Growing Buxus English Box

I grow my freesias in the greenhouse which means I have an empty shadehouse year round so this season with the help of a friend it was decided to diversify and offer cheap plants of all sorts  at a cheaper rate  by selling them as smaller plants either bare rooted or fitting into a small pot.

Most of the cuttings have come from the many plants I have but I must admit visiting friends has now taken on a new dimension and I usually come away with a bag of plant material as well.

I started with the hedging Buxus English Box and as I have a couple of these plants I had plenty of cuttings. I cut pieces about 20 cm each in length and stripped off all but the top leaves then dipped the ends of the plants in a rooting hormone.

I filled some growing trays with sand which we have in abundance on the banks of the stream at the back of our property. the Buxus were then put into the sand and I can fit approximately 500 cuttings per tray.

I removed a row of freesia bulbs last season as I had to many so the trays of cuttings were put on this bed and an automatic misting system was set up.

The mister is set to operate for a minute over 7 times in a day and it depends where in the season we are as to what time slots are set up .

When the cuttings developed a rooting system they were then planted out into beds in the shadehouse to continue growing until sold.

I am selling them  on the local trademe auction site and am now just starting cuttings for the next season

Brenda Baker

Early end of flowers

The freesias were very late flowering this year and as we have had a very warm spring many of the flowers all flowered at the same time giving a shorter season.

I must admit the greenhouse did look beautiful with an abundance of flowers but as most of the florists in New Zealand will tell you the economy has had a flow on effect and it means a lot less flowers have been purchased.

Unfornately flowers are at the bottom of the chain for household expenses so I certainly didnt sell as manyu as I should of but I will now nurse the bulbs along and hopefully have a better season with selling the excess bulbs.

Brenda Baker  Livinrural

I was going to give the plants an extra water but found the pump has become air locked. I spent an hour trying to get the air locks out without any success then had to leave it  in case I did some damage to the pump. I will try again later

What a week it has been with problems, lets hope next week is much better as these things are sent to try you.

Brenda

Weekly jobs

 One of the main things to be done weekly is the calibration of the cf and ph probes.

To calibrate the ph probe the control is set to calibrate then the probe is rinsed in clean water then placed in a 7.0 solution. It is left for a couple of minutes until the lights on the control get to 7. If it dosen’t then a dial is turned until the measurement is at 7. The probe is taken out of this solution rinsed in water then put into a 4.5 solution, left for a couple of minutes until the control lights get to 4.5. If it dosent reach this level then the dial is turned until it does.The control is now put back to 6.5 and  the ph probe is now calibrated. The ph is  very important for the growth of your plants as the ph of your water controls the amount of nutrients available for a healthy plants uptake. plants can only take up some of the nutrients when the ph is at a certain level

To calibrate the cf probe it is rinsed in clean water then put into a cf solution. It is left for at least three minutes then the cf control meter is turned off then on again and hopefuly the measurement will be 27.6. If it dosent show this measurement then you may need to use a plastic scourer on the glass top of the probe then try again. The cf probe controls the amount of nutrient put into your tanks . At the moment I have the nutrient level set at 15.

Brenda

Greenhouse problem

We had four days of a really good frost and unfournately it was cold enough to do some damage to the solenoids that control the guages that work the lifting of the roof and sides of the greenhouse for ventilation.

My hubby spent several days trying to repair them . He has isolated the solenoid at fault but as yet hasnt found the problem with it as everything still looks ok and with testing it is working. This has posed a problem as he has had to stop the sides of the greenhouse from raising which means I have a condensation problem. I hopefully have minimised this with having the two doors open as long as I can during the day and the roof vents are still opening.

The freesia flowers are at a crutical time  and to much moisture could pose a problem so it means being a lot more vigilant and  checking the plants more frequently and dealing with any problems as soon as possible. Luckily everything seems ok at the moment.

Brenda

It will be another couple of days before this can be fixed as it is dark by the time hubby gets home from work so it has to be a weekend job as the lighting in the greenhouse isnt sufficient to put the solenoids back in place