Blog Entry Phyllis & Nicholas September 26-28, 2012

This weekend in the greenhouse was fairly hectic with the events of tree planting on Veterans Memorial on Saturday which left us a half day behind. Our top priority this weekend was to make sure that the poinsettia crop was in good order and watered/fertilized properly before drying out.  We also kept a close eye on the propagation chamber s misting cycle to ensure our crop for Landscape Congress are in good order.

Upon arrival each morning we immediately opened the shade curtains to end another night of black out period to ensure that the cycle was not interrupted. Even if it is only off by an hour you have to start your WHOLE blackout period over from the very beginning, if that happened at this point our crop would not be ready until January.  Once the blackout curtains have been pulled back we can start our routine opening checklist to ensure humidity and temperature is at a perfect state for our lovely poinsettias.  On Friday when Jack was here he showed Nicholas how to change the temperature setting on the Priva system because Jack felt raising the temperature by 2 would help the poinsettias grow.

The first task after that for me was to ensure that all poinsettias received the right amount of fertilizer at the proper concentration and water. The rule of thumb is to do one bench at a time and to be aware of light and darker cultivars. Starting off with the darker cultivars we readied the line with 250ppm fertilizer by placing the fertilizer irrigation line into the fertilizer bucket, turning off the main water valve and turning one the two lower fertilizer valves and letting the hose run until the water appears blue. Before we turned on the irrigation for the drip lines under the bench you would have to make sure that each row was turned parallel with the line but on half and half cultivar benches if the one cultivar was lighter you would turn the nozzle on those lines perpendicular to the line to ensure they did not receive the wrong concentration of fertilizer. Each poinsettia is required to be watered 400ml, we measured this by placing one of the drippers from a poinsettia on that bench into a measuring cup and keeping an eye on it until it reaches the proper amount the pouring from the cup into the un watered poinsettia.  After one bench was done I would begin watering the next and while watering that one I would rotate the previously watered poinsettias 180 degrees to even lighting and watering for the next time, and prune off dead foliage as needed.  We followed the same procedure for the lighter cultivars but with 300ppm concentration of fertilizer.

During the day on Friday we received a shipment of Cacti and Succulents from the Cuddy Farm location and were asked to arrange them on the bench separate as to ensure they were grouped by watering needs. While doing this Jeff asked us to re-pot any plastic potted plants into clay pots (adding crock (broken clay pots ) to the bottom for better drainage) to make them look more presentable.  We also brought back the three worst planters in Saffrons and replaced them with two lovely Ficus and one Oleander. On the way back from Saffrons we collected seeds from Quercus rubra ‘Fastigiata’ for Jack.

To prepare the Cannas from Clintar for winter we first cut back the foliage to just about 2” above the root. Then we lines bulb crates with old newspaper and filled it with moistened Promix HP. Next we placed the divisions into the soil as if planting, marked them and placed them in the tractor bay for now.

Among our eventful weekend we got to dig up, divide, and pot Pennisetum grasses for future use… we have been asked to prepare four flats of eight we sadly only got 2 and a half flats done due to time constraints. Along with the Pennisetum grass we also were asked to go around the campus to dig up the Colocasia plants and Black Magic Taros to also divide and pot up and prepare the bulb for overwintering (although there was not enough time to get instruction on how to do so, so we planted it for now)! Once all these plants have been potted and placed in a tray we applied 9g of Osmocote slow release fertilizer (15-9-12)and then placed them on the freshly installed heat mats ( thank you Nate & Bill) to promote optimal root growth.

Nic collected seeds from the Koelreuteria paniculata for stratification. He had to collect them from the ground seeing as there were no more pods left but he still got a decent amount. While trying to stratify them a few got destroyed but the majority worked out. They were placed in moistened soil in a baggie, marked and placed in the refrigerator   to mimic the winter process because this seed will not germinate until it has gone through a winter cycle.

Sept, 29: Phyllis removing dead foliage to encourage optimal growth and rotating the Poinsettias and drip lines so that when they are watered next it is not on the same side.

 Sept, 29: Koelreuteria paniculata seeds freshly stratified and waiting to be packaged for their refrigerated winter.

Sept, 30:  In the process of re-potting succulents and cacti into clay pots for presentation.

Sept, 28: Succulents and Cacti recently received and organized for easy water management.