Plants are still doing well...

My plants are still looking good so far. Today is in the 70's. Last week we dipped down to upper 20's at night, but just for a short while. I use no heat in this quick little greenhouse area. So I am glad to see everything making it.

I spy with my little eye some nice begonias there on the right! Everything looks happy!
We hit 22º and several begonias of mine are suffering. I lost a 7' tall plectranthus. It just couldn't take it.

I'm so sorry about the 7' plectranthus. Do you think anything may come back from the root?
So far, the begonias are doing well. We still have a couple more months to go.

Your plants look great! I have a tiny GH and some of my plants got a little cold on one of our really cold nights, so I am running some of my coleus flats back out to the GH when it looks like the nights don't get any colder than 15.. I just have a little space heater out there. It looks like I can leave them out there for a week before the temperature really starts dropping again.

Looks like you have a neat variety and some healthy plants.

Kathyjo

Thanks Kathyjo. Like all of us gardeners, I work really hard with them and want to see all survive and flourish again if possible. Good luck with your coleus'.
Pam

Fabulous!!! I bet you're so pleased with your little brain-child. Looks great. Mine is still empty, but I'm building up a stock of things to put in it , lol.....

Pagancat, Your seedlings, ( or are some of the coleus cuttings?) are looking good! What seedlings are you starting in that white seed tray?

Oh yeah, Sheryl. It looks like you have a real nice assortment going on there.

I've started both coleus seeds (like dust, those puppies are) and cuttings - and that's what you're mostly seeing in that pic. I've got a few more things - ornamental sweet potatoes, salvia (seeds) some chrysanthemums, irisine (sp?) - mostly *very*easy stuff - this is my first attempt and I wanted it to be a success. I've been so happy with the New Guinea impatiens that I brought inside - they've bloomed as well or better inside as outside. They should be great big plants by next spring.

Fun, fun!

Pagancat,
I think I have the same irisine as you do. I am wanting the varigated one, ( green and little stripes of red ). I may order from NC farms in the Spring.

I have brought in pots and pots of the plain ol' impatients.. They are blooming beautifully in my dining room window.. Funny to think they were so inexpensive , so pretty and so easy to keep.. I even bought them on sale two years ago.

Mercy - that's great! It's amazing how many plants we treat as annuals that can go on for such a long time, eh?

Yeah, I've been salivating over NC Farms' selections... the unrooted selections are so inexpensive, it's almost worth it just to try and see if I could get some of them to root, like the Bacopa.

You can't get too much more affordable than NC farms.. I keep going back and looking and trying to decide.. For me it may come down to how many of the annuals I have now. I have ordered from them two years in a row, so have a few of their angel wing begonias, so if I ordered the assorted 100 I'm bound to get some I already have. Same thing with a couple of the other assortments.. such as the herbs. Wish you could say, send me an assortment of everything except please don't put any, " such and such" in it.

I didn't have luck rooting NC farms Bacopa.. I think I need a misting system..

I love seeing pictures of what everyone is growing over the winter..

kj

"I love seeing pictures of what everyone is growing over the winter..."

Well, mostly growing old, lol.

Did you use any bottom heat on the Bacopa? I also heard that they won't make it through the summer here - which kinda makes it a no-can-do. I was hoping to use it in some hanging baskets for the Farmer's Market, may have to stick with Calibrocha, if I can get that to root.

I didn't use bottom heat.. I may try them again.. They are so pretty..

Growin' old here too.

Discovered spider mites ( I think it's either spider mites or mealy bugs ) on my beloved coleus today, that I have worked so hard on .. Will give them all soapy baths tomorrow..

kj

Yeah - aren't they usually mostly a sign of dry air? After their spa treatment, you might just wanna set up some pebble trays or sumpthin'.

If it's mealy bugs, well.... yech.

I can't get bacopa to survie winter in the house. It does great all summer outdoors. I bring it in for winter and by end of january it is dead. I do not know what I am doing wrong. I buy a new one every spring. Then every January I just have a pot of long, dry, brown stems and leaves.

