15 Sept
Most of the hybrid strep crosses I did have taken and are growing and maturing.
I am REALLY disappointed with the germination of the ebay strep seeds I bought. I have about 5 tiny seedlings out of all the seeds (over 300) I sowed. They seem to be thriving though :)
Ø put the bakers' shelves together. Now I just have to buy the fluorescent lights to string over each shelf before it gets too cold and kills all my plants.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Tuesday
The weather is getting more overcast and cooler. I really doubt it's going to warm up any before winter and it's driving me insane that everything comes before the greenhouse. I am so tempted to just buy the thing and have it delivered whether or not it's ideal, at least it would be -something-. SOME step in the right direction. Instead, I'm mired by waiting on someone else all the time whose priorities clearly don't include keeping my plants alive over the winter. Unacceptable.
I keep thinking about it and keep getting more and more angry.
Have a fair number of streps in bloom. The Mammillaria polythele is finished blooming. I thought it was going to fruit (self fertile?) but it looks like it's collapsing and not going to fruit (the flower, not the plant, which seems to be doing quite well).
I keep thinking about it and keep getting more and more angry.
Have a fair number of streps in bloom. The Mammillaria polythele is finished blooming. I thought it was going to fruit (self fertile?) but it looks like it's collapsing and not going to fruit (the flower, not the plant, which seems to be doing quite well).
Monday, August 18, 2014
Monday
Zoe's first school day today. (Hollie's also)...
Drove Z out to school which is near Milde. Stopped by the botanic gardens. Didn't get to see much because it was raining. Not pouring, just drizzling, but enough to put a damper on enthusiasm.
Collected Milk thistle (Silybum marianum), Salvia nemorosa, and calendula (mixed, orange yellow etc), also took a few cuttings from a really pretty RED foliage dahlia (firemountain? I think so).
Most of the herb cuttings struck. Two types of mint from outside (large leaf spearmint and bergamot mint) are in water inside in the kitchen windowsill, but have no roots yet (still less than a week from being cut, so it's early days). Have oregano, thyme, lemon thyme, rosemary, blackcurrants and lilac tip cuttings in the rootrainer (man I hate that thing).
Lots of streps blooming... falling stars, blue pencil, ....can't remember... gotta take my notebook out there...
Really disappointed with the germination on those ebay streps :( Got about 6 plants out of 2 packets and a bonus. They're still TINY though... I've been lifting them up and putting them down every couple weeks to encourage growth, but they're still tiny.
Have a bunch of leaves down also. haven't lost many of them to rot yet... only seeing roots on a few of them though, but I think they should do ok.
The crassula golum is SLOW. I'd heard before how slow they were but jeez... really really REALLY slow. It's been down for a couple months now (It had a plantlet when I put it down) and it's still just about the same size. I have no clue how the greenhouses can make any money on them at all.. do they micropropagate them?
Drove Z out to school which is near Milde. Stopped by the botanic gardens. Didn't get to see much because it was raining. Not pouring, just drizzling, but enough to put a damper on enthusiasm.
Collected Milk thistle (Silybum marianum), Salvia nemorosa, and calendula (mixed, orange yellow etc), also took a few cuttings from a really pretty RED foliage dahlia (firemountain? I think so).
Most of the herb cuttings struck. Two types of mint from outside (large leaf spearmint and bergamot mint) are in water inside in the kitchen windowsill, but have no roots yet (still less than a week from being cut, so it's early days). Have oregano, thyme, lemon thyme, rosemary, blackcurrants and lilac tip cuttings in the rootrainer (man I hate that thing).
Lots of streps blooming... falling stars, blue pencil, ....can't remember... gotta take my notebook out there...
Really disappointed with the germination on those ebay streps :( Got about 6 plants out of 2 packets and a bonus. They're still TINY though... I've been lifting them up and putting them down every couple weeks to encourage growth, but they're still tiny.
Have a bunch of leaves down also. haven't lost many of them to rot yet... only seeing roots on a few of them though, but I think they should do ok.
The crassula golum is SLOW. I'd heard before how slow they were but jeez... really really REALLY slow. It's been down for a couple months now (It had a plantlet when I put it down) and it's still just about the same size. I have no clue how the greenhouses can make any money on them at all.. do they micropropagate them?
