Nepenthes Update. 4.15.19

Nepenthes sanguinea.  4.15.19

Nepenthes x St. Mercury.  4.15.19

The larger of these tropical carnivorous plants, Nepenthes pitcher plants, are making nice pitchers.   They appear to be on the verge of opening.

This is my first try with these, so I don't know how long they will take to open.  Fun to watch them every day.

I've been watering them with rain water, supplemented with very diluted regular miracle grow.  The instructions state that for regular watering of house plants, use small scoop (I think the small scoop is 1/4 teaspoon) per quart of water.  I'm using 1/2 of small scoop.  I let the water drain through.  This seems like an almost homeopathic dose, but over the long run seems to be supporting excellent growth, and I don't have to remember the last time that I fertilized them.

Grafting Update. 4.7.19

Whip/Tongue Graft of Beauty Plum.  4.7.19

Whip/Tongue Graft of Black Ice Plum.  4.7.19

 So far, almost all of the grafts are looking good, have broken dormancy and started to grow.  While some scion wood will grow for a short while even without the graft taking, that is short-lived.  I think we are well on the way.

Interesting observations.  Interesting to me, anyway.

Beauty Plum (From Home Orchard Society), already had flower buds before I picked up the scion at the scion fair.  Even so, and even though they bloomed - weakly - and the petals fell off, the growth points remained viable and are growing.

I could not tell which way was up for the kiwi grafts,  So I did about half one way, and half the other way.  Sure enough, only about half of them are growing.

Whip/Tongue Graft of Male Fuzzy Kiwi.  4.7.19

Whip/Tongue Graft of Male Fuzzy Kiwi.  4.7.19

 For Pristine apple, I saved scion from living growth of a failed graft.  Since it was only holding on by a thin strip of bark and cambium, the 1 year growth was very spindly and thin.  I grafted some of those, and some second year growth that was thicker.  Both seem to be taking OK.

Pears and Quinces seem to take off and grow the fastest.

Non-Grafted Bud of Kiwi, Breaking Dormancy.  4.7.19

Whip/Tongue Graft of Raja Asian Pear.  4.7.19

Whip/Tongue Graft of Pristine Apple.  4.7.19

Whip/Tongue Graft of Pristine Apple.  4.7.19

Nepenthes, Tropical Carnivorous Plants. 4.7.19

Here are a coupleof the Nepenthes that I bought this winter.  The small pitchered one was in my LED plant set-up until last week.  The other has been in my sunroom since buying it.  Since they are vines, I have them hanging from the overhead window struts. On the larger plant, the initial pitchers died after the move - stress from a new home.  The small pitchered plant actually had new ones growing from the outset.

I'll try to remember to add their names later.  So far, I'm more than pleased with these fun plants.

I think the larger pitchered plants will grow much larger pitchers.  It's fun to watch as they develop.

These were from Sarracenia Northwest.

Grafting Update. 4.7.19

Here are the container geraniums that I stored in the garage overwinter.  Plus one that was small enough to store in a window.

They look quite sad.  However, after removing dead leaves, and watering, the first tubs look a little better.

Buying new plants that are blooming already gives a more instant result, but this method is a little cheaper and will result in larger plants with more flowers.

Is it Actually Better to Mulch Irises in this Climate? 4.7.19

Bearded Irises, No Mulch.  4.7.19

Bearded Irises, No Mulch.  4.7.19

 I have decided that the recommendations to never mulch irises are so much garden legend, unfounded and contrary to fact.  It could be, in most climates, and with most mulches, irises will get sick and die, like they suggest.  Rhizomes rotting due to too much moisture.

A few years ago, I basically gave up on my irises.  They repeatedly got fungal and/or bacterial leaf diseases.  Not only misshapen and ugly, but the leaves would die at their bases.

I finally gave up, planted them at the edge of the woodlot, and mostly forgot about them.  I mulched that area with arborist chips, to keep the weeds down. Interestingly, all of those irises flourished.  And no leaf diseases.  My enthusiasm returned, and I decided to move many of the clumps into a dedicated garden bed.  I kept the soil surface clean, and free of weeds.  I also added many new varieties.  However, the space was limited, so probably half of my bearded irises are still in the mulched border.

Meanwhile, I added a finely chopped fir bark mulch to those in the border.  This was the cheapest mulch I could find.  I used it to keep down weeds.

Bearded Irises, Bark Mulch.  4.7.19

Bearded Irises, Bark Mulch.  4.7.19

 Both groups of irises were doing great until this week.  We had a chill, a big rain storm, and several rainy days.

Result:  Now many of the irises that I am growing "correctly" have the leaf spot diseases again.  None of the mulched ones do.

I'm disappointed.  I really followed the instructions.  But the ones that I had "written off" and mulched regardless of the MANY reports stating not to,  look great.  MANY of the ones that I treated right, with no mulch - have leaf spot diseases.

Here is my theory.  Maybe the fir bark has antibacterial and antifungal properties.  And maybe the rain splashes spores of bacteria and fungi onto the leaves, where they grow.  Mulched soil does not allow the spread of the diseases.

As an aside, I had decomissioned some of the old raised iris beds and constructed a raised bud on top of them.  I dug out most of the irises and moved the clumps to the woodlot border, but some were too much trouble.  So I buried them, at least 6 inches deep.  DUring the next year, several bearded iris plants grew up through the soil, and did fine.

Mearded Irises, Bark Mulch.  3.7.19

Bearded Irises, Bark Mulch.  3.7.19

I dug those out and moved them.  They had constructed new, sort of vertical rhizomes, up to the soil surface.  They are growing fine.  So I'm really not convinved that the rule, never bury iris rhizomes, is universally true.  Maybe mostly true, in most places.  Garden wisdom happens for a reason.  But I have to face the facts and experience in my garden:  Not only does mulching, at least with shredded or small nougat fir bark, not damage iris rhizomes, it may well protect them from disease.

I'll continue to watch them, of course.  Maybe the ones in the mulched borders are just waiting then will burst out with devastating leaf diseases.  We'll see.