Messages

61

Pond Chat / Re: A PITA Pond?

« on: August 11, 2011, 09:12:01 PM »

Very nice!  Loaded up like that, they start to look pretty good. 

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

62

Chit Chat / Re: Pit Bull VS a Kitten, Ya gotta see this.

« on: August 11, 2011, 09:05:59 PM »

I really didn't think it was going to be a bad one. I've had cats & dogs all my life, but I've been raising the same family of cats for over 30 years. That's long enough to know that being psychotic is normal for a cat. Right now, I've got an Australian Shepherd, Gracy Barksalot who has been around the cats since she was a puppy.  She's still getting used to the idea that you cannot herd cats.

Her best friend is a cat, so is her worst enemy. Some days, its the same cat.   

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

63

Chit Chat / Re: Pit Bull VS a Kitten, Ya gotta see this.

« on: August 11, 2011, 05:02:07 PM »

That was just great! I'm a cat guy, so the title made me a little nervous.

Ain't love weird?   

Mike S.
Spring Hill, F

64

Terrestrial Gardening / Re: Lavender Wands

« on: August 11, 2011, 04:56:50 PM »

I don't normall spend time in this section of the Forums, but when I saw the title of the post, I just had to look. I thought you had gone completely "Harry Potter" in here!

Have to say, very glad I did come look. That was a great link, I really enjoyed it.

Thanks!

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

65

Pond Chat / Re: 'Albert Greenburg' today

« on: August 11, 2011, 04:51:31 PM »

Oh yes, our goals are diferent, but I've planted more for performance in the past.

Compared to most ponds, I think your 3-4 gal. Rubbermaid containers would be considered on the large side. I think more people plant in the 1 gal. squat pot more than anything else.

When I started a long while back, I wanted BIG so I planted a number of waterlilies in 10 gal. Lerio pots and went thru large boxes of fertilizer tabs. But I got big plants and many,many blooms. That's when I found out my mentor was using 55 gal. plastic drums cut in half to make two planting pots. Of course, he had a digging attachment on his tractor to lift them in and out of the pond. (A little too hard core for me!)

I've had pretty good luck with the Nutricote product sold as Red Dynomite. I believe it is the 270 day. The label "dose" of 3/4 cap full per gallon works pretty good for my hardies, but the tropicals act pretty much as you describe. Those of mine did slow down and I went to feeding them tabs again. I think increasing the intial dose to a full cap or more would probably work out better.

Now, I'm trying the Pond Pearls. Way too soon to judge this stuff. But over the next few months I'll have a better idea on how well it works. I am liking the idea of once a year fertilizing. I've seen tabs that are supposed to work for that, but I'd rather run one "experiment" at a time. I confuse easily.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

66

Pond Chat / "Nuther first bloom: Perry's Double White.

« on: August 11, 2011, 09:10:05 AM »

This one took a while. Partly because of the recent weather, but mostly because the plant came on a tuber with a second, smaller plant also showing. So, when I potted it, both were removed from the tuber, which is now floating a a bucket with some others, waiting to see if it will start any more plants. I'm thinking it will, if not this year, then next spring.



The large, mottled pad belongs to Arc-en-ciel, not the Double White. The bloom is somewhat small for this plant, but like the other hardies around it, it is being grown in a rather small container. Judging from the growth of the rest, this one should produce about a six inch long tuber by the end of the season, and contribute a nuber of new plants towards next year's inventory.

And in the mean time, I get to enjoy it! Or both, actually. The other plant from that tuber is about to bloom, as well.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

67

Pond Chat / Re: A PITA Pond?

« on: August 11, 2011, 09:02:53 AM »

Moving thru the pool is an art and an exercise! Your Kung Fu must be strong!   

The key seems to be NOT shuffling your feet, after all, there's no stingrays in there. Each step means lifting one foot high out of the water, stepping over the pads and blooms, and carefully bring the foot down while avoiding putting it on any of the plants. All done while balancing on the other foot, on the aforementioned slippery vinyl bottom.

Master would be so proud!   

Mike S.  (formerly known as "Weedhopper.)
Spring Hill, FL

68

Pond Chat / Re: 'Albert Greenburg' today

« on: August 11, 2011, 08:57:14 AM »

Large pots for these? Must be, I'm thinking, comparing the size of your blooms and pads to mine, planted in very small containers.

