Deadheading gardenias, should it be done?

I'm new to gardenias. When we moved to SC, our new yard included 2 gardenia shrubs which didn't look too great. But we babied them and must've done some things right, because now we have SO many lovely blossoms!!!! I'm just wondering, should I be removing the spent blooms? Once they turn brown, they don't look very nice with the newer blossoms, but I don't want to do the plant any harm by pinching off the dead ones.

I say get rid of the old blooms. Gardenias are pretty, and smell nice, but they attract aphids and other bugs like crazy. Doesn't hurt the plant at all to deadhead them. Good luck!

I dead head mine, just for looks, and when they finally finish blooming I whack them back to a reasonable size.

Years ago I topdressed the gardenias with worm castings and I have never had a problem with aphids or scale ever since.

ardesia, do you think that earthworm castings have the same effect on other plants you use it on? I try to create a welcome atmosphere for earthworms, but never buy castings

I have used them on both tropical and hardy hibiscus and the gardenias. I have taken to incorporating them into my potting mix for other plants this year and I have been seeing far fewer bugs. However, this may be just because the soil is amended and the plant grows healthier. This is one of those things that can't hurt to try.

Thanks, I'll try to find some around here :)

where would one go buy worm castings??? sounds intereseting

I used to be able to get them at a garden Center but they no longer carry them. I am told bait shops sometimes sell the castings and perhaps you would have luck there.

You can also attract earthworms by putting things like coffee grounds, a little cornmeal, and shredded newspaper or cardboard around your plants-or make little bins with a little dirt and the above materials in a shady spot-out cardboard over the top and keep moist.

This will attract night crawlers, not the same as the bloodworms you get at bait shops -kinda easier just to buy the bait but you may be able to end up with a few different kinds of worms that way, which would be beneficial.

Speaking of Gardenias;

I have too many.If anyone would like them,all you have to do is come here and dig them out.

rebecca, get an old cooler and get some night crawlers and start your own worm bed.
I think there is a guy in Kitrell who still has work castings I'll try and check next week after we get back from the coast. Don't let me forget.
I need a road trip to Fairview also are you innterested in a road trip on Saturday the next week?
Met a nice lady from here on Tuesday. We swapped a flower.

Lavina

This message was edited Jun 7, 2007 6:13 AM

I have "a can of worms" to make castings but I don't get nearly enough.

My worm bin is an old chest freezer. It works great and gives me a fairly good amount of castings. I tend to use them sparingly either using a small handful here and there amongst plants or brewing some worm tea which goes much further than just using the castings alone.

Red worms are a much better choice than night crawlers though as the night crawlers tend to prefer "escaping" and have much different habits than redworms.

As for dead heading gardenia, I pull them off when the flowers turn brown. I've seldom had problems with aphids unless it is on my younger plants that I'm growing in the greenhouse.

Shoe

I'd like to know more about raising worms. I've never known anyone who did it so I don't have a clue. Do they just live their lives in confinement (your old chest freezer, for example), and what do they feed on, and how do you harvest their castings? I suppose this should be a separate thread though.....

thea, there have been other threads regarding raising worms (vermicomposting) here on DG so perhaps a search will bring them up for you.

However, to briefly answer your questions above...

Some folks raise them in anything from home-made wooden boxes to store-bought worm bins as well as in pits in the ground (basically a designated area that is dug out and reserved only for raising the worms in).

They can be fed anything from manure (not human), kitchen scraps (no meat), newspaper, weeds pulled from your garden, cornmeal (as a treat and to encourage size), etc. It's a great way to utilize your kitchen scraps and let the worms turn it into compost/castings. The compost, or castings, are highly rich in nutrients and "just a little dab'll do ya"!

Commercial worm bins are often layered, starting the worms in a tray of scraps/food/etc and as they eat it then another tray is laid on top of the first tray and filled with food for them. The worms work their way up into the upper tray (being attracted to the food) and this leaves you with pretty much pure castings in the original tray.

As for me and my freezer bin, I have it divided in half with wire mesh separating the two halves. In one half I put the worms and the food and let them work it over the weeks/months, adding more food weekly or several times weekly. When that half contains a judicial amount of castings/compost I stop putting food in that side and will start putting it in the other side of the bin. This encourages the worms to move through the wire mesh and into the fresh side, thereby letting me harvest the finished compost/castings from the first side.

There is a great book (easy to read and contains all you need to know) called "Worms Eat My Garbage" if you're interested in learning more.
http://davesgarden.com/gbw/c/230/

(You might find the book very inexpensive from the used books sections at Amazon.com)

Hope this is helpful to you.
Happy Gardening!

Shoe

Thanks very much for your information, Shoe!! This is so interesting, I'd never really thought about it, but it makes so much sense! We went from great soil back in CT, to terrible soil needing a huge amount of amending (which will be a work in progress for a long time) when we moved down here to SC. I've always been an avid composter, so this sounds like an interesting new step to take! Just have to talk the hubby into it..... Thanks again, Shoe!

Good luck with the hubby~! (Hmmm...maybe he likes fishing? Hey, ya'll can raise your own fishing worms for him, eh?)

I think you'll have fun with worm raising. And you can still continue to do traditional compost as well, too.

Have a great weekend!

Shoe