The Right Length of Day To Make Your Plant Flower

 To understand plant flowering, you need to understand a term "photoperiodism," which is the amount of light and darkness a plant is exposed to. The amount of uninterrupted darkness is what determines the formation of flowers on most types of plants.  Uninterrupted is bold because this is very important.  When growing indoors you want to make sure your grow area is light proof or you may not get any or very poor flowering.  Some growers  think that the length of daylight a plant is exposed to determines when a plant flowers.  However, scientific experiments proved otherwise. It is the length of darkness that a plant experiences that plays the most crucial role.

A plant that requires a long period of darkness, is termed a "short day" (long night) plant. Short-day plants form flowers only when day length is less than about 12 hours. Many spring and fall flowering plants are short day plants, including some strawberries and Christmas cactus. If these are exposed to more than 12 hours of light per day, they won’t flower.

Other plants require only a short night to flower. These are termed "long day" plants. These bloom only when they receive more than 12 hours of light. Many of our summer blooming flowers and garden vegetables are long day plants, such as, lettuce, spinach and potatoes. These all bloom when the days are long.  And some plants form flowers regardless of day length. Botanists call these "day neutral" plants. Tomatoes, corn, cucumbers and some strawberries are day-neutral.

 

You can do an internet search for the plant you grow to see if it is a short day, long day or day neutral plant.

Good Growing,

Dr. E.R. Myers

E-mail - What To Do if Plants Partially Eaten

I got an E-mail from someone asking what to do: they had their plants eaten by something.  Since the plants were about an inch tall with 1-2 leaves left, I would say it is deer or more likely rabbits.  Deer tend to leave about a foot of most plants they eat.

The first thing you need to do is put a fence around the plants.  I have not known many people to have long term success with things like coyote pee or other sprays.  The problem is every time it rains they get diluted.  Feel free to try things like hot pepper spray from HTGSuply.com, but you will have to spray your plants every few days and after every rain.  If you have a few plants you can put stakes around all of them using chicken wire.  If you have an area that is less than 3-4 feet in diameter, I have found that deer will not jump into that. 

As for the plant, you want to baby the plants as much as possible, water them daily, and give them a fertilizer that is high in nitrogen.  I like Buddha grow myself. Nitrogen promotes plant growth.  Do not over do it!  Some people get the idea more is better, as I have stated previously, you want the best or optimal amount, too much nitrogen will lead to spindly weak plants that are susceptible to disease and will flower poorly or at all.

If your plants flower in mid-late summer, as soon as your plants start growing again, you will want to make sure the plants get phosphorus to promote flowering.  If you are growing a spring flowering plant, you might not get flowers until fall when the days shorten.  No matter what, you won’t get as large a yield as you would have if your plants had not been eaten, but you will get something for your troubles.

Good growing,

Dr. E.R. Myers

Getting the Most of Your Spring Bulbs

In my previous post about forcing Amaryllis bulbs I talked about how you can get flowers inside anytime from plants that have a bulb.  Amaryllis is a tropical bulb, which means that if you live in an area that has a cold winter, it will die if you put it in the ground over winter.  However, you could force tulips, hyacinth or other typical bulbs like I do and then add them to your outdoor flower beds.  This way you get to enjoy the flowers inside once and then outdoors every spring.  I like to buy a bag of hyacinth in the fall, put them in the bottom of my refrigerator in wet soil or sand (damp not soaking wet) for a month.  Then, as winter starts, I take one bulb out and force it.  If you do this you will notice the first bulb or two will take much longer go grow and flower.  Bulbs need a rest period, and one month is about the minimum.  Once the bulbs flower, I keep them in a small pot with soil and keep them growing in a window until spring.  I recommend dead heading the plants.  This means cut off the flower bud that is left.  You do not want the bulb using energy to make seeds.  I then plant the bulbs outside.  Make sure you water the bulbs (I do it before I cover the bulbs with soil) with a high phosphorus fertilizer.  This is important for two reasons.  First it will encourage the bulb to grow roots now, and second the phosphorus will encourage big healthy flowers next spring.

I am using fox farm bush doctor root drench this year, it has a high phosphorus percentage and microbes which will result in bigger and more flowers next spring.