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
wednesday
Put down more basil, lemon thyme, english thyme, bergamot mint, rosemary, lilac, blackcurrant in the plug box.
Big aloe keeps turning brown.. no idea what's wrong with it. Small variegated aloe has roots coming out of its 3" square pot, (was the bare root one from plantasjen).
Keep seeing gnats in kitchen, can't figure out where they're coming from. (Need some spiders to take care of them :P)
Dentist messed up my appt. Was supposed to be 14:00, they had 10:30 written down.. changed it til friday. Glad I found out before I paid for bus to town.
HAVE to figure out something for streps. They're driving me crazy flopping over in the flat in the tall clear dixie cups.
Very sunny today... had to shade most of the plants to keep them from cooking.
Went to IKEA and they were SO desperately empty of almost all plants. (Moving in time for new students in a college town...).
Big aloe keeps turning brown.. no idea what's wrong with it. Small variegated aloe has roots coming out of its 3" square pot, (was the bare root one from plantasjen).
Keep seeing gnats in kitchen, can't figure out where they're coming from. (Need some spiders to take care of them :P)
Dentist messed up my appt. Was supposed to be 14:00, they had 10:30 written down.. changed it til friday. Glad I found out before I paid for bus to town.
HAVE to figure out something for streps. They're driving me crazy flopping over in the flat in the tall clear dixie cups.
Very sunny today... had to shade most of the plants to keep them from cooking.
Went to IKEA and they were SO desperately empty of almost all plants. (Moving in time for new students in a college town...).
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Lots of streps in bloom or getting ready to bloom. Having some troubles with slugs? something eating on some of the leaves. Also extremely irritating that the flats + transparent drinking cups they're potted in makes them fall over CONSTANTLY. Such a pain to check them and see how they're doing. Ugh. MUST find a solution.
Leaves are doing well except for the strep sections which don't seem to be doing much.
VERY limited germination in the strep seeds from ebay. Total is about 8-10 plants from all 300(?) sown. Very disappointing.
Started working in the cold frame and checking and watering and of course it started raining immediately. Finished streps and came inside.
Temp is coolish overcast and rainy, about 65F or so.
Bought a total of 7 2 piece mini-greenhouse germ boxes. Seem to be relatively heavy duty. They have ventilation holes which are adjustable at the top. Bought from plantasjen 40kr/each.
NOT ready to go back to school... ugh. First day is 25th (3 weeks from today) :( Afraid of failure, just generally tired.. yuck.
Checking out a lot of ebooks and trying to get caught up on reading before school starts again.
Leaves are doing well except for the strep sections which don't seem to be doing much.
VERY limited germination in the strep seeds from ebay. Total is about 8-10 plants from all 300(?) sown. Very disappointing.
Started working in the cold frame and checking and watering and of course it started raining immediately. Finished streps and came inside.
Temp is coolish overcast and rainy, about 65F or so.
Bought a total of 7 2 piece mini-greenhouse germ boxes. Seem to be relatively heavy duty. They have ventilation holes which are adjustable at the top. Bought from plantasjen 40kr/each.
NOT ready to go back to school... ugh. First day is 25th (3 weeks from today) :( Afraid of failure, just generally tired.. yuck.
Checking out a lot of ebooks and trying to get caught up on reading before school starts again.
Friday, August 1, 2014
Planting a couple flats of seeds today:
Echeveria sp. from cactusstore.com
Aeonium tabulaeforme
Aloe (collected)
Titanopsis calcarea
Kalanchoe thyrsiflora
Noticed that some of the earlier echeveria germinated! Had just about given up on them.
Rainy and colder today... around 15C or so.
Streps Emma and Roulette rouge are in bloom... several others with bloom stalks.
Going to movies tonight, guardians of the galaxy.
Put down lots of leaves, strawberry begonia,
Peperomia ferreyrae
Peperomia clusiifolia
Peperomia hoffmannii
Rosemary, lemon balm, Sanseveria, ivy struck.
