Nina's seedlings 2014

Ninja

Ninja

Well-Known Member
107
24/02/14
39
48
Austria, Europe (Zone 5-6)
last sunday I planted the first batch of seeds.. and this weekend I already got some action :)
here's my mini-ikea-greenhouse
seedlings14_small_1.JPG

and here the first seedlings from my 'holy' seedpod Acapulco Gold x Bayou Irene...whish me luck
seedlings14_small_2.JPG
 
hi Angela, no this were 'old' seeds.
I harvested them about a year ago, and kept them for this season. Actually I was a bit nervous if and when they would sprout given that I stored them for so long. The ideal planting season here is from february (or even january if you can get them enough light) until march or april, so the seedlings can grow a bit, get outdoors during summer and get strong enough to survive the next winter indoors. So I basically kept all the seeds that I harvested either to late or had no space for for this season. And I'm glad it works :). I nicked them and put them into moist substrate, additionally I use a heating mat. I guess that speeds things up.
The crosses that already sprouted include Climax x Dark Continent, Suntan x White Diamonds (the only usable cross of WD I have so far..), Me Oh My Oh x Dark Continent, the Acapulco Gold seedlings and a Jason Blue x Ice Fairy cross. I guess I'll plant a second batch soon.
 
I did some picking apart yesterday (basically made a huge mess) and planted a couple more 'in memoriam' seeds (of plants I lost this winter)

here's the seedling window:

seedlingchaos.JPG

you can also see my (pathetic) palms there, but as long as I'm in the flat I don't mind that they grow slowly.
They are about three years old. One is a taiwan sugar palm (arenga engleri) the other two - no idea.
The biggest one I believed was a simple phoenix canariensis (got one of those at the office) until it's leaves unfolded in a fan-shape..
and there's also some containers with chili in between - no strange shaped hibiscus :D
 
Looking good! I'm fighting a losing battle against fungus gnats :(
I saw brown on the root of a seedling and dug it up and all the root was eaten/rotted away :(

Those sound like some really interesting crosses. Can't wait til my white diamonds starts blooming but that's probably six months away at least.
 
oh that sucks... I have some fungus gnats buzzing around as well but apparently not enough to damage my plants. do you have any systemic pesticide you could water them with?

on white diamonds - I was a bit disappointed, if it's doing well, mine grows into a long lanky plant. so I pruned it rather often with the result that I had very few blooms so far and only two crosses that worked out.
I'll try to cross it to a nicer plant to get something better.

and on the crosses - yes, this is the first growing season for me with really really interesting crosses. Johan already has some of those seeds growing since last year.
as last summer didn't work out that well with seedlings I'm considering to keep them indoors to have more stable condition.
last year was the first entire summer being in the new flat and therefore balcony and a crazy mix of weeks with rain and then scorchingly hot temperatures - add a white fly plague to that and you have a full grown disaster. I lost most of last years seedlings, the ones that survived where the most tiny scrawny plants I was considering to throw in the bin... I guess now I'm stuck with them :D

I hope I'll learn from my mistakes and do better this year - and I'm really glad I sent those seeds to Johan last summer instead of getting greedy and planting them right away.
 
some of them start to look like real plants now - and I found aphids on them!!!
no idea how they got there, probably came in through the window (???) those seedlings never left the room and were more or less isolated from other plants.
fascinating.
DSC06264.JPG
 
wow, that depends very much on the area. but from what I observed here in Linz (not high altitude) over the last years, or this year - the last freeze this spring was on the post above, so 17th april. first freezes in autumn can be from beginning of october, last year it didn't freeze until november. the safe window for having tropical plants like hibiscus outdoors is mid of may until beginning of october.
 
so, here's an update - finally... we've been having really decent weather lately, so I just couldn't bring myself up to switching on the computer at home (no smartphone yet, I try to resist :p)
here's a picture I took on 7th July, initially to show Angela that violet Anthurium I had told her about , hibiscus seedlings in the background

DSC06331.JPG

and here's todays view of the seedling window

DSC06507.JPG

the 'bigger' Ti's that were in the glasshouse were moved to the balcony, so the little things in the yoghurt cups are - freshly hatched PLUMERIAs!!

DSC06508.JPG
:D
 
Ninja said:
so, here's an update - finally... we've been having really decent weather lately, so I just couldn't bring myself up to switching on the computer at home (no smartphone yet, I try to resist :p)
here's a picture I took on 7th July, initially to show Angela that violet Anthurium I had told her about , hibiscus seedlings in the background

View attachment 27106

and here's todays view of the seedling window

View attachment 27107

the 'bigger' Ti's that were in the glasshouse were moved to the balcony, so the little things in the yoghurt cups are - freshly hatched PLUMERIAs!!

View attachment 27108
:D
Click to expand...
Looking good there.
 
Ninja said:
wow, that depends very much on the area. but from what I observed here in Linz (not high altitude) over the last years, or this year - the last freeze this spring was on the post above, so 17th april. first freezes in autumn can be from beginning of october, last year it didn't freeze until november. the safe window for having tropical plants like hibiscus outdoors is mid of may until beginning of october.
Click to expand...
Your outdoor growing season was the same as I had when I lived in Central Virginia. Great job on over wintering your tropical plants .
 
I've discoverd tiny tiny buds on two Acapulco Gold x Bayou Irene seedlings (one of them was already dropped again ... duh..)
And I've been seeing huge holes in my seedlings leaves (they have never been outdoors) - this weekend while showering them I finally discovered the reason - a huge fat caterpillar! In my flat!
 
Ninja said:
I've discoverd tiny tiny buds on two Acapulco Gold x Bayou Irene seedlings (one of them was already dropped again ... duh..)
And I've been seeing huge holes in my seedlings leaves (they have never been outdoors) - this weekend while showering them I finally discovered the reason - a huge fat caterpillar! In my flat!
Click to expand...

:Dead Did you take a photo before it got smashed to smithereens ? GreyAlien HungOver How did that caterpillar's egg get deposited in your flat ? Watching
 
I'm having palm and other losses from the caterpillar of the Banana Moth. These caterpillars are the worse because they are so hungry, and can travel long distances at night (or at least their eggs can). And these ones of the banana moth are the boring type, so surface sprays do nothing.
 
I'm going to use that thread for all my seedlings, since I have next to nothing for 2015.. Anyway - here are some blooms:
AcapulcoGold_x_BayouIrene.JPG Suntan_x_WhiteDiamonds_No1_2015_1.JPG 2012-51-05_IceFairy_x_ElectricPizzazz_2015_02.JPG Climax_x_Tamibon-5_2015_1.JPG
 

Attachments

  • 2012-51-05_IceFairy_x_ElectricPizzazz_2015_02.JPG
    2012-51-05_IceFairy_x_ElectricPizzazz_2015_02.JPG
    428.1 KB · Views: 293
  • Suntan_x_WhiteDiamonds_No1_2015_1.JPG
    Suntan_x_WhiteDiamonds_No1_2015_1.JPG
    364.9 KB · Views: 301
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top