Good Growing,
Dr. E. R. Myers

Getting Ready for Spring and Outdoor Growing

Good growers, know one of the best things about growing in doors is that you always have sunny days with the optimal temperatures and just the right amount of water.  Indoors you can maximize photosynthesis every day of the week.  This is not true outdoors.
However, space can be limiting indoors, and you need to pick the right size container for you plants.  You also need to pay for electricity and all the environmental issues that go with that.  I encourage you to try outdoor growing, it is easy to do especially if you already have a green thumb from being an indoor grower.  Soil can be tested and altered but if you plan to water and fertilize your outdoor plants this is not absolutely necessary.  Also, checking the pH is not usually needed for outdoor growing. Again, if you have the ability to check and alter the pH by all means do so.

Good Outdoor Growing,
Dr. E.R. Myers

I started 2013 with an idea to try new things, and I mentioned seed germination ideas.

A scientific test on the best medium for seed germination

Seed germination in a plastic bag

Seed Storage

Determining seed sex

Good lighting for seedlings

Drying Herbs - Pictorial

This is one of three sections that comes with the Dry Net Ultra

Air drying herbs can be used to preserve all types of herbs, unlike freezing herbs which is only suitable for certain high moisture types. Many people enjoy their herbs year round by drying their herbs and keeping them in jars or airtight containers.

A simple method of air drying is to hang the plants with leaves/flowers still attached to the stems and upside down in a closet. This is how I dry garlic in the fall. For most other things, like the hops I grow to brew beer, I use the dry net.

Air drying is great because it does not cost a dime. I have happily been using the dry net for a few years, and I really like it. Simply spread the cleaned leaves or flowers one layer thick on a section of the dry net. This allows proper air flow, I have recommended to turn the plant material over each day to ensure even drying. It is best to do this process indoors away from intense heat and light which would cause the herbs to lose greater amounts of flavor. The dry nets fit inside most grow tents, so once you are done growing, you can use the grow tent to dry your herbs.

It took about a week to dry these hops in my spare room.  The temperature was about 68F and humidity ranged from 40-60%.   I kept the ceiling fan on 24/7 to promote moderate airflow.

Once your herbs are dried, you can store them whole (such as I have done above) or crumble the herbs (such as oregano) before placing them in an airtight container such as a glass jar. I put these hops in plastic bags and have them in the freezer.  Hops are best fresh, so I will be using these to add flavor on the next few batches of beer.

Good Growing,
Dr. E.R. Myers

Improving Plant Growth by Knowing Your Soil.

It is important to understand soil, in order to be a good grower. The first thing to look at is soil texture. This is simply the percentages of sand, silt and clay that make up any soil. The size of the particles is important in how much air and water will be in a soil type. Sand particles (range from 0.05-2mm) are the biggest, so they will encourage soils to drain allowing oxygen to get to the roots. However, without watering the plants, sandy soils can dry out and leave the plant without water, which is crucial for photosynthesis. Clay particles are the smallest, (less than 0.002mm) so water has a hard time moving through clay. Also, clay had a negative charge so water and nutrients that have a positive charge ‘stick’ to clay. This means clay soil’s hold on to water (and nutrients) so they help keep a soil moist. However, clay soil’ can have slow or no drainage which means the soil will become waterlogged (all the pores full of water) and the roots won’t be able to get oxygen and the plant will not grow and will eventually die. The amount of pore space in most soils is usually about around 50% for all mineral soil types. (Porosity – actual volume of spaces between soil particles) The rate that water moves through soils is called permeability. (Permeability – rate through which water moves through soil). It might seem that porosity and permeability are the same, a lot of pores means the water will move quickly. This is not the case. Soil’s that have a lot of clay, have a lot of pores, but they are very small pores, so the permeability of clay soil’s is very slow. Movement of air and water through the soil regulate the growth and type of plants that are able to live there. Therefore the best soil, called a loam, has a percentage of sand and silt and clay that allows for plants to get oxygen and water to the roots.

