HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: klier@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: Advice: Peonies, iris, lilacs
Date: 23 Aug 92 21:18:35 -0500
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

In article <BtEs66.E3p@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca>, phcalama@dial.uwaterloo.ca (Paul Calamai) writes:
> My peonies didn't bloom this year and my guess is that they
> need dividing.  When should this be done and what should I
> do to prepare the soil for replanting?  

Peonies should be divided in Aug/early Sept at the latest, and
shouldn't need it more often than every 10-15 years.  More typical
causes of failure to bloom are planting too deeply (buds more
than 3" deep), or Botrytis blight.  If you have botrytis blight,
there may be dark patches on the stems, the stems may fall over and
wilt, dark areas on the leaves, buds form but fail to open, crown
rots...  Cure is just good sanitation.  Remove and burn or put in
chlorine bleach all diseased material as soon as it is found, and
in late fall, cut all stalks as far below the ground as you can manage
*without injuring the buds*.  Remove and burn all stalks.

Peonies like basic decent soil-- a well drained, fertile loam is
ideal.

> I also have to divide some irises....is the procedure for
> dividing them identical?

Common rhizomatous garden irises usually need division every 3-5 years
in my experience.  Cut the rhizome into sections with only one fan of leaves
per section, cut off half the leaf length, and replant with the rhizome
no deeper than an inch.  Irises normally tolerate anything but heavy 
clays, but seem to prefer fertile, well-drained soils.

I divided mine last week.

> One more thing, I've had conflicting advice regarding the pruning
> of liliac trees.  One suggestion involved removing some of the
> branches and the other did not.  Which is correct and, if branches
> are to be removed, when should this be done and how does one select
> the branches to cut?
> 

Common lilacs (Syringa vulgaris) bloom on last year's wood, and are 
normally pruned in the spring, just after they flower.  Lilacs can
tolerate fairly vicious pruning if you've got an old, overgrown plant
that needs to be put back in shape.  Otherwise, I just give them
an overall light pruning for shape maintenance, and maybe take out
20% of the branches.

When I tackled my in-laws lilac hedge years ago, we cut it from 8 ft
back to about 18", and removed all but about the 5-8 strongest stems
per plant.  Looks much nicer now that it's regrown -- it had a bad
case of "bare legs" before.

There's also about a zillion seedlings under the average lilac-- a
shallow hoeing will remove them.

Kay Klier  Biology Dept  UNI
From: zoetrope@cup.portal.com (Devan DzM MacFarlane)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Shady Groundcover
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 92 21:13:37 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Distribution: world

I need to find a good groundcover plant or a variety of plants that will do
well in a semi-shade environment.

So that you know the type of environment I live in, I live in the
San Francisco Bay Area which is classified as a "Mediterranian" climate.

Thanks for any recommendations.

DzM
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Help with planting Junipers
From: pmisra@desire.wright.edu
Date: 31 Aug 92 02:21:11 EST
Organization: Wright State University 

Could any of you help with the guidelines for planting junipers and
arborvitae in Zone 6 (north) -- Dayton, OH. My sepcific questions
are the following:

1. When is the best time to plant them. I just got a great deal on
   above mentioned plants (1 gal. container for $2.45 each)
2. If they should be planted soon, do I need to use fertilizer in
   view of the fact that new growth might get affected by winter!
3. If I should use fertilizer should it be high in phosphorous to
   promote root growth.
4. Any other considerations that I should take into account. If it
   is{of any help, the junipers are broadmore (about 8" high and
   wide) and arborvitae are pyramidal (about 3" tall and 10" wide)
5. I also have 2 blue princess and 1 blue stallian hollies (in 2
   gal. containers), I have same questions for the Hollies as well.

Thanks in advance for your helpful comments.

Pradeep Misra

Newsgroups: rec.gardens
From: richter@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (C. Richter)
Subject: Re: morning glory seeds
Organization: UTCS Public Access
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 10:58:26 GMT

In article <1992Aug29.213015.2990@hemlock.cray.com> jill@cray.com (Jill McAllister) writes:
>I have been harvesting the seeds produced by my morning glories.  Is there
>any reason not to use these next spring instead of buying seed packets?
>For instance, they're not sterile or anything, right?

There is no reason not to save them for next spring.  Make sure that they 
are dried adequately and then store in a cool location.  

