Thought these were interesting and informative.
Do you have any you would like to share?
http://www.rosebudm.com/av/african_violet_hints_and_tips.htm
I'm going to try the one about putting a copper penny in a clean water reservoir to prevent algae and see if it works.
One of my favorite tools for watering when I am potting plantlets or putting down leaves is to use a Clairol haircolor bottle with the black long tip nozzle found at the beauty supply.
great tips, i will try a few.
mrsbonnie
I tried the pennies and couldn't figure out why they didn't work...........then someone told me it was because pennies are no longer real copper. But.............I was told to go find some pieces of real copper and that it does work. One friend says she puts in a piece of copper about and inch or two long in the permanest tray and it keep away the algae.
oooh--gonna try the copper--more cost effective than Physan! I have copper disks that you place beneath your coffee pot so that you can keep it warm for hours w/o it tasting funny. Think I'll try that.
Good to know about the copper pennies no longer being copper. That makes sense as copper is very expensive now and would be worth more than 1 cent to make a penny.
Those copper discs sound interesting to keep coffee warm as I don't like coffee when it's been sitting on the warmer.
Has anyone tried Peter's Peat Lite Special fertilizer (15-16-17)? Supposed to be good with soil-less mixes as it has higher micronitrients.
No--Hadn't heard of it---and I definately need a fert change. Lrt me know if you find some, I'll do some checking also.
Copper pennies haven't been all copper for some time--in fact i think they are copper over zinc--and have heard that if swallowed they can be poisonous, although not sure if that is an urban myth or not.. I will have to find some copper and try it tho!!
GL - I have two of the applicators from Sally's Beauty Supply, too! One for home, one for work.
What do these applicators do?
It's like the haircolor bottle GL mentioned . . . the ones I have holds 16oz each, and it has a longer spout to reach between leaves, etc. I also got two small mister bottles from there.
Would it work well with mini's? 16 0z--better than a turkey baster...which I don't use.
Question: Is My Penny a Copper, or a Zinc Cent?
Answer:
If your Lincoln Memorial penny has a date before 1982, it is made of 95% copper. If the date is 1983 or later, it is made of 97.5% zinc and plated with a thin copper coating.
http://coins.about.com/od/uscoins/f/copper_to_zinc.htm
Any of you all mat watering? What do you use?
For some reason, the idea of mat watering does not appeal to me. I know it works well for some.
The one on the right...the Clairol bottle would be perfect for minis. I use it when planting leaves or to water plantlets when dividing, or repotting any gessies. The bigger one is great too as syrumani said but the stream of water will be slightly more on the larger one which is a hair bleach applicator. Both are good.
I use turkey basters since they are so long. They get to the bottom of the gallon of spring water/fert. easily.
Sally--I think your turkey baster must be longer than mine. Thanks for the pics GL! That could be a good compromising solution for me. I'm still half way between wicking and bottomwatering--can't keep up! I've lost some plants d/t underwatering, so this might help. Now if you could just tell my camera what "purple" is! LOL!
Jan,try a rubber battery filler for hard to reach places.They are long like a baster,but much thinner and slightly curved.
Lynn
Here's a picture.
When I first started sticking leaves last year, I used one of those baby snot-suckers. Time consuming, but it was fun at the time. I still have one for smaller projects.
"Snot Sucker" LOLOL!!!
Thanks for the pic Lynn--I had no idea what it was!
I'm not sure I know what a "Snot Sucker" is...LOL. If you did a search on battery fillers,you would probably come up with one of those square expensive things.The ones like mine are usually available in the automotive section of any hardware store for about $1.50.
As a nurse I know exactly what a snot sucker is...aka--oral/pharyngeal syringe--hopefully not used in both orifices at once---eeewwww!
we always called them booger suckers;)
Here's a question---How does one extract the boogers from the sucker after the sucker extracts the boogers from the orifice? Hee-hee!
Well . . . the way I was shown when DS was born, was you compress the bulby-part, stick it in the nose, let go of the bulb - the suction brings the snot into the sucker, and you pull it out. Then very fast squeeze the bulb part again, and it shoots the snot out! Seemed to work real well!! Think of it as a snot-shooter!
The nose is the only orifice I used it on . . . ^_^
Then to clean, you use hot water using the above snot process, just with the hot water instead.
What kind of nurse are you, phoebe? I think there are several on the forum with nursing backgrounds............
Ugh,,,unwatch thread!! Can't stand that S word. LOL
I admit this threat is not easy to read early in the morning (LOL)
How did our educational learning thread turn into this???????
Maybe we ought to try another one......smiling........
What's the matter Gail? Snot what you had in mind?
Good idea Gail!! I would like to hear more about Jan's nursing career though.I am really not squeamish..LOL.Back in my CNA days and the years I spent working with Alzheimer's people,I have never met a substance I couldn't clean,suction,etc..Doe's anybody else have certain words they can't handle ??? or is it just me ? ^_^.
Jan,that's the S word!!
Hahaha! I crack myself up--I can't help it!!!!!
There really was a time on the av forum when we talked about gesneriads............I promise........
Hey - it was GL that asked us to share, and so I did. I call it what I call it, 'snot much I can do about that. And it was all in relation to gesneriads . . . ^_^
(that was funny, phoebe!)
Phoebe - I didn't know you were a nurse...but then why should I know? I just finished my first year nsg school, one more to go!
Question - my new mini violets, and actually the standards too, came with yarn "wicks" .....I know I should have asked at the show, but exactly how do they work - do you keep the yarn continuously set into a saucer of water?
Been working as a nurse for 28 years...good luck with nursing school!
There are so many ways to wick water, but the basic principle is the wick (yarn in this case) remains in the water to draw the water up to the plant roots continously as needed. When I get home from work, I will post pictures of my method--I'm sure others will also.
hmmm...so this eliminates the need to water? I like the idea, but it may take some getting used to. They were giving away "wicks" at the show, so I grabbed a few for the plants I have to repot. I am assuming you just run the wick thru one of the drainage holes and have the other end in the soil up to the root area?
Just be careful when wicking. I did it for a year, worked great. Then all of the sudden, some got dry and some too wet. Lost some plants. You just have to watch the soil as you do no matter the watering method. I water from the top now. I also got tired of the reservoirs.
I found a syringe for giving medication to birds, works perfect for drawing up water and then squirting it into the tiny mini pots. Of course I know not all ppl have these things laying around their house, but if you have birds you probably do!
I have a quick question....I put some of my new rooting AV leaves into a plastic salad bar container, the ones with the hinged lids. Most look fine, but one of the Private Dancer leaves - it is very heavily variegated, almost no green, just pink, is getting brown and soft around the edges. Is this normal when rooting leaves? Should I remove the rotten part? Should I put it in a baggie instead, by itself?
Thanks to all my wise new AV friends
