gneumatics

Gday there..... How is everybody going? I was wondering if I might be able to get some advice on the best methods to grow some p.nexus (p.viridis x p.carthagenensis cross) within an artificial environment (I live in a cold climate so this is a must). I would say that I am a novice gardener (at best) and unfortunately my last couple of p.nexus's I managed to get hold of last year didnt make it Probably due to low temperature and being moved around and re-potted more times then they should have. So I have decided to give it another go this year and really try to give it my best shot and I was hoping that I might get some help and/or advice from those wiser then myself in how I'm planning of going about growing these little guys. Is there anything that you are able to see below in my method which could be perhaps be done better or something that might really screw me up that I'm simply not aware of? Here are the details... Plant size: I am assuming they will be around the 8 inch/20cm mark (going on how large they were when I last had them delivered at the same time last year). Soil: soil mixture comprised of 1/3 perlite, 1/3 humus and 1/3 coco-peat plus ¼ of a cup limestone per 1 gallon (4 liters) of mix. Growing area: 2ft x 2ft (60cms x 60 cms) enclosed space with painted white walls. Light type: 4 x 18w T8 6500k fluorescent tubes placed 8 inches/20cms from the tips. Light Intensity: The light meter I grabbed from the gardening store reads 200 at the base of the pots to around 300 at the tips of the plants. (I'm guessing the measurement is lumens here?). Light Cycle: 16hrs on and 8 hrs off (set by a timer to ensure cycle is constant from day to day). Watering Times and Type: Twice weekly with tap water. Once on Monday which will be a full watering (Adding water, allowing it to drain and then adding water again this time with fertilizer) and again on Thursday night which will be a half watering (simply adding water and allowing it to drain). Fertilizing: Liquid fertilizer to be used once weekly with the full watering (as directed on the packaging), and Seasol once fortnightly with the full watering and liquid fertilizer (once again as directed by the packaging). Or would I be better off with pellets or mixing manure into the soil mix? If so how much and what type? Or would this be over fertilizing considering I already have humus in the soil? Humidity: Spraying twice daily with a spray bottle using standard tap water. Temperature: Aiming to keep as close to a constant 25 degrees Celsius as possible with the help of a small oil heater. (Do people think this will lower the humidity too much?). Fan: fan placed on low and oscillating to promote stronger roots. (Not sure if this is necessary, does the wind even blow in the jungle?). Pot Size: Standard plastic 8 inch pots (20 cms). Pests: Food grade diatomaceous earth for fungus gnats (placed on the top layer of soil). Once again, any help you might throw me, as small or as important as it might be would be very greatly appreciated Cheers... … G

ahhh..... bend in, not out. Cheers!

I was wondering if anybody had any tips on finding the basal gland on the phyllodes of the longfolia group of acacias? I've got myself a 10x magnifying glass and have looked and looked but cant see a thing

Hey all. So I've since had my p.viridis's delivered and at first they seemd quite happy to be placed in the indoor environment I have going. The top leaves have been growing bigger and bigger each day however the lower leaves are all starting to drop. They also have black edges once they have dropped. My question is if this is normal? i mean are they just getting used to their new home or should i be doing something drastic to make sure they live? The details of the setup are as follows... Plant size: 6 inch/15cm mark. Soil: Soil mixture comprised of %40 perlite, %30 humus and %30 cactus soil. Growing area: 2ft x 2ft (60cms x 60 cms) enclosed space with painted white walls. Light type: 2 x 55w T5 6500k fluorescent tubes with a 60cmx50cm metal reflector placed 10 inches/25cms from the tips. Light Intensity: 500 lux at the tips of the plants. Light Cycle: 16hrs on and 8 hrs off (set by a timer to ensure cycle is constant from day to day). Watering Times and Type: Twice weekly with filtered tap water. Once on Monday which will be a full watering (Adding water, allowing it to drain and then adding water again this time with fertilizer) and again on Thursday night which will be a half watering (simply adding water and allowing it to drain). If little growth is happening the watering schedule will be reduced and humidity levels increased. Fertilizing: Liquid fertilizer to be used once fortnightly with the full watering (using half the strength of the direcions on the packaging), and Seasol once fortnightly (alternating with the liquid fertilizer, this time at 3/4's of the strength dierected on the packaging). Once plants are established Osmocote will be applied at 1/4 the recommended amount on the packaging. Humidity: Humidifier to be used. Fungicide will be sprayed on the walls and plants once a month. Temperature: Aiming to keep as close to a constant 25 degrees Celsius as possible with the help of a small oil heater. Pot Size: Standard plastic 6 inch pots (14 cms). Any help would be much appreciated..... ... Cheers... ... G

