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HIJK posted:How do you know when something has just been delivered, do you ask an employee? If it's still tied with rope to the pallet it got delivered on that's a good sign. Usually you want to look at the plant and feel the soil. If it's something small I would just remove it from the pot and look at the roots—they have a tendency to overwater the poo poo out of everything. Fitzy Fitz posted:Employees at big box garden centers rarely know anything. They put somewhat knowledgeable people in appliances and hardware sometimes, but garden center mostly gets a random selection of high school kids. When I worked a summer at lowe's on "loading" duty I'd go hang out in the garden center when I had time because I could actually help people there. This isn't necessarily the case, but even employees that know something are discouraged from taking care of the plants properly. A friend who originally ran an actual nursery took on running the garden department at a Home Depot some years ago and initially went into it trying to take care of the plants as if they actually mattered, but the staff to plant ratio at Home Depot can't support that and management doesn't want anyone wasting their time taking care of the plant stock. Everything gets watered every day to try and keep it from dying before they can push it out the door (this does not work for many, many plants). I'm told that, at least at the time, Home Depot only paid their suppliers for plants that were actually sold so they don't have any incentive to take care of them. If it isn't out the door quickly they mark it down until it's unsellable or some poor sap leaves with a half-rotten plant. Wallet fucked around with this message at 13:55 on Apr 11, 2021 |
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Apr 11, 2021 13:53
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Park seed wasn’t joking when they said superior germination rate. How and how much should I thin this wildflower mix?
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Apr 11, 2021 19:27
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Wallet posted:I'm told that, at least at the time, Home Depot only paid their suppliers for plants that were actually sold so they don't have any incentive to take care of them. If it isn't out the door quickly they mark it down until it's unsellable or some poor sap leaves with a half-rotten plant. or you end up with three 4-6” staghorn colonies for a grand total of $9 (including the terra cotta over-pots that basically made the deal amount to “get the pot regular price and then get a fern in it for an additional $0.50”) that are now rapidly outgrowing their pots.......wait, the poor sap is me isn’t it, these things already have way more foliage than they did when I bought them in February
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Apr 11, 2021 19:39
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Ok Comboomer posted:or you end up with three 4-6” staghorn colonies for a grand total of $9 (including the terra cotta over-pots that basically made the deal amount to “get the pot regular price and then get a fern in it for an additional $0.50”) that are now rapidly outgrowing their pots.......wait, the poor sap is me isn’t it, these things already have way more foliage than they did when I bought them in February Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I picked up some of their very last closeout (outdoor) ferns for $4 whole dollars at the end of last season that are doing well but it was an amount I could live with losing if they poo poo the bed. If you recognize the risk that's cool, but if you're at an experience level where you don't yet recognize why Home Depot's plant care can't be trusted then you should probably be wary. I mostly feel bad for people who go to Home Depot to start their succulent collection with whatever looks interesting and go home with a bunch of stuff that has been sitting in the store for three weeks and then spend the next two months becoming convinced they have the blackest of thumbs when they do everything they're supposed to do and the plants wither away anyway because all of their roots are rotten and incapable of taking in any water. Wallet fucked around with this message at 22:58 on Apr 11, 2021 |
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Apr 11, 2021 22:53
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I'm very, very new to gardening and lawn care. My project since having bought my house two years ago has been to 'reset' all the horribly overgrown flower beds that had gone neglected under the PO. They're absolutely packed to the gills with these really awful weeds (or at at least they were last summer), so I'm currently attempting a strategy of starving the plots. I've covered them with 6mm black plastic with the intent of denying them sunlight and then cooking them under the summer sun. Spring has sprung hard this last week, and I've noticed the tarps are sitting up in a few places. An investigation has yielded the photo below; that despite having been covered with this black tarp for the last six months, some of the plant life is still growing pretty impressively. (The photo is what I found when I lifted up part of the tarp.) My concern is that some of it may end up ripping through the tarp if it keeps growing strong enough. I used a hand spade to hack down the tallest bits, but plenty remains. If my goal is to just nuke everything here, what's my best bet? If I leave it alone will it succumb to the hot summer sun soon enough? Should I open up the plastic, give everything growing a drink of roundup, and replace? Something else? 
