Good Growing Practices - an Overview for Beginners

A question about soils... Sorry if this has been covered, I've only been able to make it through the first page of posts...

I'm a little confused about adding pine bark chips to a potting mix. I've always been told that uncomposted organics will kill plants by starving them of Nitrogen among other things. Is this just another fiction passed on?

Thank you Tapla :)
I was quite interested in native gardening after reading about its advantages and less maintenance requirement. For the past two years, I have been successfully growing a variety of native species on my land. http://www.cnps.org/cnps/publications/fremontia/FremontiaV40.3_41.1.pdf. This can be a help to someone new to this category.

Not new, but was interested in your link but it could not be found.

Thank you, You've given a lot of basic information. Thanks again...

Oh, what a dose of information. This is perfect guide for me, as a beginner! However, I love to experiment in garden so I try many things..It helps me to learn things on my own and I think that it is the best method. However, I think that I should put more attention while choosing soil, because I always use one type, it is universal, but some plants do not tolerate it.

Hi,

I currently have three 12” tall verigated rubber trees. They are super sweet but have been a little lackluster in the growing department. One shoot just put off a new leaf but I have had these little guys for a year. They all live in the same pot so I’m curious if that may be part of the problem? Two of them lost a few leaves when I got them but haven’t lost anymore. I am wanting to help promote new growth and have been looking at propagation (to help start new fuller plants) or pruning (but all the little guys are just single stalks with leaves). I am hoping for suggestions on how to move forward so I can make sure I can help these beauties become strong attractive trees!

Once the chickadees are aware of a food source (in winter), I can usually train them to the hand within 10 min not that difficult. Nuthatches aren't as trusting and take longer. See image.

There are 2 perspectives from which to judge the characteristics of a pot. From your own, and from the plant's perspective. It does little good to argue what a plant would prefer while in 'grower's perspective mode' because growers often prefer a pretty color or what they have available (and the list goes on) over what serves the plant best. Pots with gas-permeable walls are MUCH better for root health than pots made of materials that can't/don't breathe. That puts terra cotta - low-fired clay, at or near the top. Pots that breathe mean lower root temps when it counts (summer), and offer a pathway for unwanted soil gasses to escape while desirable fresh air enters the soil in greater volume. You might need to water more often, but then again that's viewing from the grower's perspective, but the necessity of watering more frequently would get a thumbs up from our green pals. If you stick to viewing things from your plants' perspectives, it'll be difficult to argue against terra cotta. I do grow many plants in pots that do not allow gas exchange, but the % plants I'm developing as potential bonsai (mostly what I do re plants) leans VERY heavily toward terra cotta. I have a lot of high-fired terra cotta pots made by Tokoname that still breathe very well and have held up to a soils frozen solid in them for year after year. See second image:
Al

I was so interested to read on Dave's Garden that scientists no longer believe that gardeners can prevent blossom end rot in tomatoes and peppers, by adding calcium early. A few years ago, I had blossom end rot in both the tomatoes and bell peppers. Ever since then, I have followed a system to prevent it. When the tomato plants and pepper plants are still small and not producing fruit yet, I water them once or twice with water that has stuff dissolved in it. I dissolve a small amount of Epsom salts (less than recommended), a small amount of agricultural lime, and a small amount of ground up Tums. I water around the plants with this mixture once or twice before they set fruit. I have not had problems with blossom end rot since then. It is possible that my efforts have been irrelevant and that the absence of blossom end rot has been coincidental. Or is it possible that the combination of Epsom salts and extra calcium is actually beneficial if applied early enough in the growing season? Yours, Overton McGehee, Palmyra, Va.

Thanks. It’s possible but why then “salts” are most evident on
bark pieces, not granite ones?

Another expression of this problem is these “salts” (or
whatever it is) sip through terracotta pots on their surface, see top photo. This
salt residue on terracotta isn’t possible to wipe or rinse off; it takes hard
scrubbing to remove it. So it is not from water as the stuff isn’t
soluble. Sometimes is so corrosive that it virtually destroys terracotta making
it blister and crumble, see bottom photo. What then it can do plant roots!

There obviously is a serious problem with my soil ingredients
and I am desperate to find out what to blame and how to fix it.

cheers

Hi, I'm new to Gardening, as I used to live in the city, and now I moved out of town.So now I have some area where I can do gardening.I always wanted to plant a coffee tree, but I don’t know what kind of land is needed for it and how to properly care for it, can you advise something?

What are some good vitamins to mix in my soil mix for making seeds sprout faster?

Enjoyed this thread. Thank You

Anyone seen tapla? I learned great deal about the plants from this person but I am no longer seeing him around.

I hope his health and everything is okay. I just wanted to thank to this wonderful person who has shared so much knowledge with us.



This message was edited Mar 13, 2020 10:40 AM

Thank you very much for such a detailed description of growing practices. Exactly what is needed for begginers.

Please keep sharing the information. They are very educative

Amazing post. Thanks for sharing this!

Hello. I have been following this forum for a long time, read various posts, and use many of them in my life. I actually just dropped by to say thank you and share my fertilizer recipe I found recently.

Did you know that coffee grounds are also fertilizers? I'm just one of those people who think that manure is the best fertilizer. But it turns out that almost everything can be used in fertilizer. So about coffee.

Many of us will have dumped the cold remains of a forgotten coffee in a plant pot at some point, and then perhaps wondered if it was the wrong thing to do! But it turns out that coffee grounds contain a good amount of the essential nutrient nitrogen as well as some potassium and phosphorus, plus other micronutrients. The quantity and proportions of these nutrients varies, but coffee grounds can be used as a slow-release fertilizer.

To use coffee grounds as a fertilizer sprinkle them thinly onto your soil, or add them to your compost heap. Despite their color, for the purposes of composting, they’re a ‘green’, or nitrogen-rich organic material. Make sure to balance them with enough ‘browns’ – carbon-rich materials such as dried leaves, woody prunings, or newspaper. Your compost heap’s tiny munchers and gnawers will process and mix them effectively, so using coffee grounds in this way is widely accepted to be safe and beneficial.

This message was edited Apr 21, 2021 3:06 AM

This message was edited Apr 21, 2021 3:08 AM

This message was edited Apr 21, 2021 3:09 AM

Thank you so much for sharing these amazing tips I really honored. I've started gardening and I'm a beginner.

Hi,
I am new in gardening. Really helpful information. Thanks for share.