The room would be around the 18 degree Celsius mark without the heater. One thing I forgot to mention, I have the humidifier blowing over the leaves all of the time so a lot are almost constantly wet. Is this a bad this you think? ... G

Stillman: Do you think it might be too much or too little? SallyD: Yes, I do stick my finger into the soil but i also use a moisture sensor and water when they are at number 4 (1-3 says 'dry' 4-7 says 'moist' and 8-10 says 'dry'). This is because i assume with my humidifier blowing over the plants the top soil is likely to be wetter then the soil down at the roots. The heater is an electric fin heater that heats oil in the fins. Fertilizer seems unlikely to be the case as I've only seasol'd them once so far in about 2 weeks. Will go easier on the amount of ferts all the same now. ... G

Cheers mate Love having more links! I have actually found the following lights suit my purposes better due to the more even lighting (for shade loving psychotria) and atm %30 off for anybody interested... http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/T5-FLUORO-PROPAGATION-LIGHT-4-X-LAMP-55W-HYDROPONICS-/220871863648?pt=AU_Home_Outdoor_Lighting&hash=item336cfd2d60

So I am planning on using a fungicide for an indoor area which will have pretty high humidity due to the use of a humidifier however I am a bit worried about the toxicity of the products. I currently have copper fungicide but was wondering if anybody was aware of a safer product for indoor use available within Australia? Cheers... … G

woof woof woof: What are your thoughts on humidifiers vs misting?

So Ive heard that getting the soil level right when repotting plants is quite important. The issue is that I am quite new to plant care and have just received my new p.viridis plants bare-rooted. My question is how do I know the optimum level to fill will soil? I have taken a guess so far and have leveled the soil off at the place where the plant either changes colour on the stem from white to green (younger plants) or brownish to green (older plants). Have I done the right thing here? ... G

Great to hear from someone who's going through the same process as me and good thing you posted here as I'd pretty much given up on AE as the response rate isn't anywhere near as high as here at SAB. How do you gauge the best time to water? soil dampness? As mine aren't actively growing I've been instructed to humidify more and water less so thats what I'm doing. I've also had large differences in humidity reading from locally bought Hygrometers. Some say %60 and others say %95 (I have three so far). I think its time to bite the bullet and actually spend some money on something that will give me a reasonable amount of accuracy. ... G

Ok, so I've been put onto a product called Greencure, see the link... http://www.greencure.net/ Sounds safe but not too sure about effectiveness. Apparently the way it works is by sucking water out of the air which starves the fungus. I'm just a bit concerned that this may mean the poor psychotria's don't get the humidity they are after. Anybody had any experience?

Is there a reason I shouldn't just use bleach to throughly clean the room every month or so? Cheaper and I'd imagine a lot more effective then neem too. Or wouldn't my plants like that very much? ... G

sethomopod: Is it safe for indoor use though? especially when a humidifier might be causing it to become air-born (no idea if this is possible, just being cautious). Applesnail: I'm liking the idea of neem oil more and more the more I read. I'm intending to get a %100 concentrate in a 1 litre size (around $40 with postage) and mixing it with baking soda. I'm guessing I will have to spray the plants and walls more often (once fortnightly instead of monthly) though as apparently it breaks down a lot quicker then chemical based fungicides.

Nice info Applesnail Where do you get your supply of Neem in victoria?

