Well....what do you guys think?

These are the alocasias and colocasias that I started from tissue culture in mid February. I was trying to get them big for an order-she wanted the calidoras in the 3 gallon pots 4-5' high. You can see the calidora on the left is in the 3 gallon and the others are in one gallons. I think they look pretty good, but I wonder if the one on the left will grow another foot or so in the two weeks? Seems like they put their growth into fattening out. The stalks and leaves seem to be growing but not heightwise.

Here are the Royal Hilos ...they don;t seem to have a height problem Since I have never grown them before, I need all of your opinions-would you be happy with these if you bought them? No one knows better than you all!

And last the californias. These have been the most trouble for me-I raised the PH and saw a difference with some, but I raised it again because it was still about 5.8 or so and it doesn't seem to make a difference. There are still yellow leaves. I have kept up applications of magnesium, so I don;t think thats it. I think they should be branching more and perhaps bigger. They are in 3 gallon pots as well. There are some Hilo Beauties in front of the Californias.

I think they look really great! I think you have put as much into them as you possibly can for this time of year. Once they stay good and warm they are really going to take off!

Thanks Michele-I just hope that she thinks so. They have been good and warm for awhile though-so when are they going to grow??/ I need another foot on them! lol

I think you are going to be just fine! Once you get the root mass, the tops are going to sail! I'm very impressed you got liners that big without the hot sun and high temps. You are doing great!

I'll second that!!!
Chele,you know the way to North Carolina?

Even better, I know tigerlily! Just bat your eyelashes and click your heals together!

Hey I can do that!
Here I come!

LOL Watch out tigerlily!!! He's a comin'!

I think I need to learn that tissue culture thingy,and do you use some king of growth enhancer?
Thats a lot of good growth since february!!
I like that!
Your whole body must be green,not just your thumbs!!!

lol tropicman...its a long story but no growth enhancers except fert. I put some slow release triple 14 in the medium to get more growth, but it was sulfur coated and started to pull the PH down too low. I was also hitting it with 20-10-20 about 200 ppm, but slowed down on that and switched to 15-0-15 to raise the PH, and also added liquid lime to raise it as well. I still can't get the yellowing on the older leaves gone, but the PH is higher. Its not my best success, for sure, but they aren't dead either! I really need another foot on those calidoras in the 3 gallon pots but not sure if that is going to happen in 2 weeks. If I had started them in January, I think I would have been ok.

They might have been bigger but so would your heat bill! LOL

I'm learning lots this year and you have been really helpful! I know I can start some stuff later and other stuff earlier. Now I have to remember to write it all down while I remember!!

I still think you rock, even if you are green. LOL

TL, very impressive to me. SB

lol well you will think I rock even more after you get this box I am on my way out the door to send to you. I didn't label some things...good luck lol

Tigerlilly they look great to me. :~)
This is something I don't do myself, but if you really need a quick fix punch on height, the best way I know is with some of the growth enhancers that contain synthetic gibberelins (ga3 especially), like MegaGro & others. They can skyrocket stem elongation in a very short time. Of course the tradeoff is that you usually don't get a matching surge of root growth (at least with the gibberelic acid component), so you might not want to do do this long term. I have seen long term studies of just ga3 on rootcrops like potatoes, & while it increased leaf mass it also showed a little bit less tuber growth (important with your tropical aroids) than in the control group. But if the plant is healthy & it's in the prime growing season, then I think it wouldn't really be a negative overall.
Edit: I forgot to mention that ga3 component is also famous for greening up yellow leaves that were thought lost.

This message was edited Apr 15, 2006 7:24 AM

looks awsome, my cals get real full and then all the leaves fall off and does that the whole summer, but they do the gold leaves too. I use a 20-20-20 on all my plants. Is a Royal Hilos the same as a violet stem?

ely

Thanks Grrrnthumb and Ely. I need the roots as much as the heighth at this point-I just transplanted them about 2 wks ago into 3 gallon and I haven't even checked the roots-but I got to have the roots-even more than the height.

So Ely-your californias do the yellow leaf too? I can see from the pic they are yellow..some of them. Driving me crazy. Raising the PH should have made a difference. Its only the cals that are really doing it. Do you have any idea why? I don't use 20-20-20 for two reasons. One is that most plants don't need that much phosphorus, they can't process it, and if I remember correctly the triple 20 is in a higher percentage of ammonical/urea nitrogen and growing in a soilless medium, I need the fert ot have over 50% of nitrogen in the nitrate form.

I use the 20-20-20 becasue that is what I use on my brugs and instead of having 10 different ferts I only use one. I for my ears I use 1 scoop to 3 gallons. I use to use a 4-2-4 that was made from processed chinken poo and the people that sold it went out of business. I don't know know why they turn yellow

ely

You should see a nice jump of growth soon on them. They now have the root system to produce some nice large leaves to bad you only have a few weeks left I would say one more month and they would be really nice.

I wonder if ironite,or Epson salt,would bring the ph down to much,but it does green the leaves up some!

tiger, where do you sell your plants at? I would love to buy a couple from you if I could.

