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Here are the palms etc. that I have outside hardening off.
This is the Livistona chinensis that Home Depot beat up for me
And the smaller ones. The Sabal minor v. louisiana are the smallest and are 1 year from seed. Then comes the 2 year old Trachycarpus fortunei that I got bare rooted last spring. It took almost a year to recover and grow a new leaf. Finally, the big ones are Washingtonia filifera that are about 14 months from seed.
I'll post the cacti and yucca under their heading.
Allen
You don't have to be crazy to grow palms in Alberta..... But it helps
Hi John;
I used 2 x 20 watt flourescent 'grow' bulbs and 8 x 13 watt cool white compact flourescent spiral bulbs 16 hours per day from about mid September until April. I also had them in a south exposure window for the same period. My new S. minor and banana seedlings will get the same treatment next winter.
This winter (fingers crossed) they will get southern greenhouse window. I am pretty sure that I will be getting 2 x 15 gal palms, B. capitata and C. humulus, this spring and the knock down housing for the palms and bananas will get built.
My neighbors teased me most of the winter about getting busted for growing pot in my front window.
Allen
You don't have to be crazy to grow palms in Alberta..... But it helps
With the lights on from before light to well after dark, they stand out. The natural light and cool white light looks much more intense than warm white light. The brightness indicates that I am trying to speed growth and it is more humorous for them to believe that I am growing pot instead of palms. The house is 50' back from the sidewalk and it is hard to recognize what is growing.
I have been talking to Larry Cole from Tropi-Cole Trading.
Barry Kyupers has told me he wasn't sure what he was getting in but said that he didn't have anything in the 15 gal size coming in, just larger and smaller. His truck load should have come in this week. I plan to call him on Monday. Hopefully I can get some decent sized Sabal minors, Yuccas or Agaves from him. But he will have to ship them to me as he says that most stock will be gone before I can drive down there in Mid June.
Are you going to add to your collection this year?
Allen
Last edited by Alchris on Fri May 11, 2007 9:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
You don't have to be crazy to grow palms in Alberta..... But it helps
I am going to try to build an insulated greenhouse with 2 or so layers of glass or plastic on the south side. It will be heated to between 35 F and 45 F using electrical heat tapes. It should break down into 4 wall sections and a roof section for easy summer storage.
The bananas will be planted in the ground with the GH assembled right after the first frost to sort of simulate a zone 10 winter. If it works, I might even have bananas in the summer of 09. Mulching is not an option for me with lows of -26 C or slightly lower. I want my bananas less than 10' tall, so the hardier varieties are too tall.
Allen
You don't have to be crazy to grow palms in Alberta..... But it helps
. Do your seedlings get any supplemental lighting during the winter?
Like me, they need new glasses! 