PBS Forum

Quote from: Too Many Plants! on November 17, 2024, 06:28:41 PMFlower pic added...of same bulb from August 2021 when the bulb was much smaller and only two headed.

What is the interesting plant in the watering basin behind the Drimia's inflorescence?

Quote from: CG100 on November 15, 2024, 12:14:44 PMI thought that the ancient tale about watering/spraying in bright sun had finally been abandoned, but obviously not. If it were true, plants would be laid waste after rain if the sun came out - something very common in the UK at least.

I think rainfall is basically formed from water vapor that coalesces around a bit of airborne debris until the droplet falls.  Except for the debris, it is essentially distilled water at neutral pH.  I guess it must be the debris that reacts with the water to produce things such as acid rain.  Water from the tap is generally more or less alkaline, with suspended minerals.  The alkalinity is used to prevent the leaching of metals into the water (small amounts of lead are found in plumbing fixtures).  These suspended minerals in the water can be left behind as the water evaporates from wet leaves, in some cases leaving a white crust behind (mineral salts?).  The same may occur with the roots.  I don't know if this is a possible source of damage.

There are other issues with alkaline water and plants affecting nutrient availability, detailed in an article in the Cactus & Succulent Society of America's journal by Elton Roberts & Malcolm Burleigh, titled "Ammonium Nitrogen and Acidic Water for Xerophytic Plant Growth" (2010 Volume 82 Number 4).    The interesting thing for bulb growers is their method seem to apply to most families of plants, not just cactus and succulents.  There is a subsequent article, titled "Watering Systems for Success in Growing Plants, Using Low pH and Ammonium Nitrogen" (2010 Volume 82 Number 6), detailing methods for everyone from small to large grow operations.  I found these freely available on the internet searching by the titles and author's names.

In what I think was an older article by the same authors, they state:

QuoteOur sole wish is to help people who are experiencing problems with their plants.  We feel that this may apply to all types of container culture and possibly to all horticulture in general.  The occurrence of highly alkaline water seems to be quite prevalent. For this reason we would allow and actually encourage the dissemination of this article as long as you don't misquote us or take our statements out of context.

I saw a photo somewhere showing the pH balanced watering system used by the curator of the Huntington Botanic Garden's world renowned cactus & succulent garden, so these ideas seem to be accepted at the highest levels.

Former US president Jimmy Carter was quite successful as a peanut farmer in his home state of Georgia, in the warm American south.

We buy raw peanuts in the shell to feed the blue jays in our yard (scrub jays), who bury them for later.  I started seeing pea-like volunteers in our garden, pulled one up, and was surprised to see the plant growing out of a peanut shell.

Added 10-14:

While staying in Mammoth Lakes, California in early fall, at a rental cabin at 9,000 feet (2,700 meters), we fed peanuts in the shell to a Steller's jay.  This area is near the ski resort of Mammoth Mountain and usually gets many feet of snow each year.  Here they don't bury them in the ground, where they would not be available winter or spring.  Rather, we were surprised to see them wedge them between needles of conifers at least 15 feet (4.6 meters) above the ground.

Thanks to all for your advice!  The pods are stored in an airy location, and it is comparatively dry here (Los Angeles), so they should dry ok.  It could have been slugs, but they would had to climb 3 feet (1 meter) to get to the pods.

I will report back if I learn anything useful.

This plant from a BX 2 years ago has some ripening seed pods.  Something has been chewing open the green seed pods, surprising as the plant is poisonous.  As the seeds are bright red, I thought they were ready for harvest, so I brought the pods inside.  Now I am thinking I should have left the pods to turn brown and split on their own, which I would have, except for the chewing.

Does anyone know if the seeds are recalcitrant, or have any experience growing from seed? I am not sure when and how to plant.

Lovely blooms.  I really like the growth form of these plants, especially the leaves, and the little offset.  What are the two conifers to the right of the Worsleya?

I have never noticed leaves that were distichous in the neck, but spreading above there, but that picture of the leaves certainly looks like what I would expect.  Leaves fill the upper and lower quadrant, with none in the side quadrants.

This is Datura wrightii, growing in Griffith Park, a large urban park in the middle of Los Angeles.  These pictures were taken in June, but the plants are still blooming at the end of August, in a hot, dry area with no rain since early April.  The brush on the sides of roads has recently been cut back for fire safety, but the plants that were cut to the ground are growing and blooming again.  These are very slightly fragrant, but we only hike in the morning.  Some flowers are pure white, but on a nearby plant can have a hint of violet.  The blue green color of these leaves did not come through in the pictures.



In northeast L.A., where our week or two of mild weather is about to be replaced with a heatwave.

Here are more details on my submissions:

21  Chasmanthe floribunda - yellow flowered version, open pollinated

37  Gossypium species - cotton seed - not at all an attractive plant, but interesting to grow once, to see:  how difficult it is to remove the cotton from its protective covering (the boll) with its sharp edges;  how dense the resulting ball of cotton is;  how difficult it is to remove the seeds from the cotton, hence the need for the cotton gin.  A history lesson in one plant.  Plant in ground in late spring (does not like cold).

Very nice to hear of the rosy saxifrage success story.  What a bit of good luck the way it was saved!

Hi Bridget,

A number of the items in the sales list are available in limited quantities.  What is the policy if some items are not available?  Say if I order 5 different items at $10 each and when the order is placed 2 of the items are unavailable.  Would I get a refund of $20 for that?  I am just concerned that I might get only a fraction of what I order but I would paying for everything I tried to order.

Ron

David,

Thanks for taking a look at this.  I tried the multiple tap methods, but none of those highlighted anything.  Press & hold until word highlighted, then slide marked a section of text easier than the way I first described (the hints David provided led me to this method).  But it still jumps to the previous entry when released, unless it is the first entry of the month, in which case the text stays selected.  Marked text near the bottom of longer entries does not show this behavior.

This may be one of those unsolvable problems given the many types of devices that need to be supported.  I can work around this.  For anything serious I can use my PC, where selection works normally.

Quote from: David Pilling on January 24, 2024, 04:39:58 AMPhones and so on are in a state of sin, they implement "over scroll", by design you can scroll beyond the contents, and its all a bit of a mess as regards standards.

I found another issue seemingly related to the over scroll to skip to the previous or next message feature, so it may not be fixable.  In my iPad I touch & hold on a word to highlight it, release it, drag one end to select the rest of the text I want to copy, and then let go.  A menu should pop up with 'copy' and other options.  But when I let go, it jumps to the previous message in the list.

I think most genes control more than one characteristic, not all of which are known.  There is a risk of running afoul of the Law of Unintended Consequences.  If a modified plant successfully becomes entrenched in a natural ecosystem before a bad consequence is discovered, it may be difficult or impossible to prevent further spread.  Proceed with caution!

I tried it just now, the spaces seem to have done the trick.  I can see and click on the last line, which is half visible.  All of the other work arounds you mentioned also do the trick.  Somehow I missed seeing the two at the top of the text portion.  Thank you!