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Apr 12, 2021 00:52
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Keep that tarp on there and throw mulch over the tarp. Don’t gently caress with it until next season
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Apr 12, 2021 03:38
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I netted my berry bushes this weekend. Birds can kindly gently caress off.
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Apr 12, 2021 05:22
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The Wonder Weapon posted:I'm very, very new to gardening and lawn care. My project since having bought my house two years ago has been to 'reset' all the horribly overgrown flower beds that had gone neglected under the PO. They're absolutely packed to the gills with these really awful weeds (or at at least they were last summer), so I'm currently attempting a strategy of starving the plots. I've covered them with 6mm black plastic with the intent of denying them sunlight and then cooking them under the summer sun. Also make sure you’re properly putting edges between the lawn and the beds. Setting up an air gap with a half moon edger and then maintaining it with a string trimmer will help a whole lot.
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Apr 12, 2021 07:01
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The Wonder Weapon posted:I'm very, very new to gardening and lawn care. My project since having bought my house two years ago has been to 'reset' all the horribly overgrown flower beds that had gone neglected under the PO. They're absolutely packed to the gills with these really awful weeds (or at at least they were last summer), so I'm currently attempting a strategy of starving the plots. I've covered them with 6mm black plastic with the intent of denying them sunlight and then cooking them under the summer sun. Your tarp is probably letting heat and a bit of light through. I’d scrap the idea and do it with thick cardboard, a thick layer of compost & new plants - so no need to wait to use the beds. In any event you need a thicker mulch later and more time to rot & kill everything.
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Apr 12, 2021 12:57
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Dumping mulch all over everything and waiting another year is right up my alley. It's like 900 square feet, so it's going to be nearly $100 of mulch, but if that's my total cost for landscaping this year, I can live with that.
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Apr 12, 2021 16:57
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The Wonder Weapon posted:Dumping mulch all over everything and waiting another year is right up my alley. It's like 900 square feet, so it's going to be nearly $100 of mulch, but if that's my total cost for landscaping this year, I can live with that. Mulch buddies. I have all of the shrub beds to mulch this year because I don’t know what I’m going to do with the space. Probably leave a bunch of it as one strip is on the north side and gets very little sun. The weeds don’t mind, so mulch it is for this year. I’m just going to have a few yards delivered and then get my workout in.
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Apr 12, 2021 17:05
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Why does no one local who delivers mulch ever put their price on their website? Ugh.
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Apr 12, 2021 17:20
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Jhet posted:I’m just going to have a few yards delivered and then get my workout in. The Wonder Weapon posted:Dumping mulch all over everything and waiting another year is right up my alley. It's like 900 square feet, so it's going to be nearly $100 of mulch, but if that's my total cost for landscaping this year, I can live with that. If you're trying to kill stuff with mulch (without some kind of layer under it) you're going to want to go pretty deep. 8" is what I hear most often for that purpose. If you are going to put something under it I would avoid a tarp or any of the really plasticy weed fabric stuff they sell. The last person who lived here put down that plasticy poo poo under their mulch and it made the mulch rot and smell awful until I ripped it all out. Wallet fucked around with this message at 17:26 on Apr 12, 2021 |
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Apr 12, 2021 17:24
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Wallet posted:If you're trying to kill stuff with mulch (without some kind of layer under it) you're going to want to go pretty deep. 8" is what I hear most often for that purpose. Which is a great way to have fungus. Just glyphosate the stuff under there and put on 3". Or don't glyphosate but put down Preen or some other preemergent on top of a few inches of mulch.. You can be successfully "chemical free" if you want to really put in the time and work and materials or you can be "meh, I just want this done" and responsibly use herbicides.