Echeveria sp. from cactusstore.com
Aeonium tabulaeforme
Aloe (collected)
Titanopsis calcarea
Kalanchoe thyrsiflora
Noticed that some of the earlier echeveria germinated! Had just about given up on them.
Rainy and colder today... around 15C or so.
Streps Emma and Roulette rouge are in bloom... several others with bloom stalks.
Going to movies tonight, guardians of the galaxy.
Put down lots of leaves, strawberry begonia,
Peperomia ferreyrae
Peperomia clusiifolia
Peperomia hoffmannii
Rosemary, lemon balm, Sanseveria, ivy struck.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Some of the tall skinny little cactus seedlings were damping off, so I repotted ALL of them. What a job >< These were planted 23.06.14 I hope some of them make it.
Really warm today. Rained a tiny bit earlier but then sunny and dry the rest of the day.
Finished Unseen Academicals. Really really great. It makes me very sad that he's got altzheimer's :(
Collected some petunia seeds from the 2 hanging petunias (magenta trailing with 'veins' and deep royal purple bushy upright type). Both very pretty. Hope they're fertile.
Streps starting to bloom. Have roulette red and one pink one blooming atm, but lots of bloom spikes coming up.
NEED to buy square pots.
Z. jujuba seems to be hanging tough.
Really warm today. Rained a tiny bit earlier but then sunny and dry the rest of the day.
Finished Unseen Academicals. Really really great. It makes me very sad that he's got altzheimer's :(
Collected some petunia seeds from the 2 hanging petunias (magenta trailing with 'veins' and deep royal purple bushy upright type). Both very pretty. Hope they're fertile.
Streps starting to bloom. Have roulette red and one pink one blooming atm, but lots of bloom spikes coming up.
NEED to buy square pots.
Z. jujuba seems to be hanging tough.
Lots of rain yesterday. Ø was being a ... Annoyance on top of annoyance. Debacle at plantasjen. Best not to depend on him for sh*t. Whole bloody argument was because I wanted to buy a chair (on sale) and he just ridicules everything I say ('ooooh 100 kr off on a 399kr chair.. VERY impressive! oooh' and 'summer's over, you'll never be able to use it til next year'). UGH negative miserable grumpy ass people make me insane.
Repotted cacti seem to be doing well. Bloom on the small mammillaria in the cold frame. Put down leaf of Peperomia clusiifolia var. tricolour and a small strawberry begonia from plantasjen.
Really disappointing germination on strep seeds from ebay. =/ Bleh. Think I have 8? total out of 200-300 seeds.
I'm going back to plantasjen today. Not depending on Ø for sure. Not quite clear on how I'm going to get the bench and chair back home, but I'll figure it out.
Did manage to buy square pots. Will pot up the cacti from the round pots that constantly fall over into the small square pots.
Took the plastic tents off the Z. jujuba seedlings. They're about 4" tall now. Still somewhat etoliated. I have 3 in one nursery pot and 1 in the other. They seem to be tough little boogers, despite my breaking off a taproot etc :( I think I'll give one of them to Inger...
Repotted cacti seem to be doing well. Bloom on the small mammillaria in the cold frame. Put down leaf of Peperomia clusiifolia var. tricolour and a small strawberry begonia from plantasjen.
Really disappointing germination on strep seeds from ebay. =/ Bleh. Think I have 8? total out of 200-300 seeds.
I'm going back to plantasjen today. Not depending on Ø for sure. Not quite clear on how I'm going to get the bench and chair back home, but I'll figure it out.
Did manage to buy square pots. Will pot up the cacti from the round pots that constantly fall over into the small square pots.
Took the plastic tents off the Z. jujuba seedlings. They're about 4" tall now. Still somewhat etoliated. I have 3 in one nursery pot and 1 in the other. They seem to be tough little boogers, despite my breaking off a taproot etc :( I think I'll give one of them to Inger...
Friday, July 25, 2014
Had a few more of the ebay strep seeds germinate. The overall germination from these seeds has been very poor. I wonder if it's user error (too much heat, for example) or what. The cacti are doing GREAT. I am still wondering about potting them on (and where I should put them after they're potted on) and what potting mix to use when I move them. I guess I'll ask on the cactus & succulent forum.
