February part two.
Not much doing since my last update but plenty to
think about.
Cut Blooms.
Cut bloom work will hopefully be straight forward with no significant
changes required.
Pot Plants.
Growing pot plants will be new to me and no doubt require a totally
different approach. If possible, I would like to “try” and grow a
single adult tuber in a pot using two forward facing basal shoots and
subsequent side shoots (the John and Mairi Hamilton way). I could also “try”
and grow one as above but with three or more basal shoots (the Jim
Mihulka way). Then of course in Scotland we can have more than one tuber
in a pot. My larger tubers although only entering their second growing
season as an adult will have too big a root ball (started them in 1.5
litre pots) to allow me to fit two or for that matter three in a
manageable sized pot and anyway, I feel that more than one adult tuber
per pot is not required. That leaves cutting tubers, I could substitute
each adult basal stem with a cutting tuber, two or three in a 7.5 litre
pot (maximum number that would fit in that size of pot) and I could have
more than one cultivar in a pot (against judging rules) and have a play
with colour combinations. Stopping times would be irrelevant as each
individual plant could be stopped according to its cultivar in order
that they all flowered at the same time. Do not think that would go down
well with the purists among you but it could be fun, there again I
should maybe play safe. Do I want all the flowers to be at the top of
the plant or layered?
Compost.
I have started all of my tubers in a peat based compost but the majority
of their growing will take place within a John Innes mix. When will the
transition from peat to soil take place? Will the final pot size
influence when this takes place and for that matter what strength will I
make my J.I. mix? Will it be a true J.I. recipe or will I alter it in
order to suit my method of watering. A lot of questions to be answered
but first I must see what material I will have to work with.
Time permitting, I will try to insert a few
photographs of the more interesting experiments that I have carried out
over the years.
