. I'm going to start moving them out of the greenhouse. Would now be a good time as I move them?
Wait till spring is definitely there and you have new good green growth. Then you know the they have the message to grow and they will not just sit there which can cause them to rot.
Spring is great for all cuttings, there is a chemical change in plants that makes them want to root and grow like crazy. Winter is bad for most things are wanting to be dormant or at least slowed down. The daylight hours are shorter but as it gets brighter for longer, your plant wakes up to grow. Even if you have them in a GH in winter, sometimes their internal message is stronger.
Kell , I potted up all the cuttings and standards you gave me . Are you or should I be worried about all the rain we have had ? I ended up with 3 standards , no new leaves yet . Thanks again .
Kell, I read through this thread with great interest! I have a large sucker to cut off. Do you let the sucker harden off on the bottom? Or immediately stick it in a pot?
Hi Tony, don't you just hate this rain?? I am so sick of it. It would be better if they didn't get so much wet but I find most plants can take rain better then they can take water from a hose. I have no clue why. Sometimes I put mine on their side if I fear they are getting too soaked. If you can move them to where they can dry out.
Fish knees, do you mean calloused? No, I stick it right in. Such big suckers usually have hard wood at the base which makes it much more tolerate of being in wet soil.
Kell, doesn/t it have to be a rather temperate climate too for that big of a sucker? Like if I tried to do that here in june, it probably would reduce the propagation chances.?
You mean because it would be so hot there in June, Rj?? You need to put them in shade and where you are deep shade. You would also have to keep your spoil moist where here it doesn't dry out too fast. But I do not think other than that it woudl be a problem.
Can you root small pieces in June there, Rj?? I think it is actually easier to root these big ones for they do not rot easily and can take having no roots for longer since they have much more food stored. Now I do have practically all the leaves off and I just kept the bare bones of the Y so the energy goes to rooting and not to trying to keep lots of branches alive.
If you can, you should root everything you can in spring, just by nature things want to root then so success is much easier to obtain.
PS But since I have only rooted them here, I could be full of it too. LOL
This message was edited Mar 22, 2006 7:02 PM
Not usually. If I root things after may it comes into the house and the airconditioned..and then they root just fine..but not out side. I was just looking at one my shoots, wondering how that would root. Very instructional thread...!
I remember now, my sister lived in Houston for months after the last hurricane. She said it was hotter than New Orleans. She said it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!
yes..very hot- the plants actually look very wilty around 4 oclock during the summer..you want to run and water everything- except they are already watered!!
speaking of which..let me go and take a pict of that bag. I can't remember what forum we were on!? Volcanic sand.
Plumies Rj................Plumies. LOL
Hi Kell that is quite a cutting it looks like you grow them big in northern california, We have has sone unusually cold weather for the last two weeks 15 degrees below normal and snow although the tulips,daffidills,and crocus are popping up right through the snow. i have spring fever so bad. Hopefully it will srart to warm up next week. Bob
Kell,
I searched for this thread as I remebered it from the past. I now have had to cut some really large brugs to the ground as they freeze to the ground here anyway. I am wondering about the 6ft cuttings I have now. Can they be done this way or are suckers different? Also can you root these large cuttings in water or do I need to put them in potting soil? I use MG, do I need to add more perlite? Sorry for all the questions but I have some really nice ones and would hate to lose them. Also do you HAVE to cut off most of the leaves and all of the buds? LOL I bet that is going to be a yes, but I sure hate to!
Thank you in advance for your help. I also think this is a good time to "bump" this as it is cutting time...
Carol
Carol...
yes.. I usually put them in the water for a bit before planting them inside.. for the late cuttings.. they will drop leaves and flower buds on their own.. here.. they also don't seem to form bum,ps as fast on the long cuttings as they might on say a 12" hunk the same size... but I plant htem on without them forming.. guess it has a bunch to do with the waters temperature ... not like in the spring
Kell... I miss you being about.. and the great pictures... come tell us how it's been going there.... and what you've done .... Gordon
I can't wait to try this. Just trying to decide if I should wait til spring. Zone 9, we get some frost, rarely a freeze, last year was the exception. lots of rain in the winter.
What do you all think?
Linda
I think they will grow just fine, at least they do here. If I don't pick up the trimmed parts, large or small off the ground here, they start sprouting and growing.
Rj
Yep. I made a basal shoot cutting that was about 4 feet tall last fall, stuck it in a bucket of water, kept it in a warm, decently lit room, and that was all there was to it. Didn't need a bubbler. Changed the water (oops, when I thought about it), and she had a massive root system this spring.
I'm so glad this thread was bumped -- I never would have found it or gained from so much advice.
I brought my brugs indoors just before the first frost in mid-October. I left them to dry out in the (darkish) front hallway, and let them drop their leaves (what a mess!). Trunks were 1-2" in diameter, and most were about 6' tall, all had bloomed. A week later I sawed off most branches above the Y (some had their own Ys) and plunked them in a bucket of water and stuck them in the (darkish and cool, 55F) basement. They were about 12-18" long and about as thick as my thumb. By mid-November they were covered with white nubblies (I gather that's the technical term), and some had even sprouted some leaves. The potted skeletons are also down there, and I'm keeping them barely moist. Even they have a few sprouting leaves.
Should I pot the cuttings? I'm thinking really wet ProMix to start, and let them root out a bit over the winter months, keeping them damp but not tempting them into active growth. I could cover them with plastic as suggested here... the house gets very dry with the furnace and all. Any advice?
You can keep them in water for quite a while which should keep the growth fairly slow. (Especially if room is an issue) When you pot them up, I would not use "really wet" pro mix. I would keep them moist, and if dryness is an issue you could make plastic tents. You would not want the plastic to touch the leaves.
AuntB, was nice enough to give me to brugs that she had stuck in a 5 gallon bucket of water and I beleive they had been there all summer in water. They had tons of roots and small leaves, I potted them up in soil watered like I did the rest of my plants and they never dropped a leaf and are now they are growing and really leafing out quite beautifully.
Joyce
