MKRD.info - Everything about Everything!

Plants

Q: I am getting mold growth in my transfer peat pots or flower pots. Why?

A: You are either watering too much, watering from the top instead of bottom, or using soil that is too heavy. You should water when soil turns light color and feels dry to the finger for most transfer pots and plants. Also, you should not water too much from the top of the pot, and instead putting some water in a shallow liner beneath for the water to pull up into the pot. Peat pots are okay to be dark and moist on the outside. Finally, for large pots you do not need heavy soil that absorbs too much water.

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Q: What should I be using for large or very large pots pots and hanging baskets?

A: Do not use potting or top soil. It is very heavy and may hold too much water. Talk to your local garden/flower supplier about getting lighter soil.

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Q: Several of the roots that I have bought have rotted and not sprouted.

A: Follow advice above. Use lighter soil, larger pot (means less moisture), less watering, and do not water from the top.

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Q: I have planted roots or bushes outside. It is now chilly and partially sunny outside in New England (right now it is April 8th). Any potential problems?

A: It is safe already to plant bushes and roots outside (like roses and the roots that you buy in a bag in a store), but I recommend lightly covering them over with newspaper during night so the leaves do not freeze or fall off.

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Q: I have planted seeds in my starting kits (like Jiffy) about a month ago. Most of the seeds have sprouted and are longer than an inch, but some peat pellets have no sprouts in them. Should I wait longer?

A: Probably not. Please read reviews below on the starting kits for more advice. If some pellets still have no sprouts, get something pointy like a pencil and carefully move peat soil around to expose the seeds. Some of my seeds were either rotting or still unsprouted. If seeds of the same type or size have all rotted, then you should have used less water like I wash cautioning you in the reviews. If some of the seeds are still unsprouted, then very likely they will not in the future. You can leave the pellets with unsprouted seeds for next time, or replant with new seeds.

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Q: My sprouts are several inches long already. What should I be doing?

A: Peat pellets with long roots should be immediately taken out and planted in a 4 inch round transfer peat pot. Plants that grow too thin and too long to support themselves (if they are supposed to be stem plants, not climbing ones) should be cold hardened. Explained simply, plants are placed on a chilly window sill, but in plenty of sunlight or a plant light bulb. Climbing plants or stem plants that are thick but still too long to support themselves should be supported by a stick and a gentle tie. Separate large plants from small plants. Large plants can already be hardened off when it is warm and sunny outside, and small plants should probably get more of the plant light bulb. Start moving to 4 inch round transfer pots. Start hardening plants off outside. Bring them inside at night (April in New England), and do not take outside on days when it is chilly, cloudy, or windy.

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Q: I, or a girl that I want to give the plant to, lives in an apartment, but I want to plant a large plant or a bush (fe a rose bush). Can I put it in a pot?

A: A rose in a pot for a girl is better than nothing at all. Use a very large pot (height ideally almost twice the height of the root/bag/transfer pot. Try using plastic instead of pottery. Get a good liner. Do not use top soil or potting soil. Get light soil from your garden/flower supplier. You can also get a platform on wheels to make moving around easier. Note that if you put the plant in a room, it should stand directly behind or net to a sun-facing window, and get sunlight all day long. Do not allow soil to dry out to sandy condition. Large pots require lots of water if heavy soil is used. If it is a tree that requires pollination, then make sure to get it outside to get pollinated. You might consider adding plant food to the soil so that leaves do not die. Consider bringing the plant outside during the summer. You will be much happier to see an alive plant during the winter because it got plenty of water, sunlight, and air outside during the summer, then a plant that did so-so in a dark corner with dried up soil that dies during the winter.

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Q: What are the easiest plants to start from seed?

A: As a rule of thumb, the bigger the seed the easier it is to grow the plant.

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Q: What is the best height for a raised bed?

A: There recently was an article in either Popular Mechanics or Popular Science with 1 foot high raised bed. This immediately tells me the author has no idea what he is talking about, and that he has not tested this for more than a year. With a raised bed this high, watering becomes a problem because none of the water stays, most seeps down or evaporates. Also, you will need an insane amount of good soil for the bed. As a rule of thumb, go with 4 inches or slightly higher. A bed can be easily made if you have access to 4x4 wood, but other kinds can be used as well.

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Q: My plants are getting yellow or brown leaves and are dying (especially for Aloe, Lucky Bamboo, and house plants)

A: The primary cause of dying plants is actually overwatering, and not underwatering. Yes, hard to believe. Especially with aloe and lucky bamboo, if you have yellow or brown leaves, reduce watering and sunshine exposure. If your aloe is outside in the sun, move it into shade. It will become green again.

If your aloe and lucky bamboo are inside, watering as infrequent as once of week will actually make the plant green. Less sunlight may also be needed.

Of course, poor soil or restricted roots (pot too small) will also cause the same behavior. As a rule, all plants bought in a store will have to be moved to a significantly bigger pot.

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Burpee Seed Starting 72-Cell Greenhouse Kit (Ultimate Growing System) review

DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT! This product has several problems:

• Pellets do not expand properly. They expand sideways, do not expand, or hold too much water. You will need to manually correct these problems.
• The growing kit is NOT REUSABLE like it claims for several reasons.
• It is impossible to get the plants out of the cells without breaking the soil. The soil will crumble and fall apart in your hands, and that is AFTER you manage to get it out of the cell. (I had to cut the 9x9 sections off and then push on the bottom. However, most of the time, the soil will completely break off, leaving A BARE SEEDLING/ROOT in your hands!
• The kit has overall a very bad draining/evaporation system. The cells themselves are too watery, yet not enough water evaporates to make the "greenhouse effect".

 

If you have bought this kit, but have not broken the plastic wrapping, I suggest that you return it to store and NOT USE IT! Get the Jiffy kit instead.

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Jiffy Professional Greenhouse 72-kit review

This product works as advertised. Use this to grow your plants. Pellets expand uniformly, evaporation rate is good, seeds sprout happily. I have only a few recommendations. First, get at least one more kit than you plan to use. Take the pellets out. When sprouts get longer than about one inch in other greenhouses, take them out and place in the empty kit without the plastic top off. This is where they can stay until you transfer them to peat pots or final pots. That way, the plants that emerge earlier will not be kept with the ones that have just sprouted. Second, the 10 cups of water seem ridiculous to me. This seems like too much water, as the peat pellets will readily absorb a lot of water. Add about three cups slowly. When pellets have stopped expanding, add some more to get the amount of water in pellets that you want. Since this is a greenhouse, there should not be any water on the bottom tray. Instead, water will evaporate and condense back on the seedlings as well as the top of the plastic cover. Thirdly, I would never wait as long as the picture suggests (with flowers) to keep inside the greenhouse kit. DO NOT FOLLOW THIS MARKETING BS. Transfer to large peat pots when seedlings are about two inches long, or get strong. At this point, you will start to see roots break thru the netting. If left for that long, the roots will certainly spread beyond the pellets into the tray, and die off (since there is no soil or water on the bottom of the tray).

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Burpee Seed Starting Fiber Pots (3 inch SQUARE) review

Another stupid product from Burpee. Since my pots will all be round, I would stick with ROUND peat pots. Secondly, I would get another great product from Jiffy: 4 inch peat pots. I am comfortable that these are big enough to hold my plants, no matter how large, for some time before being transferred to an ever bigger pot.

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Jiffy 3 inch peat pots review

See my advice above and get the four inch version. They look much better for large plants. And you can wait longer before transferring to an even larger final pot.

 

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