There are only a few that don't like full sun...usually those with deep purple and those with Yellow.... LOTS of yellow or white are like variegates...other colors are OK....
Happy New Year...Ti for Thee
We have a lot of the tall pink/red ones here but they always look so leggy. Is there a secret? Can I lop them off and stick the top back in the soil? I'd plant them but I'm so tired of seeing all the lanky ones with little tufts of leaves at the top.
EXACTLY!!!! It is so EASY!!! Lop off the top, stick it in the ground! Lop off another length of cane, stick it in the ground....you can have graduating heights... Shorter canes all clumped in different lengths look wonderful!!! Just remember that when you cut a cane, two sprouts will happen at the top...just control your arrangement that way.
If you foliar feed them, the top leaves fill out and color up beautifully. They are so forgiving...so generous...so colorful.... They fit anyone description of a weed....!
The hot pink Ti is the one I see 99.9% of the time, around Tampa. There is more than I cultivar, but, from a distance they look same. I wish I had more to work with after seeing all those beauties on the Big Island.
What do you usually foliar feed them???
Dale...that hot pink looks more like a Pahoa seedling than Pink Sister....
I foliar feed with Miracle Gro!!!! In the spring I may use Fish Fertilizer to get them going! Since I foliar feed other plants as well, that i want to bloom, I find MG is fine!!!
Good morning Carol! Could you explain how new varieties of Ti are produced? If you cross varieties (pollen) can you mix their traits?
Thanks much, Dave
Oh good. That's what I use--sometimes MG; other times Fish emulsion.
It's at any nursery...I think the most common one I see is Alaska Fish Emulsion
http://www.planetnatural.com/site/alaska-fish-fertilizer.html
they have it there too
In my territory it is always easy to find at Lowe's. I think they even have more than one size.
Fish Emulsion and Molassas are wonderful to pour into a new planting area...or to revive an old one....the FE has microrganisms, the molassas feeds them and everyone down there gets really groovy!!!! The worms come and the roots thrive!!!!!
Carol, I have been buying dried molasses at the feed store and someone on another thread said it is no good, needs to be liquid. Can you help me?
PK
I have molasses...I never used in on the roots. though...foliar spray only...will try on roots.
Randy, dried or liquid?
Liquid, I've not heard of dried molasses, but I don't see why it wouldn't work as a soil amendment
Will try to find the thread where "dried" was not supposed to so great.
I have never heard about dried....
Hey Dave...well, about crossing Ti. It is my understanding that all of the Ti running around with the colorful leaves are all cultivars...so when you grow out the seeds, who knows what you will get. That said, I know that Roy Shiginaga has done some crosses with the New Guinea Blacks (which, I believe IS a species Cordyline but not sure) and he has gotten some incredibly varied leaf structures...but all black.
I do think you can cross pollinate - from what i have been told - two that are very different from eachother, and get a mix of the traits: say a 'feather' with a broad leaf.... When all of them are in bloom the bees are all over them....and I get a lot of seeds. But those I have grown out have been unremarkable so far....boring in fact. That is going to be on my schedule next blooming period....and I have some Wili'is Gold with seeds I am going to grow out...maybe??????
Thanks Carol; I get volunteers from seeds near their parents that often look just like the parents; sometimes they come out with less color. I was hoping to cross some of the more interesting types and come up with some mixes.
Any form of molasses is rich in potassium, calcium, iron, and some phosphorus. Blackstrap molasses is the richest.
My local WM carries that brand of FE believe it or not. I don't think I've seen it at Lowe's or HD but maybe it's cause I haven't looked for it since I buy it at WM.
I think that too often the bees are self pollinating the Ti...so the range of variation is a lot less...
Yes Carol, 'Ole Fulks' bees are always in our gardens stealing pollen!
Here they are hassling my tangors.
Bees do help make fruit!
I wonder if a bag tied onto the inflorescence of the desired varieties, and only removed to cross the plants, would work to insure the results?
Hey...great idea!!! I hate it when I have to wait a year to do something...pout!
Edited to add that I think i would wrap it with some gauzy like material (I bought some really cheap stuff at Walmart that I tie around the banana stalk when they hang on the porch to keep away the gnats).
This message was edited Mar 6, 2009 9:34 PM
I scored a bunch of 'Red Sister' logs yesterday - I posted them on the trade forum.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/960940/
the first one looks a lot like plants they refer to around here (south florida) as sherbert ti.
I just purchased an 'Auntie Lou' Ti. It's tiny at this point but I like the coloration. Got it on eBay, and they threw in an 'Prince Albert'.
WoW, that sounds like a pretty good deal! Good for you! They'll grow!
How much do you water molasses down ? I use Kelp mostly but have heard a tipple of molasses in foliar sprays helps it adhere to the leaves. Are you guys using it strictly on the soil or in foliar sprays as well? We live near a sugar mill so I've been wanting to try it but it's not something commonly used in the land of monoculture and chemical fert. Ann
Ann - I have never tried it in foliar....and I do foliar feed. Will investigate.
I generally mix the molassas with something organic like fish fert or chicken manure, make a tea and water it into a bed I am going to plant or transplant into. Even seed planting. I will also water it into the ground around plants that don't seem too happy...increasing the positive bacteria around the roots and encouraging the worms to come in....
Thanks Carol! That is very informative! (sp?) Very interesting! I've seen that one Rose gardener on PBS mix about everything imagineable. I'm afraid that I would put the wrong thing in the wrong place and kill it!
Of course some of my things that were in the GH would have been better if left out as while I was down they didn't get as much water as they should have. I'm sure they'll come back in the Spring.
Darius wrote an article about increasing the Brix in the vegetables you grow...and this, I think, is from that article...
Molasses?
One tablespoon per gallon water; liquified and poured over the plant.
So, Dave...what is your understanding what it does for the plant?
Molasses is a good potassium and iron kick for plants that you want to keep!