catchflower

[Adam Fikso]

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Hello Ken.  Well thought-out and well-said, in my opinion.  I think this =list has NEEDED the kind of cultural notes you have just offered.  =Everybody thinks they know what "good drainage"  is. I'm beginning to =wonder if they're not  "off the mark" because this varies with =geography, climate, etc.  A steep hill can provide as good drainage with =clay, as a flat situation in crushed rock and gravel. vewn if the =micronutrients are not the same, nor the  mycorrhizae.  I further have =heard that the Denver Bot Gard has given up the term in favor of =something else, (which I've forgotten).  Cheers,  Adam     



----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ken Landis 
To: ARISAEMA-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL 
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 1:15 PM
Subject: Re: catchflower


Hi,
I don't want to give advice but just outline certain considerations =and the way I meet some of the cultivation problems we all have.
Growing any plant in a pot is like keeping an aquarium, it is a =miniture ecosystem which must reach an ecobalance, where the soil is as =important as the plant. We have all noticed how it takes some time =before a plant reaches
a happy state and gets stabalized in is new pot, in other words only =when the plant, substrate, water and pot reach an ecobalance things =start moving.
I never use sterile earth or bought composts. The reason is that earth =is and must be alive with all its micro organisms for plants to florish. =By sterelizing the potting medium you kill everything your plant needs =to be healthy. Plants have evolved for millions of years to live in a =soil pulsing with life and in simbiosis with all that earth contains. A =sterile compost is only such until it leaves the bag. The moment it is =exposed to the air it is ready to host anything, good or bad but the =balance in which the good overcomes the bad is still far off.Commercial =growers use sterile potting mediums but then they grow plants in a =highly controled and near
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