Author Topic: Surprises in my Garden and a little advice please  (Read 3210 times)

Tropicaliste

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Surprises in my Garden and a little advice please
« on: June 23, 2015, 05:48:08 PM »
I'd like to share a couple surprises in my garden. The first is an Achachairu, thin leaf, from a friend here on the forum. I kept a bag over the plant in order to trap moisture, and kept it watered this past Winter, but sometime around December the plant turned completely brown and looked dead. I kept watering it anyway, and In April, brought it out and put it in my plastic greenhouse. It still looked dead, but I kept watering it periodically, mostly thinking it was a goner, but I was digging around one day looking for a label, and this pot had been lying nearly on the ground for a while, and I picked it up to see if the label was in the pot. Lo and behold, a little sprout came from the base. As you can see from the pictures, it has really come back. Can anyone tell me if I should prune the smaller shoot to encourage a base trunk?

This is the plant when moved into the greenhouse. Looks dead, haven't removed the bag yet.



This is the plant after discovering the new shoot.


This is how the plant looks now. Any advice on whether to pinch the small shoot off?



Next, my broad leaf Achachairu. This plant was a beautiful 3ft tall plant that I was given a 6inch seedling off back in 2011 from another friend on here, and it had made it through our Winters(in Maryland) like a champ in the den, but this past Winter, it just kept declining. The scale were pretty bad this past Winter.
It saddened me that I thought it may have died, but I kept it in the back of my greenhouse, and hoped it would put new leaves out. It seemed like it didn't, until I was cleaning out dead plants this past weekend.  I will also not use the altered gritty mix, that I used, which was a gritty mix but with more peat, because I knew it would not work in the Winter. Well, I need even more peat and organic material, because my Winters dry my potted plants out like crazy. My new mix has plenty of peat and worm castings, but perlite too, for drainage. ;D




My Jaboticaba Grimal from Adam was a small plant when I got it last Spring, but it has really loved my care. I planted it in my old mix, which was mostly peat and bark, and never replanted into my gritty mix. It loves the water. Anyway, in the Winter I kept it in the bay window and kept a bag over it. It grew even in December-January. It has since exploded. I need advice on how to prune it. I hope you Jabo experts can tell me.  :D

Here's the progression from out of the house to now.










My White Jade pineapple was doing pretty well too, but when it was knocked over in a storm, via my entire greenhouse knocking over.  I then overwatered it this past Winter, and noticed in the Spring that the center was rotted. I hoped it would grow a new shoot from the middle and it did. I wasn't sure if it would, but now I know.



So I suppose what I'd like to say is, it feels good to find our plants have bounced back and are troopers. Tropical plants can be fragile, but can be tough too. :)

I'll end this with a few more pictures.

My seedling Pulasan. Made it through the Winter. Growing new leaves.



A few of my plants ...



A new Lychee from Adam.



and a couple pictures from my favorite place in DC, the USBG(botanical garden)





OCchris

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Re: Surprises in my Garden and a little advice please
« Reply #1 on: June 24, 2015, 02:35:54 AM »
Hi Tropicaliste, Nice rack! Seriously...where did you get your green racks from? I am in dire need of someplace to put all of my small seedlings. Thanks, Chris

fruitlovers

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Re: Surprises in my Garden and a little advice please
« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2015, 02:59:58 AM »
I'd keep the small shoot on the achachairu for now, and prune it when the plant is quite a bit bigger. This plant has already been traumatized, so why not keep extra leaf surface for photosynthesis and more energy to more rapidly develop the root system? Once the plant is 1-2 feet tall then you can prune the shoot if you want to.
Oscar

jmc96

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Re: Surprises in my Garden and a little advice please
« Reply #3 on: June 24, 2015, 04:42:44 AM »
I'm interested to know what min temps  took them to within an inch of their lives?

stuartdaly88

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Re: Surprises in my Garden and a little advice please
« Reply #4 on: June 24, 2015, 05:05:24 AM »
I'm interested to know what min temps  took them to within an inch of their lives?
What type of temperatures can Achairachu take Im also wondering?
Would they be the most hardy Garcinias?
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Tropicaliste

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Re: Surprises in my Garden and a little advice please
« Reply #5 on: June 24, 2015, 08:47:19 PM »
Thanks guys for the replies :)

Chris: They aren't the best, but they work well. They are from the greenhouse kits from Big Lots. I have the big stafford one, and then a couple 3 and 4 tier racks. The plastic doesn't last long, but you can use the racks long past the plastic. I would buy them when the season ends because they lower the price.

Oscar: That's a good point. Let it build energy. Thanks :) Any advice on pruning my Jabo? One more question, I ordered a Michelia Alba, and the seller "sprayed" the plant before mailing. The leaves had a powdery white film, not bunches, but enough to make me wonder if I should keep the near my other plants ... even after rinsing, it's still kind of there. I don't use pesticides or herbicides, and wonder if you know what that stuff is?

jmc96 and Stuart: Well my den is probably one of the coldest rooms. I had this on the ground, and the air would make it's way through the bottom of the garage where there's a big gap, and through the garage door to the den and making a draft. The heater was keeping most of the house warm, but it was probably 65-70 during the day and 50-60ish at night. Then the garcinia was on the floor level, not on racks. I'd say it made it through some really cold nights ... maybe 30s some times but 40-50 more of the time.


FlyingFoxFruits

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Re: Surprises in my Garden and a little advice please
« Reply #6 on: June 24, 2015, 09:00:45 PM »
Tropicaliste,

thanks for sharing the great photos,
plants are looking pretty good!! nice work!

as for pruning the small Grimal, i would just wait a while...it's still small, and you are zone pushing...let it get some size before giving it a real prune job...in the meantime and between time, you can cut off little spindly branches that are in a poor position, crossing each other, or crowding the inner portions of the canopy.

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Tropicaliste

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Re: Surprises in my Garden and a little advice please
« Reply #7 on: June 25, 2015, 11:12:22 PM »
Thanks for the advice, Adam. It's still a little bit of worry for me, because I'm not confident in my picks of the branches, but I'll give it a go. It's so vigorous, any mistakes will probably be fine. :)

Any advice on what that could've been on the Michelia Alba? I've never had plants sprayed before ... PS, what kind of Jabo is that at the botanical garden?

fruitlovers

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Re: Surprises in my Garden and a little advice please
« Reply #8 on: June 26, 2015, 01:14:35 AM »
Thanks for the advice, Adam. It's still a little bit of worry for me, because I'm not confident in my picks of the branches, but I'll give it a go. It's so vigorous, any mistakes will probably be fine. :)

Any advice on what that could've been on the Michelia Alba? I've never had plants sprayed before ... PS, what kind of Jabo is that at the botanical garden?
Was the Michelia alba shipped from another state? If so it's probably some sort of pesticide. Shippers routinely do that to more easily pass inspection.
Oscar

Tropicaliste

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Re: Surprises in my Garden and a little advice please
« Reply #9 on: June 26, 2015, 11:47:56 PM »
It was shipped from Florida. That's what I feared. Probably going to move it away from the other plants until I'm sure it's off the leaves ... don't want to introduce it to the other plants and things in the greenhouse. Thanks Oscar :)