The Z. jujuba seedlings seem to be hanging tough. They're a little etoliated, so I'm trying to harden them off a little bit so I can take the plastic bags off of them so I can move them into stronger light without cooking them. I heard a guy on youtube saying that Z. jujuba had been changed to Z. zizyphus.
Anyhow, I still have 5 seedlings (and lots of uncracked seeds) and the seedlings are about 5-8cm tall.
The altan got power sprayed yesterday, so I've been moving plants in containers back. Trying to decide what to do about the window boxes. They lean over terribly and generally look awful.
The petunias from plantasjen in hanging baskets looked so pathetic when I got them and now they're HUGE. HUGELY huge.
Rainy and cooler (slightly) today. Mostly sprinkles instead of real actual rain...but at least it's slightly cooler.
The IKEA cacti need to be potted up a size, most all of them have roots coming out the drainage holes...and the Australopuntia monstrosa needs to be repotted out of the peat it's still in.
The Sanserveria trifasciata broken leaf I picked up somewhere already has roots. One of the pepperomia leaves rotted, one has roots. They're in a container with 8-9 rosemary cuttings and NONE of the rosemary cuttings have struck. Usually it only takes a few days. I did NOT use any hormone on the cuttings though, so /shrug.
Was thinking about going to check if the meconopsis at the botanic garden had mature seedpods, but it was just so bleh today and I was feeling somewhat lazy. So I didn't get there after all. I keep meaning to go and check out the greenhouse. They have a LOT of really pathetic looking succulents (lithops!!!), but haven't managed to get there during the 2 hours a day they're open. Mostly it just looks pathetic :( Dead and dying plants... I wonder what the story is.
The Z. jujuba seedlings seem to be hanging tough. They're a little etoliated, so I'm trying to harden them off a little bit so I can take the plastic bags off of them so I can move them into stronger light without cooking them. I heard a guy on youtube saying that Z. jujuba had been changed to Z. zizyphus.
Anyhow, I still have 5 seedlings (and lots of uncracked seeds) and the seedlings are about 5-8cm tall.
The altan got power sprayed yesterday, so I've been moving plants in containers back. Trying to decide what to do about the window boxes. They lean over terribly and generally look awful.
The petunias from plantasjen in hanging baskets looked so pathetic when I got them and now they're HUGE. HUGELY huge.
Rainy and cooler (slightly) today. Mostly sprinkles instead of real actual rain...but at least it's slightly cooler.
The IKEA cacti need to be potted up a size, most all of them have roots coming out the drainage holes...and the Australopuntia monstrosa needs to be repotted out of the peat it's still in.
The Sanserveria trifasciata broken leaf I picked up somewhere already has roots. One of the pepperomia leaves rotted, one has roots. They're in a container with 8-9 rosemary cuttings and NONE of the rosemary cuttings have struck. Usually it only takes a few days. I did NOT use any hormone on the cuttings though, so /shrug.
Was thinking about going to check if the meconopsis at the botanic garden had mature seedpods, but it was just so bleh today and I was feeling somewhat lazy. So I didn't get there after all. I keep meaning to go and check out the greenhouse. They have a LOT of really pathetic looking succulents (lithops!!!), but haven't managed to get there during the 2 hours a day they're open. Mostly it just looks pathetic :( Dead and dying plants... I wonder what the story is.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
On vacation last 4 days... GRUESOME heat and humidity. Hottest ever on record. Most of the plants are loving it.
Notocactus sp. are up.
Seeds collected Astrantia major, Eriophorum vaginatum, HUGE raspberry variety.
Also went to a bakery at Lom that had the most amazing focaccia bread. Yum.
Some very light germination in the strep seed containers (from ebay).
Need to transplant the Z. jujuba seedlings to larger containers, they're coiling up their taproots and getting close to the top of the plastic IKEA bag they're in, in their cell-pak cells.
Still waiting for them to power spray the altan so I can move my plants back ><
Replanted the Z. jujuba seedlings and dammit I think I've killed ALL OF THEM!! :( Argh. I broke the tap roots off 2 of them.. dropped one on its head, etc etc. Seriously. Dammitall. Back to the drawing board. I've planted them off into nursery pots, watered them in and put a heavy plastic bag over the top of the pot with a rubber band around it.