Conrad Richter
Richters Herbs
Goodwood, ON  L0C 1A0  Canada
From: jhb@calmasd.prime.com (Jim Bishop)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: Forcing Bulbs
Date: 2 Sep 92 18:07:49 GMT
Article-I.D.: calmasd.1992Sep2.100750.736
Organization: -

Since you are in San Jose, call Sunset in Menlo Park.  They have old
issues available and can help you locate the issue that contains the
article that you are looking for.  They will mail it to you if you
like (The whole maganzine) or you can probably just drop by and pick
it up.

Jim


In article <1992Sep1.161828.10895@berlioz.nsc.com>, betz@pinecrest.nsc.com (Gary Betz) writes:
> I thought I'd try some bulb forcing this winter and would like some more
> data on how to do this. There was a good article in Sunset a while back
> but I have lost it. Any help would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> Gary Betz
> San Jose, CA
From: barnettj@pookie.crd.ge.com (Janet A Barnett)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Botanical gardens in and around SF
Date: 4 Sep 92 16:36:07 GMT
Organization: GE Corp. Research & Development, Schenectady, NY

I'm going to San Francisco soon (first time I've ever been west of
Buffalo!) and would like to know if anyone can tell me where to
find any interesting botanical gardens or the like in or around
SF.

Thanks,
Janet
-------
Janet A. Barnett
barnettja@crd.ge.com
From: Jack.Honeycutt@f52.n105.z1.therose.pdx.com (Jack Honeycutt)
Sender: postmaster@therose.pdx.com
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Pond liner / Bentonite
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 22:52:14 -0700

Hello Jane!

26 Aug 92, Jane Eert writes to All:

 JE> I, too, am seriously considering using clay to line my prospective pond.
 JE> I got the idea from a spring issue of Fine Gardening or Harrowsmith
 JE> (sorry, I can't recall which right now...).  If it works, it sounds like a
 JE> very environmentally friendly and simple way to line ponds.  So, I add my
 JE> request to Joseph's: anyone done it?

I have never worked with it, and would love to get some first hand information
on Bentonite.

Jack
From: jhb@calmasd.prime.com (Jim Bishop)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: How to grow grass?
Date: 2 Sep 92 18:31:44 GMT
Organization: -

In article <1801liINNjrh@agate.berkeley.edu>, macklin@garnet.berkeley.edu (Macklin Burnham) writes:

> Learn how to read a lawn seed label. They are highly standardized, under
> the auspices of who knows what bureaucracy, and tell you what kind of
> grass is going to come up, what percentage of other stuff (called "crop")
> is likely to be mixed in, and so forth. 'Course, you have to know the
> difference between fescue, Kentucky Blue Grass, etc. I did not know about
> this label business three weeks ago when I bought some off-brand stuff
> called "playground blend".It turned out to be 90% rye, and is now growing
> literally an inch per day. I guess it will get waist high if I let it.
> Since I'm not interested in mowing three times a week, I'm going to have 
> to dig it up and replant (fortunately, it's only about a 25 sq foot 
> patch - looks quite bizarre sticking up in the middle of the lawn.)

If it is like most of the "playground blends" it might be annual rye. 
Of course this means it won't die until next summer; and in California
it will grow even faster when we get the winter rains.  You might want
to try burning it out.  Not with fire, but with fertilizer.  Over
fertilize it and don't water it for a few days.  This works pretty
well for getting rid of my winter rye, and the Bermuda underneath
always returns happier than ever.  (Of course you have to look at some
brown spots for awhile, but digging it out doesn't sound too
attractive either.)

Jim
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
From: rlwilliams@gallua.gallaudet.edu
Subject: Re: Dividing peonies.
Organization: Gallaudet University
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 17:52:12 GMT

In article <12694@limey>, sheriffp@Software.Mitel.COM (Peter Sheriff) writes:
> 
>      I have three rather large clumps of peonies in my garden. They are so
> large that I have difficulty in finding a good support for them when they
> are blooming and we loose lots of blooms when they rot from laying on the
> ground.
>      When is it best to divide these peonies? Also, does anyone know of an
> effective way of supporting the heavy flowers?
> 
>                              Thanks
> 
>                               Pete
________

I'd like to know more about dividing them... how and when...

