Nancy's Journal              Friday, March 07, 2008                   Go to Last Page Preparing for Show - January 6, 2004   Second week of January and all is calmer after the Christmas and New Year's festivities.   All my plants are still disbudded due to an outbreak of Thrips.  But this is just about the normal time I would start disbudding anything in flower that was presentable for show.    A lot of the plants have centers that were affected by my over enthusiasm with Kelthane thinking the silver centers were mite instead of Thrips.  So those, although on wicks, have been placed in a secondary position.  Actually they get the same amount of light as my show plants but the ones that have a good rosettes already formed have been set up on a stand that really gets my attention.   I'm using 20-20-20 this month and hope the foliage will benefit.  Next month I will probably change to 15-30-15 to see if I can get more buds popping although I will be disbudding.  March, the variegates will go to the fertilizer with 50 as a middle number.    Some of the plants affected with my bugs have a poor color and I wonder if a foliar feed of epsom salts would change them dramatically back to a healthy green.   Everything, even the minis and semis are disbudded.  I know they and some other plants will get tighter centers with extended disbudding.  I don't usually disbud them as long as standards.  Also, I'm no semi and mini fan.  I have about 40 and will take the best 3-5 to show.    This year I will take in about 10 plants in all including a strep or two IF they are ready.   There is not a big competition in my French club for trailers so I am grooming several of Rob's trailers.  Which ever one looks best MAY get to go.   Previously I took about 30 plants in to show and that is a tough job to anchor them down  in with tape so they don't fall over in transport.  Ten should be a breeze.  Mind you IF more than ten can possibly make a Blue ribbon, they may be wrapped up as well.  I need three blue ribbons in horticulture, one of which can be from design in order to qualify for taking my judges' exam.    About 15 show plants have been repotted and bathed with warm water from the faucet.  They are all wicked.  I've placed the variegates in the middle for more intense lights.  Dark green foliage get a special center position as well.   I will start a foliar feed program soon and get them about once a week or 10 days with one fertilizer or another.   Humidity is good in the room as is warmth.  I have good Western light but all are on light gardens, the leaves and babies sitting here and there hoping for a few rays.    What are you doing to get ready for show?

Nancy's Journal              Sunday, April 11, 2004                   Preparing for Show - January 9/2004   I started in again on the minis and semis.  Boy, they sure get ahead of you at times.  IRISH flirt (I have about 4) had suckered so much.  Threw one away that had a double head.  The leaf of it will make nicer babies in the same time as the one with two heads will learn to grow right.   The trailers are looking very good right now.  The form is round.  Two of Rob's are in 2 1/2 inch pots.  May need to put them up to a larger pot but I don't want the leaves to get any larger.    Do any of you wick minis?  Do you see that the leaves increase in size when wicking?

Nancy's Journal              Sunday, April 11, 2004                   Preparing for Show - January 11, 2004   Time for a foliar feed.  I intend to use 20-20-20 a few drops of superthrive and a bit of Epsom salts to get the leaves in better color.   Sometimes foliar feeding spots flowers so it's a good thing everything is already disbudded.  I think it depends on what is used as to what spots the flowers.  I have never made this research but it would be interesting to know which fertilizers destroy flowers and which do not hurt them.  Foliar feeding is excellent for streptocarpus, I discovered.  Since episcia don't like their leaves wet--at least that's what I heard--I wonder if they appreciate being sprinkled occassionally.   I'm anxious to see what BOB SERBIN will do since there is a sort of contest in Canada for best plant of that.  We also have big honors for whites.  I have OPTIMARA ONTARIO (a variety that won Best in Show and Best White last spring.)  I would like to know your opinion on the best whites for show.  I think one of the Nortex plants was a great white as are some of the Ness plants.   At one point I had no red plants; now I have three Stork varieties and BOB SERBIN.   I have an excess of pinks and the blues are well covered, too.  Hope the GRANGER'S WONDERLAND makes the grade.  Also RHAPSODIE CLEMENTINE has a wonderful blue flower with lilac tinge and a natural flat rounded shape.  It doesn't take much to grow a good plant of her as well as most of the Optimaras.  Hope to get more Optimaras since they are so easy to grow and you don't have to put chop sticks here and there to keep leaves in place.   Tomorrow's plan is to foliar feed.  It takes about three minutes to hit everything in the plant room.

Nancy's Journal              Sunday, April 11, 2004                   Preparing for Show - January 12, 2004   I decided to use Fish emulsion with Superthrive and Epsom Salts to try to get a nicer green color for the foliar feed.   I spent an hour or so cleaning my plant room using both broom and vaccum.  The broom handle fell  and clipped a leaf off one of my standards set up to go to show.  Good thing I have a lot to choose from.   I found my high phosporus fertilizers.  One is Peter's 09-45-15 used at 1/4 teaspoon to 6 litres water (one gallon, I guess).  The other is Yard Pro 10-52-10.  Think I will use the Peters since I know more about this product than the other.  This will be given about 6 weeks before show.  Things seem to be on schedule but some of the leaves I've recently set up are collapsing.  I had them covered so it's not lack of humidity.  I blame it on the seasons.  I think seed and leaves grow better in spring and early summer.   I wiped off the lights of the light gardens.  Will soon add an new bulb to each shelf, checking the centers to see if they are getting too much light.

