Growing Orchids In Greenhouses, Can You?
Growing Orchids In Greenhouses, Can You ?
By Robert Roy
Will the climates help growing orchids? Is it easy or hard to
grow them? I thought that growing orchids was difficult?
All these are great questions and have a great deal to do with
greenhouses. You will see a growing number of folks using
greenhouses to grow orchids and a slew of other plants.
To answer the question simply, Yes you can use greenhouses for
orchids but there are a few stipulations. They will usually do
very well and may even bloom more frequently for you.
To answer some of the questions raised earlier. An orchid green
house can be a very good place to grow you favorite plants
including orchids. Depending on the style of your greenhouse
both the light and temperature can be maintained.
Some orchids will grow very well in hot, tropical climates,
like Vandas. Others like the see a temperature decrease in the
night time like the phalaenopsis orchids.
Your greenhouse will be a special place for you to come to
enjoy your hobby. It will be your "sanctuary".
Before you purchase a greenhouse be sure you fully understand
what will be necessary to help control both the temperature and
the light. For example, growing orchids like phalaenopsis
orchids like bright light but not necessarily direct sunlight.
They do like a West setting and late day sun. The Cattleya
orchids do well in sunlight.
Greenhouses vary both in size, shape and cost. Some use wood as
the frame, others use aluminum. It seems that aluminum stands up
better to the whims of nature than does wood. It also looks
better for a longer period of time.
If you live in the Northern part of the US you definitely will
need a heat source for your growing plants. This could be gas
fired small furnaces or electric heat. Remember, when you turn
the heat on humidity goes down.
Good ventilation and humidity are very important. Most plants
including growing orchids depend on air circulation. A fan can
do this very easily. Be sure to keep the fan clean to avoid
cross pollination of disease from one plant to another.
Growing orchids in greenhouses will allow you to grow plants
year round. You plant what you want, when you want to, and how
you want. You can control the light, temperature, watering and
humidity so you will have a healthy, viable greenhouse for your
hobby.
About the Author: Sign up for tips in our monthly Orchid
Newsletter and get your copy of "All About Orchids" e-book and
your 10% Discount on an orchid.
http://www.orchids-plus-more.com/orchidaeae.html Bob has become
fascinated with orchids. Once it gets into your bloodstream it's
hard to turn it off. Over a year ago I developed Orchids Plus
More Web site.
Beware Of Toxic Mulch
By Michael McGroarty
Mulching beds has become extremely popular these days, and
mulch can be really beneficial to your plants and the soil in
your planting beds, but there are things you need to watch for.
Here in Ohio the most popular type of mulch that people use is
shredded hardwood bark mulch, which is a byproduct of the
timber industry. When they haul the logs into the sawmill the
first thing they do is debark them. Years ago the bark was a
huge problem for the mills because there didn't seem to be a
useful purpose for it, until people realized the hidden
benefits that it held. Still to this day, the bark is a
headache for the saw mills, and they don't always understand
how to properly handle it.
They like to pile it as high as they can so it takes up less
space in their yard. The mulch really tends to back up during
the winter months because there is little demand for it. In
order for the mills to pile the mulch high, they literally have
to drive the large front end loaders up onto the pile. Of course
the weight of these large machines compacts the mulch in the
pile, and this can become a huge problem for you or I if we
happen to get some mulch that has been stacked too high, and
compacted too tightly.
When the trees are first debarked the mulch is fairly fresh,
and needs to decompose before we dare use it around our plants.
The decomposition process requires oxygen and air flow into the
pile. When the mulch is compacted too tight, this air flow
cannot take place, and as the mulch continues to decompose it
becomes extremely hot as the organic matter ferments. Sometimes
the extreme heat combined with the inability to release the heat
can cause the pile to burst into flame through spontaneous
combustion.
In other cases the mulch heats up, cannot release the gas, and
the mulch actually becomes toxic. When this occurs the mulch
develops an overbearing odor that will take your breath away as
you dig into the pile. When you spread this toxic mulch around
your plants the gas it contains is released, and this gas can
and will burn your plants.
It has happened to me twice. Once at my own house, and once on
a job I was doing for a customer. This toxic mulch is very
potent. We spilled a little mulch in the foliage of a Dwarf
Alberta Spruce that we were mulching around, and just a few
minutes later brushed the mulch out of the plant. The next day
my customer noticed that one side of the plant was all brown.
The mulch had only been there for a matter of minutes.