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Apr 12, 2021 17:27
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Wallet posted:I don't know if it's going to be like it was last year but if you know you're going to need a truckload of mulch dumped I would start calling around now—last year by the middle of spring all of the landscaping supply places here were booked for months solid. I'm hoping that means no one's needing it this year. But we both know that's not true. All the places around me have fully functioning websites too, so price lists and everything are easy to compare, but it looks to be about $40-50/yd^3, so it could be worse. I could go pick it up, but I really don't have a way to do that.
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Apr 12, 2021 17:32
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Mulch tip - If you need a poo poo ton of mulch and don't really care how you get it - theres an app called ChipDrop and it connects you with lawn care peeps that need a place to drop the wood chips from doing tree remediation. Its been around for a long time and I know quite a few people who've used it mostly successfully. One friend hosed up and put whole logs on there and ended up with a whole tree in her yard and had to borrrow a chainsaw and some help to deal with it but all in all, its pretty cool.
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Apr 12, 2021 18:23
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That's a pretty cool website. Gonna sign some friends up for logs. 
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Apr 12, 2021 19:21
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Our local yard waste center has free mulch too. Its not like the bagged stuff from the stores, its just stuff that was previously deposited all chopped up and put in a pile for free. I use it to top some of my larger flower pots and it works just fine. This year I'm going to put it down around my bigger raised beds too just for aesthetic purposes. The one knock I've heard on it is that its not kiln dried so it can contain pests. I wouldnt put it too near my house for example.
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Apr 12, 2021 19:22
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If you're going to throw mulch on top you could also try putting down a few layers of cardboard or kraft paper and then grow potatoes in the mulch.
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Apr 12, 2021 19:31
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This chipdrop app thing looks awesome. I'm looking for logs for our backyard fires too, so this really hits all the right notes. The site says each delivery of mulch is ~20 cubic yards, which is a significant supply. I need, like, 8 or 9 for covering those areas I described above, so that's a lot of excess. I happen to also be planning on planting at least 10 trees this summer, so I definitely have a place to use more mulch. That leads me to two questions: are these rough woodchips going to be acceptable for putting around the base of 1-2' trees, and is there something I can spray/treat them with to kill any bugs? The bulk of my areas to cover are a good ways from the house, but some of the trees will be only a few feet away.
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Apr 12, 2021 19:36
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Motronic posted:Which is a great way to have fungus. In areas where it's safe to do so, you can kill stuff with fire if you want to avoid herbicides. The key is just heating unwanted plants enough that they die, but not enough to make them ignite or kill off the microorganisms in the soil. As a bonus, weed burning propane torches generally double as sidewalk/driveway deicing tools.
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Apr 12, 2021 19:39
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poeticoddity posted:In areas where it's safe to do so, you can kill stuff with fire if you want to avoid herbicides. The key is just heating unwanted plants enough that they die, but not enough to make them ignite or kill off the microorganisms in the soil. Unfortunately these do little to nothing to one of the more popular weeds in my area and others: dandelions. Or anything with a starchy taproot. I think someone on here mentioned some crazy heating device that you stab the ground with to cook off the taproot but I don't remember specifics.
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Apr 12, 2021 19:41
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Hey yall. So I have become another victim of the pandemic plant craze and have something like 40 houseplants now and started a veggie garden that may or may not produce a single vegetable - tbd. It's been fun learning about stuff but I am particularly nervous about this banana tree I just got and thought I'd ask for some opinions. I've always wanted a banana tree - my brother and I used to eat the bananas off a dwarf tree behind our house in Florida as kids and I'm just sorta drawn to the shape of the leaves. I'm in GA now and they're expensive to ship, so I've been scouting local nurseries. They get snatched up as soon as they hit the retail space. I got lucky today and found a musa balbisiana at a nursery down the road, but it's got some leaf damage. Wondering if there's anything I need to do beyond frequent watering and sunbathing? It's got a new leaf coming in and seems otherwise healthy.     ok thanks for reading
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Apr 12, 2021 20:09
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skylined! posted:Hey yall. So I have become another victim of the pandemic plant craze and have something like 40 houseplants now and started a veggie garden that may or may not produce a single vegetable - tbd. It's been fun learning about stuff but I am particularly nervous about this banana tree I just got and thought I'd ask for some opinions.