SallyD to the rescue again ;) Pre-emptive. Everybody who has suggested a humidifier so far has forewarned "use a fungicide on the walls and plants once a month!", so I'm planning on doing just that. There seems to be a few 'organic fungicides' on the market but who knows if this means 'safe' as well. Applesnail: Can you expand on what you mean by 'to an extent'? Will once a month spraying do the job of keeping fungus away you reckon? From my research so far I'm planning to use lime sulfur on the walls only of the 2ft x 2ft x 2ft area (as it burns evergreens apparently if used directly on the leaves) and something else on the plants themselves, perhaps Neem if it turns out to be effective enough? Link to lime sulfur product http://www.yates.com...pray-fungicide/ ... G

Yup, Psychotria nexus. If you can find any info on the best way to grow these little guys it would be great to add to the collection here, for myself and others who might be interested in following the same path as me. The thing is that this forum (as well as forums.ayahuasca.com) are really the ONLY place that I have come across that give detailed and reliable information (at least on the net). I'm sure anybody with a good education in tropical plant cultivation would know this stuff inherently, but I certainly do not fit into that category. The humidifier: This is my first experimentations with using one but my thinking is that I would like to mimic their natural environments as closely as possible. I do worry about keeping fungal growth at bay and also at the state of my wooden closet after the this little experiment but I'm prepared to make sacrifices if I can get a deeper understanding into how psychotria ticks. ... G

Excellent news. Good to know I won't have to risk damaging the little guys by re-potting ... G

Ok, so I'm trying to decide which humidifier is going to be best for my purposes. The choice is between an ultrasonic cool mist humidifier and a regular warm mist humidifier ... The ultrasonic cool mist link is as follows http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HoMedics-Home-Ultrasonic-Cool-Mist-Room-Air-Humidifier-Glow-Light-BRAND-NEW-/330711045762?pt=AU_Home_Environmental_Solutions&hash=item4cffea1682 ... and the warm mist... http://au.jtote.com/product_info.php/two-speed-settings-hm5082tg-p-129313 I'm leaning towards the warm mist as I assume it will raise the temperature of the room and give a more balmy 'tropical' like environment. However I have read that people generally get the ultrasonic cool mist humidifiers. Are there any advantages to the ultrasonic cool mist humidifiers over the regular warm mist that people have experienced? Greater relative humidity? better coverage maybe? Lower power consumption?

The humus I have came in a 30 litre bag from the local nursery and is labeled 'humus plus'. Its actually been sitting in an open bag in a back shed for a year and feels a lot drier then when i first bought it. Not sticky at all. Do you think I'd be better off getting some fresh (living micro organisms etc) or doesn't this really matter? I'm thinking about heading towards a %33 perlite, %33 humus, %33 cactus soil mix at this stage based on what a forum member has recommended over at forums.ayahuasca.com but I might try replacing the cactus soil with regular high quality potting mix as well as a %60 perlite %40 hummus mix and see which makes the little guys smile more.

I've decided to go with the link listed here as a lighting solution .... http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HYDROPONICS-T5-FLUORO-PROPAGATION-4-X-55W-LAMP-/220874846723?pt=AU_Seed_Starting_Hydroponics&hash=item336d2ab203 For those who might be reading once this link is no longer active the link is a 4 x 55 watt T5 fluoro with a 60cms x 50cms reflector. I'm planning on removing 2 of the tubes which should give me 27.5 watts per square foot + %20 (for the increase of power from T8 to T5) which equals 33 watts per square foot of output. This might be a little too high so I might just raise the lights up a little until I get 500 lux at the tips. dg420: I am no longer going to use limestone as I am led to believe it will screw up the ph too much.

Thanks for the tips guys! Whitewind, what kind of soil would u suggest for indoors then? %60 perlite and %40 humus maybe? And maybe 6 inch pots to start with might be the way to go then? SallyD, Do recommend any particular brand or vendor for grabbing SMD LED's?

Nice looking plants Elf Hunter! I wonder if 50 watts of led translates into 50 watts of fluoro? I am starting to think that the 74 watts I have of fluoro lighting might not be enough for the 2 ft x 2 ft space I'm planning to grow in :/ Since this post I've actually been told to keep away from coco-peat and it makes the soil too damp. As well as no lime (due to ph) and the use of an ultrasonic humidifier instead of spraying. Does anybody have an experience with this?

G'day. I have a few a.floribunda's on the way (about 30cms tall at the moment) and was wondering if there was any special pruning techniques members had to maximize the amount of phyllodes I might end up with once these guys have reached maturity? Cheers

Not sure if these have been posted before but might be of help to some. By no means an exhaustive list of wattle. http://www.saveourwaterwaysnow.com.au/_dbase_upl/Wattles_ID.pdf http://riddellscreeklandcare.org.au/Acacia%20key1.pdf ... G