Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Bulbs General => Topic started by: mark smyth on August 31, 2007, 07:04:00 PM
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I know Ian's going to say "go check the bulb logs"
but .... for quick and easy reference, Ian, could you tell us the mix you use for bulbs in rough percentages of soil, grit, leaf mould. Thanks
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well, Mark, Maggi's saying it too! See bulb log no. 26 of 26/06/07 for potting stuff from this year...
http://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog/log2007/260607/log.html
there's more elsewhere, of course... but you don't REALLY need to be spoonfed, now, do you?
what is the Bulb Log if it is not a quick and easy reference?? Watch this space for an upcoming index.... :o
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By volume, two parts gravel, one part leaf mould , two parts sharp sand.
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Big help, thanks Maggi. I don't have leaf mould but perhaps I'll try my wool compost, its got rotted bracken in it, instead. Can I use this same formula for my newly obtained corydalis? I know, I know, the bulb log, but I'm new and it takes a long time to read through four years worth. Would cherish that index, but I know it must be tons of work.
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Actually, Chris, we use this same mix for everything we grow in pots. Extra leaf mould for the "woodsy" subjects, that's all. Life is quite complicated enough without having umpteen different potting mixes, I reckon! After all, as Joe Cartman says, "it's only something to keep them upright" ;D
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thanks Maggi. Just back from watching, dare I say?, the Big Brother final. Sad I know! ;D
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I think I'll have to start printing the weekly Bulb Logs if it's allowed
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Thanx Maggi you're a star. Must get on and pot them up now, and plunge into my sand bed for the winter. Got them from Ruskans so want to treat them right :)
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It wouldn't be a half bad idea to pull out all the gems of advice from the bulb log and put them into a FAQ or similar document so that it'd all be in one, concise place.
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After all, as Joe Cartman says, "it's only something to keep them upright" ;D
I'm surprised Joe hasn't recommended potting mix then, when he's seen me after a bottle of red. :D
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I think I'll have to start printing the weekly Bulb Logs if it's allowed
Posted on: August 31, 2007, 10:56:23 PMPosted by: mark smyth
well, of course, Mark, in fact MANY people tell us that that is what they do.
It wouldn't be a half bad idea to pull out all the gems of advice from the bulb log and put them into a FAQ or similar document so that it'd all be in one, concise place.
I know Ian's going to say "go check the bulb logs"
Friends, I am well known for my sweet and friendly nature but sometimes I do have to get ratty and tell you off.
So, pin your ears back and pay attention, please:
The whole point about the Bulb Log is that it is a weekly record of what the Bulb Despot is up to, through the year in our Aberdeen, NorthEast Scotland, garden and glasshouses. Thus, with regular reading, (and I remind you that over thirtythousand people around the world read it every week)one can discover a timetable to bulb growing, in our climate. If your climate is similar, then you have a direct timetable, if you live, for instance, in the Southern Hemisphere, you will need to adjust the sequnce of months to your climate. Yes, there are now many years of Logs to consult but, since the whole thing is cyclical in nature, if one finds that compost mix is discussed in week X of year ZZ, then it is a safe bet to assume that other advice on the same subject is likely to be found in equivalent weeks of other years, or thereby, given minor seasonal variations.
(There are also articles in "The Rock Garden", where advice is condensed into handy sized chunks... I recommend them to you if you have back issues or if you have the CD of past Journals. )
Oh, my goodness, you've got me on a really grumpy day here, so, since I am getting so nicely into my stride, I'll keep going:
A straight Google search is liable to come up trumps with many items in the BulbLog or, to narrow the field, typing
site:http://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog snowdrop
will let you use Google to search just the bulblog for e.g. snowdrop just change that to whatever you want.
We do know that a searchable Index would be a great addition to the BulbLog and, over the years, various kind readers have made their own indices, which we have not been able to adapt for the web, but, only the other day, a super index of years 2006 and 2007 (to date) has been sent to us by a Canadian Forumist who has made the index, primarily for his own use, but he has offered it for use to us all. We are in the process of arranging for this to be available.. as I said, watch this space!
We are immensely grateful to Len Rhind for his work in respect of this index.... as I am sure you all will be, too.
http://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog/index.pdf
Well, the sun has come out and I am feeling more charitable, so I'll turn off the rant button now and hope that none of you will take grave offence and stop speaking to me......but, honestly, if one has time to watch Big Brother :P, then, surely five minutes research isn't too much to ask? ???
There's another reason to be cheerful today, that I nearly forgot... it's Luc's birthday !
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what have I started!
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what have I started!
Not sure, Mark, though it may not just be Jonty who is going to be spanked ! :o ;)
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Bwian, Bwian!!
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Just to prove I'm still speaking to you - Happy Bulb Monsoon Day!!! :-*
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Anne, bless you!
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Can I re-use a mix containing lime sand from a project that didnt happen?
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I got to work this afternoon mixing by hand and repotting some pots of Colchicums. I was horrified to find Wood Lice have eaten lots of my Colchicums and Tulips. Does anyone know of a Wood louse killer? I'll have to bait the greenhouse
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Can I re-use a mix containing lime sand
Not too sure what you mean by "lime sand" Mark but I would be cautious about using anything with too high a PH
I can think of lots of people who have got a great remedy for slaters/ woodlice.... bantams ;)
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lime stone sand
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Friends Of Woodlice would say that they only clear up already damaged vegetable matter, and that your colchicums etc were already in dire straits before they started.
