MIRACLE CURE!

"MIRACLE CURE SAVES BELOVED MORNING GLORY FROM CERTAIN DEATH"

We have just learned that morning glory Hatsu, beloved possession of Delphiniumdiva, was rescued from certain death by an idea prompted by Moodene on Tuesday's chat. As some may know, the stem of DD's Hatsu was chewed completely through by a malicious rabbit. (Initially a chicken was blamed and narrowly escaped the stew pot upon discovery of the true culprit.) While mourning and weeping over the body of her beloved, DD noticed that the MG had apparently revived somewhat under the influence of Wednesday's continous rainstorms. Remembering that said Moodene grows her MG's in pots in trees, DD ingeniously situated a pot of water under the traumatized stems. We are happy to report that Hatsu is apparently responding to treatment. Our intrepid reporter was able to obtain the following graphic photos of the procedure...

DD,
Cute story format. I don't usually read the paper, but...LOL
Let me see if I am understanding correctly, are you basically rooting the "cuttings" in water? Just the other day a friend & I were talking about if you could root cuttings of MG's and we found a thread by Evert, I think it was, who did get his to root. I hope you will keep this thread updated, it is a very interesting concept. Also, what do you mean that Moodene grows hers in pots IN trees, as in hanging? or she uses the tree as the trellis?
Geesh, I need to attent Chat more often! ;~)
Donna

The chat was pretty chaotic - fingers flying, but what I gathered was that Moodene grows hers in hanging basket type pots. Never would have occurred to me. I paid $$ for this plant and it was doing so well before that darn bunny. Whole yard full of grass and he had to go for my most prized plant. How do they know? I am so happy that someone got their MG to root in water! Now I have hope!

Yes I do plant my MG's seeds in pots and hang them in the trees...I got another set of pots that I planted MG's last week and will hang all 20 gallon pots up in the trees..My trees are pecan,elms,oak,cedar,pine and they all look boring..so why not hang gallon pots in trees for them to grow on and have colors in the trees!!! I make my own wire hooks for these black gallon pots..they are kinda short so the MG's can find the limb to grab...To keep them from drying out too quick..I use them water crystals that swells up and keep the soil moist alot longer...if I don't get any rain for awhile...I will post pics of the ones I got started again but it has been raining for the past 5 days...so everyone can see how I do my MG's..

Moo how do they get enough sun under the trees?

I have always been told 2 things about MG's & after really testing them this year, I feel like I have proven them wrong. First off is "never fertilize MG's, the poorer the soil the happier they are". Boloney. I have been fertilizing with bone meal, epson salts, triple 16 & miracle gro and having wonderful success! And the other is that they need full sun. For years I have lived with my well watered MG's sagging and wilting down every afternoon in the full sun. This year I planted in shade too & what an improvement! Next year I am going to plant ALL mine in shade & I already have plans for the amended soil mixture I am going to fill my pots with.

Amazing the things we are told and just follow like zombies even though they don't work! My MG's always wilt too - but I NEVER would have tried them in shade before. Join the revolution - become a plant rebel! Next thing I'll be growing cactus in my pond :)

HARHARHAR!! Good luck with that! ;~) But your right. We are just sheep sometimes, never venturing out of the lines. Amazing what we can learn when we try it.
Donna

I have been thinking that I am going to change the soil in my blue dawn. I have been using 1/3 sand 1/3 or less of peat and 1/3 or more of super soil, now it seems to be better. Drains good but is heavy. I put landscaping cloth in the bottom of the pots to keep the holes from cloging. The blue dawn is in a 5gal pot and has the original soil. This new mixture works great. Donna and I live in the same area and she is right the plants can't seem to get enough water in the afternoon sun.

Are you telling me that thing is in a POT???? Obviously I am missing out on a big thing here. That is the greenest healthiest looking MG I've ever seen! AND full of blooms - I always thought I had to put up with yellowy leaves to get the flowers - the if-you-feed-it-no-flowers mentality.

Part of my trouble with MG's has been getting the seedlings past the "slug-magnet" stage - I plant a whole pack, they sprout, get 4 inches high, then boom - nothing left but nubs. Pots are the perfect solution! I dare those slugs to climb the fence!

Oh Rich, your cracking me up! I cannot believe you still have Dawn in a pot! The next pic I see posted is gonna be 1 your wife takes of you INSIDE the plant after it eats you! Talk about little shop of horrors! I have 1 plant and it is trying to take over my WHOLE vine fence. I cut it way back every friday when we mow & I cannot keep up with it. Remind me to tell you about the soil I am using.

