New member glad to be here

[Dave Brown]

The older ones of us here will have used F when younger and had to convert to C so the conversion within our temp range is easy. I struggle a bit on the very high and low temps and as we tend not to have them that much.

The easiest way for me to remember is that for every 5C there is 9F and adding the 32 for freezing point in F
C / F
0 / 32
5 / 41
10/50
15/59
20/68
25/77
30/86
35/95
40/104
45/113

Going below freezing is a bit more difficult in my head, but just subtract 32

C /F
0 /32
-5/23
-10/14
-15/ 5
-20/-4
-25/-13
-30/-22
-35/-31
-40/-40

Most of the UK is very maritime in weather so we don't often get extremes.
Ave Max in July ranges from around 23C (74F) in the SE England, to 14C (57F) in NW Scotland.
Hottest ever recorded was 38.5C (101.3F) Favesham, Kent August 2003.

Average mins are not as important as the coldest, and is not as simple as the max's. For instance NW Scotland can be milder than SE England if a Siberian easterly wind kicks in, But extreme coldest ranges from around -0.5C (31F) on the Ilses of Scilly (extreme SW tip) to -27C (-17F) in the Scottish highlands (Breamar)

I could write a whole book on UK winter weather but most of us would not be likely to see below -10C (14F) in an average winter. Although December 2010, which you may see referred to many times, was a bit of an Armageddon for us. Blizzards started 30th November here

[Kristen]

I am having a bit of trouble converting the celcius to degrees sometimes

Google will do it for you - and if you have Chrome (use the Address-bar) or Google Toolbar you can do it without having to round-trip to Google:

28C in F =

Other than that I remember that:

16C = 61F
28C = 82F

and I just extrapolate approximately for anything in between, or slightly to one side

[miketropic]

That is very strange weather in this part of the world indeed.. MOST summers and winter are very predictable..last year was a suprise as we had almost no winter at all..

the norm here

jan. - march 0F to about 32F depends on the day
april - may 50F to about 60F
June - sept 75F to 100+F
oct - dec 60F to 32F

Just goes to show how the definition of Hardy can vary from place to place..things you would call hardy and be able to leave out would be killed with out a doubt in our winters. I do have canna rhizomes that over winter outside here though, a needle palm and fan palm that have no trouble outside and the bajoo do fairly well as long as you keep an eye on them for rot. The pink china does keep over our winters as advertied so you might try it outside over there..

Another UK question.. I see ALOT of container growing over there any reason why this is..you really don't see that much in the US unless its a big display at someone home or somthing like that with a really large pot or somthing they use as a house plant and take indoors in the winter. I only use containers for pups and starting very small plants then move them into the ground asap.also does anyone try to fruit any musa in your area? haven't seen any pics of one fruiting outdoors yet.


I am very glad I found this board everyone has been so welcoming and I am glad to be of any assistance.

[Dave Brown]

Another UK question.. I see ALOT of container growing over there any reason why this is..you really don't see that much in the US unless its a big display at someone home or somthing like that with a really large pot or somthing they use as a house plant and take indoors in the winter. I only use containers for pups and starting very small plants then move them into the ground asap.also does anyone try to fruit any musa in your area? haven't seen any pics of one fruiting outdoors yet.

Our summers, are very unpredictable and cold, wet spells can occur in any year. Pots and tubs can be moved to shelter when necessary, and the compost temp in a tub is much higher than in the ground, planted out, so you may get much faster growth in a tub than planted out. Also some things don't like root disturbance so digging out for winter would severely set it back or kill it.

In general our gardens are smaller and more densely planted. Digging holes to plant things out, and then digging out again in autumn would damage roots of shrubs and trees to be left in the border.

We'd all like to fruit bananas but we don't get enough heat for most to flower. Occasionally Musa basjoo or sikkimensis may flower, but nothing else outside as far as I am aware

[The Codfather]

Wecome..........

and I have had odd parcel\plants from america, hungry, malaysia etc.

and tale about learning from the masters.

[The Codfather]

That is very strange weather in this part of the world indeed.. MOST summers and winter are very predictable..last year was a suprise as we had almost no winter at all..

the norm here

jan. - march 0F to about 32F depends on the day
april - may 50F to about 60F
June - sept 75F to 100+F
oct - dec 60F to 32F

Just goes to show how the definition of Hardy can vary from place to place..things you would call hardy and be able to leave out would be killed with out a doubt in our winters. I do have canna rhizomes that over winter outside here though, a needle palm and fan palm that have no trouble outside and the bajoo do fairly well as long as you keep an eye on them for rot. The pink china does keep over our winters as advertied so you might try it outside over there..