Not only did I have to replace the Dwarf Alberta Spruce, but
the mulch also damaged at least 10 other plants that I had to
replace. I once saw where somebody ordered a truck load of
mulch, had it dumped in their driveway, and as the toxic mulch
slid out of the dump truck onto the asphalt the toxic gas that
was released settled on the lawn next to the driveway.
The gas, not the mulch, turned the grass brown next to the
mulch pile.
This same person spread several yards of the mulch around their
house before they realized the problem, and it ruined many of
their plants.
Now here's the hard part; trying to explain to you how to
identify toxic mulch. It has a very strong odor that will take
your breath away. But then again almost all mulch has a
powerful odor. This is very different than your typical mulch
smell, but I can't explain it any better than that.
The mulch looks perfectly normal, maybe a little darker in
color than usual. If you suspect a problem with the mulch you
have, take a couple of shovels full, and place it around an
inexpensive plant. Maybe just a couple of flowers. When doing
this test use mulch from inside the mulch pile and not from the
edges. The mulch on the edge of the pile has more than likely
released most of the toxic gas that it may have held.
If after 24 hours the test plants are okay, the mulch should be
fine. The purpose of this article is not to induce panic at the
mulch yard, but toxic mulch can do serious damage. At my house
it burned the leaves right off some of the plants in my
landscape, and burned the grass next to the bed all the way
around the house. It looked like somebody had taken a torch and
burned the grass back about 2” all the way around the bed. If I
hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it.
About the Author: Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this
article. Visit his most interesting website,
http://www.freeplants.com and sign up for his excellent
gardening newsletter.
Organic Gardening: Going Back To The Basics
By Gerardas Norkus
Because of an alarming condition of our atmosphere these days
and the impact of technological innovations have on our health,
everything seems to be resorting to a more viable option -
organics. From foods to even hobbies like gardening, organics
had definitely taken the limelight.
Nowadays, one of the gradually emerging lucrative activity for
hobbyist, and environmentalist for that matter, is organic
gardening. It slowly replaces the traditional type of gardening
that involves harmful chemicals that speed up the destruction of
our Ozone layer.
Organic gardening, basically, refers to one type of gardening
that deviates from the customary use of chemicals like
fertilizers and pesticides. Because of these, many
agriculturists contend that engaging into organics gardening
makes one in synchrony with nature.
The basic notion of organics gardening boils down to the fact
that it is best to feed the soil and not the plant. Thus, we
can hypothetically say that, in organic gardening, it is the
soil that needs more nourishment than the plants, or simply
because it's from the soil that the plants obtain their
nourishment. A healthy soil yields a healthy plant, so to
speak.
In organic gardening, the basic concept of "fertilizing" the
soil is to use organic materials like composts and manures.
When fertilizing the soil, it doesn't necessarily mean that you
use fertilizers. In fact, fertilizers were primarily denoted as
anything that increases the soil's fertility.
Hence, organic gardening is a way of going back to the basics,
the traditional use of basic fertilizers that increases the
soil's capability to enrich the plant. In this manner, the
grower uses minerals like calcium coming from the fossils of
dead animals, nitrogen from legumes or manures, phosphorus from
bones of dead animals, and potassium from wood ashes.
On the other hand, organic growers also consider
composts of other living things like vegetables or plants when
incorporating the idea of organic gardening. Its by-product is
known as the humus, which is definitely good for the soil. In
organic gardening, humus is an important element in plant
production because it contains cellulose that performs like a
sponge and retains moisture in the soil so that it will be made
available for the plants as they grow.
Moreover, organic gardening incorporates the traditional way of
controlling animal pests like physical removal of insects, crop
rotation, interplanting, and introduction of prey species.
These methods lessen the growth of insects and curb the
multiplication of pests. It also impedes the development of
diseases that were emphasized by "agribusiness monocropping".
In addition, organic gardening employs the typical suppression
of weeds and vegetables pests without having to opt for
herbicides. In this organic gardening method of removing weeds,
"mulches" are placed on the weeds to prevent them from obtaining
the amount of light they need in order to grow. These mulches
act as barriers for weeds and vegetable pests. They come in
different forms like leaves, stones, wood, or straw.
In general, the technique of organic gardening lies on two
agricultural concept: permaculture and biodynamic agriculture.