We'll see.
The weather is truly insane. It's over 90F and about 80% humidity. I'm watering twice a day.
Set 25 raspberry seeds in paper towels to stratify. Should be ready to come out 24.08.14
Notocactus sp. are up.
Seeds collected Astrantia major, Eriophorum vaginatum, HUGE raspberry variety.
Also went to a bakery at Lom that had the most amazing focaccia bread. Yum.
Some very light germination in the strep seed containers (from ebay).
Need to transplant the Z. jujuba seedlings to larger containers, they're coiling up their taproots and getting close to the top of the plastic IKEA bag they're in, in their cell-pak cells.
Still waiting for them to power spray the altan so I can move my plants back ><
Replanted the Z. jujuba seedlings and dammit I think I've killed ALL OF THEM!! :( Argh. I broke the tap roots off 2 of them.. dropped one on its head, etc etc. Seriously. Dammitall. Back to the drawing board. I've planted them off into nursery pots, watered them in and put a heavy plastic bag over the top of the pot with a rubber band around it.
We'll see.
The weather is truly insane. It's over 90F and about 80% humidity. I'm watering twice a day.
Set 25 raspberry seeds in paper towels to stratify. Should be ready to come out 24.08.14
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Saturday
Went to Milde again. Warm and sunny today. All the plants are moved around because we're power spraying the altan.
Cacti growing like weeds... very cute with little tiny spines and glochids
Collected Hollyhock, Hibiscus trionum, Anemone coronaria (The Bride, Sylphide), primula veris ssp. veris, Nicandra physiloides (apple of peru) seeds today.
Hot. Kate and Zoe leaving to go to hypercamp tomorrow evening.
Watered the cold frame. Yimmin Yiminy (x2) set into 12 flat with other leaves. The leaf broke off whilst watering. Those cups have GOT to go. Nina had been knocked out of its pot. Set it back into another pot (cup) and brought inside.
Cacti growing like weeds... very cute with little tiny spines and glochids
Collected Hollyhock, Hibiscus trionum, Anemone coronaria (The Bride, Sylphide), primula veris ssp. veris, Nicandra physiloides (apple of peru) seeds today.
Hot. Kate and Zoe leaving to go to hypercamp tomorrow evening.
Watered the cold frame. Yimmin Yiminy (x2) set into 12 flat with other leaves. The leaf broke off whilst watering. Those cups have GOT to go. Nina had been knocked out of its pot. Set it back into another pot (cup) and brought inside.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Friday
Moved everything off the altan to power wash.
Warm/reasonably sunny today ~18C
Collected seeds from jacob's ladder, rose campion. Moved the rest of the seedlings from the bread bags into IKEA bags, much heavier/better ziploc seal.
Gymnocalicium baldianum 11 seedlings up. 1 seems totally different, prob. diff species (very round and low, not skinny or heart shaped). Sowed 23/6/14
4 strep seedlings up in ebay mix 2, 1 seedling up in bonus mix (saw it before, didn't see it today, but didn't look for a long time)... zero germination in ebay mix 1. OP seeds, so who knows what will come out.
Watered streps today... was very hot in the frame, they were a little wilty.
Mixed cactus seedlings sowed 26/6 are growing. Not quite sure when to pot them on...some are touching, but they seem to still be growing.
Trimmed rosemary and put down 8-9? cuttings in the same 12 pack as the angelwing begonia and peperomia cuttings.
Harvested:
Man I miss Freddy Mercury, Culture Club, Cyndi Lauper etc... spent the afternoon listening to 80's monster hits :D
Warm/reasonably sunny today ~18C
Collected seeds from jacob's ladder, rose campion. Moved the rest of the seedlings from the bread bags into IKEA bags, much heavier/better ziploc seal.
Gymnocalicium baldianum 11 seedlings up. 1 seems totally different, prob. diff species (very round and low, not skinny or heart shaped). Sowed 23/6/14
4 strep seedlings up in ebay mix 2, 1 seedling up in bonus mix (saw it before, didn't see it today, but didn't look for a long time)... zero germination in ebay mix 1. OP seeds, so who knows what will come out.