Jesse

I obviously have tropical plant lust as I've been lurking in tropicals and greenhouses and now coleus. What have you people done to me! My bathroom can only hold so many tropical plants yet I'm now constantly trying to figure out how to ram more in there!

Backing up a bit to TL's issues. GA3 might actually help given you’ve only got two weeks left although you’d have to do some major homework as it is my understanding timing of applications is critical mass as would be concentrations or you risk having the plant flop over. I think you’ve done a fantastic job to date. This may be completely off the wall but I'm going to toss a different style of pot into the mix for you to consider in the event you have another request to grow a specific plant for height. Have you ever considered a Rootmaker Grounder Pot? I took a few photos for you but the concept is remarkably simple in that these air pruner pots discourage roots from circling while developing another layer of fibrous roots. I’m wondering if you might not be able to get even more height out of your contract plants by swapping pot styles combined with
your TLC.

Here are some photos of the pots that I took to give you an idea of what they really look like-

Here's another photo-

I have to go outside and get at least 10 trees and shrubs in the ground but I’d be interested in your thoughts on this particular pot. Last photo-

Tman... I have been adding epsom salts every 2 wks, I think the iron deficiency shows up as the new leaves turning yellow, but maybe in alocasias its different. Was thinking it was a calcium deficiency -that the calcium was tied up by the low PH. I may never know-except if I do a foliar analysis to see what micronutrients aren't present in the plant. I may still do that-
Jesse, I don't really sell my plants anywhere...I am a wholesale grower and my crop is basically presold before I grow it, but I have not forgotten contacting you, but if you want to buy some, I have to fill the orders first and then I should have extras. Beware though, that I am primarily an annual grower-begonias, lantana, sun coleus, impatiens etc.

Equil, I will certainly try the Megagro at some point, but I would really want to experiment on a few before I treat the whole crop, and I only have two weeks left. The pots are an interesting idea. Do you think the plant takes longer to root in because it is rooting more from the center of the plant?

My thoughts on this style of pot are that air pruning must encourage fibrous root development while having the added benefit of requiring no need for the grower to fiddle with anything in that the design of the pot does all the work. Each tier of the pot is designed with small holes. When the roots grow through these holes, they are air pruned. Basically, air pruning promotes that "air pruned" root to grow more roots because the root tip died when it camein contact with air.

I have seen the root systems of plants grown in this style of pots. Roots form all the way out to the sides of the pots as well as up to the collar. You don't see this type of extensive root formation in traditional pots.

The Megagrow I don't quite know what to think of for your particular situation. “Timing is critical: too much GA may have an opposite effect from that desired; too little may require the plant to be repeatedly treated to sustain desired levels of GA. to regulate protein synthesis and stem elongation”. GA3 is a very powerful hormone that controls and regulates plant development. I currently use GA3 exclusively for germinating seed. I have a small orchard and considered using it for fruit set but figured all I had here was a hobbyist orchard and why expend the energy spraying my fruit trees to increase fruit in the event of incomplete pollination. The research is out there and evidently GA3 will in fact increase fruit set when applied properly in the appropriate concentrations at the right time BUT… I’ve got better things to do with my time then run around with a back pack sprayer at timed intervals for a little home orchard. I do plan on using GA3 in the future for hybridizing. The theory behind which would be that self incompatible clones might be able to be forced with an application of GA3 and cytokinin to the blooms when hand pollinated. Toss closely related species in to the mix as well. Much research out their to support the use of GA3 in these situations BUT… I don’t have time for this right now. Maybe down the road.

For now, I’ll stick to using GA3 to overcome dormancy in seeds that are older or most likely are older. I don’t use GA3 on seed that is fresh (can backfire). I am definitely getting higher germination rates on older seed treated with high concentrations of GA3 than seed that has not been treated. Reason being would be that stored food in older seed has often been compromised in that it may no longer be able to provide the necessary amount of food to the growing embryo as well as fresh seed can which appears to frequently result in the seed’s failure to germinate.I suspect protein synthesis is impaired in some older seed. Older seed may not be able to reactivate the germ plasma with uptake of water as well as fresh seed can. If the “food” from the storage tissues can’t be translocated to the growth points of the embryo, it will fail. Old seed happens. Seed sits around and gets sold to people and there is no mention of the date it was collected and if you ask a seller how old it is you get the classic “I dunno”.

For me, GA3 is my friend when germinating older seed.

Basics- http://www.plant-hormones.info/gibberellins.htm

Neat presentation.
http://www.bio.davidson.edu/courses/genomics/2004/Amore/amore%20poster%20NCAS04.ppt

So will GA3 work for you under time restraints, I dunno. I play with plants and would probably feel the need to try it on one of the plants.

Oh my gosh!!! Did you hear the screams of delight all the way over in NC??? I just want to know who sat on that box so you could tape it closed!!! LOL I LOVE everything!!! I'll E ya in a bit. Have to take a shower! I have the better part of two acres of dandelion weed eated to my face and legs. LOL

lol you got the box I take it??