Plants in the cold building

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Nov 30, 2010 7:05 pm

Kept barely heated for stuff that prefers a cool winter...about 38F-40F.

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Next pic: Sadly, this little Sabal Palmetto is getting some tough love after 2 years of being sick/no growth.
Each year he gets Scale and each year I clean it off 4 times. Now this huge infestation!
One thing I didn't try was the "tobacco baptism" treatment, but sorry sabal, out you go to meet Santa and the Reindeer before you infest others.

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Plants look OK after 2 months in the building, even though CIDP looks like it's getting some "frizzle top".
They have a long wait until they get out of there.
Barb

oppalm · Post by **oppalm** » Tue Nov 30, 2010 7:51 pm

looking good Barb. How do you heat this building. Looks like you have great light and windows in there.

That sabal with the scale looks gnarly. I think its best to throw it out. Don't need that sabal spreading the scale.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Tue Nov 30, 2010 8:12 pm

great stuff Barb! I wish I had a botanical garden like yours!!!

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Nov 30, 2010 8:28 pm

Kent, agreed. The gnarly one is gone (nearly kills ME to do that!)
winter won't kill scale, they're native to North America...about 200 types of 'em

For heat, a couple of barely-working baseboard heaters, they turn on (maybe) at 55F.
So I put the second portable heater in there, basically turned off until it gets to -15C outside.
The goal is to keep the interior really cool for plants that like a cool winter, but not freeze waterlines...

a botanical garden like yours!

What a nice comment Tim!

Barb

TerdalFarm · Post by **TerdalFarm** » Tue Nov 30, 2010 8:48 pm

Barb,
very nice!
Functions like our "ball room" but looks much nicer--and with more and better plants. --Erik

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Nov 30, 2010 8:55 pm

Form follows function! Thanks Erik.

BILL MA · Post by **BILL MA** » Wed Dec 01, 2010 1:53 pm

I second Tim.

You have a very IMPRESSIVE collection Barb! I wish you lived closer and we could do some tradin'. Your cold frame looks like it's on the deluxe end

Scale is a real pain in the ass, I'm lucky that I only have the soft scale "false scale" on my potted palms here. 20f hasn't killed it off yet, it's been twice too. I can't leave my palms out til the palms die too

Time for a couple of nice bombs for the greenhouse

Bill

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Wed Dec 01, 2010 3:16 pm

Barb

Neem oil will completely suffocate the scale,give it a try before tossing your Sabal,
or leave sit out long enough to freeze the scale but not the palm.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Wed Dec 01, 2010 3:33 pm

we could do some tradin'

Thanks Bill, we sure could!
That gorgeous blue one of yours would be travellin' north!

Hell, I'd come work for you just to wander among those beauties.

Can't count on cold to wipe out scale, it's native to North America...all types of scale.
Palms would get hit first, scale would just move on.

The real trick--and I'm determined to do this in 2011 -- is to get rid of ALL ants around the buildings/patio, etc.
Ants farm the scale in a symbiotic relationship...ants get honeydew, scale gets moved around to a new plant.

Boric acid (powder) available for cheap from pharmacist, can be mixed with a little honey to make it sweet.
Place in a mayonnaise lid, but nowhere dogs and cats and kids can get at it.
Ants take the poison back to their colony, wiping out the queens and everything else.

Bill, mine is the soft scale too, but what a load of 'em on the little sabal.

Jim, I used Neem Oil, it made the plants so sticky even the ladybugs got stuck

Mess on the floor too when I mist the plants.
So then I used a Q-tip with rubbing alcohol to clean leaves...a ton of work...hopefully rubbing off the sticky Neem stuff too.
You posted a couple of weeks ago that Neem Oil leads to...what was it? fungus? can't remember what you said.

I've got so many ladybugs, even in my house on the windows...I keep taking them off the windows and putting them on the plants

Don't want to use any "bombs" for scale for that reason.
Parasitic wasps do a good job on scale, but obviously not hopeful for them to show up in the cold building during winter.

Fortunately not a bug on the Foxtail that I'll be delivering soon to "okanagandesertpalms" (John)

Barb

TerdalFarm · Post by **TerdalFarm** » Wed Dec 01, 2010 3:57 pm

Barb,
wow!
Tons of info. in that post to think about.
Ants: lots of 'em this past year. The dead Butia and the healthy Chammie were plagued. I killed them with spray poison early in summer. Still, so many out in the pasture our good neighbors gave me a sack of poison. Haven't used it yet.
Anyway, I never made a connection between ants and scale. No ants in the house, thank goodness.
Neem oil: didn't help last winter, but maybe I didn't use enough? Or perhaps spray isn't sufficient? I didn't get rid of scale until I could set plants out in full sun in late April.

Glad the foxtails are s healthy.

--Erik