Sammy V
Seedling
Hi everyone! I'm technically not new, I had a Juniper in college and promptly killed it.. or it may have gone dormant for the winter, and I thought it died.
Just got back into it full force, after passing a roadside bonsai stand 150 times over the last 2 years. It's a 3 year old Juniper, and I'm hoping to not kill this one! I'm a man of many hobbies, and I usually go overboard, so in a matter of weeks I built a small greenhouse in my garage (partially to grow some peppers and random small things, half of the greenhouse space is for the wife). I'm also trying my luck (and learning all I can) to propagate a handful of different species from seed. I get very little direct light in my house, so I figure with a north facing, covered and shaded (in Winter) patio, a south facing garage I can open for direct sunlight year-round, and a temperature/humidity controlled box in the garage with a couple ViparSpectra XS1500 lights, I should be able to keep anything alive, right? Right?? That has yet to be determined...
My only concern so far is the Juniper, it's turning brown in spots, and it's been getting really brittle over the last week. The needles seem dry, but I keep the soil moist at all times. Until yesterday, I didn't know about Junipers needing to go into dormancy (hence why I may have "killed" the first one years ago), and I thought the whole point of a greenhouse was to trick plants into thinking it was Summer all year (rookie mistake?) So since I got it a month ago, I had been keeping it under bright lights all day, occasionally putting it in direct sun, and the box was usually around 70-80F (humidity around 65%). I've been spraying it multiple times/day, so I don't think water is an issue. But now I'm just hoping it's going into dormancy even though I've been keeping it warm, because plants are probably smarter than me. But my question in a nutshell- Is a bronze color and fairly crispy foliage normal for this time of year? I'm in Zone 5 (Denver).
My next addition was a Ficus from the garden store a couple weeks ago (not sure what kind of Ficus). I potted this one, and hoping it does well in the greenhouse for the winter, and indoor/outdoor in the summer. So far so good!
Seeds I'm trying to sprout are Twisted Pomegranate, Coastal Redwood, and Atlas Cedar, and I'm stumbling my way through stratifying a bunch of other seeds that need 4-6 months. My thinking with trying seeds is that they're pretty cheap, and I'll learn a lot whether they fail or succeed.. and then try again!
So far I haven't done any wiring or pruning, I'm really hoping to take a class from a local master soon, but luckily I have years to learn that art. Especially with seeds! Ha. Good thing I'm also patient.
Anyway, there's my long-winded introduction, and some pictures below! Again, I'm super new to this but trying to learn as much as possible- if anything I mentioned or what you see in the pictures is horribly wrong, please let me know!
Just got back into it full force, after passing a roadside bonsai stand 150 times over the last 2 years. It's a 3 year old Juniper, and I'm hoping to not kill this one! I'm a man of many hobbies, and I usually go overboard, so in a matter of weeks I built a small greenhouse in my garage (partially to grow some peppers and random small things, half of the greenhouse space is for the wife). I'm also trying my luck (and learning all I can) to propagate a handful of different species from seed. I get very little direct light in my house, so I figure with a north facing, covered and shaded (in Winter) patio, a south facing garage I can open for direct sunlight year-round, and a temperature/humidity controlled box in the garage with a couple ViparSpectra XS1500 lights, I should be able to keep anything alive, right? Right?? That has yet to be determined...
My only concern so far is the Juniper, it's turning brown in spots, and it's been getting really brittle over the last week. The needles seem dry, but I keep the soil moist at all times. Until yesterday, I didn't know about Junipers needing to go into dormancy (hence why I may have "killed" the first one years ago), and I thought the whole point of a greenhouse was to trick plants into thinking it was Summer all year (rookie mistake?) So since I got it a month ago, I had been keeping it under bright lights all day, occasionally putting it in direct sun, and the box was usually around 70-80F (humidity around 65%). I've been spraying it multiple times/day, so I don't think water is an issue. But now I'm just hoping it's going into dormancy even though I've been keeping it warm, because plants are probably smarter than me. But my question in a nutshell- Is a bronze color and fairly crispy foliage normal for this time of year? I'm in Zone 5 (Denver).
My next addition was a Ficus from the garden store a couple weeks ago (not sure what kind of Ficus). I potted this one, and hoping it does well in the greenhouse for the winter, and indoor/outdoor in the summer. So far so good!
Seeds I'm trying to sprout are Twisted Pomegranate, Coastal Redwood, and Atlas Cedar, and I'm stumbling my way through stratifying a bunch of other seeds that need 4-6 months. My thinking with trying seeds is that they're pretty cheap, and I'll learn a lot whether they fail or succeed.. and then try again!
So far I haven't done any wiring or pruning, I'm really hoping to take a class from a local master soon, but luckily I have years to learn that art. Especially with seeds! Ha. Good thing I'm also patient.
Anyway, there's my long-winded introduction, and some pictures below! Again, I'm super new to this but trying to learn as much as possible- if anything I mentioned or what you see in the pictures is horribly wrong, please let me know!