Gardening and Plant Thread

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Today I had to carve up my cuddly cactus to save it. It survived a mealybug attack but was turning black at the top + edges from a bacterial infection.

Nothing but healthy green flesh left, but it doesn't have the nice aesthetic anymore.

Big Miss Steak said:
Looking into getting a redbud for the side of my house, particularly the rising sun variety. I've heard conflicting information on how well they stand up to wind, and I get some pretty serious wind every year or every other year during hurricane season.
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They're pretty trees (especially the black pearl cultivar) that feed the bees, but they have a ton of deadwood in them if you don't trim them/treat for disease.

They're also extremely shortlived for a tree, depending where you are.

Eta- apparently trunk cancer is a thing for them.
 
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5-6 years ago I bought what I thought was a miniature apple tree, but obviously it isn’t. My dude is trying to escape the pot he’s in and I’m not sure what size to transplant him into. I can’t recall the exact size of the pot but I think it was something like 45 cm. I only have a patio so it’s gotta stay in a pot. For a tree, am I better off going for terracotta over plastic?
 
Convallaria majalis said:
5-6 years ago I bought what I thought was a miniature apple tree, but obviously it isn’t. My dude is trying to escape the pot he’s in and I’m not sure what size to transplant him into. I can’t recall the exact size of the pot but I think it was something like 45 cm. I only have a patio so it’s gotta stay in a pot. For a tree, am I better off going for terracotta over plastic?
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Oh man, fruit tree bonsai are great. Does it produce anything?

Plastic is better for your back if you have to move it around/bring it in for hard freezes. Terracotta wouldn't crack and split as easily, but will be harder to move due to the weight of the pot and soil.
-I've got three citrus in similar sized pots and they're a pain to move indoors even in plastic pots...but they give me small limes and lemons after perfuming my house so it's worth it.
 
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Convallaria majalis said:
5-6 years ago I bought what I thought was a miniature apple tree, but obviously it isn’t. My dude is trying to escape the pot he’s in and I’m not sure what size to transplant him into. I can’t recall the exact size of the pot but I think it was something like 45 cm. I only have a patio so it’s gotta stay in a pot. For a tree, am I better off going for terracotta over plastic?
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Does it go below freezing where you live? If so stick to plastic as terracotta will break, even if its warm where you live I'd stick to plastic as it makes moving the tree alot easier. Out of curiosity what variety of apple is it? Do you by any chance still have to tag it came with? For apple trees to fruit they need another different variety to cross pollinate with as apple aren't self fertile. 45cm sounds a little small, look for large pots, I'm growing dwarf apples in 15gallon/57liter pots, the only place I've found pots this big has been a greenhouse whole sale online store, and they only sell in batches so if you're looking for just one pot you might have to do some searching at your local nurseries.

As for apple sizes you have standard, semi-dwarf, dwarf, and columnar
-standard 20ish
-semi- 12-15ft
-dwarf 8-10ft
-columnar 6-8ft tall grow as a straight spire
So even a dwarf tree can get pretty big, but still managable in a pot. There might be some ultra dwarf varieties that don't go past 6ft but I haven't come across any.
 
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Reminder!
Native bees sleep in your yard debris! Wait as long as you can to clean it up.
 
Vent: How the fuck do people find exactly the varieties of plants they want?!
I keep researching what would be good for my conditions/zone/etc and for some godforsaken reason I cannot find stores (online or not) that sell them. How is that possible?

Why do brick and mortar stores/nurseries/greenhouses sell plants with inappropriate zoning aaaargh
 
MightyMorphin'Willbender said:
Vent: How the fuck do people find exactly the varieties of plants they want?!
I keep researching what would be good for my conditions/zone/etc and for some godforsaken reason I cannot find stores (online or not) that sell them. How is that possible?

Why do brick and mortar stores/nurseries/greenhouses sell plants with inappropriate zoning aaaargh
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Stores likes to sell plants that catch the eye over plants that'll do well. If you have particular taste/needs you might have to start plants from seed, if you don't mind me asking what are you looking for?
 
DatBepisTho said:
Oh man, fruit tree bonsai are great. Does it produce anything?

Plastic is better for your back if you have to move it around/bring it in for hard freezes. Terracotta wouldn't crack and split as easily, but will be harder to move due to the weight of the pot and soil.
-I've got three citrus in similar sized pots and they're a pain to move indoors even in plastic pots...but they give me small limes and lemons after perfuming my house so it's worth it.
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Ohhh I have been wanting to get one of those little citrus trees for a long time. I think they’re well worth it for the world’s tiniest mixed drinks!

Yes I’ve had some apples!! They were the average sized apple but I was a bit skeptical of the taste, so I repurposed them into bird feeders.

@Honored guest - ah I see where I screwed up - I do believe it was labelled as a dwarf tree. Very amateurish to not look into what that meant! The poor thing keeps growing and growing and I’m wondering why it won’t stop, seems very obvious now.
 
Crypto Six Gorillionaire said:
There are a million ways to compost so it's easy to get lost in details. Your method works if you have small amounts of waste, but it might attract pests and is probably unsightly
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I realised it was attracting birds which were stomping on my spinach, so back to the compost bin.

I understand compost should be a mixture of foodwaste stuff and cellulose-rich stuff likr grass or branches or leaves. We have a lot of food waste but due to the small size of our yard (no trees, very small amount of grass) we have very little “browns” to add to the compost. I do get a fair bit of weeds growing up through some gravelled areas. Is it worth drying these weeds out before adding to the compost, does that make them count as a “brown”?
 
