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Solkanar512 posted:My gut says you're going to need more water during the summer until you can better amend the soil through repeated mulching and your trees start to develop a real canopy. Overall variance will be higher as well until your trees are better established. What do you mean by “more water”? I’ve only got 1000 gallons to spread around :/ I got the land because I eventually want a self sustaining homestead/permaculture orchard I can retire at in 15 years. I picked the PNW for its climate resiliency (lol). I picked hazelnuts because they are a reliable perennial producer of plant protein. They do well in the environment and don’t take 10 years for a useful harvest like walnuts do. I got a bunch of different cultivars based on recommendations from the nursery so they can pollinate eachother all season long. Some are early producers and some are late. Bout half the trees are Jefferson, yamhill, and Polly O. All cultivars have good/great blight resistance. If this works out, I’ll plant out 10 or so walnuts on the other side of the property next year, then another half acre of hazelnuts, then a half acre of chestnuts the year after that. Eventually I’ll have to get a well, power, and septic at the site, which’ll cost about 50 grand. Then I’ll have a small house and shop built for ~200k, and start on some annuals in raised beds and greenhouses. Edit: oh also I think hazelnuts have the best output/acre for tree nuts since they tolerate close spacing well. Maybe if the climate gets REALLY hosed I can start growing pecans! LibCrusher fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Jan 2, 2022 |
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Jan 2, 2022 19:42
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LibCrusher posted:What do you mean by “more water”? I’ve only got 1000 gallons to spread around :/ Wow, that's an incredible project, I hope we'll see pictures in the future! So by "more water", I mean that likely you're going to need to water more frequently in the summer until those trees are established and your soil is amended the way you want it. But who really knows, you get a wet July and it might hold you over. Regardless, more mature trees can handle the swings in temperatures, have deeper roots to reach water and wider canopies to provide more shade. Amended soil is going to better absorb/retain the proper amount of water as well. By the time that happens you'll have a good sense of the microclimate of your site as well. I guess the ultimate point I'm trying to get to here is that I understand why you're trying to plan for so much ahead of time and you're asking the right questions, but the best answers are going to come from actually digging holes and putting plants into the ground and taking readings and watching what happens over time.
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Jan 2, 2022 20:24
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LibCrusher posted:What do you mean by “more water”? I’ve only got 1000 gallons to spread around :/ Dunno much about your climate/soil but blueberries are long-lived, reliable producers too, though water requirements are likely higher.
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Jan 2, 2022 20:31
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I did everything but the irrigation last year because the guy at the nursery said “looks like we’ll have a nice cool summer with some rain so you probably won’t even need it” As far as the holes go I’m thinking of using an auger, but I’m worried I’ll gently caress myself up. Last year I did everything by shovel while it was pouring rain and not gonna lie it was a truly miserable experience. Should I rent an auger? How about a roto tiller? I have a good 20v drill and lots of batteries, maybe I could do a small drill auger or tiller like this  Thoughts? Edit reply: apparently the last guy who owned this place tried blueberries but they couldn’t handle the summer dry spells. I might go for a token few apple trees though later on.
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Jan 2, 2022 20:39
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LibCrusher posted:I did everything but the irrigation last year because the guy at the nursery said “looks like we’ll have a nice cool summer with some rain so you probably won’t even need it” Ok, I've used the large augers before and here's what I have to say about them - you're good for a day or so, then you won't be able to use it. The auger will hit rocks and jerk around and you'll need a really hot shower that night. But it's really loving fast for drilling holes. If you're just worried in general about the rotational torque, I'd say go for it (maybe water the areas you're going to drill into first to loosen things up), but if you have other ongoing injuries then maybe find another way. The small augers are really for plant starts or bulbs, but they won't cause you much physical pain. I've found that the worse weather you plant stuff in, the better the plants like it so you did those trees a huge favor.
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Jan 2, 2022 21:25
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If you can find a local with an auger attachment for their tractor to help you, it will make your life hugely easier. You might make a friend who can check on your stuff over the summer too. The other augers will beat you the heck up like Solkanar said and are best with 2 people, the tractor mounted ones are just awesome though.
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Jan 2, 2022 21:55
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Does anyone know how to get a frost alert emailed or texted to me? I inherited a bunch of staghorn ferns and they're doing well, but I don't think would survive a freeze.
