Re: growing tender perennials indoors

In a message dated 1/12/03 11:21:41 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
mygarden@easystreet.com writes:


    Do you have Costco or Sams Club where you are?  The shelving at Costco is
sturdy, not expensive.  Inexpensive shop lights can be hung on them and put
on a timer.  I think it is a very efficient use of the space.  Also, I think
a fan is necessary to prevent disease.  I have a Casablanca fan in the
ceiling that runs on lowest speed all the time the lights are on....>>>>>>

Marilyn, We have all kinds of shelf suppliers plus Ed who is a construction 
engineer perfectly willing to assist as he is afflicted with a permanent 
itch, always moving.  The fan is an important thing, I have one in the 
conservatory for any time the sun raises the temp. in there where the plants 
are probably too crowded. I did not think of a fan for years when I heated 
our GH in winter.  It is not used in winter now and probably we will take it 
down.  We have a long glassed bench in the barn that can start plants six 
weeks earlier than outdoors.  Just the southern exposure and freedom from 
wind and being off the ground does it.

<<<Many folks who are serious growers of Gesneriads and Begonias wick all 
their
(hundreds if not thousands) plants so watering time is kept to a minimum.
Personally, I find it a hassle to get it set up as the wick must be put into
the soil and out a hole in the pot bottom.  If you are potting new plants or
re-potting established plants anyway, that is a good time to do it.  But,
while I'm hand watering is a good time to inspect each plant for mealy bugs,
leaf spot, mildew, etc.  I use a weak fertilizer solution every time I water
so I don't have to try to remember which needs what.>>>>

I have not had good luck with wicking which is probably due to the large 
number of plants we have indoors.  I don't mind hand watering for the same 
reasons you mention.  My niece who owns the family nursery also has a wire 
service flower shop on the grounds as there is nothing to sell for six months 
of the year.  She is the one who started this nursery and was joined by her 
husband only when he retired from the police force.  We once wicked a whole 
greenhouse bench full of Clivia.  It was a bad idea and nobody has done it 
since.  We got plants from California and grew them to flowering size for 
February/March sales.  Everyone sold in around ten days.  Then we tried 
Adeniums and they are too hard to bloom for winter sales.  Also they rot in 
the cold GH.  Buyers here don't know Adenium though think they are nice in 
bloom.  Most of those did not sell.   Anything to avoid being a Christmas 
store in the cold months.  Many nurseries here turn into Christmas stores 
around the end of October.  She wants to be plants only.  Her husband learned 
to build stone walls and entries.  He is another part of the business now. In 
upstate NY it is hard to sell perennials and shrubbery that have to compete 
with the bigs stores all around her.  She does special things including the 
flower shop.  It was not what she started with but you have to earn money to 
stay in business.  I am a unpaid helper sometimes plus I can keep my potted 
trees in her greenhouse in the winter.

<<<One of my friends is a commercial African Violet Grower and had a large 
room
added to the back of her house with lighted shelves to the ceiling and fans
running above.  But she starts her babies in the bathtub of an unused
bathroom with shop lights hanging over the tub!  I thought "now I've seen
everything".  There were plants everywhere, had to move some to sit down for
a visit! ......... Well, sometimes I have to move plants off the dining room
table so there is enough room for guests :)>>>>

Quite a few years ago, Ed built a house for a retired woman who grew African 
Violets.  She was well off and built a Violet Room.  His crew was 
incredulous, thought it odd to go to all that trouble for little pots of 
plants.  I saw that space several times before it was finished.  The walls 
were some non-rotting wood and the shelves were as you describe.  She had 
hired an architect to design it.  I never saw the collection installed.  
There was a potting station and place to store water from the tap to adjust 
to room temperature.  Mentioning the fan reminds me that there was a 
ventilation system.  That woman did not want a greenhouse, she wanted them 
indoors with her.   The architect was Japanese, barely spoke English but did 
not laugh at her wants.  Whoever went on to own that house probably ripped it 
all out, I thought it inspired.

Claire Peplowski

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