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Apr 12, 2021 20:14
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Cut the dead leaves off. Leave the damaged but green ones on or cut them off-probably doesn’t matter. It’ll be fine. Depending on where you are in GA, if you stick in the ground the above ground part will probably freeze every year and you probably won’t ever get any bananas, but they are still pretty plants. Northern/central GA a real hard single digit freeze once a decade might kill the whole plant, but I’d imagine in south/coastal GA it would be fine outside. Thanks, I am in zone 8B west central GA - Columbus. I'm planning on potting it so we can bring it inside in the winter - we have a room that gets decent sun. Not terribly concerned if it fruits!
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Apr 12, 2021 20:19
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Bananas do fine in GA. My neighbors' trees are in the ground and die back every year but still put out fresh growth in the spring.
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Apr 12, 2021 20:51
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silicone thrills posted:Mulch tip - Yes, you have maybe saved me a bunch of money. Most of the places have that dark almost black colored mulch and not a bunch of untreated stuff. And I could get a tree to grow mushrooms on and cut up for firewood.
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Apr 12, 2021 21:06
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Welp my cat found my pepper seedlings which had just started really going and went through and chomped off the top of each of them. Really hoping the sad little things have enough left to continue to grow.
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Apr 13, 2021 05:33
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guri posted:Welp my cat found my pepper seedlings which had just started really going and went through and chomped off the top of each of them. Really hoping the sad little things have enough left to continue to grow. If they have any leaves left, they'll probably do just fine. Many pepper varieties don't mind being topped and will bounce back no problems.
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Apr 13, 2021 05:38
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Jhet posted:Yes, you have maybe saved me a bunch of money. Most of the places have that dark almost black colored mulch and not a bunch of untreated stuff. One thing that cracks me up is they put a bunch of vids on youtube that are like "Here's why you shouldn't use chipdrop" and its mostly just "holy gently caress you get a TON and you have no control of when it gets dropped" PNW Q: Are there any veggies or fruits that do well under western red cedar other than Salal? I've got two behemoths in my yard and have been trying to pair some productive plants up near them but so far it seems like the only thing that survives well is salal and the loving ivy and himalayan blackberry. I'm cool if its just salal.
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Apr 13, 2021 05:47
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Jhet posted:If they have any leaves left, they'll probably do just fine. Many pepper varieties don't mind being topped and will bounce back no problems.
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Apr 13, 2021 07:58
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silicone thrills posted:One thing that cracks me up is they put a bunch of vids on youtube that are like "Here's why you shouldn't use chipdrop" and its mostly just "holy gently caress you get a TON and you have no control of when it gets dropped" Have you tried evergreen huckleberry, thimbleberry or salmonberry? All three of those grow in western red cedar forests as understory around here. That said, thimbleberry and salmonberry may need slightly wetter conditions. Oh also try cranberries as a ground cover. Those grow in the woods all the way up in Whitehorse. I'm pretty sure they'd do ok in the PNW. Also hey! I'm growing most of these plants (in a relatively small city space). Miner's lettuce is great - it's pretty well guaranteed to self seed, but doesn't seem to take over like a weed.
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Apr 13, 2021 08:07
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Lead out in cuffs posted:Have you tried evergreen huckleberry, thimbleberry or salmonberry? All three of those grow in western red cedar forests as understory around here. That said, thimbleberry and salmonberry may need slightly wetter conditions. Ooo good idea! As soon as my huckleberries and salmon berries are a little bigger I'll see if I can take some cuttings. Thanks!
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Apr 13, 2021 15:58
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Speaking of banana trees, I got two in the ground that are quite alive and look fine, but they haven't grown in height at all since they were planted almost two years ago. They get water and everything, and the other plants around them grow just fine. Any ideas?