NVLLS BR0k3n D!€K said:
I realised it was attracting birds which were stomping on my spinach, so back to the compost bin.

I understand compost should be a mixture of foodwaste stuff and cellulose-rich stuff likr grass or branches or leaves. We have a lot of food waste but due to the small size of our yard (no trees, very small amount of grass) we have very little “browns” to add to the compost. I do get a fair bit of weeds growing up through some gravelled areas. Is it worth drying these weeds out before adding to the compost, does that make them count as a “brown”?
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Compost should be a mix of nitrogen rich 'greens' and carbon rich 'browns'. Basically anything cellulose rich is more brown, so branches, woodchip but also cardboard and paper. I use cardboard a lot so long as it isn't laminated or coloured. I wouldn't bother drying out the weeds beforehand. You don't need a perfect balance of things to make compost. If it ends up too wet just remake the pile by adding browns throughout.
 
NoReturn said:
Reminder!
Native bees sleep in your yard debris! Wait as long as you can to clean it up.
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I put up a little sign as a warning to the bee's not to sleep in my asparagus garden, I hope they can read...
>the native bees sleeping in my asparagus patch, with the asparagus beetles, when I fire up my roofing torch.
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Got some more violets and a sundew at a plant show. Was very tempted to get a big hanging pitcher plant I saw, but I have nowhere to put it.
 
Honored guest said:
if you don't mind me asking what are you looking for?
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Without PL too much, but my personal gardening goal is growing a victory garden.
While for annuals (peas, leafy greens, etc) and such I try not to sweat with the specifics too much, I am preparing for the next step of my gardening, which is growing shrubs and PERHAPS a few trees.

Knowing those things are at least a couple years of emotional and physical investment before I'd even see some results, I'd really like it if they were a good match for the BS that's called the growing conditions of my garden.

Usually my suffering cycle goes as such
> Look up book or website section on a plant I'd like to grow
> Read carefully the varieties suggested, find one or two that feel like a good match
> Go on the internet or pay a visit to a local nursery to try purchase said variety
> no profit
> physical store bonus suffering: take note of the varieties they do have, and it's usually something inappropriate for my region

They are setting up me and my fellow gardeners for failure and I will die mad about it.

Edit: I will freely admit it makes it a bit hard that I am quite paranoid about online shopping so "just order it from bumfuck nowhere bro" is not the best solution
 
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MightyMorphin'Willbender said:
Without PL too much, but my personal gardening goal is growing a victory garden.
While for annuals (peas, leafy greens, etc) and such I try not to sweat with the specifics too much, I am preparing for the next step of my gardening, which is growing shrubs and PERHAPS a few trees.

Knowing those things are at least a couple years of emotional and physical investment before I'd even see some results, I'd really like it if they were a good match for the BS that's called the growing conditions of my garden.

Usually my suffering cycle goes as such
> Look up book or website section on a plant I'd like to grow
> Read carefully the varieties suggested, find one or two that feel like a good match
> Go on the internet or pay a visit to a local nursery to try purchase said variety
> no profit
> physical store bonus suffering: take note of the varieties they do have, and it's usually something inappropriate for my region

They are setting up me and my fellow gardeners for failure and I will die mad about it.

Edit: I will freely admit it makes it a bit hard that I am quite paranoid about online shopping so "just order it from bumfuck nowhere bro" is not the best solution
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Shrubs and trees are particularly frustrating for myself aswell. There are so many interesting fruiting varieties that I'd like to try but from research I've realized that I can't grow them or that they'll not reach their full potential in my area. Its good to see that you're doing research and not letting yourself get disappointed when your plant fails. Shopping locally is also its own little hell with big box stores stocking the aforementioned locally inappropriate varieties, and smaller mom and pop nurseries either don't carry many/any fruiting shrubs/trees or they charge an arm and a leg for them.

If you're American I can personally recommend the online merchant starkbros.com, they have a decent variety of fruiting trees and shrubs, the orders I've received have all come in good condition, they have a 1 year refund window if your tree arrives damaged or dies within the year, and they have inexpensive shipping which I only recently realized how big of a difference that makes when I made an order from another reputable nursery and was greeted with a $100 shipping cost. I don't mean to shill because I was in a similar boat with ordering trees online, and while I've had several merchants that sell shrubs and trees recommended to me from reputable sources I haven't personally experienced them yet so I can recommended them

I wish you the best of luck in your fruit forest quest.
 
So I have a few grape vines, and this year I want to prep a bit better for the scourge that is the asian beetles. they LOVE grape vines. I was wondering if anyone's had any luck spraying with pyrethrins? I like the idea because they break down after a few weeks, and they kill bugs on contact. If this isn't a good idea, what alternatives are out there?
 
Sperg_rancher said:
So I have a few grape vines, and this year I want to prep a bit better for the scourge that is the asian beetles. they LOVE grape vines. I was wondering if anyone's had any luck spraying with pyrethrins? I like the idea because they break down after a few weeks, and they kill bugs on contact. If this isn't a good idea, what alternatives are out there?
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I use pyrethrin and its great, kills everything on contact good and bad. You'll just have to have a spray setup at the ready and do a daily spray if you have a bad infestation I imagine, I don't have much experience with Japanese beetles so I can't recommend any alternatives.
 
AnOminous said:
If you put really hot peppers next to really mild peppers, you could end up with hotter mild peppers and milder hot peppers.

(At least if you keep the seeds.)
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What's the best way to germinate seeds? Just asking if I ever try to do it with storebought peppers.
 
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