Pesky pests & watering too many pots

Before I became a horticulturalist, I was a consumer of cut flowers. I loved to buy or receive bouquets as gifts and arrange and rearrange them in vases. I had a big collection of crystal and ceramic containers and spent a lot of time decorating my home. My old home, that is, the part of my life that is a closed chapter now.

One thing I noticed about cut flowers is that often they came with uninvited guests. Cut daisies, for instance, often had leafminers leaving a telltale pattern on their leaves. Once I received a bunch of flowers from a friend, who is no longer one, and I noticed tiny green pearls moving around on them. I found out later they were aphids.

Indoor soil gardening is not immune from these parasitical insects. During my first growing cycle I had an infestation of white flies. Instead of checking with the experts at Advanced Nutrients, I decided on my own to use a chemical bug spray. Not only did it discolor my carnation crop, but it actually killed some of the flowers.

Since checking with the experts, I’ve put a fine mesh bug screen on each ventilation duct and started using Protector, Barricade, and Scorpion Juice religiously. Protector was designed to ward off and fight Powdery Mildew specifically. Barricade strengthens my carnations from the inside out, making them resistant to bugs, mold and mildew, as well as drought and heat stress.

Scorpion Juice inoculates my carnations with Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR) which wards off a whole slew of pathogens, some of whose names I can’t even pronounce. These three miraculous products by Advanced Nutrients ensure a pest and disease free environment for my flowers, and they do so without the use of poison.

This harvest looks especially bountiful and in order to celebrate, I have come to a major decision! After I cut, sort, and deliver my carnations, I am going to go hydroponic! There are several reasons for this, the major one being the amount of trouble it involves watering 216 eight and a half inch pots! Try it sometimes!

I started using an eight-litre watering can, and of course my arm almost fell off. Then I got smart and put a watering valve on the end of a hose, and that made it easier. But it was still a messy proposition, what with the dirt splashing onto the floor, causing sanitation problems.

My basement rec room, which I transformed into a grow room, has wall to wall carpeting, which I covered with a thick sheet of plastic. But inadvertently water does get under the plastic, causing mold and mildew problems. After I clear out all the pots (I’m donating them to the Salvation Army) I’m having the carpet ripped up and going down to the bare cement floor.

This will necessitate a whole new approach to heating my basement during the severe Ontario winters. Stay tuned for details.

In my next posting, I’ll tell you exactly which hydroponic system I chose to use, as well as the whole array of products by Advanced Nutrients that are aimed at the hydroponic gardener. For instance, Sensi Zym, which contains 88 powerful enzymes to guarantee faster and larger harvests! And B-52, which packs a wallop with its pharmaceutical grade vitamins, for healthier, more robust flowers.

Or such hydroponic additives to my regular fertilizer regimen, as Big Bud, Overdrive, and Bloom Booster Pro, which enhance growth, flower formation, and harvest quality and quantity.