DD, I used to have the same problem with the slugs, but I think I have come up with a solution. At least it has been working for me. I used to put out snail bait & then when the sprinklers came on daily, that was the end of that. So I had to start using my noggin & this is what I came up with.
I only have to put about a teaspoon in each one, and the bait I now use is Ortho Bug Geta PLUS, kills slugs, snails, ants,earwigs & pretty much everything else. It stays dry inside & it has gotten to where I only have to dump them about every 3 weeks now. Ants are my bigger problem, even before the snail/slugs and once I put bait out & they die from it, I cannot get them to take that bait again. Smart little pests! But this way, even if they don't actually EAT this bait, they are walking on it & polluting themselves & the nests because they just cannot resist the tempatation of a dead bug! Is that wonderful or WHAT! lol
And the added bonus is, a container of bait will last for AGES this way! I used to use a box a week! Ahh, life is good, is it not? hehehe If you look close, you can actually see a snail inside the trap. And off to the side you can see 1 that managed to crawl out, he suddenly had a tummy ache & was headed home to sleep it off, and WHAM!
Bug Geta got him. hehehe ;~)

And in case your wondering, they are usually not out in the open like in the picture. I have them tucked behind plants so they are invisible. LOL

My Blue Dawn MG is in a pot..I got it as a cutting and now growing in a gallon pot..it will be hanging in a tree..Most of my trees have sunlight coming thru cuz we kinda sorta remove old limbs..just enough to balnce the trees out...
I feed all of my plants with unsweeten horsefeed- just couple of pellets in them cuz when it rains, the pellets will break down easy and feed my plants...I am all organic..here no chemicals to use..
I put a thin layer of sand on top of my soil in my pots to keep slugs or snails from crawling across to eat...

What kind of horsefeed exactly? It rains too much here for me to use sprays like Miracle Grow, and Osmocote is so expensive - this sounds great!

Here's a good one - the best thing I've found to keep the slugs and bugs off my salad greens and such (before P's idea, which is better b/c lasts through rain) was to sprinkle cayenne pepper all over them! Here in New Orleans its sold cheap by the pound at Sams for crawfish boils. Sometimes I mix the pepper with sand. Keeps cats out too - one sniff and they run! Think of it as pre-seasoning...

That cheyenne pepper and sand is a great idea for the cats! I am gonna do that today under my daughters window where a cat has made his bathroom. Thanks!

The horsefeed I use is called..14% unsweeten horsefeed..50 pound bag cost me $6.80...I feed my pot belly piggy that and I use her poop to make poop tea to feed my plants as well..I just sprinkle few pellets in the pots and on the ground...you can also put the pellets in water and it will dissolve down and pour it into the pots...I use a 33 gallon trash can full of water with about two pounds of feed in it..along with few drops of Superthrive and water my plants with it..
I am going to get the tag that has what stuff is in it...

Using horse feed sounds like a great way to fertilize.

Here is what it says on my bag of horsefeed...

Thanks for the label, Moo. I'll ask about it at the feed store.

BTW I want to see the piggie!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I take a pic of her in the morning if the rain isn't coming down by then..it has been raining all week...She is not a pretty site cuz she likes to stay dirty all the time...LOL..

And her name is "Daisy Mae"!

Oh no another Daisy! Course I have a sheep named Isabelle so can't say much.

Moodene... I'm so glad you posted the label from the horsefeed, as I had thought the main ingredient might be alfalfa, judging by your results!

I've been using alfalfa pellets around many plants this year with exceptional results, and adding alfalfa tea to others with equally good results.

Well the rain let up some yesterday to where I can take a pic of Daisymae for Delphiniumdiva...had to bribe her with bread just to come out...LOL..

LOLOL...what a cute story! and what a cute piggy!!!!!

She stands about two feet tall at the shoulders...she is 5 years old..got her when she was 8 weeks old...now my doggy is another story..??? Wanna hear?

Yep.....

Poor Daisymae, she has no legs! lol

OMGosh she looks just like the pig that a lady in my neighborhood has! Except not quite as fat. This one weighs in at a mere 300 lbs - AND she paints its trotters with pink nailpolish - iridescent pink of course. Must take a whole bottle...First time I saw it in her front yard I almost ran off the road! She's says they are very smart, and I must admit, she had taught it more tricks than my dog knows!

BTW Moo - I just realized that I spend half the Tues chat ribbing you about some portulacas that sucked me into the nursery and led to $40 being extracted from my ever diminishing checkbook and the whole time it was LSP who had asked for them!!!! Which just goes to show two things: Life ain't fair and boy am I stupid. Bet your pig could beat me on the SAT...

LOL...ROTFLLLL...I bet she can....she knows how to open the gate here..by bumping her nose and poof ..she heads for one of my flowerbeds...