I am thinking about a soil medium of different sort for the first dwarfs. I will use 2 parts of one kind, 1 of another and 3 parts of coconut shells/mix/”soil” for vivid structure but still about half soil.
It will [probably] mean something along the lines of:
I filled the pot with Fixa soil, but happened to spray diluted chlorine into the mud instead of taking the spray-bottle with pure tap water! That was the first mistake – the second was the she had not dried enough to remove from the seedling pot with stability in mind – so I dropped her and cracked several roots and possibly the stem itself. I hope she survives. Two out of three Gelberina have now been dropped…
Anyway I had to trash the new soil and added Södra Århults Blomjord instead. That will give me feedback if the soil has any relevant differences – probably.
After the following post I will add some usual updates of the rest (when I have imported images for that).
I was thinking of replanting her, but I need some fresh air. A toe hinder any wandering but I will go out for a while and just get the nature.
She is looking a little more not flower-store. Probably the roots have reached the nutritious part and however it is I want her healthy before any replanting for another day.
I need to imagine how I should go proceed in some silence in the fresh. Need to fix the sore part before that though, and she will thrive for the night and have a better bucket in sun tomorrow.
Sounds perfect!
via Re-planting Gelberina… Re-planning…
So, finally she has found her final bucket!
I could remove her from the 4 inch seedling bucket, since the roots made it compact enough.
The question is is I dug her too deep? I have no clue how sunflowers respond to that kind of thing – it remains to be seen.
Gelberina I: need re-planting, before any training. These 10 cm pots are not made for these variants of sunflower. To do it with little fuzz, the bottom will be cut off and placed in a pot containing approx 15 litres of soil (Fixa). [https://sunflowernewbie.wordpress.com/2018/04/25/gelberina-i/ – the initial post on Gelberina I]
Gelberina II: since I dropped her on the floor and hastily placed her amongst the SunBream couple, she has taken – I have no reason to believe 18 litres of soil will be enough for 3 big sunflowers, but it will prove something to keep it such.
Gelberina III: the same as Gelberina I. Well about the same anyway – I will update with details and pictures when done.
I have to wash some old equipment with toxins in order to avoid pests, and that takes a while.
When that is all done, I can begin planning new ones (I really feel for trying the “dwarf” F1-hybrid … something needs to cover the void so why not a fast growing sort of sunflower?).
To be continued…
Best persons,
The battery to my camera needs a charge but I had the pleasure to photo some of my plants before it went out of power.
Sadly I happened to Strike Gelberina II out of the game, but she may make it! I dropped the pot on the floor, but I hastily re-planted her with the SunBreams. So the 18L container will actually have two bushy f1 hybrids and one Geblerina type (so to speak). A fascinating mix (when the leftmost F1 bush will be chopped at around 1 metre in height (cm:s), and the single taller one (if she makes it) in that setup inside. Interesting. If Gelberina II reaches lengths, then I may bend her when reaching the top of window [IDEA].
Gelberina II is the one to the left with blue cover underneath. Since both are put in 10 cm containers, they will obviously be re-planted after some growth and training. Not optimal, but whatever, it may resolve fine!
The mixture follow:
½ Ekerö Blomjord in bottom and ½ Coop seedling compost on top. One layer of leca pellets above drainage.
Pictures follow (they include nothing but the sort and stuff – as you can see if you are not blind):
Enjoy the sun!
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Update 3/5:
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She is coming, I can spot her, but my camera won’t, so I put an update picture here for today and soon she’ll be visible to all!
And here is a – perhaps – tricky one: to raise Gelbe Riesen in a 10 cm potting. However despite bottom layer of orchid soil a third consist of the new unspecified planting soil from Ekerö; whereas the top two is normal seedling compost from Änglamark/Coop.
I only used one seed for this one because it would probably be insane to plant to in this little bucket.
The Reason I added nutrient soil in the bottom is that I want to have it trained outside before I re-plant them (her, but I will add more coming days). And for that it will need some energy is my assumption.
I will try to get her outside permanently as soon as roots have covered much of the loose soil, and some other signs (the usual).
It can be tricky to replant from such a different environment and all, plus they don’t seem to like it. But I know what soil ALL plant thrive in (almost) and hopefully that will be added by then.
I may actually see some difference in these crappy sorts just by using different ones – and that can be attributed to whatever else also.
Time will make things clearer.
On my way home I found the following soil, and have no real clue of its contents, since the package does not tell, and I haven bothered to google it.
Also I planted two seeds of the same sort that of “SunBream”, in a 5 litres pot, with leca-pellets on bottom and top layer. She has around 4 litres of that soil under a couple of cm layer with Änglamark’s seedling compost.
In this one I will for sure let just one live, since one gallon is probably too little anyway, but we will see. It will stick inside, as I feel currently.
Pictures follow:
Sadly I happened to spill some chlorine on the new leca:s so they have been washed and are drying. Those must be washed properly before killing any roots or so.
Kindly yourz,
A. Braxen Lindberg, Sthlm Sweden
The Sunflower Newbie 