Flower Plans Spring 2018 Who else is in..

[FourOaks]

Im not sure what to think of NC Farms to be honest. I have contacted them via phone, honestly, I didnt care for the person I spoke to. Acted like I was a burden since I wasnt interested in 1000 trays of whatever. Im willing to give anyone the benefit of the doubt... maybe they were just having a bad day.

As far as Mums go I need to contact my supplier in VA. Their online catalog just lists 8 inch, 10 inch, etc. I dont see anywhere that they offer plugs. Which is actually ok by me. For the price they include plant, soil, and pot. Seems like a win-win.

I just need to determine how long till they are finished.

[FourOaks]

Originally Posted by clkeiper

I run the injector for the whole season. on occasion I turn it off. I usually run 200ppm give or take a few... I don't measure with a scale.... usually ~ 1# to 5 gallon water and change fertilizers throughout the life cycle of the produce. I use Millers fertilizer for most of the vegetables.

and Jacks petunia (w/iron) food for the hanging baskets house for the whole season.

Awesome! Thanks a bunch!

[BigVanVader]

Originally Posted by FourOaks

Im not sure what to think of NC Farms to be honest. I have contacted them via phone, honestly, I didnt care for the person I spoke to. Acted like I was a burden since I wasnt interested in 1000 trays of whatever. Im willing to give anyone the benefit of the doubt... maybe they were just having a bad day.

As far as Mums go I need to contact my supplier in VA. Their online catalog just lists 8 inch, 10 inch, etc. I dont see anywhere that they offer plugs. Which is actually ok by me. For the price they include plant, soil, and pot. Seems like a win-win.

I just need to determine how long till they are finished.

I'd ask some other growers about where they get their mum plugs, gotta be somebody near you that sells em. Mine were $25 per 50 plugs. Almost all local owned garden center/nursery places buy plugs for everything and will know the best place.

[Salsacharley]

Do any of y'all have a picture of your hanging baskets? I'd sure like to check out what you're doing.

[FourOaks]

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

I'd ask some other growers about where they get their mum plugs, gotta be somebody near you that sells em. Mine were $25 per 50 plugs. Almost all local owned garden center/nursery places buy plugs for everything and will know the best place.

Im afraid they would say NC Farms.

But your correct about asking around. Or better, I could just call my supplier and see. Maybe Ill call them tomorrow. Maybe I should go ahead and do the math as well. Based on about 50 cents a plug.

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

Do any of y'all have a picture of your hanging baskets? I'd sure like to check out what you're doing.

I looked thru my pics and could only find this one. This is probably 2 years ago. The way I can tell is because of the covering on the greenhouse. Not your standard clear film. And I know these were NOT the beautiful lavender ones I spoke of earlier.

This is very early on. Its hard to tell due to lighting, but the basket is tan.

[Salsacharley]

That's great! Thanks for sharing.

[FourOaks]

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

That's great! Thanks for sharing.

Your very welcome.

So Mums, I did some quick and dirty math. Assuming I can get plugs for around 50 cents each, and use my standard soil mix, with a standard 8 inch mum pan, my total comes in at $1.39. This does not include fertilizer though. My supplier does 8 inch pots for $2.50 (im assuming that price is still the current price).

So at least I have a backup. Ill call tomorrow to find out if:

1. They plan to have plugs
2. Cost (obviously)
3. Fert. Sched.
4. Pinching or No Pinching
5. Finishing time.

Did I miss anything?

I want to get this done now, instead of waiting. Cause that is what happens to me every year. I keep telling my Wife.. I need to do Mums! Then I forget.

[BigVanVader]

Here is an idea of how to mix HB's. I get catalogs from several places like this and they all have pre-mixed combos you can order. I had a list of the best sellers state by state somewhere but cant find it atm. http://www.pwfourstar.com/bundled-combos

[FourOaks]

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

Here is an idea of how to mix HB's. I get catalogs from several places like this and they all have pre-mixed combos you can order. I had a list of the best sellers state by state somewhere but cant find it atm. http://www.pwfourstar.com/bundled-combos

Well, aint that helpful.

Good info right there.

[FourOaks]

So earlier Van posted a link to the Jacks Mum Feed, and clkeiper mentioned about using Jacks Petunia Feed.

I then remembered that I had a container of Petunia Feed. The small 1.5 pound containers. I opened it up and the inner pack was unopened. I guess I bought it and forgot about it.

I decided to mix a 1 gallon batch to see what the PPM is. Which is something I dont understand. Why do they not include that on the big package. They include the Nitrogen PPM, and how to mix by the gallon, and using an injector, but thats it.

What if you want to mix say a 55 gallon drum? Are you supposed to measure that out by the spoonful? Which incidentally if you use a tsp to a gallon, thats 1.14583 cups.

So I decided for the sake of curiosity, I wanted to know the total PPM.

My trusty Blue Lab Truncheon reported that 1 tsp to a gallon equaled 400-500 PPM, and 1 TBSP to a gallon of water equals 1000 PPM.

One of the problems I ran into, how to actually measure the fertilizer? Its semi moist in the package. Do you pack it like Brown Sugar? Or do you loose fill, like when you measure Flour?

[FourOaks]

Well, after a little looking I came across this online calc. vs using formulas.

http://green-drop-home.com/orchidswp...zer-solutions/

According to the calculator, a 20% nitrogen fertilizer at 1 tsp per gallon should yield a Nitrogen PPM of 264 and a TDS of 599. 1 TBSP would yield a Nitrogen PPM of 792 and a TDS of 1797.

So my method of measuring the teaspoons earlier were quite faulty. Evidently.

[clkeiper]

I buy rooted cuttings from a supplier near me. that said... I take what I can get because you need to give a grower 15 weeks lead time to order specific plants. I am never ready to order in October when I should be. I am still in the garden or high tunnel working. I buy whatever she has for extras from other peoples orders. I try to get there early and start my baskets by mid feb.... if the cuttings are big enough or maybe I am seeing a bit of color before planting up. some colors just don't look right together and others aren't what you expect.. I hate mismatched colors. even the combinations that the big suppliers put together? gag! some of them are not pretty at all. weird color combinations.

Don't get carried away trying to get too fancy. too many colors or too much stuff. give it a main color a secondary color in a smaller flower and a foliage with odd texture or color. somthing that trails. somethings grow really slow or really shrubby. know what the mature shape is before putting it all together. usually a 10" hanging basket will need 3 main flowers and 3 more plants...
3 secondary and a texture... such as a petunia variety- a callibrochia variety and a tiny flower such as bacopa or a texture such as licorice vine or dichondra. I also hate white hanging baskets. I buy only brown. (these baskets are from a couple years ago. I had a few extra white ones donated to me so I used them up. I tried green too. I like the brown the best. which of course is a personal preference. do what works for you.

[Cole_Robbie]

Nice work, Carolyn. Those baskets are very pretty.

[FourOaks]

Very nice indeed.

[BigVanVader]

Very nice! Same here, my guy has what he has and I just pick from it. He also sells HB' s that are full grown so it helps to see what he mixes and copy it. I'm colorblind so sometimes flower mixing is a challenge. My sister is great at though and helps guide me.