Watered streps today... was very hot in the frame, they were a little wilty.
Mixed cactus seedlings sowed 26/6 are growing. Not quite sure when to pot them on...some are touching, but they seem to still be growing.
Trimmed rosemary and put down 8-9? cuttings in the same 12 pack as the angelwing begonia and peperomia cuttings.
Harvested:
- Geranium pratense striatum ‘Splish-splash’ (relatively few seeds per seedhead, can see why they sell @$1 each 0.o
- Polemonium caerulium Jacob's Ladder
- Allium schoenoprasum Chives
- Aquilegia (columbines)
Man I miss Freddy Mercury, Culture Club, Cyndi Lauper etc... spent the afternoon listening to 80's monster hits :D
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Thursday
Went to fantoft garden centre last night. Picked up some perlite, a large rosemary, 2 mixed 3-pots of herbs (one for me, one for Inger). Picked up a couple dropped leaves at the same time, one Sansevieria trifasciata, one other succulent, one crassula of some sort.
Today 17th, looks like one tiny Strep seedling from the ebay OP strep seeds (from the 'bonus' envelope) has germinated. Only saw ONE and it was suspiciously large, so who knows, it might be a weed seed.
The other streps seem to be doing really well and even the leaves and divisions I put down seem to be doing well, even the tiny 2 leaved-no roots baby plant (they're in little cups in one of the IKEA ziploc bags. Love those bags.
RAINY today... very overcast... only 12-15C today :(
Today 17th, looks like one tiny Strep seedling from the ebay OP strep seeds (from the 'bonus' envelope) has germinated. Only saw ONE and it was suspiciously large, so who knows, it might be a weed seed.
The other streps seem to be doing really well and even the leaves and divisions I put down seem to be doing well, even the tiny 2 leaved-no roots baby plant (they're in little cups in one of the IKEA ziploc bags. Love those bags.
RAINY today... very overcast... only 12-15C today :(
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Germination
Rainy/Cool 12-16C today. Potted up the streptocarpus from Steve in England (from ebay). They look pretty good except for some aphids/whitefly/slug slime on some leaves. No thanks to the Norwegian Post. The box looked like it had been dropkicked. In fact, it HAD been dropkicked. Must've been the scary FRAGILE/THIS SIDE UP stickers all over the box.
Order included:
Alayanna
Alison
Amanda
Blue Bird
Blue Pencil
Bristol's DooDah
Bristol's YimminYiminy
Daphne
Denim
Dinas
Emma
Falling Stars
Nerys
Nina
Roulette Azur
Roulette Cherry
Sandra
Silvia
Disbudded all, planted in 2cL clear plastic cups with drainage holes cut in. Planted in mix. Seed/Cactus soil + Perlite + ReptiBark 1:1:1 Had extras of several plants. Started some leaf cuttings/Repotted some very small plantlets removed from parent plants. Many of the streps received were blooming (plug sized).
Aloinopsis sp. planted 07/07/14 germinated
Notocactus sp. planted 07/07/14 germinated
Blossfeldia liliputana planted 07/07/14 germinated (TINY!) :)
seeds ordered from Cactusstore.com
Order included:
Alayanna
Alison
Amanda
Blue Bird
Blue Pencil
Bristol's DooDah
Bristol's YimminYiminy
Daphne
Denim
Dinas
Emma
Falling Stars
Nerys
Nina
Roulette Azur
Roulette Cherry
Sandra
Silvia
Disbudded all, planted in 2cL clear plastic cups with drainage holes cut in. Planted in mix. Seed/Cactus soil + Perlite + ReptiBark 1:1:1 Had extras of several plants. Started some leaf cuttings/Repotted some very small plantlets removed from parent plants. Many of the streps received were blooming (plug sized).
Aloinopsis sp. planted 07/07/14 germinated
Notocactus sp. planted 07/07/14 germinated
Blossfeldia liliputana planted 07/07/14 germinated (TINY!) :)
seeds ordered from Cactusstore.com
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