Another UK question.. I see ALOT of container growing over there any reason why this is..you really don't see that much in the US unless its a big display at someone home or somthing like that with a really large pot or somthing they use as a house plant and take indoors in the winter. I only use containers for pups and starting very small plants then move them into the ground asap.also does anyone try to fruit any musa in your area? haven't seen any pics of one fruiting outdoors yet.


I am very glad I found this board everyone has been so welcoming and I am glad to be of any assistance.

Here

Jan to Aril -17c to 14c
April to May 14c to 17c
June to Oct 14c to 25c (if lucky)
Nov to Dec 12c to 3c

[The Codfather]

The easiest way to conver is.....double it and add 30.....or thats way I have always done it.

e.g 10c = 50f

[tropicalwon]

The older ones of us here will have used F when younger and had to convert to C so the conversion within our temp range is easy. I struggle a bit on the very high and low temps and as we tend not to have them that much.

The easiest way for me to remember is that for every 5C there is 9F and adding the 32 for freezing point in F
C / F
0 / 32
5 / 41
10/50
15/59
20/68
25/77
30/86
35/95
40/104
45/113

Going below freezing is a bit more difficult in my head, but just subtract 32

C /F
0 /32
-5/23
-10/14
-15/ 5
-20/-4
-25/-13
-30/-22
-35/-31
-40/-40

Most of the UK is very maritime in weather so we don't often get extremes.
Ave Max in July ranges from around 23C (74F) in the SE England, to 14C (57F) in NW Scotland.
Hottest ever recorded was 38.5C (101.3F) Favesham, Kent August 2003.

Average mins are not as important as the coldest, and is not as simple as the max's. For instance NW Scotland can be milder than SE England if a Siberian easterly wind kicks in, But extreme coldest ranges from around -0.5C (31F) on the Ilses of Scilly (extreme SW tip) to -27C (-17F) in the Scottish highlands (Breamar)

I could write a whole book on UK winter weather but most of us would not be likely to see below -10C (14F) in an average winter. Although December 2010, which you may see referred to many times, was a bit of an Armageddon for us. Blizzards started 30th November here

you learn something everyday!!!

Gray

[Palmer]

Welcome Mike

Have you tried the Mekong giant from Brian’s?

Looking forward to reading about your collection

[miketropic]

Welcome Mike

Have you tried the Mekong giant from Brian’s?

Looking forward to reading about your collection

I do have 3 mekongs from Brians..personally besides a bit faster growth rate there a bit hard to tell from bajoo.. They are cold hardy and will go below freezeing with no problems.. I do mulch them around the trunk with hay and leaves but the leaves stay on and I just let it die back and watch for rot.

I'll go take a few new pics in awhile...its only 95F out there today and post em up..I just moved so mu garden if you want to call it is really spread out and still comming together.. I have a HUGE yard at this place so it will take awhile to fill it

Just to give you guys some hope and inspiration...If you patient and try hard you can fruit just about anything..3 years in the making and 100% Kentucky grown



I did see a few bajoo at brians flowering the other day I'll take some pics next time

[Palmer]

Thanks Mike, could you please post your pictures on here http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk/forum/v ... &start=105
The Mekong is new to the UK this year and it would be great to hear about your experience of growing it!!

[miketropic]

put up a few pics for you in that thread hope it helps..if you don't have one yet you really should try them there a really good plant

[miketropic]

how do I go about getting the personal messages turned on.. don't want to fill up topics with things that could be asked via PM..

On another note I have the urge to buy some plants even this late in the season..might end up at Brians this weekend since the other good greenhouse isn't opening till sept 6

[Kristen]

how do I go about getting the personal messages turned on

Make a request using the Technical Support link at the bottom of the page. You need to have a certain number of posts etc (but I expect you have that already)

[miketropic]

how do I go about getting the personal messages turned on

Make a request using the Technical Support link at the bottom of the page. You need to have a certain number of posts etc (but I expect you have that already)

thanks tried it and havent heard anything so IDK what to do about it..oh well off to brians sunday and hopefully hopme with another out of the gecko series if he will turn loose of it early