I have kept lots of things over the winter, but have never tried to keep bacopa..

Some winters I have better luck at keeping things than others.. I can never seem to find the exact reason..

Gave the coleus a soapy bath.. Now it smells like dishwashing detergent in my itty bitty GH...

Didn't think about the dry air thing.. hmmm.. one thing.. I have been trying not to over water, because isn't that a reason for root rot in coleus that are being overwintered?.. So maybe they won't die of root rot but will of mealy bugs?

Too often, in the house, the leaves lose moisture faster than the roots can bring it up. I have to be very careful where I put different plants. I heat with a wood stove and few plants can survive the room where the stove is. There is no way to keep the humidity high enough in that room. My rooms each have their own micro-climate. It works really well for me if I pay attention. A plant can die in a few days if I don't. Pebble trays are great for keeping humidity up with a grouping of plants.

I too heat with a wood stove.. I have many plants in the same room with the woodstove.. I have to water them constantly because, like you said, the dry heat from the wood stove evaporates the water from the plants so fast it's hard to keep up.. Otherwise, This old farm house that I live in is next to impossible to keep plants in.. I have lots of things rooting in the kitchen window and on the back porch. I do turn an electric heater on in the back porch when it gets really cold..

I'm trying to keep plants outside in the GH that like lots of sun.. It is still hard to keep it warm enough on the really cold nights with the little radiant heater I have on out there right now. So , If it's gets much below 15 degrees at night I carry them inside.. Tiring, but still fun to try to keep as many varieties as I can for next year.

I also end up moving plants around quite a bit, if I don't think they are doing as well as I would like.. Moved a couple of cane begonias that weren't doing so well..

Moving plants is a career in the winter. I take them for walks everywhere. If I walked the dog as often it would probably be considered abuse lol.

"Moving plants is a career in the winter."

Well said..

LOL!

I haven't started to heat my GH ... well, yet. I don't really want to move plants out there until February, I think - I'm doing a bunch of veggie starts for the market too, and am hoping that I can make do with just a few hours of heat on a few really cool nights.... things like cabbage and kale, to start with.

Funny - we just got a wood burning stove last week. I'm quickly learning - first it was the curling leaves on the poinsettias.... But so far, everything else looks good. Maybe it's because it's so incredibly wet outside...?

hi pamelaq, i'm over here in quincy, near tallahassee....was wondering if you were going to start any seeds in your gh.....i just got one of those pvc hoop gh's put up and it gets really hot in there, and it's not even summer yet.....i actually put one container in there with some petunia seeds and they all germinated.

Hi angiegr! Yeah, it's been warm lately. But you know how crazy our weather can be. Here is a link to some seeds I started on my new heat mat. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/936239/ It has a thermostat, so if it's warm enough, it's not on. If temps drop, then it will kick on. Once I get them germinated and they grow a little, I move them over off the mat.

you got alot of things growin, cool ! well i don't have any heat mats, but like i said, my little experiment with the petunia seeds germinating on their own proved itself....

I think right now I, too, could probably germinate a bunch in the hoop house. I will probably take mine down once Spring is here good. Mine is more of a temporary shelter. I just unroll the sides from the 2 x 4's and then I'll carefully fold up and save the big plastic. It is all one piece. The whole top hoops should then lift off. Each leg is inserted into a size bigger piece of PVC pipe attached to the 4 x 4. That way I have another area I can stash it until next winter. (Or until ?????????) I never know what next. It is working real well so far. Then I can use my little garden area again.
What are your plans for yours? Is yours for all year?

This message was edited Jan 7, 2009 8:01 AM

not quite sure how long i'll be using the gh, i know over the summer it's going to get really hot in there, and that won't be good for growing.....i plan on putting a fan in there to help tho.....i got a raised bed that i gotta get filled and will probably grow okra or something in there cause i know they like it hot.....i will germinate some seeds in there too but once it gets so hot, that might not work so good .....i'm learning