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Jan 2, 2022 21:58
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Lol they leafed out and looked happy in the late spring but then got cooked to death when it went like 90 days without rain and hit 115 2 days in a row 🥴. I think I’ll get the drill auger and try to make 4 holes in close proximity. At least it’ll do a decent job of mixing the soils. Definitely be using that stabilizer handle attachment thing. Looks like 4-6 feb I’ll go up and measure+mark the planting spots, drop some soil on them, make my initial auger holes+mix, lay out initial irrigation lines, pre-stage bags of mulch for each tree. Kill blackberries. 17-21 feb, pick up water tanks (multiple trips back and forth to Longview. Will not be fun), attach all the irrigation lines and drippers, have the tanks filled, pick up trees, plant trees, run irrigation test, curse the gods if it doesn’t work. Apply deer repellant. Am I missing anything?
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Jan 2, 2022 21:58
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DeadlyMuffin posted:Does anyone know how to get a frost alert emailed or texted to me? https://ifttt.com/applets/QW7AeMh8-frost-alert-via-ios I don't know what makes it "iOS"; it works great on my Android phone. 
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Jan 2, 2022 22:35
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Lakitu7 posted:This guy's fun, but here in Minnesota there's not a lot of Sagos on the side of the road. People just throw away hostas and daylilies; basically all suburban landscaping here is based on hostas, hydrangeas, and daylilies. For better or for worse, Home Depot likes to bring about 50+ palm trees of various kinds here in the spring. I don't just mean houseplant Sagos and Majestys falsely marketed as houseplants but like 10gal King and Queen palms that can't live outdoors here in zone 4a and sure can't live indoors either, so I guess people just buy them to sit on their deck for mid-summer until they die Sagos grow super slowly. All plants have their growth restricted by being in a pot to some extent (bonsai uses this principle to an extreme by aggressively restricting root size), and mass-building is often encouraged by up-potting if you can’t put the plant in the ground. Obviously you’ll want to be careful with watering and creating “dead zones” or wet/dry zones in too big of a pot but there are a lot of plants (trees especially) that bulk up fast if you put them outside and give them a lot of room to throw out long roots. All that said, sagos tend to take years to get big. That’s one of the reason big/yard trees are so pricey— a 5 or 6 foot, $200 sago might be 50+ years old. Sometimes with plants you gotta decide when it’s worth paying for time. One of the better Lowe’s near me did the thing with the palms last spring. Not sure if I posted pics here or not but they had a bunch of like $250+ 12-15’ specimens (and lots of much smaller ones) of about a dozen species. Honestly they were pretty spectacular. I was there looking for satsuki azaleas and I spent a good 20 minutes just considering what I’d need to do to get some big palms one day (move south/southwest, build a greenhouse) And yeah, most of them weren’t gonna survive MA unless their purchaser got them into a greenhouse or particularly bright sunroom. But a surprising number of ppl here do have those. I do know a guy who’s managed to keep a coconut alive for 20-odd years in his house (it gets wheeled outside at the beginning of every May for the summer). The thing’s hilarious—stunted at like 8 feet but with these big helicopter fronds.
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Jan 2, 2022 22:53
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. It's absurd and maddening to me. My Home Depot Sago is still sitting in my living room looking 100% identical to that photo I posted last month. Hopefully in like 5mo it'll be warm enough that I can put it outside for a while and see it actually grow a little but for now it seems to be dormant and might as well be artificial. My Bamboo Palm is doing well in the same environment and sending up new shoots. I added a Kentia last week that's doing fine but still adjusting. I'll wait until spring to transplant that one.
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I fuckin hate sago palms and destroying one of the huge ones in my front bed with an ax was incredibly satisfying. The fronds get burned and turn brown when we have a frost and then I have to cut them all off and those are the meanest, spiniest plants in the universe. Good riddance. E: sago palms are for people who hire their landscaping out and never go near the things. They are alright to look at, but hell to interact with.
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Jan 2, 2022 23:26
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:I fuckin hate sago palms and destroying one of the huge ones in my front bed with an ax was incredibly satisfying. The fronds get burned and turn brown when we have a frost and then I have to cut them all off and those are the meanest, spiniest plants in the universe. Good riddance. I mean you’re talking to a thread full of succulent collectors. Granted none of us have a yard full of cacti/euphorbia the way they do out west.
