texts:
I have a Forsythia bush that over the last 16 years has swallowed up about 25% of my yard. It has not yet started to demand blood feedings. I think its plan is to take over the whole town and then run for Congress.

What is the procedure for returning this thing to a smaller size? Just start cutting off branches wherever I want?


texts: Can anyone tell me type of grape these are?

texts:
I happen to have these grapes here in India with me, no one seems to know the name of this grape.
It has got a thick skin and thick gelatinous pulp.


texts: Drainage problems and replacing existing grass

texts:
We have a lot of standing water after rain.  Also our grass is "mushy" long after the rain has past.  What is the best drainage and how do I prep my soil for new grass?

Standing water:


texts: Is this compost appropriate for transplanting/repotting tomatoes?

texts:
I have planted some tomato seeds (that came in a grow bag) in a flat planting tray and as the stems and leaves are growing up, I'm being convinced that I should move them back to the grow bags that are larger and do need more soil.

I've got this compost which is for flowers, but I was wondering if I could use it for my tomatoes.


texts:
This was a Halloween plant from Morrisons, it came with a Witch on a stick
and a bow. Nearest i can find is a Flaming Katy but i am not sure.


texts: What conditions are necessary to make a potted aloe vera bloom?

texts:
I have a potted aloe vera that I keep indoors during the winter and outside the rest of the year. It has leaves one foot long and two inches wide at the base. I fertilize it with tea from my vermicomposter. I water it sparingly during the winter and it rain does the rest. It is in rich garden soil in a ten inch pot. I heard  that this is the right size to start flowering. What conditions are necessary to make it bloom?

EDIT: I followed the instructions in Mike Perry's answer and now get a 4 1/2 foot triple spike of flowers every couple months. The plant is now in a five gallon pot, and is about 2 1/2' high and 3' across. Huge success. The photo below is of a young flower stalk from December 2013.


texts:
Maybe you can help, I love this bush because there is absolutely no way to kill it.  Maybe it's a 'superman' bush?  It has long sharp thorny branches and in the late fall produces an impressive fruit that reminds me of a small apple.

I want to transplant in a fence row but would like to know what exactly it is.  If it helps, I live in Central Ohio (zone 6 I think).

Thank You]2


texts: When to use grass seed vs. "weed and feed"

texts:
I have a stretch of my otherwise healthy South Florida, St. Augustin lawn that has thinned out over time.

It's a long, but relatively thin (maybe 15' by 3'), stretch of the yard that is in the shade most of the day.

The dirt below grass in the area that has thinned out looks great (rich and black).

I don't want really want to lay down new sod in the area, so my question is, when should someone plant grass seeds versus using some sort of weed and feed?

What is a recommended brand of St. Augustin grass seeds?


texts: Pepper plants are showing strange, deformed new growth, what could it be? Virus? Deficiency? Herbicide?

texts:
New-ish gardener here! This year I have planted 5 varieties of peppers in a brand new raised bed in central Arkansas (zone 7b). Fill for the raised bed is 100% compost purchased from a local plant store, with no amendments or additions.

Initially all of the peppers saw slow growth through the cooler, wetter weeks after transplanting, but as it has warmed up most of them have grown quickly. At first 2 of the plants showed signs of strange growth, including new leaves curling, thickening, becoming harder, darkening and areas of new growth looking strange and stunted. Because of the presence of these symptoms only on new growth, I assumed a calcium deficiency. (google image results for "pepper plant calcium deficiency" show at least one result that looks like my plants, but the comments were inconclusive). Several posts here have suggested that ongoing pest damage could cause this, but I have seen very few pests and have preemptively applied neem oil on a couple of occasions.

In the last few weeks, new growth on some of the surrounding plants has started to show some of the same symptoms and now I am not so sure what could be going wrong here. I'm starting to think that it could be one of the following:

Disease (virus, maybe? transmitted between plants via pest)
Deficiency of some nutrient (peppers are growing in compost with no soil mixed in)
Toxicity of some nutrient (I have no idea what the nutrient balance of the compost is)
Presence of herbicide in compost (I don't know the source of the compost)
Environmental factors (Maybe overwatering. Compost retains significant moisture)

I'm trying to determine if any of the above causes are an obvious cause of these symptoms.

In addition, These plants are planted within 5-10 feet of a bed of tomatoes in similar planting conditions, some of which are showing leaf curl which does not resemble this, and a potted ground cherry plant in store-bought potting soil does have similar symptoms.

I've attached some images that should show the affected area of a couple of the plants, as well as a previously healthy plant that is now affected. I can provide any additional photos, including ones of surrounding plants, to help diagnose this.


texts: So my cousin gave me this yesterday, but I don't know it's name. Would like to know so I could better take care of it. Thank you in advance. :-)


texts: Any concerns on putting a garden bed over concrete?

texts:
I would like to start a vegetable garden. The problem is I've planted so many fruit trees in the ground that there's no more room for vegetables. The only way I can start my vegetable garden is to place it over the concrete in my back yard. The natural choice for gardening on hard land would be elevated planters:

But these elevated planters are just so darn small and darn expensive (~ $200). On the other hand, normal garden beds are usually much bigger and cheaper. I'm considering getting this behemoth:

The problem with garden beds is that they don't have a bottom. What precautions, if any, should I take with the bottom if I were to put this garden bed over my concrete? Will drainage be poor? Will I need to cover the bottom with something? Do vegetable roots not like hitting into the concrete?


texts:
A neighbor of mine have a beautiful lonicera plant that just flowered - this may be the third time this year! He offered to me to take as many cuttings as I wish, and says that I just need to put them in water (like indoor flowers), and they will root - and later on such cuttings may be moved to soil, and become real plants. Is that true?

What would be the right way to use my neighbor's generous offer?

I just have to have that plant, I almost fainted when I sensed fragrance of their flowers this morning! :)

I do not have any experience at propagating plants using cuttings, and probably have brown thumb for such work.

EDIT: Meanwhile, I discovered a series of blog posts describing 43-day experiment of rooting lonicera in water.


texts: How are peppers and mulch used in a desert environment?

texts:
I have a couple of pepper plants that I've recently procured.  Since I do not want these to go the way every other plant that has been gifted to me (i.e. death), I transplanted them into some large planters and used "moisture-control" potting soil, and applied a 3" layer of mulch to the surface. Being that I live on the surface of the sun (Phoenix, AZ), I've had to rescue my poor peppers from the sun a couple of times, despite advice that peppers love the sun.  The planters were getting too hot, the moisture seemed fine, and the planters were in shade most of the time, but I could see visible signs of stress on the plants. I had to water them to cool the soil.

So what I'm asking is:

Should I remove some of the mulch to allow the soil to dry (recommended by people for peppers)?
Should I put them in an even more shaded area?
Should I be concerned about plant diseases germinating in such a hot and humid environment?


texts:
I currently live in southern Massachusetts. When an apple tree in my backyard blossoms and the little apples begin to show, they all disappear and begin to fall on the ground. FYI, there are also inch-worms all over the tree. Why is this happening? What can I do to prevent it?

EDIT:

The tree is about 6 years old and it has full sunlight, about 8 hours from morning (6 am) until late afternoon (4 PM). We have 3 of these trees and all these trees are in the same condition.

Pictures:

Full Image

Image of leaves

The result of some-type of insect (probably inchworms):


texts:
I had a very large pyracantha growing at the corner of my house. It was probably about 10 feet in diameter and 15 feet tall. I eventually managed to cut it down to a few stumps, but I couldn't quite figure out how to get rid of it. The ground around it is filled with fairly large rocks (from a few inches across to a foot or so) making digging it out pretty tough.

It has subsequently grown back. Both from the stump but also just growing straight out of the ground from within a few feet of the stump.

I can cut it back down to the stump, but what are some options for getting rid of it for good? I'm guessing it has a very extensive root base which is making it hard to kill off as well. Most of the rest of the plants around it are weeds so I'm not too concerned with saving those.


texts: What should I consider when putting raised garden beds on concrete?

texts:
I have a bunch of raised garden bed frames, and I'm considering putting them on a slab of concrete that I have in my back yard. I wanted to avoid putting them on the grass, as when I've done this previously the grass has grown up through the soil in the raised bed.

I plan on growing vegetables, however I'm concerned that there won't be adequate drainage. I also don't know what sort of soil layering I should use since this is on concrete.

I'd like some advice on how I should proceed.


texts: How should I care for a bonsai Bouganvillea?

texts:
I just received a bonsai tree as a gift for Mother's Day and it's losing its leaves. I found the insert information card which says the type of bonsai is "Bougainvillea"

At first I had the bonsai facing east & lots of leaves fell, then I read I should leave the tree outside but the leaves continued to fall so I brought the tree back inside and placed it on a window sill facing south. I should also note that I live in the Poconos.

The leaves seem to be OK but I was wondering if I should trim all the dead leaves off & hope that they come back next season?

The bonsai continues to lose leaves. I'm worried it will die.
Please advise.


texts: Avocado Tree Pot Size - Start Large or Increase Over Time

texts:
I am buying a 3 foot tall avocado tree (¼-½ in. diameter stem) that I want to keep potted long term as opposed to planting in the ground. Is it better to repot the new tree in a slightly larger pot and increase size each year or two, or better to repot in a more permanent large pot from the beginning?

What are the downsides to repotting a new tree in a large pot vs. increasing size over the years?


texts: What is this plant with many purple blossoms in autumn?

texts: Who can identify this plant for me? As you can see, it thrives well in autumn e.g. here in Central Europe. What is its name?


texts: Can you please help identify this plant? I have used google image but it was unable to answer this riddle.


texts: Are these mushrooms poisonous and how can I get rid of them?

texts:
There is a cluster of these in a shady part of the garden. I'm wondering if they're poisonous or how I can remove them.

I'm in Ireland if that helps.


texts: Potted trees stored in cool basement are leafing out early, what to do?

texts:
Despite being advised to heel in trees or simply cover potted trees in mulch over winter, I did bring some potted trees indoors in a dark, cool (~50F), fairly dry (~30% relative humidity) basement. Sure enough they are leafing out before their outdoor counterparts and while nighttime temps still dip into <30F freezing temps.

