Search found 2984 matches

by TerdalFarm
Mon Dec 07, 2009 5:59 pm
Forum: Greenhouse & Outside Protection
Topic: Winter protection for Zone 7 by novice
Replies: 82
Views: 34325

Replies to Barb

Thanks for your help here. Let me answer some of your questions: Golden bamboo: it does look good. It is growing a little each year. I keep hoping it will take off and run as I gave it a lot of space. The only winter protection it gets is mulch. The chickens scratch that away and expose some roots e...
by TerdalFarm
Mon Dec 07, 2009 5:32 pm
Forum: Greenhouse & Outside Protection
Topic: Winter protection for Zone 7 by novice
Replies: 82
Views: 34325

thermostatic switch

I'll check on that switch. I am trying to make things as easy as possible. The reason is that I am escaping to Belize for a couple of weeks soon and leaving my wife behind in the cold. I don't really expect her to run out in the cold to turn things on for me when I am sweating in the jungle.....
by TerdalFarm
Sun Dec 06, 2009 7:51 pm
Forum: Cold Hardy Palms
Topic: What do you guys think?
Replies: 17
Views: 7499

C. humilis

I concur, on the Chamearops humilis. I've tried two, with minimal winter protection. The silver variety was from an expensive 1 gallon pot and did not make it. The larger (5 gallon) was a cheap HD purchase and is starting its 3rd winter. I mulch it heavily and put a 20-gallon bucket over it for the ...
by TerdalFarm
Sun Dec 06, 2009 4:05 pm
Forum: Greenhouse & Outside Protection
Topic: Winter protection for Zone 7 by novice
Replies: 82
Views: 34325

Butia shelter

Barb, Bill, Jim, thanks for the quick help. For those just checking in, here is a link to the photo of the shelter my 10-year-old and I made for the 15-gallon potted Butia I bought at the local HD last May and planted in ground in between the stumps of two Washingtonia that died last March: http://p...
by TerdalFarm
Sun Dec 06, 2009 9:25 am
Forum: Weather & Climate
Topic: First snow in your area part II
Replies: 15
Views: 6973

BIG storm

Jim, I'm following this one, too, as it will be so big as to hit me as well as you. The local meteorologists are still unsure how it will play out here. As of this morning, the prediction was snow in Kansas and cold rain here turning to snow late but they admit they are just not sure. I have to work...
by TerdalFarm
Sat Dec 05, 2009 5:14 pm
Forum: Greenhouse & Outside Protection
Topic: Winter protection for Zone 7 by novice
Replies: 82
Views: 34325

Trachy trunk wrap

Here is the Trachy I bought from Home Depot (15 gallon pot) in May. This will be its first winter. I sprayed the trunk with neem oil, wrapped it in burlap, sprayed that, wrapped that with fiberglass insulation for ducts, and then wrapped that with burlap. The slim poles are to support a 19-gallon ro...
by TerdalFarm
Sat Dec 05, 2009 5:05 pm
Forum: Greenhouse & Outside Protection
Topic: Winter protection for Zone 7 by novice
Replies: 82
Views: 34325

Winter protection for Zone 7 by novice

As I indicated on my "Introduction" post, I am new to growing palms in the ground here on the zone 6/7 border. I made a photo album on Picassa web: http://picasaweb.google.com/terdalfarm/WinterProtectionDec2009?feat=directlink I'll try to embed photos of specific plants I have questions ab...
by TerdalFarm
Sat Dec 05, 2009 9:08 am
Forum: Weather & Climate
Topic: First snow in your area
Replies: 48
Views: 20219

Tuesday storm

Jim, we'll get hit by the same storm coming your way. Hopefully not quite as cold--it was "only" 19 oF here this morning. I finished my winter protection last week. I'll post photos on a new thread and ask for suggestion I can implement before it gets really cold. [url]<a href="http:/...
by TerdalFarm
Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:10 am
Forum: Photo Gallery
Topic: Most Beautiful Palm in the World
Replies: 17
Views: 8903

I love palms at sunset at the beach. These are backlit, but the foreground makes it a favorite shot for me. [url=http://www.postimage.org/][img]http://s4.postimage.org/1IZHbi.jpg[/img][/url] The is the "split" on Caye Caulker, Belize. The little village had an economy based on coconut harv...
by TerdalFarm
Sun Nov 01, 2009 6:27 am
Forum: Weather & Climate
Topic: NOAA winter precip outlook.
Replies: 17
Views: 8348

El Nino timing

El Nino events can build over weeks to months. Here is a readable update from the Australian meteorology bureau: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/ It was published Oct. 28 and so is as current as I could find. I am still not convinced Oklahoma will be affected. It takes quite a large El Nino event...
by TerdalFarm
Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:50 pm
Forum: Weather & Climate
Topic: NOAA winter precip outlook.
Replies: 17
Views: 8348

El Nino

The NOAA is predicting slightly warmer than normal temps (on average) for my area: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions//multi_season/13_seasonal_outlooks/color/churchill.php This is the usual product of an El Nino event: http://www.elnino.noaa.gov/ I am taking more risks this winter in...
by TerdalFarm
Sat Oct 24, 2009 7:38 pm
Forum: Greenhouse & Outside Protection
Topic: Fungicides?
Replies: 11
Views: 5529