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Jan 2, 2022 23:28
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Is there a good systemic pesticide I can use to kill scale bugs? My huge m. geometrizans has a lot of them, and given its crested nature, there are just too many hidey holes for me to brush them all off. I am open to other solutions, but physical removal has proven ineffective over the years.
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Jan 3, 2022 02:45
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Solkanar512 posted:Ok, I've used the large augers before and here's what I have to say about them - you're good for a day or so, then you won't be able to use it. The auger will hit rocks and jerk around and you'll need a really hot shower that night. But it's really loving fast for drilling holes. If you're just worried in general about the rotational torque, I'd say go for it (maybe water the areas you're going to drill into first to loosen things up), but if you have other ongoing injuries then maybe find another way. The small augers are really for plant starts or bulbs, but they won't cause you much physical pain. Oof. There are, of course, large rocks in the soil all over the place. Should I just shovel instead, and maybe use a hand tiller to mix the storebought soil?
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Jan 3, 2022 03:37
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Is bark for reptiles/other pets okay as bark to use in orchid medium or does it have stuff done to it?
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Jan 3, 2022 04:32
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Organza Quiz posted:Is bark for reptiles/other pets okay as bark to use in orchid medium or does it have stuff done to it? We grow orchids in our terraria with some reptibark used in it. I can't see the harm. They probably sterilize the bark to some extent to avoid pests.
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Jan 3, 2022 04:44
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:You're playing Banished! in real life, lol. Get European walnuts if they'll grow in your area. Black walnuts are tasty but a pain in the rear end to get much meat out of. European walnuts take 15-20 years to fruit. Black walnuts take 8-10 years. Europeans say that you plant a walnut so that your children can enjoy the fruit. (I have an English friend whose father planted a walnut at her birth and, yup, fruited in her 20s.)
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Jan 3, 2022 05:34
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I know some (most?) people in the thread interested probably are already watching, but the latest Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't video is super worth watching if you're into succulents, mesembs in particular.Ok Comboomer posted:I mean you’re talking to a thread full of succulent collectors. Granted none of us have a yard full of cacti/euphorbia the way they do out west. Not for lack of trying.
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Jan 3, 2022 14:23
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 Christ, isn’t that the truth.
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Jan 3, 2022 20:39
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Solkanar512 posted:
it’s missing “spider mites”
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Jan 3, 2022 20:44
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 So I'm confused about what I'm doing wrong with my spider plant. The leaves are getting pale and kind of yellow which the internet says is from underwatering but I'm getting brown leaf tips which the internet says is from overwatering. I've taken the step of moving it into a room where it can get a bit more sun (east facing window) from the bedroom where it wasn't getting much natural light. Any suggestions?
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Jan 3, 2022 21:13
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Guildenstern Mother posted:
The ones at the bottom don't bother me as those are the leaves that will die back, but has it been getting cold? Those look like the leaves got too cold and are going to die back. The whole plant isn't yellowing, so I wouldn't worry about the watering. The rest of it looks like it's pretty happy.
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Jan 3, 2022 21:40
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It shouldn't be getting too cold, its been in the least drafty room in the house, but I wouldn't be surprised if a few of the insanely cold nights managed to shock it a bit. Glad to hear I'm not killing it. I've managed to kill an indoor mint plant once, but I don't think I could live down killing a spider plant.
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Jan 3, 2022 22:40
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Guildenstern Mother posted:It shouldn't be getting too cold, its been in the least drafty room in the house, but I wouldn't be surprised if a few of the insanely cold nights managed to shock it a bit. Glad to hear I'm not killing it. I've managed to kill an indoor mint plant once, but I don't think I could live down killing a spider plant. You believe you killed an indoor mint plant. It was just waiting until you watered it to take over the world. Killing plants happens, spider plants are easy to propagate as they get bigger. Spider plants can be killed too, but you have to neglect them for a long time. I've gone 6 months between watering a pothos and it didn't manage to die then either, but they do lose some leaves seemingly randomly from time to time. The reason I'd think the cold nipped at it is that it looks a lot like the spider plant we had growing up did every winter in the Upper Midwest. Every spring it would bounce back and with some minimal paying attention that sucker is still alive decades later.
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Jan 3, 2022 22:51
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Full disclosure, the death of mint plants happened multiple times. I think my grocery store was just selling bunk mint seedlings so I'd have to keep buying loose mint like a fool.
