poinsettias are finally completely spaced out....

As mentioned last week, my timing of removing the shade, in conjunction with 95 plus degree sunny days (interior of greenhouse topped over 100 degrees) led to some yellowing.

After checking my water alkalinity and testing the poinsettia's Ph I found that the Ph is too high.  It is a tad over 7.  Today, we started injecting a 21-7-7 Acid fertilizer at 300 ppm.

Also, this week saw the temps start dropping and we are headed for the 40's.  Over the past couple days I have been working on the heating system.  Plastic, rubber and extreme greenhouse temperatures don't always make for the best conditions.  I knew I had some broken micro-tubing fittings, so those were repaired.  The boiler needs a cleaning and I will work on that next week.  However, this weekend the poinsettias will stay at ideal night time temperatures.

Also, we transplanted the white hydrangeas.  So in addition to seeing the poinsettias progress this fall, you can follow and watch the Christmhas hydrangeas grow

Bench 12

White Hydrangeas

Repaired micro tube elbow?

Poinsettia update:

After removing the shade cloth, the poinsettias turned a bit yellow, however, that will change as the plants acclimate to the new light and we adjust fertilizers.

In addition to the the poinsettias, I received the hydrangeas yesterday.  Note the variety? Snowball.  I would say that is an appropriate name for them.

Poinsettia Update: Final Spacing.

Supplemental light

non-pinched poinsettias 

This week we concluded the final spacing on most of the poinsettias.  One bench still needs to be spaced.  Also we removed the shade cloth from the greenhouse roofs.

Spacing continues

As of this morning the poinsettias continue their fine growth rate.  Here are some shots I took early this morning...actually it wasn't too early...7:30am isn't early right?.

there's a whole lot of breakin' goin' on.....

The poinsettia crop is moving along beautifully.  Here are a few shots of the plants progress and the branching (breaking) is looking really good!

We are noticing a few white flies popping up, but spraying has begun.  I usually spray every Sunday, until we are within the time limits to apply a systemic insecticide that moves through the plant.  Up until then we spray.

Poinsettia Update: Nip and tuck, aka pinching.

Over the past week, we have pinched most of the poinsettias.  Pinching is the practice of removing the tip of the plant to encourage side branching.  Side branching occurs at the node of the the stem.  The node is the location where a leaf is attached to the stem.

Our goal is to have 5-7 side branches per plant.  Each side branch will develop a flower.  Here are a couple pictures of the poinsettias after tip removal.  Review last blog for comparison.  The pinched poinsettias no longer look as lush as the previous non pinched version, but they will make a much showier plant.

Poinsettia Focus on Growth

In this installment of my poinsettia blog, I will discuss growth characteristics. All of the poinsettias in this montage of images were planted within a couple days of each other. The difference I observe is the south end poinsettias (the hotter end of the greenhouse) are shorter and growing slower than the north end (the cooler part of the greenhouse).

The greenhouse is configured with a side vent and cool cell cooling system on the north wall of the greenhouse and the exhaust fans are on the south end of the greenhouse. To cool the greenhouse, the fans draw outside air from the north side of the greenhouse through the building and exhausts it on the south end. Cooling is enhanced with a wet sump cool cell system. Water is trickled over a cardboard type cell. Outside air moves across the wet cell. As cool moist air picks up greenhouse hot air, the south fans exhausts the hot air from the greenhouse. When outside air humidity is low we can lower the greenhouse temperature 10-15 degrees.

The problem is that the north end is normally cooler than the south end and that is why I am writing this blog edition. The heat has had a dramatic impact on the growth rate of the poinsettias. The first image shows the south end of the greenhouse. If you look close you can see in taller lusher green plants on the north end.

The outside air temperatures have been in the 90's for the past three to four weeks.

The photo monatage shows four pictures moving from south to north. note the difference.

South end: note height & leaves vs back ground 

here is a better example, note the foreground shorter than the back/right side

here is where you can really start seeing the difference

note the leaf expansion from photo three.  These leaves are larger.