Blood Trance Fusion Posted January 3, 2011 Greeting, fellow gardeners! I've taken the plunge and started gardening with maidenii which, due to their native (and current) environment, are thankfully hardy even withstanding the presumed, untold torture and neglect I'm putting them through! As all can see from the attached photographs, they're well and truly out of the starting gates but I'm not sure where I go from here. In the second photograph you can see that I've moved some of them into plastic jars (those brave souls who withstood the claws of one of my ferrets) and all of their roots have extended to the bottom of these jars while the roots of those still in the seedling trays are very clumped and coiled at the bottom of each cell. Given their stage in life, is it time for these to go outside? Is it time for the ones in the cells to re-locate to the plastic jars where they should remain until older? They're all around 3 months old and despite the root situation, the ones that have been in the jars for half of their life are the same size and lusciousness as their cell-bound clones (née siblings). Thanks in advance for any advice or general gardening tips! If i'm doing anything well-wrong, I'd like to know. P.S. One thing I have reservations about is their necks craning to reach the sun's light. I've noticed them getting crook backs from leaning so much so I simply rotate their trays or containers so they bend the other way until I can come up with direct lighting from above. Any suggestions on artificial lighting (LED?, W?, V?) to give these children the best chances in life? Peace. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted January 3, 2011 They should be fine outside. Might be an idea to harden them off to full sun slowly, but they can take it with no problems. Being in jars like that might cause fungal problems. They don't need humidity and should receive good air flow. Better to just pot them into normal pots. I always start my Acacias outside so that they are hardened off to the environment which they are to remain in from day 1. They do best under bright light, such as the sun provides. A windowsill isn't a good place for them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blood Trance Fusion Posted January 4, 2011 (edited) They should be fine outside. Might be an idea to harden them off to full sun slowly, but they can take it with no problems. Being in jars like that might cause fungal problems. They don't need humidity and should receive good air flow. Better to just pot them into normal pots. I always start my Acacias outside so that they are hardened off to the environment which they are to remain in from day 1. They do best under bright light, such as the sun provides. A windowsill isn't a good place for them. Hi, tripsis. I've only been using these plastic jars out of convenience as I get them for free but I'll get real pots for them now, thanks. You're spot-on with the fungus; I've been getting slivers of white and orange in the soil which (thanks to it being visible through the plastic) I've tried to keep on top of, removing and replacing with hopefully-clean (can dirt be not dirty? ) soil. I've unfortunately just moved into a high-rise flat (as you can see out the window) in the inner city so "outside" will prove difficult. Do you think they're ready to fend for themselves in the earth or simply outside like "a window-hanging pot is ideal"? I am keen to get these out into the world and start some more from seed as I think they're nice plants which are sadly targets for vandalism-theft due to their make-up. Thanks for weighing in! I'll make these changes as soon as I can. Edited January 4, 2011 by Blood Trance Fusion Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted January 4, 2011 You could still use those plastic containers, just cut them to that they do not have a lip which traps humidity and reduces airflow. They would probably do fine in the earth if you could keep an eye on them, but outside in pots is what I was thinking. It's just better that they are in full sun and exposed to the elements more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blood Trance Fusion Posted January 4, 2011 You could still use those plastic containers, just cut them to that they do not have a lip which traps humidity and reduces airflow. They would probably do fine in the earth if you could keep an eye on them, but outside in pots is what I was thinking. It's just better that they are in full sun and exposed to the elements more. Great! I'll commission window-hanging pots so they can cop a gust, a bit o' sun, my constant attention and probably the neigbous' and building manager's attention/complaints too. Thank you, again, for your advice! One last thing; as I mentioned I'm primarily preparing them for autonomy/subsistence in the wild. What height should I let them reach before turfing them out to recieve only a weekly check-up and watering? In light of this arbitrary goal; will the current soil depth be enough to not inhibit their growth until such time as they're truly ready to move out? Not knowing much about plants yet, I have the fear that constrained roots would give the plant the idea to take it easy as it doesn't have much to work with. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted January 4, 2011 I can't answer your question out of direct experience, but think about the size seedlings are when used as forestry/bush regeneration stock. Due to the fact that the nurseries don't have much room, they limit the size of the pots of standard tube stock pots, which limits the plants to being relatively small. This doesn't stop them from all being planted out though. Anywhere between 15cm and 45cm is probably fine, but smaller or larger could work too (I'm just hypothesising here). Someone will know better than I no doubt. I would think that the more established, the better, but this might not necessarily hold true. It's important to disturb the roots as little as possible, although I've noticed A. maidenii and A. obtusifolia cope with repotting and disturbed roots pretty well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blood Trance Fusion Posted January 4, 2011 (edited) I can't answer your question out of direct experience, but think about the size seedlings are when used as forestry/bush regeneration stock. Due to the fact that the nurseries don't have much room, they limit the size of the pots of standard tube stock pots, which limits the plants to being relatively small. This doesn't stop them from all being planted out though. Anywhere between 15cm and 45cm is probably fine, but smaller or larger could work too (I'm just hypothesising here). Someone will know better than I no doubt. I would think that the more established, the better, but this might not necessarily hold true. It's important to disturb the roots as little as possible, although I've noticed A. maidenii and A. obtusifolia cope with repotting and disturbed roots pretty well. That advice sounds reasonable to me too. I'll go with the middle-ground as to give them a good chance without stunting their growth due to my space limitations but large enough that raindrops won't blast them away or a resting ladybug snap them. I have re-potted some indicviduals twice and on those occasions there were some soil mishaps and root loss but they really have shown no differences in health or growth to those that have been rooted all along; really a good plant to start with! I feel that all along if I'd been watering them with methylated spirits and had sewn them in cement, they'd be doing just as well. Even though your advice has been general, it's given an extreme beginner some confidence. I've started a Corroboree blog where I'll be posting updates, photographs and maybe even some advice on the off chance that I do something well! Edited January 4, 2011 by Blood Trance Fusion Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted January 4, 2011 Good luck with it all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