Nice!

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

69

Pond Chat / Re: I saw a Black Taro in a tub of water

« on: August 11, 2011, 08:54:44 AM »

Took another picture today. Had to rotate and crop it, to get everything in, from the same spot as the first one.



Couple of weeks can make a difference! This bucket will have from just a bit to 4 to 6 inches of water over the soil, depending upon the amount of rain. I should have put a hole in the side, to keep a max of 4 inches of water in it. But, since it seems to be working as is, I don't think I'll mess with it.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

70

Pond Chat / Re: Pictures

« on: August 10, 2011, 07:21:27 PM »

Nice job, all the way 'round.   

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

71

Aquatic and Terrestrial Plant Exchange / Re: Looking for Euryale ferox

« on: August 10, 2011, 07:12:31 PM »

This reply is just a "back up" to the PM I just sent.

The info has been relayed and something will happen soon, one way or another!   

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

72

Pond Chat / Re: A PITA Pond?

« on: August 10, 2011, 05:59:19 PM »

Yes, the stock tanks are much more forgiving.  Lean too far over a kiddie pool and you get wet, squash a couple of plants, and if you don't get up fast enough, you loose half the water in the thing.

OK, I haven't done that just yet, I'm getting myself mentally prepared for it.

I know what I want to build and how.  I do want to prototype one first and prove the method. Then I should be able to put them in for about $160 for a pair of 4*8 ponds with a good life expectancy.

Then I can put them in, with a pair of the new ones replacing each kiddie pool. At least, that's the plan.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

73

Pond Chat / Re: I saw a Black Taro in a tub of water

« on: August 10, 2011, 03:04:06 PM »

I like the idea, so I "stole" it before you posted it! 

Couple of weeks back, wife wanted to do something with the Taro that growing more-or-less "wild" around the remains of my original watergarden. So, we took a medium sized yard bucket and put some of the bagged fill dirt in the pot, mixed in some Black Cow composted cow manure, along with a healthy dose of Red Dynomite plant food and potted a small, Violet Stem Taro, along with some sort of bog iris she bought, and as an afterthought, I added a rescued bit of Lizzard's Tail.

Seems to be growing fairly well. I haven't taken a pic in a while, but here's what it looked like back on 7-18-2011.



Everything in the bucket has grown quite a bit since then. I could take another picture in the morning and post it to show the growth rate. Have to say, it would normally have grown a lot more, but after all this overcast and rain, most everything has slowed down quite a bit.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, Fl

74

Pond Chat / A PITA Pond?

« on: August 10, 2011, 02:02:04 PM »

It's a "PITA." Nothing to do with "Animal Rights" or even "People Eating Tasty Animals." It's an acronym for "Pain in the. . . " Well you figure it out.   

PITA pond. Yes, that sums it up. Here is why I really didn't want to use kiddie pools for starting a small waterlily biz:



This is after I've removed a couple of plants from it, too. Trying to keep things under control and removing dead pads & spent blooms, just ain't easy. You have to wade in on the very slippery bottom without falling on your keester, or tipping over every plant in the darned thing. It's do-able, but a real "balancing act." (I can hear you groaning!)

But, just as "Mothers necessitate invention," so does finances. Things got a little weird around here and I was not able to get a start on a series of 4X8 grow-out ponds like I'd planned, so I went with kiddie pools for now, rather than just give up on it. The 4X8's are so much easier to deal with, but they will simply have to wait a while.

Mean while, I'll have to get serious (and agile!) about thinning down the pad production so I can get more plants going. If I'd known I'd have to add "gymnast" to my skills, I'd have started this biz idea a lot sooner, like back when I could still bend my lower back.   

And to all who routinely use these little round vinyl demons, my hat's off to you! 

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

75

Pond Chat / Hardy waterlilies, small tubs.

« on: August 10, 2011, 01:34:51 PM »

I said I wanted to try something similar to Sean's method of producing larger numbers of tropicals in Dixie Cups, but for hardy waterlilies. I started a small number of hardies in little oblong plastic tubs. These are made by Glad, their "Soup & Salad" containers. They hold about 1/3rd of a 1 gallon squat pot, so that's how I dosed the fertilizer.