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I was going to say the very same thing, Anne, after I had finished a post about the new indices added to the online Journal Index page ! I think the bulbs were surely in trouble already. Too wet/dry, tak your pick!
See the new Index improvements, please: Glassford Sprunt has been hard at work again and has come up with new indices by Author and Subject to make the Index much more workable.See the index in the main site, here: http://www.srgc.org.uk/index/SRGC%20Introduction%20&%20Index.pdf
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Even people who aren't friends of wood lice (our sow bugs) would say that they haven't eaten a 'healthy' bulb. These little crustaceans enjoy damp habitats--which make it likely that your dormant bulbs were actually, dare I say it, rotted. The little wood lice were probably just doing a clean up job.
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Definitely not rotten Carlo. I knew I should have taken a photo. The flesh they were in was white
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I think I'll check the state of my bulbs BEFORE I go to the trouble of mixing the compost lol
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Chris by far the bulbs are OK and just like Ian shows us the roots are mostly crammed in the lowest section of the pot. It's amazing how far on some of the Colchicum roots are even though the mix is dry
I'll have to source a sand next week that has much more grit in it
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Does anyone know of a Wood louse killer? I'll have to bait the greenhouse
http://www.growingsuccess.org.uk/detail.asp?ID=Woodlice+Killer+Powder&cat=DeadFast
BUT I agree with everyone else, I doubt the woodlice were the real problem! ???
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Can I re-use a mix containing lime sand from a project that didnt happen?
Your Iris retics and most Bearded Iris wouldn't object to some lime. Can't remember where I read it but this year when I re-potted my Iris retics I rolled the bulbs around in Dolomite Lime before I potted them. Many of your Primulas have a liking for lime as well. My potting mix for my Auriculas and my Primula marginta hybrids, and my Primula pubescens includes a couple of good tablespoons full of Dolomite Lime to a bucketfull of potting mix. I also top dress them with limestone grit.
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Ok they were the guilty party in the holes. The culprit must have run off
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Mark
I suspect your woodlice had eaten all the rotten tissue until they produced clean fresh plant material. If I remember correctly blowfly larvae have been used to do the same thing in hospitals and the battlefield, i.e. clean wounds. Woodlice certainly do a good job in my compost heap where millions of them help break up the deposited plant rubbish. I wouldn't be without them.
Brian Wilson Aberdeen
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Guess what I found today? Yep - colchicums, solid and white and healthy with big holes containing a guilty-looking woodlouse. I gave it the benefit of the doubt.
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I'll hijack my own thread and ask
What does everyone do with their spent compost? I already have two very large containers
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Believe me, woodlice DO eat other than rotten stuff. I know because for three years I was losing every flower of Colchicum szovitsii as soon as the buds began to open. One night I was out slugging and there around each flower of the colchicum, were 6 or 8 woodlice (we call them slaters) each one chomping on the flowers. By morning there was no flower left. They were caught in the act. I have no nice feelings at all for woodlice and agree with Anne that bantams (we had a few hens for a while) are the best way to control them. Failing that, I now spray any plant trays, benches or anywhere I grow seeds, cuttings etc, with a product called Ripcord and it kills woodlice, spiders and various other creepies like the beetles of grass grub. It doesn't affect worms or, so far as I can see, centipedes. It's main use is for spraying houses to keep spiders off.
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Mark, I recycle my spent potting mix into my (putative) vegetable garden.
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Thanks Lesley! I knew they were feasting on my Tulips and Colchicums.
We call them Slaters too.
Way too many Garden spiders in my green house. I walk in every morning with my hand waving before me to pull down the cobwebs
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I have to agree with Mark!
Despite what "friends of the lice" may say, they will attack healthy material as I've found to my horror with some retic iris and with vegie seedlings. An initial injury may be caused by something else, such as a slug, but the woodlice will polish them off even if they're not "rotting"!
cheers
fermi
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I'll hijack my own thread and ask
What does everyone do with their spent compost? I already have two very large containers
I dig it in to improve soil in general beds or add it to the compost heap
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In my experience at least some woodlice species go for undamaged plant tissues, particularly petals and soft foliage. Violas are a favourite hereabouts.
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I last potted bulbs on Sunday. Today the bone meal, I assume, has gone mouldy. Is this dangerous for the bulbs?
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I'll tag this photo in here. There is just enough room for me to have a bulb frame behind the oil tank. Due to the lack of room I may at some stage get raised bench put here
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I last potted bulbs on Sunday. Today the bone meal, I assume, has gone mouldy. Is this dangerous for the bulbs?
What were you storing it in (or did you mean it had gone mouldy in your pots??)
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It's gone mouldy in the mix that is still in the wheel barrow so I assume it's now mouldy in the pots
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Mark the mould should not be a problem I get it too. The soil fungi and bacteria -mould- are reqired to break down the bone meal to release the nitrogen and phospherous into a form that the plants can take up.
And yes I am impressed with your pictures of bulbs etc on another thread I am just too busy to reply just now. ;)8)
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Here's the mould. Careful excavation shows it's on the surface only - from what I can tell
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I'll pop another question in here. Can I use this same basic mix for Trilliums and Peonies but with extra leaf mould
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and another
I dont have leaf mould and have to go begging 12 miles away. Can I use composted farm manure from the garden centre?
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and another
I dont have leaf mould and have to go begging 12 miles away. Can I use composted farm manure from the garden centre?
Perhaps too rich, can you get fine composted bark??
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Yes to the trillium question, no to the dung... go begging!
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just made the call!