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hardy  Aroids)" <ARISAEMA-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL> Aroids)" <ARISAEMA-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL>
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From: Doug Green <dgreen at SIMPLEGIFTSFARM.COM>
Subject: Re: When do they leaf out
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At 05:44 PM 4/06/98 EDT, you wrote:

>I don't use fertilizer any more. These are wild flowers after all. The
>seedlings without fertilizer bloomed in 4 years while the seedlings with
>fertilizer were either killed or maimed or bloomed in 4 years (no
>forcing). So,
>except for satisfying the gardener's need to tinker, I'm not sure what
>benefit there is in using fertilizer.

Let me weigh in here. My experience with the nursery and growing various
crops is that fertilizer almost always helps with developing plants.  I
can't for the moment think of any plant that is not helped along in its
growth cycle - perhaps this class of plants will be the first.
We don't overfertilize and we are extremely careful with our measuring of
the raw product. We evaluate our injector systems regularly (one mistake
with a crop taught us this)  and check the output with salts meters.
Seedlings (including the current crop of Arisaema) routinely receive 50-7=5
ppm Nitrogen (parts per million) and a dilute seaweed mix (not measured) =at
every watering. Its called constant liquid feed and most major nursery
growers use this system or one very close to it. Every seven days, a clea=r
water flush knocks out any excess salts and the cycle starts again.
More mature plants are fed higher concentrations of food (200ppm) and we
have different buckets next to the injectors for feeding the different
maturing crops. I confess that once out of the propagation greenhouse, 99=%
of the greenhouse crop gets the same feeding.

>From personal experience, I can say that when an injector goes "south" an=d
the fertilizer concentrate is too high, tender seedlings of almost any
description are hard pressed to live. Variations in living or growth rate=s
may better be blamed on variations in fertilizer applications or cultural
conditions rather than the use of the product itself.

Of course, I use Gardener's Supply
>Seed Starting medium, not GranniGrit or Turface, and there's surely more
>nutrients in it.

Well maybe.  Starting mediums are normally charged with a low level of
Nitrogen, Phos and Potash. Being water soluble, the N disappears after th=e
first watering or two.  Starter soils are meant to give the seedling a bi=t
of a boost when the first feeder roots start activity but then after that=,
the grower must provide any nutrition.  I'm not familiar with GGSM so
perhaps it is different than the advertised soils we see here in Canada. =I
do know that any starter soil in Canada needs supplemental feeding for cr=ops
after the initial watering phase.

Having said all that, I bow to your experience with this crop over my
experience with other crops.  For now, it is enough that the small seedli=ngs
are doing quite well in the starter pots (germination soil with turface
covering).  I did up a report to share with the group on my germination
experiences to date but the darn thing is lost on my desk - nursery folks
desks turn into shambles once spring really starts to roll :-) I'll try t=o
unearth it in the next few days as I work towards the bottom of the pile.

I've reread this note and it may sound a bit severe - I don't want to
criticize or to be seen as criticizing anybody's growing techniques (give=n
that I'm a relatively new grower of this plant it would be extremely
presumptuous on my part to do so) but I do want to note that feeding plan=ts
is something that usually helps rather than hinders.

I'm enjoying the discussions on this list and looking forward to seeing t=he
blooms on the new varieties I now have happily growing in the greenhouses=. I
note the A. triphyllum are poking their heads up in the cold frame given =our
warmth in the past few days. Some of their wild haunts are flooded out at
the moment - a fact our Labrador Retriever enjoys tremendously on the rar=e
times we get out to explore the back bush at this busy time of year.

Doug.
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Douglas Green
Home page www.simplegiftsfarm.com
Simple Gifts Farm Greenhouses   Athens, Ontario, Canada. USDA zone 4
"When the going gets tough --- forget the whole thing and go sailing."
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