Rather small starts from a tuber is planted in one of these tubs and it looks like the tub gives it enough room to grow the tuber with root stock out across the tub, while putting up good pad growth and flowers. The plants produced in the small tubs look like they will be of a good size to sell and ship fairly quickly, or larger enough to be moved up to a larger pot, if that's what you want.

From what I've seen so far, these little tubs would also be good for growing hardy waterlilies in a small pond or container garden, when you don't want to see a large spread over-growing a small surface area.

To see what it looks like, here's a pic of a recently planted Arc-en-Ceil. The plant has just started to take off, so it is easy to see in this tub.



A little while back, I took a number of small starts from a couple of Mungkala Ubon tubers. They've been growing for a little while now and have started blooming.



Now, the idea is mainly to produce a number of plants in a good size for sale and shipping, in a relatively small space. I'm of the opinion that this is going to work out just fine. At the same time, it also looks like a good way to pot hardy waterlilies to get good growth for smaller ponds and container gardens. I think the rectangular containers make sense in that the plant has room to grow a longer, horizontal tuber than in a small, round pot.

Could be wrong, but I think I'm on to something with this.
Your millage may vary, close cover beforestrikingg, and always wear your seatbelt. (And any other caveat I may have forgotten.)

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

76

Pond Chat / Re: Jongkolnee Update

« on: August 10, 2011, 01:10:51 PM »

Yet ANOTHER picture of a Jongkolnee "resting" on a Trudy Slocum pad.



No, not the same pic posted again, but another bud that broke the surface, stayed upright for several days, then dropped onto a pad and only then opened. The flower was obviously exhauseted before it opened. Why? I'm really not sure.

This plant is the one that was started in the 4 inch pot. It grew well (meaning quickly,) and started putting up buds. Pretty much all have stayed above the surface for 3 to 5 days before falling, without opening to any degree. Those that fell to rest on a lily pad did eventually open, if I left them there long enough. All looked about like this one, pretty much spent.

Seeing roots circling the pot on top of the soil told me to re-pot. It went into a 2 1/2 gallon pot this time, and into deeper water. And still, this.

Best I can come up with is the weather. Might just be looking for an excuse, don't know. But for about the same lenght of time this plant has been blooming, it has been predominately overcast and raining daily. All the other waterlilies are still growing and flowering, but at a reduced rate.

Not giving up, just backing off in hopes of better weather will permit better results.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

77

Aquatic and Terrestrial Plant Exchange / Re: Looking for Euryale ferox

« on: August 09, 2011, 09:50:32 PM »

I've sent you a PM. I may have made it sound more complicated than I'd intended. If so, let me know and I'll make more sense next time.

And thank you VERY much for the reply!

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

78

Aquatic and Terrestrial Plant Exchange / Looking for Euryale ferox

« on: August 09, 2011, 09:13:07 AM »

I got an email from a friend in California who has a wholesale business asking if I knew anyone selling Euryale ferox, thinking that in Florida, some one must have them available. I could not find any here and that made me curious.

So, does anyone have either the plants or seeds available? I'd like to relay the info to the one that asked me about it, and now I'd like to get a plant or some seeds, myself. If not now, then  perhaps in the future.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

79

Pond Chat / Re: Pics today

« on: August 09, 2011, 08:05:23 AM »

The Lotus are all looking good!

How much space is your Vic growing in? I'm thinking about trying one out in an 8X8 next year. Not sure about the depth needed for a small  planting, though. What do you think?

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

80

Pond Chat / Re: Not for everyone

« on: August 09, 2011, 07:58:59 AM »

Not sure why, but several of my Nangkwaug waterlilies had problems with their first blooms. Very long sepals, flowers not opening, that sort of thing. But over some weeks, the blooms got better. I have to agree they won't appeal to everyone, but I've decided that I like them and will keep them in my ponds.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

81

Pond Chat / Re: night bloomers

« on: August 06, 2011, 07:48:22 PM »

I'm always surprised that more people don't keep the night bloomers. When I'm not working, I tend to get up rather early. Often, it will be a couple of hours before the day bloomers open, but the night bloomers do a good job of filling in that time. I like sitting outside with the morning coffee and seeing a nice, large Trudy Slocum in white and that pink one  I'm now calling "Almost Primlarp" both still open.

