Practicing Control...

[kath]

Well, the forecast has changed for the warmer- now they're saying 39 to 44 for tonight and 43 to 45 tomorrow night followed by lows in the 50's for the next week! I found a long range forecast by the NWS that says May and June will be cooler than normal with above average rainfall so I figure I might as well take advantage of what looks to be a temperate week. Yippee- no more potting up!

[PA_Julia]

I'll follow your lead Kath!!

[CrazyAboutOrchids]

Mine are going in on Sunday. Tonight and tomorrow are supposed to be down to 42 and 44, but Saturday should be a low of 55. Can't plant then so Sunday it shall be.

I asked this one another thread that was on the same subject but didn't get a response so I'll ask you ladies. I have some plants, about half, that have flower buds starting to form, no flowers yet although one looks close to it. I've read to pinch them off and I've also read to leave them alone. What is the 'gold standard' for dealing with these. I don't want to stress them out or open them up to invite disease.

Thanks!

[kath]

I don't know what the gold standard is but I don't have the heart to pinch flowers off- never have and have planted lots with buds and open flowers and they did fine. Of course they might have done better had I removed them. Some say it's best to plant before the plant goes into the fruiting stage and that removing blossoms will help it develop its root system.

This year I planted out 7 plants that were 15 weeks old and already had fruit on them! The original plan was to transplant them to 5 gal. buckets but I opted to put them in the ground. I also planted 10 week old plants all of which had buds and/or blossoms already. The last group will be 6 weeks old when planted and none have buds yet. There are duplicates of the 10 week old group, so I'll be able to see if the younger plants do significantly better.

Maybe someone with more experience will weigh in on this for you.

[CrazyAboutOrchids]

That will be an interesting comparison; hope you post what you see with your plants. Mine are just at 8, almost 9, weeks, but I see buds now on 11 of the 17 plants I have after they finally saw sun yesterday. Glad I resisted the urge to plant, it is 34 on the temp at my kitchen window at 6:22 am; MUCH colder than the 44 that was forecast.

[kath]

Wow- that's a scary difference in temps! Fortunately, the forecast was correct here- it only got down to 43. I'd be happy to post about any differences, but unless there are some, I'll probably forget. One of my plans to help keep the insanity under control this year is to post a little less this year about the garden.