Summary clay – made up of small particle that fit tightly together = small pores
lots of pore space, but water doesn’t drain well b/c it’s held tightly
sand – large pores, plenty of aeration, dries rapidly and easily loses nutrients
loam – good mix of water holding ability and drainage

Note: A soil with as little as 20% clay will behave as a clayey soil. A soil needs 45% to 60% sand to behave as a sandy soil. In a soil with 20% clay and 80% sand, the soil will behave as a clayey soil

If you have a ‘heavy’ clay soil, you can add sand, if you have a sandy soil, usable clay is not easy to get, but you can add organic matter in the sustainable forms of compost, coco coir, and manure or try adding the mineral vermiculite which will also help soils’ to hold water.

Get Ready for Outdoor Growing III Hardening off

Please see my post on hardening off, before you move your plants from  their indoor grow area to the outdoors, it could save you a lot of hassle and increase yields.

Although it sounds silly, plants that are grown indoors are not able to handle the sun.  Sure I have said the sun is the best source of energy for plants (intense and free).  However, the indoor lights you get from HTGSupply.com are great for growing, but they don't have UV radiation like the sun, or all the other types of energy that come from the sun.  You need to gradually get your plants used to the intense UV and other types of energy that are part of the light energy plants need that comes from the sun.  You should do this over a few days so that they are not stressed out and grow slowly, or even die. 

How to get your plants ready for the sun.

Good Growing,
Dr. E.R. Myers

Get Ready for Outdoor Growing II SOIL

Once you start your seeds you need to make sure the soil where you are going to grow your plants is suitable. If not there are countless soil amendments from HTGSupply.com that can make sure your outdoor garden thrives as well as your indoor.

First thing I would do is see what your soil is made up of. Basically soil is made up of four things, sand, silt clay and organic matter. An easy way to test this is to get an empty olive or pickle jar, put some soil from where you will grow in the jar about 1/3 full, put a drop of dish soap in the jar (to help particles separate) and then fill the jar to the ¾ mark with tap water. Put on the lid and shake vigorously. Let the jar sit over night.

In the am, you should notice different layers. The bottom layer will be sand, the middle silt and the top whitish layer is clay. You may have small bits of ‘things’ on top of the clay, that is organic matter. Also, if the water above the soil is dark like tea, that too means you have some organic matter. Measure the total height of the dirt, then divide the total height by the height of each type of particle. The number you get is the percentage of each particle type

EXAMPLE. You have 6 inches of total soil. If you have 4 inches of sand, 1.5 inches of silt and 0.5 inches of clay you divided 4/6 and 1.5/6 and 0.5/6 you have 66.6% sand, 25% silt and 8% clay. This soil would need Coir or some other form of organic matter like compost.
I say this because if you have mostly sand the soil will tend to dry out so you will want to increase water retention. If you have mostly clay, you could add organic matter like coir which helps drainage, but you can also add sand, perlite or vermiculite. With clay (also called heavy soils) you need to increase drainage and help the roots to grow.  If you have near equal parts of sand and clay with some organic matter, you are ready to plant as is.

Another really cheap soil amendment is lime. You can get a 50lb bag for a few dollars and it makes the soil pH great for plants and will add Ca and Mg too.

Good Growing
Dr. E.R. Myers

Get Ready for Ourdoor Growing - I Starting Seeds

There is an article about extending the growing season outdoors with your indoor hobby under "education pages" on HTGSupply.com's web page, but I want to expand on it in the next few posts as we prepare and plant our outdoor gardens. 
We all love to grow indoors, but there is no better light source than the sun, no deeper pot than the soil, and no cheaper water than rain.  Why not expand your indoor hobby outdoors?

First, what you want to do is start a lot of seeds.  I really like the starter plugs, they are environmentally friendly (made from composted tree bark which is renewable) they have a preformed hole for your seeds and don't have the pH problems of Rockwool.  They are a lot cleaner than dirt and have some nutrients in them so they get your seedlings off to a great start.  Also, they make potting up a snap, with minimal root damage.  You just push the plug up from the bottom and plop it into a bigger pot or into your outdoor garden, simple as that.  It is a good idea to apply some fertilizer after potting up.
Next, read my post on ways to speed up the growth cycle starting with seedlings.
Good Growing,
Dr. E.R. Myers