Nancy's Journal              Sunday, April 11, 2004                   Preparing for Show - January 13, 2004   Today was reserved for brushing show plants and turning them slightly.  One or two have been eliminated because of breakage of leaf and leaf marks.  I added another plant which has improved enough to be considered for show.   Some of the plants had soil on the petioles and this needed to be brushed away for better growth.    I have a new modem now and have not had the opportunity to take out my violet list from the borrowed one.  There must be many adjustments to make to the list--some leaves lost, new purchases.   My violet clubs do not meet in January because of weather.  In the beginning of February I should be able to buy more leaves from club members.

Nancy's Journal              Sunday, April 11, 2004                   Preparing for Show - January 15, 2004   I'm having my kitchen floor varnished today so work in the plant room will be minimal.   Someone showed a plant that had a whitish center on one of the forums.  I have seen that in my own collection at one time and just threw plant, pot, the works into the garbage and was not bothered with it again.  Does anyone know what this could be.  I would say mite but there were no other symptoms.

Nancy's Journal              Sunday, April 11, 2004                   Preparing for Show - January 18, 2004   For the last few daysI have just kept the door to the plant room closed because of kitchen renovations which including varnishing of the floor.   You know how dusty sanding the floor gets.  Well, the plants are not too bad but I see a little more dust on them than usual so I guess this week includes bathing all or most of the show plants.   At the same time I will check for mis-shappened leaves and things that are a no-no for judges.  I will put in one new light into each shelf on the light gardens.   Seems like these plants are getting babied, but that's what's necessary to get them to show.  I also have to check for boxes to transport them in and make sure there is plenty of masking tape to anchor them down even though the show is months away.   I want to read up on Thrips and see if some spraying must be done.  I only disbudded the plants and will continue to disbud until 6-8 weeks before show (April 24-25).

Nancy's Journal              Sunday, April 11, 2004                   Preparing for Show - January 21, 2004   On Sunday I sprayed Kelthane, (Dicofol) on all the plants.  This should help keep off any mites.  I intend to spray with Malathion (not Marathon) next Sunday.  The Malathion should help against mites and Thrips.  Hopefully my entire collection will be bug-free and ready for show in April.  A third application of Malathion will be sprayed on the Sunday following.   I will be letting a few plants come into bloom and hope several can be entered in our own VV February show.  I will have to keep them in a different room in case Thrips start their cycle.   In our VV February show, the rules did not mention if the violets used in design must be owned for 3 months.  I assume this rule carries over into the design section.  Some shows including my French club allow us to use No Named plants and plants which we have not grown for three months in the design section only.

Nancy's Journal              Sunday, April 11, 2004                   Preparing for Show - January 23, 2004   Tomorrow will be devoted to a magnified look at each show plant.   I will be looking for suckers and pinching off blooms on most plants but allowing a few plants to bloom to see if they are good enough for our own VV show.   A few plants have begun to bloom and so far there is no sign of Thrips.  One of the first plants to rebloom is a NO NAME Optimara.  It is on a lower shelf which does not have a light of its own but gets spilled over light from other light stands.   It is amazing at what some of these plants can do with very little help from us growers.    Although all show plants are on wicks I will foliar feed as well with a different fertilizer.  It will soon be time to switch fertilizers to a higher phosphorus number (the second number).    Next week each one of the show plants will get a bath and will get their soils drenched for fertilizer salts.  This job will take an hour or so and I will do this when the lights have finished their circuits.   Minis and semis are getting very little care outside the ordinary although I do intend to take one or two to show.  The plants which might go to show will be repotted again soon and a row of leaves will be taken off.   Does anyone have embrodrie hoops that are used to measure minis and semi minis at show--the 6 inch and 8 inch size?  Guess WalMart will have these.  Something else to look for next trip.

Nancy's Journal              Monday, April 12, 2004                   Preparing for Show - January 24, 2004   Today I checked the reservoirs of the show plants.  A few show plants were "elimated from consideration" as judges say.  Too many misshapen leaves or other things that will not correct itself before show.  Checked for suckers and brushed the leaves.   This is puzzling.  Not all the water containers were empty.  I'd like to know what most of you do when refilling containers.  Do you empty the remaining water and add the new or do you just top off the containers?  I know the next refilling of containers will be a change of fertilizer, to a higher phosporus (second number) count so I will empty all containers and rinse them before filling with the new fertilizer.   Today's fertilizer also contained Epsom salts.  A Canadian gardening man mentioned using 2 tablespoons of Epsom salts to a litre of water.  This seems like a lot.  I used only one tablespoon.  Does anyone know the correct amount for violets.  The gardening man was speaking in general terms and not for violets only.   I am allowing all except my show plants to come into flower to check for Thrips and to finally experience a little color in the plant room.  One of the first to bloom was a no name Optimara.  Such sturdy little things, these Optimaras. More entries on Next Page