Permaculture or permanent culture refers to that area in
agriculture wherein certain ecological principle, "shared
ethics" like earth care and people care, and design tools are
used so as to gain sustainable development in plants. On the
other hand, biodynamics agriculture is composed of a biological
at the same time sustainable system of agricultural assembly.
With these two concepts, we can safely derive the fundamental
idea of organic gardening as a system based on environmental,
sustainable, and ethical principles of man.
So, we now know for a fact that organic gardening is definitely
a lot better than what science and technology teaches us these
days.
The only drawback is that it is science that taught us the
basic ways on how to care for the environment in the first
place, and yet, it is also the same mentor who is teaching us
how to employ concepts that eventually leads to nature's
destruction. Isn't it ironic?
About the Author: Subscribe to "Gardening Secrets Unearthed"
7-part e-mail course from http://GardeningSecretsAndTips.com!
Discover the keys to having a garden a professional landscaper
would envy.
Terrace Gardening And Landscaping Ideas
By Yuri Nikitin
Terraces present wonderful possibilities in the garden. They
are outdoor living rooms during good weather and form a
transition from the outdoors to the indoors throughout the
year.
The terrace may be either at ground level, below ground level,
or raised above it. The simplest type is ground level, which
requires only the grading we have indicated. There is a wide
choice of flooring materials to use. One may use cement, poured
and levelled with a large board, but in maintaining the drainage
grade or including shallow drainage paths, smooth turf may be
used, in which case the preparation will be the same as for
other lawn areas and various other types of bases.
The use of flagstones is made simple by applying a load of sand
or gravel to the subsoil and digging the flagstones into the
sand or gravel. The niches between the stones can be dug out
and filled with top-soil and grass or other cover planted
between them. This gives a very pleasing effect.
Hollow clay building tiles can be split and laid as units in
the terrace floor, their rough edges in the soil. Another good
surfacing material is "exposed aggregate," which is free from
glare because of its rough finish. For this type of surface,
build a form of 2 x 4's. Pour the flooring in squares, one
square at a time, and level with a straight board. The material
used is a mixture of cement, sharp sand and crushed rock or
pebbles.
Redwood or cypress blocks may also be used for terrace floors
and are very attractive, although somewhat less durable than
stone or brick. You can buy the blocks cut to size and lay them
directly in a bed of sand, which in turn has been laid on
compacted gravel or cinder. Un-mortared brick, laid in a
pattern, on 2 to 4 inches of well-tamped sand, with loose sand
in the crevices for grass, makes a hardy and
simple-to-construct terrace floor. The bricks may be laid flat
or on end, and to keep them from spreading, drive an angle iron
against the corners. Use a pattern that follows the lines of
your terrace.
The Sunken Terrace Gardening
A sunken terrace is one which is below ground level. It can be
very attractive, and it does give a feeling of coolness on a
humid day or a hot night. The sunken terrace requires a
retaining wall to prevent soil from continually eroding into
it, and also to maintain the topsoil of the surrounding garden.
The subsoil must be dug to a depth of about 5 or 6 inches below
the level you wish to attain with the terrace itself. The use
of sand or gravel as a base is of importance. The top treatment
can follow your own dictates.
The Raised Terrace Gardening
The raised terrace is generally not fully raised, but starts at
the house level and is raised at its outer edge. Again, a
retaining wall is called for. The principle problem with the
raised terrace is levelling. Once this is accomplished, and the
retaining wall built, construction follows the same procedure as
in any other case. Drainage is supplied either by a central
drain, going into a tile line, or by underground piping through
the retaining wall.
About the Author: Landscaping and gardening hasn’t always been
my occupation, but it has been my passion for a very long time.
I inhale landscaping books and magazines. I have lots of
landscaping ideas for all the enthusiasts at
http://www.e-landscaping-ideas.com
6 Important Tips For Rose Care In Your Rose Garden
By Bob Roy
Many people could not resist a rose's beauty and scent. Imagine
this coming from your rose garden. These flowers are known to be
a bit complicated to grow, but anyone could start rose gardening
in the comfort of her own backyard. Good rose care will keep it
beautiful.
To make sure that your most prized rose garden is in the pink
or even red of their health, simply follow these tips on rose
care dealing with most of their health dilemma:
1. Black Spots on Leaves in Your Rose Garden
This disease is commonly known as black spot. Black spots
appear as circular with fringed edges on leaves. They cause the
leaves to yellow. The solution is to remove the infected foliage
and pick up any fallen leaves around the rose. For the rose care
artificial sprays may be used to prevent or treat this kind of
rose disease.