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Apr 13, 2021 19:20
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FogHelmut posted:Speaking of banana trees, I got two in the ground that are quite alive and look fine, but they haven't grown in height at all since they were planted almost two years ago. They get water and everything, and the other plants around them grow just fine. Any ideas? talking entirely out of my rear end here but maybe they’re doing the tree thing of stabilizing and putting down big long roots as far as they can during Year 1/Year 2 before taking off like a rocket during Year 2/Year 3
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Apr 13, 2021 19:23
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A new problem emerges. I think I have a serial pooping possum in my area. A possum or raccoon is making GBS threads in two spots in my yard and it's starting to drive me crazy. One is near the house and the other is in a raised bed which really pisses me off. Anyone have any suggestions for scaring them off? I would love to trap it and re-home it somewhere, but I live in the city and have no clue what level of legality that has with it. My partner wants to start with getting photos of it with a deer cam to confirm whether it's a possum or raccoon. Hopefully I can find a cheap trail cam.
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Apr 13, 2021 20:38
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Earth posted:A new problem emerges. I think I have a serial pooping possum in my area. A possum or raccoon is making GBS threads in two spots in my yard and it's starting to drive me crazy. One is near the house and the other is in a raised bed which really pisses me off. Anyone have any suggestions for scaring them off? I would love to trap it and re-home it somewhere, but I live in the city and have no clue what level of legality that has with it. Predator urine. Depending on where you live, you might be able to buy coyote urine locally. Human urine from someone with a meat-heavy diet can work, too.
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Apr 13, 2021 21:10
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silicone thrills posted:PNW Q: Just did a walkaround poking under our cedars - that's pretty well it, other than Oregon grape, and only if the branches aren't all the way to the ground. For low ground cover Cleavers Galium aparine is doing well. The seeds are edible and the juice is considered magical by those into that sort of thing. For the rest of us it's a weed second only to blackberries. I've got one Vaccinium / wild current growing on the south side of a small cedar, again, seems to be doing o.k. I'd suggest experimenting with Nanking cherries since they seem to be quite happy growing on the north side of a wall, but they've been hard to find lately and they seem to be harder to grow than originally suggested. Might be worth looking into Haskaps as well since they seem to be the botanical equivalent to a cockroach. (Just musing here, I have no idea if these would work. I have to start moving some Haskel suckers before they take over that end of the garden and I might try planting some deeper in the woods to see how they do.) I like having some Oregon grape around to teach small children to always check with an adult before picking something that looks like a blueberry. I love Oregon grape jelly but otherwise the berry is like Starbucks coffee - edible, even tasty if you add enough sugar and cream. I'm surprised at how well the Dutchman's breeches are doing under the cedars. I've been encouraging them by being more careful where I mow and swing the brushcutter. Seems to be working, especially in areas where I couldn't get grass/clover mixes to grow. Lovely little groundcover, but not edible, probably slightly toxic. Traditionally used to treat syphilis so its use has never hit my radar. It looks like we're going into a dry summer after a couple of damp ones. Cedars have shallow root plates and are susceptible to repeated summer drought damage, so you might want to keep an eye on soil moisture around them. We've got a lot of drought killed cedars in our woods right now.
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Apr 13, 2021 21:41
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An azalea root mass with two very separate trunks and lots of healthy roots going to each can be split (sawn in half), correct? Because I just did that with a really ugly satsuki to turn it into two moderately better looking satsuki pre bonsai, and I seriously hope I didn’t just do something fatal to a plant that could’ve simply been cut down. fwiw, my cut wasn’t really any more violent or traumatic than any other initial styling/repotting I’ve done to an azalea, and each new tree has a healthy loaf of roots There was like a good inch of space between the trunks.
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Apr 14, 2021 01:12
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Hexigrammus posted:a ton of really good information Those are great ideas, thank you! and I will definitely keep an eye out on the cedars health I'm having an arborist out next week to take a look at all the trees in our yard to see if anything needs special care. I also have a huge big leaf maple tree that has some dead big branches so I need to have those safely removed im guessing but I hope we can save the overall tree. I would be incredibly sad if it has to come down completely.
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Apr 14, 2021 01:20
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