My Double White's Were Beautiful This Year.

I had stunning success with my Ballarina Double Whites this year. I had people knocking on my door wanting to know what they were!

Xeramtheum

BEAUTIFUL! I just got seeds, I hope they do as well!

Gosh, they are so TALL! What fertilizer schedule did you have them on? Is that normal for the variety? Wow.. another one to add to my "gotta have" list. Fish-knees, where did you find your seed, please?

Barb

Hi Barb,

What got them so tall turned into a happy and surprised result of frustration. My brother had given me a bunch of planters, and I was tired of wasting so much potting medium to fill the darn things I ended up filling it halfway up with moldering grass clippings and leaves. I never fed them .. I was scared to seeing how fast they were growing. The previous picture was taken in August. This picture was taken in June and you can see how deep the planters were. I have quit using potting soil and I use ProMix for all of my containers, pots and baskets. It's a sphagnum based medium that is very light. Works very well with grow bags.

I honestly can't remember where I got the original seeds from, but I do have some to trade if you like. What have you got in doubles and triples?

Xeramtheum

Barb, I got them on E-bay :)

Barb too!

Did you stake those beautiful creatures?

I didn't have to stake them! The trunks/stems were quite thick and they never fell over. In all my years of growing dats I had never seen plants this large, especially in a container. When I first put them out they were your run-of-the-mill dats, about 4 inches high. I'm positive that the moldy grass/leaf compost is what did it. I saved all my grass clippings from last year, and raked up the yard of leaves with the mower and bagger, so everyone this year is going to have a compost base. Usually to get these kinds of results I have to sort of cheat and use the growth hormone Gibberelic Acid. But these guys were not treated with GA at any stage (I usually use GA to soak known stubborn seeds, or spray comotose seedlings).

Xeramtheum

Compost base - serendipitous discovery, for sure.
Xerantheum, I thank you for your offer of a trade, but the only seeds I have right now are those I got from the internet and the retailer was not very generous with them. This time next year, hopefully, I will have seeds from the following: triple white, triple purple and triple yellow; dbl lavender, dbl white, dbl cream, dbl yellow; the swirl one (senior moment strikes) and a single white with lavender edge.
Would you discuss more about the growth hormone Gibberelic Acid, please?

Barb

Sure Barb, I'll start a new thread on Gibberelic Acid.

X

Thanks, X!
And Barb, didn't mean to forget to thank you, too.. but I did. :-( Sorry.. and I'll check e-bay out.

Barb