2. Stunted or malformed young canes
Known as powdery mildew, this is a fungal disease that covers
leaves, stems and buds with wind spread white powder. It makes
the leaves to curl and turn purple. Spray with Funginex or
Benomyl to treat this fungal disease that could ruin your rose
garden.
3. Blistered underside of leaves
A disease of roses known as rust, it is characterized with
orange-red blisters that turn black in fall. In spring, it
attacks new sprouts. This disease can even survive winter. What
you can do is to collect and discard leaves that are infected in
fall. Benomyl and Funginex spraying every 7-10 days may help.
4. Malformed or stunted leaves and flowers - not for your rose
garden
What could have caused this is the presence of spider mites.
They are tiny yellow, red or green spiders on the underside of
leaves. They also suck juices from leaves. The application of
Orthene or Isotox is good rose care and will help in treating
this infestation.
5. Weak and mottled leaves with tiny white webs under them
This might be caused by aphids. They are small soft-bodied
insects that are usually brown, green or red. Often clustered
under leaves and flower buds. They suck plant juices from
tender buds. Malathion or diazinon spray may help roses to
survive these bugs.
6. Flowers that don't open or are deformed when they open.
The infestation in your rose garden is probably thrips. It is
characterized with slender, brown-yellow bugs with fringed
wings thriving in flower buds. They also suck juices from
flower buds. The rose care for this is to cut and discard the
infested flowers. Using Orthene and malathion may also treat
this health problem of your roses.
This valuable information regarding the diseases your roses are
prone to have will prove to be very helpful in making your rose
garden ever more inviting.
About the Author: Sign up for tips in our monthly Orchid
Newsletter and get your copy of "All About Orchids" e-book and
your 10% Discount on an orchid.
http://www.orchids-plus-more.com/orchidaceae.html
Tips For Buying Lawn Tractors
By A.Caxton
Lawn Tractors as Small Tractors
Lawn tractors are typically small tractors meant for farm work
up to 2 acres. There are various attachments to the tractor,
which can reduce you manual work. This will help you making use
of your available time effectively in maintaining your garden in
trim condition. Typically, (up to a maximum of 7 to 10 HP),
these tractors come with a ZTR (zero-turning- radius) feature,
which is very useful for working on a small field.
Lawn Tractors Are Versatile
Lawn tractors are versatile pieces of equipment. It can do a
slew of jobs as mowing, tilling, lawn rolling, lamppost hole
digging, and many other jobs. These jobs are possible through
power take off spindle. This makes lawn tractors as the
gardener’s best friend.
Buying A Lawn Tractor
Buying a lawn tractor is like buying a car. The value of car
may be less but a range of optional accessories increases it.
Therefore, consider the tractor you are buying very carefully.
You may purchase the accessories at one time, as you go along
using your lawn tractor. It is recommended that you try the
tractor at the showroom and get an idea about the time required
in attaching and detaching the accessories. Test-drive the
tractor and try to get a feel of getting in and out of tractor.
Basic Cost of Lawn Tractor
The cost of small size lawn tractor starts at $900 and goes on
until $6000. The basic model available just under $900 is Bolen
762F76, and the John Deere Spin-Steer SST-16 is available for
$3300. Poulan Pro PK185H42ST sells at about $1400. This is just
the cost of tractor alone without accessories. Accessories cost
a ton with canopy starting at $110 and grass collection bag
costing $300, small and large carts costing $110 to $220, can
make it a costly proposition. If you are going to use your
tractor just for lawn mowing, and you have a small farm of ½ to
1 acre, you can have a look at the stand behind lawnmower
costing $350 instead of going for lawn tractor.
Using A Lawn Tractor Safely
The lawn tractors have a low center of gravity, and hence there
is a low possibility of toppling and the accidents with lawn
tractor are low. All the same, following precautions are useful
while driving a lawn tractor.
• Do not ride at high speeds, especially up a hill. A small
stone can throw you out of track and injure you.
• While dismounting make sure that the engine is off and the
attachments are all touching ground, wherever possible.
About the Author: A.Caxton publish very often new articles to
an online magazine specialized in
http://www.lawn-mowers-and-garden-tractors.com. Andrew helps
people to find the best solutions for gardening tools,
including mowers and
http://www.lawn-mowers-and-garden-tractors.com/lawn-tractors.html