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Jan 3, 2022 23:08
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Guildenstern Mother posted:
My spider plant is one of the worst diva plants I own. I've had less trouble with my calatheas and fiddle leaf fig. People talk about them as these unkillable newbie plants akin to snake plants and ZZ plants, but the one a friend at work gave me didn't get the memo. Mine's really only happy when it's outside in the summer. I tried twice to keep it alive indoors year-round at the office, both near and far from a large south facing window, and it'd just slowly wither away without new growth until I'd bring it home and put it outside on the deck in full sun. In the winter I can keep it alive in full sun in a south-facing basement windowsill but the leaves slowly brown from the tips until it can go back outside and thrive again. Your symptoms could be underwatering, or they could be overwatering. If the soil's not soggy and not smelly, you're more likely under- than over-watering. It could also just be normal death of a couple old leaves and you're overthinking it. Otherwise, they also have a reputation for hating tap water, so switch to rain or distilled if you can, or at least flush the soil every now and then to get extra minerals out. Somehow the mother plant mine was propped from lived for years in a windowless office under fluorescent light with a monthly shot of hard office tap water but my prop demands full sun and rain water .
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Jan 4, 2022 00:24
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I have a smallish pony tail palm that I got for christmas , how much water should I use on this thing and how often. Its about a foot and half high.
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Jan 4, 2022 01:50
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Hollismason posted:I have a smallish pony tail palm that I got for christmas , how much water should I use on this thing and how often. Its about a foot and half high. Water it when the soil dries out and not before.
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Jan 4, 2022 01:55
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Dang It Bhabhi! posted:Water it when the soil dries out and not before. How much water do I use cup wise? The soil is pretty dry. I got it on Christmas day so I haven't watered it since then. How can I tell it needs water?
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Jan 4, 2022 03:21
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My mother's spider plant was immortal. I actively tried to stealth kill that thing for over a year, putting weird cleaning chemicals etc into the water. It only thrived in the face of this adversity. In retrospect it wasn't the spider plant's fault, but it had been hung almost directly over my chair at the dinner table and its stupid tendrils would get in my hair and bat me in the face during dinner for most of my adolescence and I suppose I finally snapped.
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Jan 4, 2022 03:28
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Hollismason posted:How much water do I use cup wise? The soil is pretty dry. I got it on Christmas day so I haven't watered it since then. No one can really answer this without knowing the conditions it's growing in. The humidity in your home will make a difference, as will what you have it planted in and the amount of light it's getting (water use is proportional to light). To give you an idea mine looks like this:  Mine is growing in gritty mix (which retains very limited water) in a south-facing window and I give it 200ml of water once a week. Keep in mind that if yours is growing in something more like regular soil pouring that small a quantity of water into it may just cause it all to get absorbed before it gets anywhere near the roots.
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Jan 4, 2022 15:09
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Wallet posted:No one can really answer this without knowing the conditions it's growing in. The humidity in your home will make a difference, as will what you have it planted in and the amount of light it's getting (water use is proportional to light). To give you an idea mine looks like this: Yeah mine is about that size. I figured two cups of water, but I'mma wait til Friday to water it. The soil is pretty drat dry. I don't know how to tell when it needs water though.
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Jan 4, 2022 18:10
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Hi, can anyone recommend me a tall houseplant for this space? Right next to where the floor lamp is. The only light source is the wall behind me, which has two pretty large windows that face southwest (I can provide a picture of that if it's helpful). Someone said to look at bamboo, but I know there are a ton of varieties. The ceiling is ten feet, with the soffit at nine feet. The sofa arm height is two feet. So the bottom of the plant won't have sun exposure, but the rest would (I could also get a stand of course). Most of the day, when it's light out, it will get partial sunlight, but least now in the winter it will get very direct sunlight in mid-late afternoon. thanks!
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Jan 4, 2022 18:28
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If you want to be lazy, get a snake plant. If you want to put in some effort, get a big Monstera deliciosa. If you have big brain energy, get an Aloidendron.