Mine tend to still be open when the day crowd starts opening. All I really need is to find a few that open before the day bloomers close.

24 hr coverage would be nice!

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

82

Pond Chat / Re: 5 of a kind, plus dragonfly.

« on: August 06, 2011, 12:31:34 PM »

Why, THANK YOU, andi! My Droid and I are flattered.   

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

83

Pond Chat / 5 of a kind, plus dragonfly.

« on: August 05, 2011, 08:33:59 AM »

Normally, I'd not brag about a Daubin that puts up mulitiple blooms. For Daubenyana, that's about par for the course. But this one is doing it planted in an 18oz plastic cup!



I started using the large plastic cup after reading Sean's article on growing tropicals in "Dixie Cups." It was later pointed out to me that he actually meant what he said, 8oz. Dixie Cups. Since I bought a big bag of the larger ones, I'm still using them, but I have also started planting more in the smaller cups. These will be "bonsai-ed," per that article. The one's I've put in the larger cups haven't been trimmed back much at all.

In fact, I've found that in my 4X8 Patio Ponds, most tropicals planted in the 1 gal. pot actually grow too big, unless you plan on putting just one to three plants in there. Even then, they will cover the entire surface and compete for every square inch of surface area. I've found some round, "disposable" salad bowls that hold about a half gallon that might be more appropriate for tropicals in smaller ponds. They would be more stable than those cups which can tip over fairly easily.

When I took the pic of the 5 blooms, I also snapped this one on a different Daubin, in the kiddie pool next door.



I know its a little fuzzy, but it was cropped from a larger pic that was taken as most of my pictures are, with my Droid X. It's so handy that I keep forgetting to break out the "good" camera.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

84

Pond Chat / Re: Is Perry's Baby Red lazy?

« on: August 05, 2011, 08:21:26 AM »

TG, I was going to say my Baby Red was in full sun, but then I realized that it is shaded about nearly half the day by the house and a patio canopy next to the pond. It is in a one gallon pot and was sitting up on a concrete block, not on the bottom of the Patio Pond. Currently, its in the center of a kiddie pool, waiting for me to decide if I should re-pot and divide it now, rather than in the spring. My thinking is that since it grew so fast, it will probably have time to recover and grow back to it's current size before it gets cool here.

As for the Mungkala Ubon tubers, they are simply sitting in a 5 gal. bucket, out in the sun. Every once in a while, I'll see string algae taking over, so I empty the bucket, remove the algae, and re-fill. Just well water. Several other tubers, Arc-en-ceil, Charlene Strawn, and Pink Ribbon are also parked in buckets, doing the same. I've also put out some dishpans for vavip pads, lately. Come spring, I hope to be completely overrun!   

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

85

Pond Chat / Re: Did you ever have a lily that you just weren't thrilled with?

« on: August 04, 2011, 12:46:49 PM »

I got confused and thought the pic posted by Sue was a picture of Lynn's, and I noticed a pad just below the 3 o'clock postition that looked like it had some of the residue Lynn posted about. I now know I was wrong about the pic and who posted it.

But, will still under that delusion, I went out and found a few pads that had something on them that looked like what I saw in the picture and took a sample of it. Under the microscope, at all three magnifications (40X, 100X, and 400X,) the sample looked the same, like rather non-descript little grains of sand. Not actually like real crystal formations, just irregular shapes, and definitely NO legs!

My well water is typical for the area I live in. It is hard, about 330 ppm, last time I tested it. Hard enough to leave a white coating on glass, not quite hard enough to plow.

In my case, anyway, I'm pretty sure that the residue that worried me a while back was nothing more that what was left of water sitting on the pads, after it had evaporated.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

86

Pond Chat / Re: Is Perry's Baby Red lazy?

« on: August 04, 2011, 11:30:45 AM »

Don't know about the JoAnne Pring, but I can tell you about my Perry's Baby Red.

I potted mine in a one gallon pot. It grew well, but didn't seem too interested in blooming as fast as others types planted that same day. But it did put out a lot of pads.