Neem oil

Thanks! I'll look for it.
I bought, on impulse, a bottle of "fungicide" spray today with the active ingredient of neem oil. Does anyone have experience with it?
by TerdalFarm
Sat Oct 24, 2009 9:48 am
Forum: Other Plants of Interest
Topic: Tree ferns
Replies: 9
Views: 5255

Bill,
I think it cost US$20 and had a trunk of six inches or so. It was the largest this particular local nursery had that day.
--Erik
by TerdalFarm
Sat Oct 24, 2009 6:50 am
Forum: Cold Hardy - General
Topic: Ginger
Replies: 1
Views: 2649

Dig or cover?

Do you dig up your gingers and bring them in or do you leave them in the ground with mulch?
by TerdalFarm
Sat Oct 24, 2009 6:46 am
Forum: Other Plants of Interest
Topic: Tree ferns
Replies: 9
Views: 5255

local nursery

My local nursery carries D. antarctica. I bought a large trunked specimen in May and kept it in a large (5 gal.) terra cotta pot on the front porch, in shade except for the morning. In late June, we went out of town for a couple of weeks. Temps were in the lows 100s oF each afternoon and about 80 oF...
by TerdalFarm
Sat Oct 24, 2009 6:35 am
Forum: Greenhouse & Outside Protection
Topic: Fungicides?
Replies: 11
Views: 5529

Fungicides?

The fungicide I have used in the past has been the copper-based soaps referred to in Francko's 2003 book. I spray the trunk and stem of my palms before I put them in leaf enclosures, and again in late winter/early Spring. I tend to use it rather generously. I have read somewhere here on this forum t...
by TerdalFarm
Tue Oct 20, 2009 8:54 pm
Forum: Germination
Topic: My New Incubator / Seed Propagator
Replies: 22
Views: 10893

Cool 'fridge!

This will let you keep them consistently warm. The fan is to circulate air. Will the fan dry the growing medium too fast?
by TerdalFarm
Mon Oct 19, 2009 6:30 pm
Forum: Member Introduction
Topic: Hello from Oklahoma
Replies: 16
Views: 14096

sabal minor seeds

Do you scrape the fruit off of the seeds? Do you scar the seeds? Do you soak them? Am I making this out to be harder than it needs to be?
by TerdalFarm
Sun Oct 18, 2009 7:09 pm
Forum: Member Introduction
Topic: Howdy from Little Elm, Texas
Replies: 22
Views: 16368

Lovely!

Rocky, thanks for sharing the photos. I was especially impressed with the pindo palm. I hope mine looks that well in, oh, a decade. I bought it at HD. As you said, they do not seem to pay attention to local climate the way locally owned nurseries do. I can only assume Tulsa got a shipment because it...
by TerdalFarm
Sun Oct 18, 2009 6:49 pm
Forum: Member Introduction
Topic: Hello from Oklahoma
Replies: 16
Views: 14096

Name

Bill, sorry about that omission. My name is Erik. Rocky, that's interesting that your live oak is from Tri B in Hulbert, OK. I drive through their fields along highway 51 east of Tulsa regularly for work. It is a truly huge nursery in the foothills of the Ozark mountains. It is slightly colder there...
by TerdalFarm
Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:51 pm
Forum: Member Introduction
Topic: Hello from Oklahoma
Replies: 16
Views: 14096

My Jubaea has been a disappointment. I keep it in a pot and change soils annually. It is outside May - October. It lives outdoors in partial shade to avoid the worst heat. (The potted Chameadora radicalis next to it does great.) The Jubaea long ago lost all of its foliage, and has not grown new leav...
by TerdalFarm
Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:58 am
Forum: Member Introduction
Topic: Hello from Oklahoma
Replies: 16
Views: 14096

Paul, thanks for the links. I've been to those websites but not the actual store. I keep assuming I'll be in OKC on business sometime and will be able to drop by but it hasn't happened yet. I prefer large specimens, so it makes sense to drive there vs, mail order. I'll be driving to Ft. Worth, Texas...
by TerdalFarm
Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:52 am
Forum: Member Introduction
Topic: Hello from Oklahoma
Replies: 16
Views: 14096

Bill, She likes to build things, so I think we're going to make a frame using 2" x 4"s to go over the [i]Butia[/i]. We'd staple clear plastic to the frame. She also wants to use heat tape to preserve the trunk and spear. Should the tape directly contact the plant tissue, or do we wrap the ...
by TerdalFarm
Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:31 pm
Forum: Member Introduction
Topic: Hello from Oklahoma
Replies: 16
Views: 14096

Hello from Oklahoma

Hello from Oklahoma! I was referred here by knnn, whom I "met" by commenting on his neat YouTube video showing how to build a minigreenhouse ([url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zfIHf2PNVA[/url]). I'm working on a tropical-themed garden around the pool on our hobby farm outside Tulsa. Her...