What's the best path forward for these trees to survive and eventually acclimate to a planted place? I've had young trees seem to die off in the past only to burst back into life at some seemingly random point over summer, so maybe it's worth prioritizing their acclimation to the outdoor climate even if they lose a batch of leaves/buds from it.

The species in question are hazelnut, linden, black locust, and apple.

Some options I've considered:

Leave them in the garage til it's warmer, and if so, what kind of minimum temps are OK for them (does it need to be >32F or can they handle some frost)? If in the garage, should I water them or put them in a slightly brighter area? If bringing them outside, any precautions I should take, like covering the pots in mulch as I would've in autumn?


texts: Does it hurt to add salt to fermenting seeds?

texts:
So, I decided to ferment some cantaloupe seeds, and since I like lacto-fermenting pickles and stuff, I decided to experiment and mix in a liberal amount of pickling salt (maybe a tablespoonful) and see what would happen (to encourage more LABs and discourage yeasts), but still have an open jar (to encourage faster fermentation). What happened was it still looked clean after a day or two (no mold or noticeable bubbles), but it smelled like vinegar instead of something more smelly. Anyway, I didn't leave them to ferment any longer, but I'm curious what effect if any the absorbed salt in the seeds will have. Has anyone tried mixing salt in with seed ferments, and if so, what happened when you tried to grow the seeds? I don't imagine it's enough salt to stop the seeds from growing if they're alive, since I know plants can tolerate a certain amount of salt, which is evident by the fact that soil amendments such as sea minerals don't tend to kill plants in higher than the recommended doses, unless you use a lot, and blood meal, which is a popular soil amendment, should have a good amount of sodium in it (I could be wrong about it not being too much for seeds), but I don't know if it and/or any vinegar from acetic acid bacteria would have killed the seeds. I understand vinegar is supposed to take a long time to make (so, it's interesting that this cantaloupe solution smelled like vinegar so fast).

Although a lot of people do it (without salt), I normally don't ferment my seeds, for a variety of reasons (I do a different process that involves zapping them in water with a Z4EX for 45 minutes), but I wasn't ready to do what I usually do with those, yet (so, I left them to ferment until I had more time to get to them). I zapped them afterward, anyway, though.

Anyway, I should probably test it out myself, but I'm curious if anyone else has attempted this. At the very least, it seems to possibly make for a more pleasant-looking/smelling ferment (I didn't do it that long, though). If salt doesn't kill the seeds, it should help to inhibit bad microbes, at least (since salt is anti-microbial, although it doesn't seem to bother lactic acid bacteria, which are said to be beneficial both to humans and plants via the soil).

I did rinse the seeds after fermenting them.


texts: Why are there plants specifically designed for greenhouses?

texts: I have read that tomatoes for greenhouse culture need to be varieties designed to be grown in greenhouse environments. What are the varieties, and where can I get them...just by mail? And what other plants should I look for that would grow better in a greenhouse than out in the garden? What about normal tomatoes planted in a greenhouse, not out-of-doors in the vegetable garden?  Will they produce well, or under-produce?  How about planting them near the south wall that I open for ventilation, where they'll get direct sun until they are over 3' in height?


texts: Does anyone know what this wildflower is?

texts: These flowers grow wild on the hill at my grandparents' place in Zone 6 in Missouri. The bees certainly did love them last summer. Does anyone know what they are?


texts: I have had this trusty orchid for many years and it has given me many lovely sprays of flowers but now it has given me a baby orchid! I have propagated from stem plants but not sure how to deal with this.


texts: I have a cactus seedling (Pachycereus pringlei), it is one month old now (germinated end of August). During this time I kept the soil very moist and wet. My question is when do I switch to normal cactus soil conditions? So when to let the soil dry out between watering?


texts:
I've grown some apple tree seedlings from a shop bought apple for the purpose of turning into a bonsai.

A high percentage of them have germinated and I've ended up with more than I bargained for (12 in total).

I've potted on the strongest ones into separate pots, and placed 3 into a single pot grouped together.

My thinking behind this is that as they grow, they may fuse together to form one main trunk and I can train that tips of the plants into separate main branches.

My question is, now that I have done it, is it likely that this will indeed happen, or will they simply fight each other for resources and only the strongest will survive?

The seedlings are all roughly 2 weeks old from sprouting and have two true leaves each.


texts:
I saw this flower growing in my grandma's house when I was a kid.
I thought it could be some kind of lily, but after googling found that many so called lilies are not actual lilies.

Can anybody tell me what flower is this ?


texts: What is this opening on the bottom of my tomato plant's stem?

texts:
I'm trying to grow my own tomatoes from seed, and they're getting quite big now.
So naturally, the first problems start to pop up.

Like this:

Can anyone tell me what it is, and if I can do anything about it?
It reminds me of something trees sometimes have, too.

Another plant kind of has the same thing, but there it HAS rotted the root:

Is this what'll happen to my first plant, too?


texts: Slow down the water ceramic dispenser for plant

texts:
I bought this ceramic water dispenser for my indoor plant. It is working fine, except for it provides too much water than the plant needs. Thus the excess amount of water just spilling on the floor.

Is there a way I can slow down the process?

Thank you.


texts: Best Retaining wall solution adjacent to fence

texts:
Wall 24 inches in height.
Want to minimize gap between fence and wall

Contractor wants to nail 2x12s against the fence to create the small retaining wall. I don't like that because of the load on the fence, what todo when the fence has to be replaced or post, rotting problems. It does minimize the footprint of the "wall" though.

I was thinking small gabion cages, which would end up mostly buried. Most that I have found are 12+ inches wide.

Probably best is to replace fence bottom with retaining wall but don't want to spend the extra money.

Are there any other better solutions? Or anything to keep in mind?

Pacific Northwest area
Fence has been standing for about 6 years as is.


texts: Should I be burning evergreen trimmings?

texts:
I live in bucolic neighbourhood outside of town. Around here, when we trim evergreens we make a fire and burn them. It gives off a lot of smoke. Is this the best approach to deal with these?
Should I store them until they're dry and then burn them?  Are these compost-able?
Nobody complains about the smoke, it just doesn't feel right.


texts: What is this large furry leafed plant with purple stalks, found in the UK?

texts: Does anyone have any idea what this is? It looks too substantial to be a weed


texts:
I want to make something like this vase made from an incandescent light bulb:

But I wonder what kind of grass can I put in which will not rot?


texts: I accidentally froze my papaya seeds, how will it affect them?

texts:
I scooped out a bunch of seeds from a fresh papaya (a very good one, seems like prime genetic material). I didn't have time to clean them right away, so I put them in the fridge to prevent the pieces of pulp and sarcotesta around them from decomposing and smelling until I could clean them.

My fridge is a bit unstable, and it turns out the seeds ended up below zero. Probably only by a few degrees, at worst. They would have been in that state only for a few hours. However, ice crystals had formed on them, and the pouch had hardened a little bit.

I have now taken them out to thaw. How will this episode affect germination?

And if a plant does sprout from these seeds, can it be any different because of it?

Update: They sprouted! This subject now continues on Biology SE.


texts: I have been growing this pineapple for about two months and recently the fruit started turning brownish. Is it dying or have a problem? What should I do?


texts: Usually I plant garlic in the fall and let it go through winter and into spring. But what about growing it in spring? What care is needed for growing it over the spring/summer, if it can be done? I live in zone 4 (−30°F/-34°C).


texts: Why do small fruit fall off chilli plants?

texts:
My chilli plants are flowering and producing fruit now.

However, some of the very young fruit regularly fall off. They are not very big, probably no more than 2mm in diameter. But they definitely taste of chillies.

On some plants the rate of successful fruit out number the rate of failed fruit, on other plants it's the other way around.

Is there something that can be done to improve the rate of successful fruit?

Or is this just the way of chilli plants?

Edit:

So here are pictures I took this morning. all my plants sit on the balcony, but the glass on the railing is tinted. I can get ull sun light by moving my plants back from the railing.

I've actually done some comparisons and it seems like the tint filters out enough light, that if I move my plants into full sun, they can get sunburnt.

Here's a slightly yellow stem. This will probably fall off in the next few days. The stem will detach from the plant. There's a tiny little nub of a chilli in there.

I'm in Sydney and the weather is pretty crazy at the moment.

Edit 2:

I have been hand pollinating and just seeing how things progress. More flowers started turning into fruit but I also had more tiny buds drop off. Then there was a huge storm and the temperature dropped quite drastically for a couple of days and there was a lot of yellowing of leaves.

At this stage I think it's the temperature fluctuations giving me issues.


texts: Is staking young trees helpful or harmful?

texts:
I frequently see small trees staked with some support twine or rope, presumably to aid against strong winds.

However, I've heard or read somewhere that staking small trees can actually be harmful, preventing them from building a natural resistance to the wind (in trunk strength, root development, etc.).

There are many guides that explain "proper" tree staking. Here are a few examples:

How to Stake a Tree
Staking Trees

It seems, from aggregating information in such guides, that staking is sometimes necessary, but that people often do it wrong.

The question then, is how do you determine when to stake a tree (if at all)? Are there lots of oddly bent or fallen trees somewhere from lack of staking? I've never seen one.


texts: When the ambient temperature is between 30 to 35 °C in summer, will lettuce seeds germinate?


texts: How and when to harvest potatoes grown in an unorthodox bed?

texts:
We tried our hand at growing some potatoes this summer and I'm still hopeful we have a decent yield. We took too much advice from a lot of conflicting sources and didn't really grow them the right" way. We wanted to have a so-called vertical "potato tower" but again, listened to too much contradicting advice and ended up with a strange setup:

I made 3 stackable rows of 2x6's out of red cedar (see photo below)
I filled the first row (ground level) with compost, mulch and top soil, and then planted a few seed potatoes a few inches down inside of it
I then put the 2nd row/stack on, and filled that with with the same compost/mulch/top soil mix
Ditto for the 3rd row/stack
I added a 4th row/stack but didn't put any dirt/mix in it, its more of a "guard rail" so varmints can't climb inside the bed

That was about 6 weeks ago, and now we have several potato plants that have grown up through the layers of soil (hopefully sprouting chutes and potatoes along the way) and the biggest plant has started to flower:

I'm wondering when and how we should harvest, given our unorthodox bed setup. Any ideas or thoughts? Thanks in advance!


texts: Pruning tips for Vietnamese Coriander/Mint

texts:
Recently picked up gardening again and started with a small but diverse range of flowers,herbs and vegetables. The last time I did gardening was back in the 80's I have been educating myself as I go along and already controlled a outbreak of Green looper caterpillars. So might be green(not a bad word here)  in certain terminology. The main point is these plants have been with me for about 2 months and getting established.

After the insects signed a peace treaty I started pruning some of the basil plants and even some of the thyme. The results have been awesome with the plants growing back with renewed vigour.

The Vietnamese mint/coriander(Polygonum odoratum) has been growing nicely but getting a bit tall and not as bushy as I would like. In my mind there is a fundamental difference between Basil and Vietnamese mint as the mint does not branch as much as Basil. The mint seems more like a true mint even though it is not a mint at all. Thus creepers instead of branching out.

I been searching on google on pruning tips for the Vietnamese mint but its either in Vietnamese or very light on details.

So in a nutshell.

Any specific pruning techniques required for the Vietnamese mint?
In general pruning seems to help the plant by removing the dead/sick/infested parts of the plant and this mean the roots can use the extra energy to produce better growth. Is this theory valid for all plants.
I tend to prune every 2-3 weeks and not heavily just take some tips away to ensure the plant does not grow tall top heavy and yields less than I would like it to. Is it too much or too little? Most advise mention a couple of weeks and a couple in mind is 2... 3 is a crowd but I am just pedantic at times.

Any pointers would be appreciated.


texts: I have this nice purplish-pink succulent that I potted up into a dark-soiled, well-drained medium in a black pot about two weeks ago. I purchased this from a market that never specified its name. Does anyone know what it is and how to care for it?


texts: I am an engineer and I want to put a garden inside my house. What I mean is indoor garden. However, I don't want any insects. I googled about this topic and found that water planting may be an option. How I could NOT use soil to grow plant?


texts: Elephant garlic Allium ampeloprasum struggling, difficiencies?

texts:
I noticed that these Allium ampeloprasum started a couple months ago, are struggling and showing some deficiencies that I can't pinpoint.
My soil is sandy and poor, with pH slightly over 8. I gave it plenty of NPK, but I have a doubt that it's missing some micros. Notice the spiraling and yellowing of the leaf.


texts: Fast-growing vine, supposed to be a flowering plant

texts:
A few months ago, I planted some flower seeds that looked like they were designed for wind dispersal: very light, thin, and elongated (a little shorter than one of my finger joints). Mostly black with a bit of white, if I recall correctly.

They took so long to germinate that I thought the seeds were bad. Then they started growing very quickly, and right now they grow about one or two inches per day. The vines have those little tendrils to grab on to things, so I'm not sure if it is a climbing plant.

I don't remember what kind of seeds they were. Can someone tell me what this plant is and how to best deal with it? I was expecting relatively contained, bushy flowers, but the vines are invading my sidewalk and the flowers are tiny.

If it matters, I live in a tropical environment and the seeds were from one of those little packets like they sell at Walmart.

Thanks.

EDIT December 17: Just over 25 pounds. :-) Thanks, all.


texts: How many more hours of sun will my plants get in the summer

texts: We just moved to a new place so I am not sure what spots get what amount of sun during the summer hours. I found a website to calculate the angle the sun will be during any given month but I'm not sure how to factor in the height of the house and fences to figure if the spot will get at least 6 hours.  I am in zone 9b.


texts:
BACKGROUND

I have a jasmin plant (jasminum sambac).

Up until about a month ago it was full of green leaves, and had scented white flowers blooming
About a month ago many of its leaves started yellowing and drying out, and now there aren't that many left
I cut the dry yellow leaves off, thinking it was stress related, and hoping the plant would be better in time

INFO

Light conditions: plenty of sun
Water conditions: soil is moist when I put my finger in. Looks like it retains water properly, almost like it's "not drinking" the water. It's currently lightly watered once a week (to avoid root rot)

I also thought about water purity issues (see this question) or soil volume might not suffice (see this question), but all the other plants enjoy the same water and they're fine, and the soil volume is about 5 times bigger than the pot it initially grew to be this size in.

ISSUE

Now the last leaves also started drying out, and the stems feel like they're drying out too.

How can I save it before it's too late?


texts: Lifespan/storage of Bokashi Flakes (compost)

texts:
I've made bokashi flakes from bran and LAB liquid, been using it for a while.
Dried the flakes and stored in plastic boxes, but I am unsure if that is the best way to
store, since I know the bacteria inside does not like oxygen, and clearly a box has oxygen.
It also made me wonder - How long bokashi flakes can last?

Additional details:
Daytime time temperatures: summer 30-40c, winter 4-15c
Night time temperatures: summer 27-30c, winter 3-9c
Humidity: ~65-85%
Bokashi flakes were made from home-made LAB liquid from rice water, fructose syrup & wheat bran mixed with water, inside garbage bags for some weeks and then sun-dried and stored in small boxes, placed in a closed shed.


texts: Is this normal for Succulent propagation

texts: I'm very new to plants and propagation. I got 2 baby succulents from 1 leaf, is this normal? Not sure of  the name of the mother plant. Also they sprouted from opposite ends of the leaf, not from where it was detached from the plant.


texts: How to create stronger strains of plants?

texts:
I have been doing some research online about psychoactive plants, and I happened to stumble upon a plant called Leonotis Leonurus aka Wild Dagga or Lion's Tail.

Anyway, I ordered some Leonotis Leonurus seeds (about 50) online and I plan on growing them so I can use them for their psychoactive properties (they are completely legal where I'm from). However, from what I've heard, the effects of the plant are quite mild when compared to other plants such as marijuana. The chemical that makes Leonotis Leonurus psychoactive is called leonurine.

My question is, how can I breed Leonotis Leonurus plants to create more potent (more leonurine, so stronger psychoactive properties) strains? Would I need special equipment? Would I need other plants? Would it take a long time (3+ years)?

If what I'm trying to do has already been done with other plants like marijuana, surely it must also be possible to do this with Leonotis Leonurus.


texts: Young avocado plant has brown spots spreading on leaves

texts:
I have been growing in my flat an Avocado plant sprouted from a seed in December.
It developed well, up until about a month ago, but then brown dots started forming on the leaves, the oldest leaves first and spreading to the newest.
The dots start small on the edges and very quickly spread over the leaf, until the leaf dries out and the plant discards it.

Below I put an example. The first picture was taken last Sunday, when the leaf started showing the spots. The second picture was taken today, three days later, showing the progression of the spots.
Usually it takes about two weeks for the leaf to be dropped by the plant.

At first I blamed this on dry air caused by the central heating (In the picture you see a radiator, but that's just where I put the plant now that the radiators are off. During winter it was in a different position.).
The plant now is next to a window open most of the day, so the air shouldn't be as dry, but still the spots returned.

A second hypothesis I had was high salinity of the water. Tap water here is very hard and reading other articles it seems that there could be a stagnation of salt. To counter this I replaced most of the earth in the vase, but this still didn't stop the leaves from browning.

The plant itself is now down to three leaves, one of which is the one in the pictures above, and the top gem is not showing signs of development, so I'm running out of ideas to save the plant.

Any hints on what might be causing this and how to prevent it from extending to the rest of the plant?


texts: Could you help me with the name of this plant?

texts: This plant started getting dry, but I have no idea what is this plant called so I don't know how to treat it the best way.


texts:
I am searching for organic/natural ways to feed the soil & the plants and to let beneficial microbial and fungal colonies thrive.
What I am not good at is timing, and the exact recipes of solutions.
What is the best solution recipe recommended for

Foliar growth(nitrogen rich)?
Increasing flowering rate and quantity?
Increasing the size of fruits/crops?

And when to introduce these solutions?


texts: Why are my pumpkins only growing small, then dying?

texts: My pumpkin vine is very healthy, but the pumpkins grow to about the size of a golf ball and die. I water them and they are in good soil. Why is this happening?


texts: How to encourage composting worms to migrate upward

texts:
I have an upwards migration worm composting bin that currently has three trays. In recent months, I had done a poor job ensuring that the moisture level in the top bin was reasonable, and it got out of control and got pretty wet for a while. The worms did not seem to like this.
After several weeks I was able to get the moisture under control. However, the majority of the worms are now in the bottom tray which is mostly already composted material. I don't imagine that there is a whole lot of food/resources in that bottom tray, so they must have been pretty unhappy to move down there and stay there. I also note the middle tray is pretty empty of worms as well.
Is there a good way to encourage the worms to leave the bottom tray and move back up to the top tray where the new food is?


texts: What is the maximum number of trusses for a tomato plant?

texts:
I have 6 tomato plants of different varieties grown in planters outdoors. I have heard that there is a recommended limit to the number of trusses (bunches of fruit or number of branches bearing fruit) on a plant after which you should crop the top of the plant. I believe this is to focus growth on the remaining fruit.

Is this correct? What is the number of bunches/branches I should limit my plants to?


texts:
Our young orange tree (planted in the spring) has been healthy but growing slowly. I’ve noticed light blue spots on the leaves (EDIT: upon a second look, I realized that the spots are really white, with a very slight bluish tinge), as if it had been sprinkled with kool-aid and it evaporated, but otherwise it seemed to be doing well so I ignored it.

We recently fertilized all of our fruit trees with citrus tree fertilizer, and they all perked up except for the orange tree. Its leaves are starting to yellow.

Any ideas on what is going on or how I can help it?  I live on the east coast of Florida.


texts: So I live in Phoenix, AZ in a house neighboring my grandparents. Today we had to cut down a huge pine tree in our front yard because it had died from bark beetle (or some other parasite). I mentioned that I would probably have to go to the store to get some bark mulch because my little flower garden used to be shaded by the big tree, and the added insulation for the soil might help it survive in the 100-degree summer. I just looked out my window, and my grandpa is shoveling sawdust onto my flower garden...without asking me or my husband. Is this good for flowers? I have simple ones, such as succulents, daisies, and lavender.


texts: What's an organic way to discourage crabgrass from a large "lawn"?

texts:
I have a large area that's infested with crabgrass. I'd like to use organic methods to encourage the grass mix over the crabgrass.

The fact that it's a large area means I can't afford to apply (nor do I want to) herbicides.

The soil is acidic and thin in spots -- there are ledge outcroppings visible. It gets an annual lime treatment (according to soil tests).

What sort of maintenance should I do (on a budget) to discourage the crabgrass? I'm not in a hurry, nor do I require perfection. I'd just like to lower the percentage of crabgrass.

(Full disclosure: this "lawn" is actually a small horse pasture. But for what I'm looking for in terms of advice, just think of it as a big lawn that needs organic methods.)


texts: What’s wrong with my Dracaena Marginata?

texts: I’ve had it for a few weeks now and watered it once. It was on the windowsill for a couple of weeks but has since been moved to my dressing table which gives it some sunlight. About 5/6 leaves have fallen off & the tips of a few leaves are brown.


texts: Too late to start plants inside? (Late April, Eastern Massachusetts, USA)

texts:
I'm no gardening hero but I like to grow flowers, herbs and a few vegetables from seed. Usually I start them indoors but this year I had trouble getting seeds because of the pandemic.

The seeds finally came yesterday and I am wondering if there remains any advantage now to starting them inside, or if I should just wait another week or two until the weather warms up a bit more. It's been a cold Spring so far but that should change pretty soon.

I just do container gardening on my backporch, which may mean that the soil will warm faster (?)

(If this question is too specific/localized, let me know and I will delete it)


texts: Help identifying this vine with green and white heart shaped leaves?

texts:
I honestly have no idea what this plant is. It seems to be some type of vine. I took a few pictures i will put below. As you can see there is some other plant growing in the same pot with the long leaves. I want to clone this vine plant eventually, it looks really nice when the vines get long. So will I be able to clone this plant? And what exactly is it?

P.S, it has no flowers as far as I have seen, this confuses me since I see no form of reproduction on it.

A cluster of leaves

A vine

More vines

A new leaf, the leaves grow out of these whitish membranse on the sides of other leaves. This leads me to believe that only one leaf can come from a single leaf.

Another new leaf growing in.

The beginning of a leaf.

An overview


texts:
[!I have planted my  in a barrel. Few months back its leaf started turn yellowish . I feed it with iron containing fertilizer . Now its leaf becoming brown , like it caught fire. What i have to do now?..
This plant is not over watered and it now getting better sun than it was on ground.
This plant was perfect while it was on ground?.So the main question is camelia good to grow on barrel?.

enter image description here


texts: What good smelling grass grows in USDA ZONE 4A?

texts: My dad grew up in an area of Chicago, USA that a good smelling grass grew all over the yard (I think a lemon grass), and am wondering what would be a great idea to sneak into the yard to have a similar smell.


texts: Why didn't my Meyer Lemon tree produce fruit after it blossomed?

texts:
My Meyer Lemon tree was full of flowers this spring. I hand pollinated them using a q-tip, along with help from some insects, when the tree was outside.

After the blossoms fell off, it didn't produce fruit.  Is this common?  It is three years old and very healthy.

I made a blog post about pollinating the lemon tree: http://simplyresourceful.blogspot.com/2015/04/how-to-pollinate-meyer-lemon-tree.html

I live in WV. I took it outside when the weather was warm in early spring but kept it inside during the cold winter.  I use citrus tree soil and fertilize with chicken compost tea.  The chicken tea keeps the leaves from turning yellow & it works great for the other tropical plants that I have.  We live in the mountains so there is no "true" sunny window here, but it is always placed in the sunniest location on the south side of the house.  Yes, it is well-watered.  I use a moisture meter monthly.  The tree is currently putting out new leaves.

UPDATE:
The tree is blossoming again. Let's hope for the best.


texts: How should I store sprouts after they have sprouted in glass? I choose not to use plastic for environmental concerns.


texts: How to get rid of Snails in my lotus pond

texts:
I have a small 4x6 feet lotus pond, where i planted lotus plant which i had in a fresh water pond near my Town. Lotus plant is growing nice but my pond became a place for Snails too. i think the plant had some of it's eggs. Now to remove those snails. as i remove water every week.

Is there any pesticides for removing those snails without harming lotus plants and fishes.


texts: Will leaving fallen leaves on the lawn during winter damage the grass?

texts: I have a lot of leaves on my lawn (in Oklahoma). Will it hurt the grass if I leave the leaves there over the winter?


texts: Fungus on my peppers? Are they struggling?

texts:
What are these little green things in the soil of my peppers. Should I be worried? They were planted 7 weeks ago. I've since moved them into larger containers, and put more soil in as I think they were getting cramped in the Styrofoam cups. Are they turning purple because of some sort of nutrient deficiency? Should I put some sort of fertilizer in them? Any recommendations?

Pics:


texts: Why are mushrooms growing from the base of my potted avocado tree?

texts:
My avocado tree was doing fine, until I noticed it begin to wilt, although her sister was doing fine.

I didn't know what fertilizers to give it first, but later I noticed mushrooms growing at its roots. They are what's making it wilt.

Is it enough to remove the mushrooms only, or will they just grow again?
What shall I give it to come back to life?

This is a picture of the avocado with mushrooms:

and here is the picture of it with her sister:


texts: Procedure to ensure herbicide uptake in Japanese knotweed

texts:
I am planning to eradicate a stand of Japanese knotweed by injection of imazapyr. This bamboo-like plant develops a rhizome system far below the ground and the only way to kill it is allow it to absorb a herbicide into the rhizomes.

The problem is that there are two basic approaches. One approach is to cut off the stalks, then inject the herbicide into the resulting cup-like cavity. The other approach is to use a syringe to inject the herbicide into the stalk without cutting it first.

Which approach will be more effective in ensuring that the herbicide reaches the rhizomes?


texts: What is the name of this Aloe looking plant?

texts: A friend of mine gave me this plant with no name or instructions of how to care for it. It looks like an Aloe plant to me but I'm not sure. Any suggestions on how to care for it?


texts: Why do the leaves on my Meyer lemon have blotchy yellow areas?

texts:
I have a Meyer lemon that I purchased a few months ago. I potted it into a self watering container with some potting mix mixed with some peat. It's flowering and small fruit are forming but the leaves are not looking wonderfully healthy. There are yellow splotches on the new leaves, and on the old.

The temperature is in the very low 20s Celsius (60s Fahrenheit), and I've only given it some citrus fertiliser only once when I got it.

My pH meter, which I've never used before, is saying pH is about 7.6, moisture level 2/10, but when placed into water it only reads 6/10 so the whole thing may be junk. So this should be low enough to absorb manganese though looks like iron might be a marginal.

Should I try acidifying the soil with some sulfur or do something else?


texts:
I have a plant that I don not know what it is. I want to identify it, because I think it is getting ill and I want to know how to properly care for it.
The plant was bought in a store about a two years ago. I added some pictures of the plant and I hope it will be enough.


texts: How should I prepare a bed of Chrysanthemums for winter?

texts:
I would like to prepare a bed of Chrysanthemums for the winter. The plants have grown up to sizes of 1 to 1.5 meters, some of then have colapsed slightly because they evidently became to large. I've been told that the bed contains both perennial and other varieties.
What is the best way to prepare this bed for the winter? For instance, would cutting all stems back to, say, 5 cm be a good idea?


texts: How many grow lights do I need for starting tomato seeds?

texts: Should I just buy a 48" shop light? I have two 10 x 20 flats. I've never done seeds indoors. I have about 6 weeks until our last frost date, May 15 in Chicago. I already started the seeds on a heat mat with domes. I didn't realize they sprouted already. Now I am in a panic. The grow light I bought seems to be too small. 18W Grow Light. I'd like to buy something today at a local big store.


texts: What is causing the bark on my crabapple to crack and peel off?

texts:
I have a flowering crabapple in my yard whose bark has several large areas where it cracks and curls away from the wood underneath:

Hover over any image for description / click for full size

I don't know what variety it is (the previous owners planted it), but it's a flowering crabapple with fragrant pink flowers and inedible 2" kidney-shaped fruit.  I live in Portland, Oregon, USA which is USDA zone 8a.

My questions:

What is causing this damage and how can I treat it?
Should I be worried about it spreading to my real apple tree which is approximately 20' away?


texts: Does spraying water on fruit trees after a frost help?

texts:
I have about 12 fruit trees (one pear, three peach and the rest are apple).  We had an early warm spell which kicked the trees into high gear and they started to blossom.  Unfortunately, we had 2 nights this week when the temperature got down to below freezing.

My trees are too big to really cover and while I tried to place a halogen work light on two of them all night, I didn't have any other way of protecting them from frost.

Someone told me that if you get up the next morning and spray the trees with water before the sun hits them that it will prevent damage to the tree/fruit.

Is this true?


texts: What is this plant and and how to care for it?

texts: I bought this plant but it had no name tag. I'd like to know tips about its upkeep. Thanks.


texts:
I was identifying a relatively young tree in my yard, and I'm pretty sure it is a Mulberry tree.  I live in Massachusetts and came across this article stating that red Mulberries are endangered in Mass so I was motivated to investigate further.

Red and white Mulberries are the most common types, but it doesn't seem to be either one.

Red: The undersides of the leaves are not downy so it seems that it is not red. The undersides are somewhat scratchy. I also live close to Boston (Somerville) which seems like an unlikely location.  On the other hand, it is growing on the side of a hill in the understory of some large spruce trees which seems to be a preferred location for red.

White: Looking at this article, the leaf margins do not look like a white.  The leaf edges of mine are pointy but white has more rounded edges.

I have some pictures below.  Would love to find out which kind of Mulberry it is.

More details in response to comments:

Tree hasn't fruited yet
Leaves are about 4-7"
Tree is about high 15' high
You can see a bud in the photos


texts: Why did the stem suddenly weaken in my oriental poppy?

texts:
I have an oriental poppy 'Patty's Plum' growing in new potting compost in a pot with good drainage.  It sits in full sun, and I water it as needed in the recent dry weather.  I purchased it from a nursery in May so this is the first season I've had it.  Its lower leaves look healthy and for the past couple of weeks, the first two flowering stems have been growing and have felt quite sturdy.  Yesterday, I noticed that the younger of the flowering stems has developed a weak spot that is dark brown in color, and the stem is now bent at 90 degrees (see photo).  The leaves on the flowering stems also look slightly blackened at the edges (see photo).  My location is the south-west UK.

Could this weakening be due to water sitting on the stem overnight and causing some tissue rot, or is there another likely another cause (can wind cause this)?


texts: What are these trees with tall trunks and narrow wispy leaves?

texts:
Does anyone know what these trees are?

We've got a tight retaining wall where we want to plant some trees.


texts: How to clean the salted water in my pool to to water my plants and grass?

texts:
We have a 60,000 litre salt water pool that we have not added one drop of chlorine or salt in over 16 months.
What do I need to do to be able to use that water to water my garden and grass?


texts: How do I go about pruning a mature fig tree to a smaller size?

texts:
I've recently purchased a house that has a rather large fig tree next to a two-story garage. It's gotten a bit unruly as you can see from this photo:

I've read that fig trees should be pruned in the winter, which is just starting here. (Well, as much as winter ever starts in southern California.) I've seen useful tips such as removing deadwood, suckers and secondary branches, but I haven't found any suggestions for reducing the height of the tree. I love the shade, but not the branches that are reaching above my garage. It just seems like a recipe for roof damage the next time we get strong winds.

I see figs aren't especially bothered by pruning, so my concern is less about harming the tree and more about how to reduce the overall size without losing too much of the shade or aesthetics. I should note that the garage already shades quite a bit of the yard since it is to the south. Also the main trunk was topped at about 10 feet, so most of the height is from two very long vertical branches.

On the one hand, I could cut the branches fairly high up so they are just below the level of the roof. On the other, it seems like it might be alright to do a more drastic pruning to make the tree shorter and more spread out. Or should I start small and prune more each year until I have the tree size that I'm looking for? What should I be aware of as I prune my fig?


texts: Plant Identification and Pet/Child Safety

texts:
What type of plant is this?
Is it safe for children and pets?
Thank you


texts: What is this evergreen white-flowered Bush growing in the shade?

texts: It has little white flowers in June, doesn't lose leaves in winter, grows in shade, leggy, hardy in zone 6A.


texts: Will the new soil hill in our backyard cause water damage to our neighbor’s house below us?

texts:
In order to maximize the amount of play space in our backyard, we recently had many yards of soil brought in.  We live on a slope.  Our neighbors home behind our backyard is about 3 feet below our property, separated by an old retaining wall.
More recent picture with soil delivered:

Prior to soil delivery, you can see the property line (fence) and neighbors home behind ours:

We are planning on shaping the soil, and then installing sod on top of all of it.
Previously, we had some large rhododendrons growing on that slope, but both the top and bottom tiers were pretty bare, with clay soil showing.
We’ve never heard about any issues with water running off of our property into our neighbors’ yards.  Our neighbors are concerned about water runoff from this new soil hill (slope).  They want to come by in a few days to see how the project is progressing.
I have been thinking, since we have the same surface area as before, plus this soil is more absorbent than the clay soil far below it, plus we’ll have healthy sod covering it, we shouldn’t have any water run off issues.  Please let us know your opinion.  Should we install a French drain near the edge of our property?  If so, where should the water exit from it?
Thank you


texts: Since people say that comfrey can survive everything, can comfrey survive a daily stampede to the milking barn as ground cover in the alleys?


texts:
A few weeks ago, I snapped clean the end of a fig tree branch. Unsure on how to fix it, I put in back in place and secured it by gluing paper towel around it with glue (the glue was meant to stay on the outside, not get in the cut).
Here is a picture from today, with the paper towel removed.

The upper part seems to have dried out. Is there anything I can do to help this limb grow or it is lost at this point?


texts: I have recently bought an orchard. And one of my trees has these things on its bark. Is these some kind of infection? is it important and what should I do about it?


texts: What will kill Poa annua in St. Augustine grass?

texts: What kills Poa annua in St. Augustine grass?


texts: Purple Sprouting Broccoli recovery from bird attack

texts:
OK, I planted out my Broccoli earlier this year without realising that the birds love to snack on the leaves. They skeletonized the leaves, leaving only the veins on some of the larger leaves.

I've since put a rudimentary cloche over them which allowed some new growth to appear, though not much. Will they be able to recover, or is there something I can do to promote their return to health?

I have managed to crop a few small florets (no more than a good handful), and they tasted amazing, so I'm quite keen to get at least another decent harvest off of them.


texts: What is this plant with mottled leaf in my lawn?

texts: I had a grass lawn put in last fall after solarizing a north facing bed of English ivy.  This spring these largish mottled leaves started appearing in my lawn.  I have no idea what they are since they don't appear in any lists of common broadleaf weeds.  Some of these plants are starting to flower and it looks like it might be yellowish colored.


texts:
We recently redesigned the walkway through our garden to our back door. This involved lots of scaping of the land -- especially to change the waterflow away from the house. The new walkway ends with a small brick landing. The contractor just laid them down and glued them in place.

I asked when they would finish it with mortar or sand or something. they said they they were set tight enough and didn't need it.

Except when I step on it they move. And I live in Minnesota -- wont snow and ice get in there?
Am I missing or something or will this landscaping element not hold up?


texts: What fruit rot pathogen makes tomatoes turn gray and smell like rotten potatoes?

texts:
What fruit rot pathogen makes storage tomatoes turn completely gray, ultra soft, and watery—which also makes them smell like rotten storage potatoes? (I'm guessing it's the same thing that typically rots old wrinkly storage potatoes around here.) The pathogen doesn't seem to cause any spots. It just turns the tomatoes completely gray without any blemishes (all parts at the same time), and gives them the rotten/old potato smell. The pathogen seems to be dominant over anthracnose (i.e. in a storage area with both pathogens, they seem to get this instead of anthracnose, and they don't get anthracnose, too). It doesn't seem to hurt the flavor of the tomatoes at all, unlike some pathogens—although I haven't tried ones that have turned gray, of course (just tomatoes in the same bin wherein the smell was, and probably some that were just starting to get affected; if anything, it seems to make them taste better; nevertheless, it causes a lot of fruit loss and leaky tomatoes).

Fruits turn soft and kind of translucent and watery-looking/feeling before turning gray.

I don't have any pictures at this time.


texts: I'm shopping for a greenhouse to protect my tropical fruit trees from winter frosts. While browsing, I noticed that greenhouses are predominantly green or clear. What are the advantages of each color? I don't quite see the advantage of a green greenhouse. Wouldn't any color in the windows block parts of the light spectrum?


texts: Is it really necessary to cut miscanthus back almost to the ground in spring?

texts:
I planted two miscanthuses in spring 2019, but I didn't have time to cut them back in March this spring (three or so inches above ground, as almost universally recommended).
In April, I gathered, it was too late, it already started growing, so I left them as is.
However, they grew without problems and reached over 6 ft this year (as opposed to 5 ft last year). Old stuff just fell off naturally. What is than the deal with cutting them back in early spring/late winter? Is it really needed?


texts: Is a juniper suitable as an indoor bonsai?

texts:
I'm keen to have a bonsai by my desk at work. It will be on a window sill, but only have direct sunlight for about an hour a day (in the morning), the rest of the day it will have light reflected at it off a white wall.

I could place it outside during the weekend, if it needed it.

Will a juniper be suitable as an indoor bonsai in a situation like this?


texts: What type of plastic covering would be good for a heated greenhouse in the winter?

texts: Can anyone tell me their experiences with different plastic coverings for greenhouses.  This year we've built the structure (I've got to get a picture for you) with the vegetable garden growing beneath.  I am getting cross-eyed looking for information on decent plastic to cover this greenhouse through this next winter.  Next year we will use that double layered hard plastic.  But just want a good, CLEAR? plastic to last for this winter.  We'll be heating this structure...last year in October we got a snowfall that collapsed our 'polytunnel'...any ideas will be helpful.


texts: Cherry tree with wilted and dried leaves

texts:
In the beginning of June bought a cherry tree seedling and transferred it from its pot to our yard. It was doing ok but, I saw that two days ago all of its leaves were wilted and some had dried and died. I live in Montreal and I've been watering every 3 days, and it has been raining quite a bit.
All other trees and plants seem to be doing fine in the same soil! ( I planted an apple tree seedling as well at the same time and it's looking ok!)
What could be the problem?


texts: What caused this grass to die and how can I treat it

texts:
Trying to identify what has happened to my lawn.
The first image with the long stripe was irrigated well so I don't think this is drought related.

This is a Florida lawn with St Augustine and Bermuda. The St. Augustine seems to be affected more.

Thanks in advance for any clues


texts: Placement of a front yard raised vegetable garden

texts:
I'm getting approval from my wife to build a raised vegetable garden in our front yard which gets full sun from mid morning throughout the evening.  She'd prefer it to be near the sidewalk (spot #1) but we're both concerned with the number of dogs in our neighborhood and of them relieving themselves on our veggies!

Question 1:  How detrimental is doggie pee-pee to our tomatoes and to us?  Or what can I do to prevent that?

Question 2:  Does anyone else with a sidewalk veggie garden have problems with passerby helping themselves?

We're also considering spot #2.  And spot #3 I'm already planting veggies in, but it's in the shade most of the day due to the fence.

edit:

We live in the pacific nw, winters are pretty mild, our street doesn't get treated/plowed at all.  That's our drive way on the left.  A little worried about theft, and dog pee.

** update **

I ended up building the raised garden right next to the side walk.  Has been working out great, if anything, a bit too much sun, and some of the plants on the west side get a little burnt.  A few people have stopped by and asked if they could pick from it :D

Built from 1"x5"x6' ceder fencing boards, it's holding up well, only going into it's second season.


texts: Is this how cucumber seedlings react to cold?

texts:
Some days ago, I planted cucumber seeds in my garden. They didn't all sprout at the same time, and the ones that I'm showing are the ones that appeared few days later than others.

The climate is Mediterranean in the north African coast, and the temperatures started to drop to forties, low fifties in the last couple of days. The few plants that sprouted earlier seem to be in a better shape and not showing any bad signs.

I'm wondering if you are familiar with what you are seeing here, I'm a very novice gardener trying to learn. Thanks


texts: Chives have yellowing ends. Is it normal?

texts:
This is the first time I ever grow chives. They are in a seed pod, along with other herb bods in a hydrocultural system (one of those simple amateurish ones sold on Amazon). I planted them 37 days ago. Starting several days ago, I discovered that the end of the scape attached to a black ball of each chive plant is becoming yellow. It seems each chive plant has several scapes (stems), and one of them (usually the shortest one) has a black bead on top (which I assume to be its seed husk). Is it normal that this stem is gradually yellowing and possibly dying? Some taller stems also have yellow tips.

I am worried that there might be something I am not doing right and it might kill all of my chives. The chive shoot that came out earliest died a couple days after it sprouted, leaving me the impression that either I got something wrong in their environment or the plant food, or chives are extremely fragile and sensitive. The rest that sprouted after that one have been fine until recently.


texts: What are these soft white things in my soil that are ruining my plant's roots?

texts: My grandmother has flowers in her garden, and recently there has been a lot of white, squishy / soft bits in soil. I do not think they are perlites, as they are soft. My grandmother is convinced that as soon as they appear they ruin all the roots of the plants. Had a look online and cannot find anything! They look like perlite, but damage the roots.


texts: Do you need to water a compost pile on the edge of a swamp?

texts: I'm looking into building a compost pile, and was wondering if I need to water a compost pile if I put it on the edge of a creek.


texts: Mulch/compost over partially exposed roots

texts:
Location is Portland, Oregon.

TL;DR I want to plant shrubs and shade tolerant ornamentals under trees in one corner of my lot. The soil is clayey and very compacted, and due to long-term slow erosion the tops of some of the tree roots are partially exposed.

Question: How to amend the soil around the trees to allow planting, is compost or mulch the right way to go? What should I be considering?

Longer Version

One corner of my lot has several trees, as shown here. The triangular area is about 45x55 feet, about 1240sf.

There are two 80-100' tall evergreens that I think are some form of cypress (the large trunks in the middle). The two on the left and right are maples, and then there are the two double trunks that I believe are firs.

That corner of the lot is higher than the rest by maybe 2 feet, and it looks like over the years erosion has exposed quite a few roots.  The soil is clayey and very compacted and hard even after rain.

Here are some closeups of the exposed roots.

Question: What needs to be done to the soil to

protect the exposed roots; and
make it easier to work the soil to plant other plants


texts: Is having moss in your terrarium similiar to a layer of activated charcoal?

texts:
I am making a terrarium and almost everywhere (on the web) it says to add a layer of activated charcoal between the soil and drainage rocks. I plan on creating a sort of 'meadows' look by making small hills and planting it with moss then adding a few trees. Thus there will be a LOT of moss in the terrarium. Is the layer of charcoal still needed if I have so much moss? I read that moss can have some of the same effects as charcoal such as helping reduce mold and mildew but also read that it can do the exact opposite. Would this then mean that when having so much the need for a layer of activated charcoal is higher?

Some useful info

The terrarium is closed and does not have any drainage.

I will be watering it with clean pond water, so no chemicals in the water.


texts: What is this purple stalked, berry producing plant?

texts: It has small, white flowers with 5 petals.


texts: How can I prune a dead brown inside overgrown confider leylandii hedge

texts:
As you can see form the picture there are 4 leylandii trees that have grown into the hedge.it was getting difficult to maintain these so in my own head I thought it better to see if instead of getting rid of it, I could prune it to look like a tree instead. so I started removing the bottoms only to learn than the inside is very much dead and brown and I understand leylandii doesn't regrow from inside rather it will grow green on the ends.

I want to keep the tree and make it more airy so it can continue to grow but not as a hedge. This will help make the garden look bigger and I can grown grass underneath it(whcih will also get sufficient rain directly theoufht eh water trickling down the trees)
Any suggestions on how I can prune and get rid of the brown ?

Hope I am making sense here . I am not gardening expert but a big fan of DIY.


texts: What's the best place to plant this grape vine?

texts:
I purchased a grape vine plant from a nursery today, its called a vitis vinifera, or Flame Seedless. It seems fairly healthy and I would like to plant it now.

It is midsummer here in So. Cal and averages 80°F in the day. This plant was stored outdoors at the nursery (under shade-screen roof). Do I need to "harden" it before planting it in full sun, by bringing it in and out of the shade?

I am considering planting it up against that stone wall to the right of the raised bed planter, (see pics, full sun 8 hrs./day in summer, faces S.W.) and training it to trail along the fence; perhaps maybe a high trellis built out from the top of fence horizontally a couple feet. Does this seem to be a decent plan?

Rocky clay soil, I will mix in compost and a bit of sand when I plant.


texts: What does Mesquite Tree sap have that possibly makes it a good fertilizer for dragon fruit?

texts:
I have 2 dragon fruit (pitaya) growing under a large 30-year-old mesquite tree. The mesquite tree is dripping sap at the base of one of the dragon fruit plants. This plant is a deep green healthy color. The other plant (which does not have sap dripping at its base) is pale green and does not look as healthy.

Is it possible that the sap from the mesquite tree is providing nutrition to the dragon fruit and if so what is it in the sap that's doing this?

Not sure if this image of the two plants is sufficiently clear to show the distinction. The one on the left has the sap dripping to its base which you might be able to make out in the photo.

More info: They are two different types of Dragon Fruit. One is white and the other red although neither have produced fruit to date. I also don't know which one is which.


texts: Phalenopsis orchid developing spots on buds

texts:
I need help diagnosing what is wrong with my orchid here. Of my seven phalenopsis orchids it is the only one that looks like this but it's also the one furthest along in spiking. I didn’t notice anything when I last watered it last week. I am particularly concerned by the misshapen bud:

I’m hoping it's because we’ve been keeping the house cooler (57°F at night) to try to save energy―I thought phals were still ok at this temp though. But I’m worried it's an infection―can anyone confim?


texts: How should I care for a young cherry tree?

texts:
We recently had a cherry tree planted in our garden. I don't know the age of the plant nor the exact species but it's currently below 2m (6 ft) tall, including the branches, with a thin trunk.

There are 6 branches with plenty of buds. These just started opening although I can see other cherry trees were full of flowers already at the end of February.

What care does my tree need? Is it growing normally?

UPDATE: The tree was planted early February by the estate builder. They didn't mention what kind of three it is (just "A cherry, the one with pink flowers") nor the age. They didn't put any compost, just dug a hole and put the tree inside.

I'm in Kent, UK.

UPDATE 2: There are a few flowers now on the tree and more are coming out but they are white, not pink. Wonder what they've planted in my garden...


texts: I was given a 2-3 year old citrus tree and it loses leaves each year as soon as it comes inside.  It has a strong stem but only a few new green branch shoots that have lost leaves.  If I want to get this tree back to life and full should I be uprooting it and re-potting?  I hate to see living things die and I would like to bring it back to citrus splendor.  Suggestions?


texts: What is this star-like delicate pink flower?

texts:
This flower makes me stop and look at it and admire its strange combination of frailty and firmness.

Do you know the name of the flower?

The photo is from previous years, probably taken in mid-summer.


texts: How to eliminate fertilizer odor from home?

texts:
I live in a small apartment. A couple days ago I added Jobes fertilizer to several potted plants. My home now reeks of noxious pulverized bone meal.

What can I do (short of removing the plants) to eliminate the odor?


texts: Cherry Tomato plants, withering, yellowing leaves, white powdery on root

texts: The plant is yellowing, and pull out the root to find the white powdering thing... Anyone know what is this? how to prevent?


texts: Should I add soil with living things, like worms, to a potting mix?

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I normally just buy in seedlings from big box stores since I am too disorganised to start my own seedlings in time.  However, this year I did manage to get some seeds into the seed raising mix, and they have come up.

I've then pricked out the healthy ones and transplanted them into a flat, which is really just a 9-inch deep square grow bag which I partially filled with potting mix. I used a potting mix since they are used for containers being free draining, I had some bags of the stuff lying around, and it's free of seeds and hopefully other pathogens.  But looking at the potting mix today just over a week later, it looks rather sterile and I wonder if I should really be trying to raise seedlings in such a substrate.  I suspect it's too late now to change the mix without another shock to the seedlings.

Today in a fevered moment I did grab some wet worm-filled soil from the bottom of my year old compost heap, chucked it into some rain water in a bucket, and then poured the water over the "flat" hoping to inoculate the mix with some microfauna. So, the question is, is potting mix suited at all for raising seedlings, or should I add soil with something living in it to the mix before transplanting into it?

PS: The image is of bok choy seedlings. By life I mean bacteriae, protozoa, microarthropods, worms and optionally mycorrhizal fungi


texts: What is this strongly scenting ground covering weed?

texts:
Here is a weed I gathered the seeds from last year. It had bloomed on a Mediterranean island, Corsica, up in the mountains (around 2000 meters above see level, I believe snow covered 2-3 months pour year). I was so amazed by the strong scent of the plant that I hoped I could have it home somewhere.

Now I let it multiply in some pots of mine here, and am curious what indeed it is.

It head small opposite leaves (2-3mm), it gets kind of purple when it gets water deprived. Seedlings didn't bloom the first year. It is strong scented, about little like point, stronger and different. It could be some kind of microscopic sage, I'm curious...


texts: Very superficial roots in large planter boxes

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At the start of this year I bought some large wooden planter boxes (lined on the inside with root cloth), filled them up with generic purpose potting soil and got to planting some homegrown vegetables. While the harvest (peas, rocket, purslane, parsley, coriander, monks cress) wasn't half bad, the plants all seemed to have trouble with drought resistance, with the peas prematurely succumbing to mildew.
Indeed, when removing the plants after harvest, I found that the roots of all plants were very superficial, barely going deeper than a few cm. I did not give any additional fertilizer (as I thought there was plenty of fresh soil to go about) and only watered occasionally, so I would expect the plants to form deeper roots to find more water and nutrients.
How can I improve the soil to encourage deeper roots and hopefully in turn improve drought resistance?


texts: What is this plant that has small red flowers and paired fleshy leaves?

texts: I have this small flowering plant in my balcony. What is the name of this plant?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Can my lawn be saved or is it time to dig it up and re-sod?

I have two problems that I am trying to knock out with the least amount of work possible.

The first problem is I have bluegrass taking over my yard. It started out this season in small patches and has managed to cover most of the back yard now.

The second problem is the unevenness of the yard. There are small holes from a dog digging, medium hills from a sandbox that was removed, and large grading that was never leveled when the house was built.

I thought I might be able to kill two birds with one stone. My thought is to kill off the current yard (with something like roundup), get top soil brought in and spread across the yard, then seed with new grass.

Is there anything that I am looking over here that might be an easier plan of attack? If I do use something like round up, is there any standard time I would need to wait before replanting?

Details: I am in zone 6B. Primarily people have Fescue (which is what I currently have) but a few do have Bermuda.


texts: Drying sedum. How can I save this plant?

texts: I bought this plant in the month of April. It looks like a sedum. It was very green and healthy back then. Now since summers started the plants branches started to dry though I watered it properly(not too much and not too less). Today I decided to remove the drying branches out. There were many of them. As I was removing them the whole bunch of it came out. I'm really worried right now. How can I save this plant? It seems impossible to plant it back because there are too many branches and they're very delicate too. Please help asap..


texts: Why aren't my roses and fruit trees blooming as much as they did last year?

texts:
I just don't get it - I have a number of roses and it is June in the UK now. Granted, it has not rained much nor been overly sunny but I can't get my head around the fact that hardly anything in my garden has blossomed?!

I have had the great number of 1...yes, ONE rose that has come through and that's it. Normally, as in the last few years, I have had 50 times that much by now. Even my plum tree (albeit about 3 years old and small) has only got 2 plums that are growing - I remember last year (when it was smaller) it had loads more - about 10-15.

I have not watered much as I did last year so that could be it but it has not been dry so I would have thought something would have come through  -really disappointed.

I did prune a bit last year in about September/October to hope that this year I would have had more then last year - but the opposite has happened.

Also, the roses that did blossom last year do not have any of those fat things that a rose comes out from (not sure what they are called) - its like all the roses as doing is just growing leaves!

Makes it worse when I see other people's gardens that clearly are not taken care of having more roses and blossomed then mine!


texts: Why is the inner stem of my pothos cutting bright pink?

texts: I have been propagating some golden pothos cuttings in water and I recently noticed that the 'inner stem' is pink? Is this normal? Or is this a fungal or viral infection?


texts:
How do you convert a mixed fescue field to a native warm-season grass meadow?

I'm actually looking for information on a few of options:

Anything goes option.
Minimal soil disturbance option.
Minimal soil disturbance no herbicide option.


texts:
I have a west facing garden in London. The back of the garden gets sun from about 8/9am and the kitchen patio (you can just see the drainage at the bottom of the picture) gets sun from about 11am. The whole garden then gets sun apart from the left hand bed as it is shaded by the left hand fence as the sun arcs on the left of the garden until it swings rounds and sets at the back of the garden (behind the houses to the right at about 7pm) at which point the back fence generates some shade.

I am about to lay some turf this week and want to decide what the shape should be and what trees I should plant (after the lawn has settled). I then plan to buy garden on a roll Mixed Sunny Border and plant around the trees.

Garden size:
Patio is w 6.6m x l 2.4m
Rest of garden is w 6.6m x 12m

Below is my sketch with my current list of trees. I am trying to avoid large trees on the left that would steal my sun.

Do you think this list of trees makes sense for the size of garden?
Would you suggest alternative trees instead?
What do you think about the positioning? Would you suggest an alternative layout?
I plan on making the back area left of the shed a veg patch, do you think the fact it gets shade at the end of the day makes this a bad idea?

Thanks so much for your help in advance!

Update in response to bamboo's helpful comments:

We wanted to add the trees to give the garden some structure (and
maybe some fruit as a bonus!), they don’t have to be big, in fact
the smaller / less dense the better. If this was your garden what
would you do?
How about we move the Veg patch to the bottom right (No7)? And an
olive tree next to it?
We were going to do veg patch at the back as we didn’t want to anything too permanent there as in the future we might change this into a seating area or a kid’s play area (play bark, swing, trampoline etc)
On the Silver Birch – we quite like the multi-stemmed look, like this picture?

Silver Birch Betula utilis var. Jacquemontii 3ft Thoughts anyone?

On the Acer – we don’t have a strong opinion which type but love the deep purples. Something like this.

We also like the deep purple Japanese Maples, can you suggest one or the other that would work in our garden?

On the apple tree, If we got a dwarf apple, where would you suggest we put it?
What about the cox orange pipin? Which rootstock would you suggest? M27? M9?
On the dual plum – we were looking at one like this: Dual Plum ‘Bleue de Belgique’ + ‘Reine Claude d’Oullins’ - Tree. Would that work?

Update 2 (Sunday)
Ok, I have had another go after listening to everyone's comments. What do you think?

Update 3:

Here it is:


texts:
I started growing tomatoes inside my apartment. All over the internet, I noticed pictures of tomato plants that are really thick with lots of leaves and branches. Mine is tall, thin and has only a few branches. Maybe I'm a little paranoid, but does my plant look alright?

In the pictures, the plant is ~35 days old, the pot is 12 inches and the plant is about 15 inch tall.


texts: Will chives produce a good yield indoors if I transplant them from outside?

texts:
Last year I planted chive onions outside. Today I discovered that they survived.
If I transplant them indoors, will they survive and produce a good yield?


texts:
We recently started some construction work that involves digging around a beloved walnut tree and the workers hit some of the roots. (Europe)

Some pics for reference:

the tree - https://imgur.com/jQwYpMl
https://imgur.com/0ILXzdh
https://imgur.com/PqMMpcn
https://imgur.com/16keO8m

The tree is old and full-grown. I have no experience in handling trees, so I need some help with:

Is there anything I should do to preserve the tree?
Is the damage fatal?
Can it survive winter like this?

Thanks!


texts:
I have many problems with snails and slugs in my garden. When I want to plant something I usually grow it far away enough from the garden until the plant is big enough to support some "attacks".

I was quite surprised today when I found 2 slugs and one snail in a plant, around 4 meters away from the garden (grass and other plants) and that is actually hanging in a wall support. I don't think they came with the plant so they had to spot it from the garden, walk 4 meters in pavement, risking their lifes, climb the wall, and then down the support.

This makes me think that I should reassess where I make my seed plot place and makes me wonder how far can they see or how do they find plants like this?


texts: Could a compost bin with only green materials explode?

texts: I have a compost pile but it's not in my home, and I need to store the kitchen scraps temporarily somewhere. I use a small plastic bin for that purpose. I don't have any brown materials, only nitrogen-rich materials. When I open the bin, it has a sharp and strong odor - it's not like rotten eggs, it's different. I don't know what this gas is, but is it safe? I hope the bin doesn't explode! The bin is very small and it's sealed (of course), it's about 40x30cm (~1x1 feet).


texts: My tomato seedlings seem dead. Their stems have fallen and have sort of dried up. Is there a way to revive them?

texts: Its stem has lain on the soil and looks weak. The first leaves are there but appear wilted.


texts: Why are my ginkgo leaves turning in and yellowing?

texts:
About 3 months ago I put a stone tree ring around my tree. It covered the base of tree with landscaping fabric and then placed plastic drainage pipe over that. I then filled with soil as I wanted to plant some flowers inside ring.
Noticed leaves are now turning in and turning a bit yellow.

What should I do to save tree, as it is about 10 years old?

Thanks,
George


texts: Identify plant with blue berries and jagged leaves


texts: Fertilizers with harmful levels of salts

texts: I read in some articles that potassium chloride and ammonium sulphate can lead to salinity buildup. Is there a simple way to tell by looking at the fertilizer formula if a fertilizer can increase salt levels in the soil?


texts: Outdoor potted Mango seedling leaves are shiny brown

texts:
I started seedlings from mango out and doing really well but worries since leaves are a mahogany brown color.

Too much water, not enough water? Need fertilizer, if not when it does, what kind and how much?


texts: This is an 8-month old Peace Lily. The plant had started browning about a month ago. I water it once in 3days and fertilize it with sea-weed solution once in 15 days. It sits nearby a window that gets semi-bright but indirect sunlight throughout the afternoon. The plant doesn't seem dead because new leaves and several buds come up but they start browning the same day as well. The leaf size has reduced drastically. The new leaves are much smaller and thinner now; the buds have become tiny too. How do I make my plant lively again? Thanks in advance.


texts: In an Aquaponic system, can grow beds drain into each other?

texts: Relatively straightforward question: In an aquaponic system with multiple grow beds, can one bed drain into another (series), or do all beds need to flood/drain independently (parallel)?


texts:
We had a Glover field set up in part of our garden. Mainly for wildlife. I think that works as we saw a hedgehog a few times. However, it's not great to walk around in as the Glover gets squashed easily. After mowing it also looks brown.

I thought about sowing lawn into it. However, now the stems of the Glover are so long, they have formed a tight layer over the ground after mowing and I'm not sure lawn will penetrate that.

What are your onions?


texts: A friend just gifted me this plant. It's got thin, papery, spiky leaves. What is it?


texts: Definitions (criteria/requirements) of "organic" growing throughout the world

texts:
The US Department of Agriculture's National Organic Program has a set of regulations which determines if an agricultural production can be considered as "organic" or not:

205.200 General.
205.201 Organic production and handling system plan.
205.202 Land requirements.
205.203 Soil fertility and crop nutrient management practice standard.
205.204 Seeds and planting stock practice standard.
205.205 Crop rotation practice standard.
205.206 Crop pest, weed, and disease management practice standard.
205.207 Wild-crop harvesting practice standard.
205.236 Origin of livestock.
205.237 Livestock feed.
205.238 Livestock health care practice standard.
205.239 Livestock living conditions.
205.240 Pasture practice standard.
205.270 Organic handling requirements.
205.271 Facility pest management practice standard.
205.272 Commingling and contact with prohibited substance prevention practice standard.

Are there similar regulations in other countries?


texts: Intercropping garlic with white mustard and carrots

texts:
The word around local farmers is to grow white mustard in the soil you plan to grow garlic next year. Presumably, it reduce the amount of white rot (Sclerotium cepivorum).

Does it make sense to intercrop garlic with white mustard? I am thinking of planting 3 rows of garlic, 1 row of white mustards. What is the ideal ratio? I'd love to hear some of your experience.

 White mustard

Similarly, a legend says intercropping garlic with carrots repels onion/garlic fly. I am thinking of the same regime as with white mustard. 3 rows of garlic, 1 row of carrot. What is your experience with intercropping garlic with carrots or in general with intercropping?


texts: Is rice water good for a hyacinth plant?

texts:
I'm not sure I did the right thing to my hyacinth plant. It's growing in a pot with dirt brought from Whole Foods. I poured cool water that I'd used for rinsing rice on it, and the next day the flower was partially dead. I don't know if the flower is going through its cycle, or if the rice water is killing  it.

Can the water from rinsing the rice harm the hyacinth? Is there anything I can do to help it recover?


texts: Help identifying cactus/succulent and trimming

texts:
I decided to try making a terrarium with a bowl I had in the house. The plants I bought to put in it weren't labelled with what they were and in the few months since building it, one has grown like crazy and is getting squashed up against the side.

My question is, can anybody identify what it is? And can I trim it to fit in the bowl, or should I remove it and replant it on it's own?

Thanks!


texts: Is this scale on my English ivy? How to prevent spreading to other outdoor and indoor plants ? Should I just uproot and throw them out?

texts:
I live in an apartment. I have a few climbing plants - English ivy, star jasmine and lonicera out on the balcony in the setup shown here.

Last year I got aphids on my outdoor plants - there were a few other plants outside, which I had to throw out because the aphids got out of hand, but I could deal with the aphids on the climbing plants sufficiently with neem oil and soap. This year, with the start of the spring season, I again saw aphids and, as a result, ants coming back. Since they were smaller in number, I managed them by cutting some of the newer on which they were feeding off and killing the aphids.

But now I see these yellow and brown bumps on the leaves of the english ivy and ants surrounding it. This is some kind of scale, right? I do not know what they are, how to treat it or how to prevent them. I also read that scale can eventually give rise to crawlers that might crawl and come indoors and affect my indoor plants. How do I prevent that from happening. Please help.

Please note that I do not like using chemical pesticides on my plants. I only used neem oil and soap last year, but I have been avoiding using that because I read that using that dissociates beneficial insects as well. I can go back to it if it is absolutely needed.

Would the best solution be to uproot and throw out the plants altogether, since they are quite a bunch and tangled together?

Thanks!


texts: Can I raise a bush up by pushing dirt under it?

texts:
I have some blueberry bushes. Some were just planted two weeks ago, and others are two years old.

However, they aren't draining as well as I'd like during heavy rains, and had some standing water around them.

Knowing that blueberry bushes are shallow-rooted, can I reach below their roots with a shovel, leverage the bushes higher with the shovel, and push extra material (potting soil or rotting fruit) underneath to elevate the bushes another inch or two?

(To clarify: Physically, I can do this easily. What I'm asking is, would it damage the plant, since it'd like semi-disturb its roots?)


texts:
Hi, I've been growing Aji Amarillo in zone 3, indoor since 15, February.
It's my very first time growing chili.
I only took them out when day temperature was little bit above 20, but I forgot to take them back at night for several days, below 10°C.
They didn't die luckly but one's leaves are huge and dropping buds.
The other one has so many thick shoots but leaves and flowers(opened) are so small.
I pruned them earlier to have more branches but I don't know which ones to be trimmed now...
I cut off some overlapping leaves, can I still get fruit?


texts: I live in NY Long island and of course it's fall season


texts: Will my Black Bamboo survive winter outside, zone 6

texts: I live in Louisville, KY. Zone 6. I have a newly planted baby black bamboo plant in a large pot. I'm curious if I don't bring it in in the winter if this will completely die out and I'll have to start it over again in the spring or if it will stay alive?


texts: Can you please help me identify my new house plant?

texts: I want to know what plant this is. I just bought it and I want to be able to water it to its needs. If any one can identify it, then can you please do so?


texts: What are different methods to composting? I heard there is a little more than just throwing stuff on a pile. So what is the differences between any methods. And also, what is safe to put in a compost bin? How long does it need to sit till its ready for use? This would all be very helpful to know, thanks!


texts: How long does it take for plant roots to break down?

texts:
After a plant is removed/dies, how long does it take for the roots to break down if left in the soil?

Do they eventually provide viable nutrients?

In my mind I am mostly considering harvestable plants like peppers, carrots, lettuce, etc though I am curious about the outliers as well.


texts:
I have cleared a lot of bindweed from various parts of my garden. I'd like to keep it better controlled from now on.

I have read that it's a good idea not to compost the roots, because they'll survive and grow.

However, can new growth develop from leaves and stalks?

That is, should I quarantine all bindweed material for burning and/or hot composting by my council? Or is OK to cold-compost the leaves and stalks?


texts: Will California poppy seeds mature off the host plant?

texts:
I am trying to harvest California poppy seeds to be used next year. Living in Northeast Ohio, the tendency for these plants is to be an annual. Presently (late October) I've got lots of green seedpods, but can't find any that have become brown. I "think" I need to harvest what ever seeds or seed pods I can get before frost/freezing/snow hits the area, however I can't seem to get a clear idea if I should wait til the pods (still on the plant) turn brown and are ready to "pop".
Can I take remove these green pods (with a bit of stem) and let them dry and mature in a dry (garage or basement) to harvest viable seeds for next season?


texts:
The rhododendron pictured below used to live in Vancouver BC, zone 8ish, and was cut back and moved a few years ago to the northern end of the British Columbia coast, about 30 miles south of the Alaskan border.  Although the plant is not losing its new leaves they have a yellowish cast that does not look right. There are other largish rhododendrons in the area that don't have the problem so we don't think it's a problem with the very long summer days and very short winter days.  It's planted in sand that was trucked in to replace the forest duff so it has good drainage (1.5 meters of rain annually) but perhaps is lacking organic material.

Sorry, I don't know the variety.


texts: Hearty Flowering Perennial for curbside appeal

texts:
I'm lost in a sea of articles with none of them actually answering my question so I turn here.

Currently I plant mums every year in my front yard (Midwest region: Kansas, Lots of sunlight on the area) and I'd like to stop the costly act especially since you can only really enjoy them in the fall.

So, can someone tell me of a similar or as equivalent as possible plant type as the mum that offers the same large compact rounded ball flowering look of a mum. That could be enjoyed at least through spring/summer/fall that will grow back after winter and flower again?

Preferably in a white color to keep my curbside appeal but allow me to forego the purchasing/planting of new plants every darn year?


texts: How to stop ax getting stuck in log when splitting wood?

texts:
As a noob wood cutter I've watched a bunch of YouTube videos, but the thing I never see is the person getting their ax stuck in the log.

I know you can turn the log upside down to free the ax but why am I having this issue (very often) and how can I avoid it?

I wondered, could my ax be too sharp so it sinks in too deep? I don't mind lots of hits needed to split the log, but having to keep freeing it is a real pain.


texts:
I live in a student house where one of my fellow housemates has a cactus. She's incredibly bad in caring for her plants and pretty much doesn't give any attention to them whatsoever.

Though, she managed to keep one plant alive. However, that's probably because it's a cactus.
Anyway, enough background information... This cactus suddenly started growing a stem and is starting to bloom (see pictures below). The picture with the stem is quite blurry because we couldn't focus on it.

We wonder if someone here knows what cactus this is and how to best to take care of it. We also wonder if it's normal that it grows a stem this large as we've never seen this.

Pictures


texts: We have this tree in our yard, is this mold? Is it treatable?


texts:
I have Wave petunias in a hanging basket. One of the Wave characteristics is that they have long trailing stems with many flowers, which either hang from a pot or lie on the ground, as opposed to some other varieties which stand taller and more upright.

They do tend to get leggy, so I prune them back to encourage fullness. I recently clipped off a few flowering stems and just threw them. They landed a few feet away. Two weeks later, I went to clean up that area, and found that some of the pieces had rooted and were growing. The interesting thing is that the roots had sprouted along the stems between the flowers, but not at either end. I covered the freshly-rooted areas with some dirt, and they're sending healthy new shoots in all directions.

I've transplanted petunias before, but only by moving the actual roots. I've never seen this. Is it a trait of all petunias, just Wave petunias, or was this more of an anomaly than the norm? It would be fun to just prune, scatter, and grow!


texts: What triggers flowering for an overwintered chile pepper?

texts:
I have a bhut jolokia that is now going on 7 years old.  Each year, I put it outside after last frost.  2-3 months later, I am able to harvest ripe peppers.  At the end of the season, I bring it back inside.  Typically there are only a couple of developing peppers at this point (maybe 2-3), as flowering and pepper production noticeably slows down towards the end of the season.

Once inside, it is placed near a large bay window, where it gets a fair amount of indirect sun.  The last few peppers ripen (usually), but any remaining flowers fall off.

I had always assumed that the duration of sunlight each day triggered flowering, but I've since read that photoperiod supposedly has no effect on peppers.

What causes my plant to start flowering again?  Is it possible to get it to flower inside during winter without a full indoor lighting system (i.e. can I use natural winter sunlight, possibly supplemented with one or two LED or other inexpensive grow lights)?


texts: Will Sage, Oregano and Thyme grow well together in the same pot?

texts:
I bought three herbs -- Sage, Oregano and Thyme -- from a grocery store each at a height of roughly 3-5 inches. I'd like to plant them in the same pot. Will they grow well together?

This article suggests they do.


texts:
My uncle just starting farming tomatoes. For irrigation he used to mix chemicals in water and irrigate the farm for 1 to 2 hour's 2 times a day, but the results were not good. Most of the plants died and the rest didn't give even 25% of the normal amount of tomatoes. So if any one can help suggesting if there is a problem in the drip irrigation system or anything else.

Pipes where laid in the following manner; one main pipe running perpendicular to lines of plants and one pipe going in each line with holes in it at every plant.
If anyone can suggest me the correct way to configure it for a plantation of tomatoes using drip irrigation, it would help me.


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We planted a bunch of lilac bushes from Home Depot about two weeks ago but they seem to be dying.  See the picture below.  Our dirt around here seems pretty poor so we added a few shovels of organic dirt from Home Depot and a shovel full of rabbit poo into each hole.

My wife checks the plants every day and waters them for 10-15 seconds each morning if the dirt looks dry, which is the only water they get being 1 to 5 feet outside the range of our sprinkler system.

Any idea what is wrong and how to save them?


texts: How does a self-cleaning dripping hose work?

texts: How does the self-cleaning function of a dripping hose work?


texts: Are Egyptian walking onions strictly perennial (by this I mean that the same plant base will regrow the next year) or only perennial in the sense that they fall over and replant the bulbils as “new” plants?