The tuber quickly grew across that one gallon pot. When it reached all the way across it, it started blooming. One bloom at a time at first, then it started putting up "doubles" and "tripples." Looking at the pot, I now see that the blooms are comming up from three different points along the tuber.

Right now, I'm thinking rather than waiting untill spring, I might re-pot it, and divide it to get two plants potted, and the rest floating in a bucket to see if the rest of the tuber can be convinced to throw off more plants for next yeat.

When I bought my Mungkala Ubon, I got 5 tubers. I floated them for a couple of weeks, only taking one section of a tuber and potting it. Since then, I've taken small starts from several tubers and grown them. And I still have most of the original tubers floating in a bucket, with quite a few new "eyes" starting more plants. By this time next year, I could easily have 100 plants, all from those 5 tubers.

Love to see if the Perry's Baby Red will be able to follow that act.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

87

Pond Chat / Wondering about vivips. . .

« on: August 04, 2011, 11:20:52 AM »

Might be a bit soon to reach a conclusion, but I've been given cause to wonder.

Just potted the first of my 3rd generation of Panama Pacifics. By that, I mean I got one plant earlier this year (1st generation,) and was able to start a couple of new plants (2nd generation,) from the viviporous growths on the pads. And now from one of those, I've collected a new plantlet from a pad and planted it. (3rd generation.)

Now, that first plant is in a one gallon pot and would like nothing better than to take over the 4X8 Patio Pond its growing in, and probably would if not for the Daubin at the other end trying to do the same thing. The difference between those two is that the Daubin is determined to start a new plant on every pad it puts out. Without any interferance from me, each node is making a new plant, every one of them can be potted and grown.

That Panama Pacific does have nodes on each pad, but seldom does one put up pads and enough roots to start a new plant. To do that, I usually have to take the pad intact from the parent plant and move it to a pan of water set aside just for that purpose. Then, most all of them develop a plantlet that can be planted.

I took one from that pan and potted it in an 18 oz cup and it grew nicely. Now it is blooming and producing pads with vivip nodes. The nodes on this plant seem to be more more active than the one in the one gallon pot. By that, I mean that if I leave them alone, many of them seem to start the plantlet growing much more often than the one in the one gallon pot. It is from one of these that I planted my first 3rd generation Panama Pacific.

Is it just a plant that's more vaviporously active naturally, or does the fact that it is growing in a much smaller pot play into it?

I'll have more to go on later, as I have more planted in 18oz cups and several planted in smaller 8oz cups. But I'd like to hear if anyone else has seen a difference due to pot size.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

88

Pond Chat / Re: Did you ever have a lily that you just weren't thrilled with?

« on: August 04, 2011, 11:04:26 AM »

Lynn,

Could you post a close-up of one of the pads with this white residue? I'm wondering if it is what you think it is.

I've seen this lately on quite a few of my plants, but really don't think it is from the fertilizer. When I saw it on mine, my first thought was aphids. Some of it was, but some looked like a very fine, white sand material. Haven't done it yet, but my next step will be to take a sample and put it under the microscope.

What I kind of suspect at the moment is, if your water is a hard as my well water, that it may be a residue from evaporative water loss. The same sort of "scale" that can show up on glasses in the dishwasher.

I've not heard of something like this being due to over-fertilization. I'd think before that happened, the roots would have been fried and the plant killed.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

89

Pond Chat / Re: Did you ever have a lily that you just weren't thrilled with?

« on: August 03, 2011, 08:06:40 AM »

I tend to appreciate each plant for what it is, without comparing it to others. Doing this I'm seldom disappointed. Occasionally there will be one that I'm less than thrilled with, but that often comes from my trying to grow something that is inappropriate for my area.

Recent experience has taught me that over time, at least some waterlilies can be acclimated to tolerate conditions outside their usual ranges.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

90

Pond Chat / Re: New Waterlily Pest Warning!!!

« on: August 03, 2011, 07:47:02 AM »

No, not Kudzu, I know that one. It ate my grandmother while she was sitting in her rocker on the front porch.
When I get up the nerve to go outside again, I have a design for a flame thrower I've always wanted to try out.


Of course none of the above is true, the summer heat is just getting to me.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL