Miketropics blog -- Spring is FINALLY here

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Arlon Tishmarsh
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Joined: Sun Feb 01, 2009 10:53 am
Location: Horizontal

Re: Miketropics blog -- The seasons closed

Post by Arlon Tishmarsh »

Pretty much like for like Mike. My larger mammoth is bang on 14 inches and the slighter smaller one is 12 1/2 inches. Both have about 4 pups on each but i've had quite a few over the season that have already been removed and rehomed
GREVILLE

Re: Miketropics blog -- The seasons closed

Post by GREVILLE »

Do you dry store all the mammoths, Mike, even the small ones? My new plant is little more than an overgrown pup. I moved it into the greenhouse over the weekend to avoid yesterdays storm and thanks to the warm moist October it's still very active. I'm inclined to keep this green at a higher temperature overwinter along with other smaller singles.
miketropic

Re: Miketropics blog -- The seasons closed

Post by miketropic »

In my experience the size of the tuber has very little to do with if it make it over winter or not, more the cultivar than the tuber size. Obviously a larger tuber has a better chance but I have dry stored some as large as a marble and they came up the next season. he key is dry dry dry can't say it enough. mine have been drying almost a month now still not there. you want them bone dry before there packed away. once you feel them and you think there dry..give them another week. I am dry storing everything except tea cups and pink china since I am moving in the spring. if the garden is done next year everything will stay in ground with heavy mulch
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Yorkshire Kris
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Location: Rural South Wakefield, Yorkshire Lat 53.64 Long-1.54

Re: Miketropics blog -- The seasons closed

Post by Yorkshire Kris »

I'll start a topic in the reference section as this is important info for colocasia growers.
miketropic

Re: Miketropics blog -- The seasons closed

Post by miketropic »

Yorkshire Kris wrote:I'll start a topic in the reference section as this is important info for colocasia growers.

sounds good..as soon as there all dried out and redy for storage I will take some pics of the dry tuber and try to help out as much as I can
miketropic

Re: Miketropics blog -- The seasons closed

Post by miketropic »

managed to get 2 var dogwoods, a red twig dogwood, and hosta "orange marmalade" on clearance for £8. pics soon when I get a chance to upload. they don't look like much now but next spring they should be fantastic
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Yorkshire Kris
Posts: 10163
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 8:59 am
Location: Rural South Wakefield, Yorkshire Lat 53.64 Long-1.54

Re: Miketropics blog -- The seasons closed

Post by Yorkshire Kris »

miketropic wrote:
Yorkshire Kris wrote:I'll start a topic in the reference section as this is important info for colocasia growers.

sounds good..as soon as there all dried out and redy for storage I will take some pics of the dry


tuber and try to help out as much as I can
cheers.
Kristen

Re: Miketropics blog -- The seasons closed

Post by Kristen »

miketropic wrote:managed to get 2 var dogwoods, a red twig dogwood, and hosta "orange marmalade" on clearance for £8.

Are you planning to make an autumn colour garden with the Dogwoods?

As wella s the red ("Westonbirt") I have Black and Orange stemmed ones (I'm making an Autumn colour garden with some trees that have good autumn colour, Acers and Dogwoods) and I would happily root you some cuttings next year if you like?
miketropic

Re: Miketropics blog -- The seasons closed

Post by miketropic »

Kristen wrote:
miketropic wrote:managed to get 2 var dogwoods, a red twig dogwood, and hosta "orange marmalade" on clearance for £8.

Are you planning to make an autumn colour garden with the Dogwoods?

As wella s the red ("Westonbirt") I have Black and Orange stemmed ones (I'm making an Autumn colour garden with some trees that have good autumn colour, Acers and Dogwoods) and I would happily root you some cuttings next year if you like?
Id be glad to have whatever you can manage to root. I don't think I have ever seen the black or orange twig types. Over here we have about 5 red types. Cardinal being the best which is what I got and then a yellow twig type and the var. version. All I'm missing now is the yellow..and now that I know orange and black :lol: cut em up and root me a few id be glad to have em, your just to kind.
Kristen

Re: Miketropics blog -- The seasons closed

Post by Kristen »

Not come across Cardinal (although Google tells me it is sold over here ...)

The main ones favoured over here are:

C. alba ‘Sibirica’ AGM (I think the name is used interchangeably with "Westonbirt" or that is the best cultivar) Bright red stems in winter, red autumn leaves
C. alba ‘Kesselringii’: Dark purple-black stems in winter, purple foliage year-round (This is the "black" stemmed one that I have)
C. sericea ‘Flaviramea’ AGM: Lime green winter stems (I think I also have this, will have to check)
C. sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’: Yellow-orange-red winter stems (Not sure if this is the Yellow/Orange one that I have).

I'll take some cuttings, fingered crossed that they take :)
miketropic

Re: Miketropics blog -- The seasons closed

Post by miketropic »

Kristen wrote:Not come across Cardinal (although Google tells me it is sold over here ...)

The main ones favoured over here are:

C. alba ‘Sibirica’ AGM (I think the name is used interchangeably with "Westonbirt" or that is the best cultivar) Bright red stems in winter, red autumn leaves
C. alba ‘Kesselringii’: Dark purple-black stems in winter, purple foliage year-round (This is the "black" stemmed one that I have)
C. sericea ‘Flaviramea’ AGM: Lime green winter stems (I think I also have this, will have to check)
C. sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’: Yellow-orange-red winter stems (Not sure if this is the Yellow/Orange one that I have).

I'll take some cuttings, fingered crossed that they take :)

if you give me a bit of adviceon getting them to root I can take some from the cardinal and var. kinds and try myself to send you some back
miketropic

Re: Miketropics blog -- The seasons closed

Post by miketropic »

some pics of the storm damage

mekong giant snapped off

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tree down and fence busted up

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pics of the sad dogwoods I got on clearance. They will look much better in the spring. also a gazebo I never got around to putting up in the box :lol:

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Kristen

Re: Miketropics blog -- The seasons closed

Post by Kristen »

miketropic wrote:if you give me a bit of adviceon getting them to root I can take some from the cardinal and var. kinds and try myself to send you some back
Hardwood cuttings are OK for Dogwood. Over here we do hardwood cuttings just stuffed into a V-shaped trench, but its a slow method - take a cutting a foot or so long, stuff it in the ground, and leave it for a year ...

RHS says Dogwood benefits from some protection, so might go faster in a pot in an unheated greenhouse over winter.

When I cut the Dogwoods back hard, in Spring, I have often used the stems as "pea sticks" to support other plants during the Summer, and by Autumn many have rooted ...

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/pro ... px?pid=387

Buying Dogwoods, bare rooted, over here is relatively cheap (£0.89 - £2.25 based on 5-off pricing), so if you are in a hurry it would be cheap enough to buy a bundle and post to you this Autumn - I need to buy some plants from Buckingham Nurseries next week, so I could add to my order and post on to you if you like.

http://www.buckingham-nurseries.co.uk/a ... html#10174
Kristen

Re: Miketropics blog -- The seasons closed

Post by Kristen »

P.S. as they are cheap over here, bare rooted, maybe they are readily available your side of the pond too? Might be worth checking that first, rather than risk the wrath of your customs?, especially now we know that your secret service is reading all our e-traffic!!
miketropic

Re: Miketropics blog -- The seasons closed

Post by miketropic »

new additions yesterday

Var. Peruvian torch cactus

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Fresh monkey puzzle seeds

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