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Jan 4, 2022 19:08
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pokie posted:If you want to be lazy, get a snake plant. If you want to put in some effort, get a big Monstera deliciosa. If you have big brain energy, get an Aloidendron. I have two other snake plants, so I wouldn't mind getting something different, but at the same time they are insanely easy to take care of. But it would also be nice to have something taller. At the same time I found a cool wire planter that is two feet high, so that would keep the whole plant fully in view. actionjackson fucked around with this message at 19:19 on Jan 4, 2022 |
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Jan 4, 2022 19:15
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actionjackson posted:I have two other snake plants, so I wouldn't mind getting something different, but at the same time they are insanely easy to take care of. But it would also be nice to have something taller. At the same time I found a cool wire planter that is two feet high, so that would keep the whole plant fully in view. I think it mostly depends on the amount effort and money you want to spend. Honestly Monstera are not that difficult, so I would default to a big Monstera species. A tall cactus could also work, like a Lophocereus marginatus. Personally I have all of the plants I listed except a snake one. Aloidendron would require extra lights and be $$$, but everything else is doable and really up to you.
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Jan 4, 2022 19:35
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actionjackson posted:Hi, can anyone recommend me a tall houseplant for this space? Right next to where the floor lamp is. The only light source is the wall behind me, which has two pretty large windows that face southwest (I can provide a picture of that if it's helpful). Someone said to look at bamboo, but I know there are a ton of varieties. The ceiling is ten feet, with the soffit at nine feet. The sofa arm height is two feet. So the bottom of the plant won't have sun exposure, but the rest would (I could also get a stand of course). Most of the day, when it's light out, it will get partial sunlight, but least now in the winter it will get very direct sunlight in mid-late afternoon. thanks! Tall mid-low light floor plants (I'm assuming you want a floor plant; many more options if you're getting smaller on a table): Dracaena Lisa or Dracaena Fragrans (corn plant) are each commonly available and would do fine in that spot. Expect to pay roughly $150 at a nursery for ~5ft tall, as low as $50 if you find them at big box (probably ~3ft tall). You see these all over shopping malls and stuff. They're go-to plants but you might be tired of them. Bamboo Palm: Probably what somebody meant when they said bamboo (it's not actually bamboo). They're beautiful and easy palms, cousins of parlor palms. Nursery prices here range $120-200 for ~6ft tall. I haven't seen them at big box but most local nurseries have them. Dumb Cane (Dieffenbachia) can grow there but it'll be a table plant for some years until it's tall enough to be a floor plant. I haven't seem them sold in floor-plant size. Ponytail palm: They can get that big, but it'll cost you $200+ for 4ft+. Ming Aralia: you're borderline on too dark for it. ~5ft tall are about $200. Kentia Palm: beautiful easy palms but expensive, ~$300 You can get a "pole"-grown pothos or vining philodendron but in those sizes they're $200+ and who wants to pay that kind of money for pothos? Do NOT buy a Majesty Palm (very tempting when they're ~$30 at home depot); they are not good houseplants for non-optimal conditions. Don't get a Fiddle Leaf Fig either; that's not enough light for that spot. Monsteras and philodendrons (e.g. Xanadu) and peace lily (e.g. Sensation) would work but they're wider than they are tall. I'm pretty sure I remember that you're in Minneapolis, so the prices I'm quoting should be dead-on for you. Tonkadale has most of it (not sure they have Kentias). I bought my Bamboo Palm for about $120 at Bachmans and they're about $200 at Tonkadale. Lakitu7 fucked around with this message at 19:50 on Jan 4, 2022 |
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Jan 4, 2022 19:39
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that's very helpful, thanks! I do think something on the floor that is taller would be better - a plant on a stand would have more options, but I don't think would give me enough "volume." The goal is to add color and texture to what is a very long wall. If I did do a floor planter like this https://www.dwr.com/outdoor-planters-pots/wire-planter%2C-large/8143-3.html?lang=en_US what would you recommend that is NOT a snake plant, but isn't a ton of work either? It looks like it has a 9" planter for bamboo palm, is this the same thing? https://www.bachmans.com/product/15000000102580 it says 14" is that the planter size? actionjackson fucked around with this message at 20:17 on Jan 4, 2022 |
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Jan 4, 2022 20:14
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Don't Kentia palms also get quite large?
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Jan 4, 2022 21:48
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actionjackson posted:If I did do a floor planter like this https://www.dwr.com/outdoor-planters-pots/wire-planter%2C-large/8143-3.html?lang=en_US what would you recommend that is NOT a snake plant, but isn't a ton of work either? It looks like it has a 9" planter There aren't many small plants that are going to be okay in those conditions, easy to take care of, and go up instead of out. I've seen ZZ plants get to 4 or 5 feet but I've never seem them on sale at that size, and they probably need (relatively) generous lighting to reach that height.
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Jan 4, 2022 22:04
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