but i do know that nurseries carry Peoni cages... they are a round piece of 
metal on stilts so as the peonies grow during the spring they grow through 
the grid and are supported when the bloom.

skip
From: curtiss@burn.colorado.edu (Brian Curtiss)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Heirloom fruit and vegetable varieties
Summary: info on Seed Savers Exchange
Keywords: seeds fruit vegetable heirloom open pollinated
Date: 27 Aug 92 18:01:15 GMT
Organization: Center for Study of Earth from Space, U of Colorado, Boulder

I have seen several post from people looking for better 
selections of peppers, tomatoes and heirloom apple varieties. 
The Seed Savers Exchange provides a means to obtain varieties 
such as Imur Prior Beta tomato (adapted to cool weather),  
Latah tomato (a Siberian variety), NASA tomato (3rd 
generation of seed that were on the NASA LDEF satellite for 5 
years), Marizol Gold tomato (a family heirloom brought from 
the Black forest region of Germany to the US in the late 
1800's), Mortgage Lifter tomato, Aconcagua pepper 
(Argentina), Georgescu pepper (Romania), Chiltepine pepper 
(Mexico), Takanotsume pepper (Japan), Arkansas Black Apple 
(cuttings from a 100yr old tree), Esopus Spitzenburg apple 
(pre-1800's var., Thomas Jeffersons favorite!), Granniwinkle 
apple (pre-1800's cider var.), June Red apple (devel. in 
North Carolina in 1848).

Seed Savers Exchange is a nonprofit, tax exempt, publicly 
supported organization.  Anyone may join for a $25 annual 
membership fee.  The purpose of SSE is the preserve the 
genetic diversity of fruit and vegetable varieties.  Each 
year, more and more open pollinated varieties are lost as 
seed companies replace them with (more profitable) hybrid 
varieties.  Individual members save seeds from open 
pollinated varieties and these listings are published 
annually.  As an example, the number of open pollinated 
varieties of sweet peppers dropped from 107 in 1981 to 77 
varieties in 1992.  Of those varieties available in 1992, 
over half are available from only one or two sources.  
Members of SSE are categorized as either listed (these are 
members who have seeds available to other SSE members) and 
non-listed.  SSE members receive several publications each 
year, including the Seed Savers Yearbook.  This is a listing 
of all the fruit and vegetable varieties available from SSE 
listed members (905 members listing 14,780 varieties in '92).  
Although this selection seems very large, about 80% of 
everything listed is available from a single source.  This 
listing also includes: scionwood of heirloom apple, cherry, 
peach, pear and plum; and, tubers of potato and sweet potato.

For more information write:

Seed Savers Exchange
Rural Route 3, Box 239
Decorah, Iowa  52101

==========================
Brian Curtiss
CO CU B
curtiss@cses.colorado.edu
From: montys@tekig7.PEN.TEK.COM (Monty D Smith)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Any experience with lawn sweepers?
Date: 1 Sep 92 16:42:14 GMT
Reply-To: montys@mapme6.map.tek.com
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton,  OR.

(Sorry if this is in the wrong group, but there's no group of
rec.yardwork!)

Does anyone out there have any experience with lawn sweepers?  Looks
kind of like a push mower, but it pick up leaves instead of mowing.

Do they work?  
Are they more work than raking or blowing?
Any price info?

Thanks in advance
Monty
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
From: kcarroll@milton.u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Shady Groundcover
Organization: University of Washington
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 19:31:03 GMT

In article <64523@cup.portal.com> zoetrope@cup.portal.com (Devan DzM  
MacFarlane) writes:
> I need to find a good groundcover plant or a variety of plants that will do
> well in a semi-shade environment.
> 
> So that you know the type of environment I live in, I live in the
> San Francisco Bay Area which is classified as a "Mediterranian" climate.
> 
> Thanks for any recommendations.
> 
> DzM

I've used a combo of woodruff and astillbe (sp?) as such and it's
great

kris carroll
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
From: ahill@boi.hp.com (Andy Hill)
Subject: Re: Proper lighting for houseplants?
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 17:59:16 GMT
Reply-To: ahill@boi.hp.com
Organization: LaserJets by Bill & Dave
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3

klier@iscsvax.uni.edu writes:
> Incandescents will fry your plants before they give them enough light.
>
Ja, Ja.  I figured that this would be a better choice than total darkness,
and at least it would be from above.  Any idea if there is a compact
fluorescent bulb with decent spectral characteristics?  Howza 'bout 
halogens?  Hmmmm, even if so, I would think that the light cone would be
pretty worthless (my only ref, at the moment, is my ol' tattered Time-Life
"Gardening with Light"). 

> Fluorescents are probably your best choice, but I've never mounted them
> *under* plants before.  Remember-- plants grow toward light...
> 
Yeah, that's my major objection.  Unfortunately, the plant shelf was spec'd
from an esthetic standpoint (my wife is handling the decorating), with little
thought as to the practical aspects.  Had it been my call, I would've built
the shelves into the walls, so I could easily light from above.

> A couple of other ideas:  Would it be possible to suspend fixtures
> over the plants from the ceiling?  You could add custom wooden or 
> sheet metal reflectors to avoid the "warehouse look" of bare fluorescents
> or plain shop lights.
>
I'm looking into this.  That blasted vaulted ceiling is making it pretty
tough.  Maybe I need to put the plans into AutoCad - flat drawings just
don't have any flavor for me.  I'm sure I'd have to use a diffuser, too,
which is really going to cut down the light that gets to the plants...

> How are you going to water these 8 ft up?  Capillary matting might be
> a good investment in this case...
> 
Well, I could just stand on a stepstool (I'm 6-2), but I'll probably try
a humidity tray (for humidity, water storage, and the occasional "oops!")
with wicks (is this what you mean by capillary matting?).

Thanks for your suggestions, at least I know what NOT to do, now...
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
From: frosty@med.unc.edu (Steve Loechel)
Subject: Re: Ok, now I'm really confused about pH
Organization: UNC-CH School of Medicine
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 13:32:40 GMT

In article <1992Sep3.194608.17396@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU> rfrench@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Robert S. French) writes:
>When I meansure my tap water with a "soil testing kit", it gives me a
>pH of around 8.  When I measure it using pH test paper (standard stuff
>from a chemical supply house) it says around 4.5-5.0.  What's going
>on?

I've found pH test paper to give meaningless results when used on
unbuffered solutions such as tap water. Presumably this is because the
pH paper itself has a higher buffer capacity than the liquid being
measured. (Keep in mind that the pH indicators are buffers themselves.)

--Frosty

Newsgroups: rec.gardens
From: pharvey@mipos3.intel.com (Paul Harvey)
Subject: Re: flourescent lights for growing
Organization: Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA USA
	<1992Aug23.194223.6194@iscsvax.uni.edu> 
	<1992Aug26.000209.25925@massey.ac.nz>
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 17:41:57 GMT

In article <1992Aug26.000209.25925@massey.ac.nz> 
A.S.Chamove@massey.ac.nz (A.S. Chamove) writes:
>I had the same problem a few years ago and when to our Botany dept
>that had plant rooms.  They said if you had a mix of florescent and
>incandescent lights (50/50 about), you would cover the whole spectrum
>and cheaply.  

I can't believe that any Botany dept worth its weight in salt would recommend
incandescent lights as sources of light, they are heat sources. The efficiency
of incandescents is about 10%, so a 60W bulb puts out about 54W of heat and
6W of light. A florescent is about three times the efficiency so a 40W bulb
puts out about 12W of light and 28W of heat. These are cheap and commonly used
in tissue culture and propagation, but the light level is low and the bulbs
must be within an inch of so of the subject. Most of the heat produced by
florescents comes from the ballast. If you want real light, you have to use
Metal Halide bulbs or High Pressure Sodium. Low Pressure Sodium has a yellow
shade and is commonly used for street lighting, these are no good for plants.
MH and HPS are white and are often used for street lighting since they are
the most efficient. MH is best for growth, HPS is more efficient and promotes
flowering. Check any of the many indoor growing mags for more info. Warning:
Duplicating the sun indoors will cause your power bill to jump and it may
prompt a visit from the federales to check what you are growing. Indoor Hemp
is popular these days.
From: lgoodman@BBN.COM (Laurie Goodman)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Container gardening
Date: 3 Sep 1992 20:26:06 GMT
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge MA
Distribution: na
Reply-To: lgoodman@BBN.COM (Laurie Goodman)
NNTP-Posting-Host: bbn.com



I am planning to convert a rather unattractive stretch of concrete
patio into a container garden. The patio is on the south-west corner of
of the house. There is much sun during the day, with portions in partial
shade, with dappled light when surrounding trees leaf out. My intentions 
are to grow annuals, perennials, and some veggies in pots, barrels, and
planters of various shapes and sizes. We are in zone 6, I believe (suburban
Boston, west of rt 128).

I would welcome any and all advice from this wonderful gardening
community, including references about potting soils, plant and small
tree combinations etc. My husband would love to have a dogwood. Is that
feassible? I know about the Ortho book on container gardening. Are there 
others especially recommended.? I have looked at Books in Print, and
there are several available.

Thanks in advance,
Laurie <lgoodman@bbn.com>
From: hughes@dogwood.botany.uga.edu (Wayne Hughes)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: bacteria as pets
Date: 26 Aug 92 22:57:27 GMT
Organization: Botany Department - U of Georgia, Athens

In article <adwright.714750689@vincent1.iastate.edu> adwright@iastate.edu writes:
>It might be fun to look for "fox fire", decaying wood that glows in the dark.
>You can find it by walking through the woods at night. If you can culture it
>in liquid media, it would really be a lot of fun!

   OK, so last night around 3 am Glenn and I, and three of our cats 
   went for a hike in the forest around the house, and saw lots of
   glowing things.  A lot of them were attributable to insect forms,
   especially an elongated grayish segmented flattened (OK, OK) maggot 
   thing that I assume was a "glowworm" or firefly larva.  It would
   be under the leaves and would be distinctly visible when the leaves
   were moved.

   But the best thing we found were small shelf fungi (actually looked
   like gray-white tiny mushrooms, with hard woody texture) growing 
   out of rotten branches on the ground.  These glowed intensely, they
   were very striking.  Anyone know what this is?

   It's been a great week or two for fungus here.

   Wayne
From: klier@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: Roots--depths and shapes
Date: 23 Aug 92 21:36:24 -0500
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

woodley@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Judy Woodley) writes:
> The problem is, no garden book we've looked at talks about roots.  We don't
> deliberately want to plant something over the sewer line that might impede
> its functionality.  So how far away from the line should we plant these
> plants?  We need some practical net.wisdom!

As a rule of thumb, assume there is as much root mass underground as
plant above.  And they often have similar shapes...

Only book I can think of that might help is DF Cutler, 1981.  Tree
  roots and buildings.  Construction Press; London, NY. 

Local wisdom might well be obtained from your local streets engineer,
or whoever deals with plantings along parkings.  

Kay Klier  Biology Dept  UNI
From: diverson@phys.ksu.edu (David Iverson)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: flourescent lights for growing
Date: 23 Aug 1992 21:58:24 GMT
Organization: Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: bohr.phys.ksu.edu

I'm not a regular member of this group.  Please excuse the intrusion.  But
I've got a question.  

I sort of get the impression that 'grow lights' are flourescent lights, but
more expensive.  So the question is, will my indoor plants appreciate it if
I leave my compact flourescent reading light (the kind that screws into a
normal socket) on for them while I'm in other rooms doing other things, or
am I just wasting my money?

Thanks.

-diverson


--
diverson@phys.ksu.edu
From: klier@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: Squirrel/Skunk repellent
Date: 26 Aug 92 20:44:07 -0500
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

In article <1992Aug26.214401.13014@lpi.liant.com>, anthony@lpi.liant.com (Anthony Beissner) writes:
> I have had no experience with these disks, but I have dealt with fox scent
> before.  
> If you discover that they work but object to the price then try re-scenting
> them with scent that can be bought at hunting supply stores.  It is sold
> in small (2 oz?) bottles but should be enough to treat nine disks several times.
> I'm not sure what the current prices are, but should be much less than $22.

Red fox urine is $4 for 4 oz at the local K-Mart. 

Kay Klier   Biology Dept    UNI
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
From: vsummers@polaris.cv.nrao.edu (Vince Summers)
Subject: Re: bugs and those creeped out by them
Organization: National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 19:47:05 GMT

In article <1992Aug28.131740.8279@math.ucla.edu> ramirez@julia.math.ucla.edu (Alice Ramirez) writes:

   Newsgroups: rec.gardens