Shading Our Roses From Scorching Sun, Discovering Nirvana

As if to merely annoy the kids flocking back to school next week, summer seems to have been extended into September in southern Ontario. The forecast calls for temperatures in the upper twenties Celsius and the sun will show its shiny face, more often than not.

Roses thrive on sunshine. Most Rose varieties need at least five hours of bright sunlight per day, but they welcome more, if available. Of course, Pedro and I supplement the sunshine that streams in through the glass of our greenhouses with a bank of High Pressure Sodium lights in each greenhouse.

The lights are on tracks, so they can be pulled aside to let the full power of the sun reach our Rose plants. However, when the sun starts to burn with its intensity, we must activate our shading devices, in order to keep our blooms and foliage intact.

Our Blue Girl Hybrid Tea Rose seems to be the most sensitive to sunlight of all the varieties we grow. As you know, there is no such thing as a blue rose, hybridizers haven’t been able to isolate the blue tint as of yet.

So-called blue Roses are actually lavender or a shade of light pink. For some reason, this pigmentation is susceptible to sun burn, and Pedro and I are very careful to position the shading devices above the canopy, so that the hottest sun between noon and two pm doesn’t scorch our lovingly tended flowers.

Pedro’s favorite screens are retractable, with a 50% shade factor, and are rot, chemical, and UV stabilized. He is very conscious of the potential destructive effects of UV rays (the harmful ones), so he actually ordered UV protection on the glazed glass of all our greenhouses.

The roofs of our glasshouses have vents that open and close automatically, depending on how hot the greenhouse gets.

Digital thermometers are located in strategic spots throughout each greenhouse, and they are tied into the computer system that controls every important function of the greenhouse, from lighting, to ventilation, heating and cooling, the ebb and flow cycles of our multi-bucket hydroponic system, etc.

Pedro came in all excited the other day. “Advanced Nutrients has a new, 100% organic bloom booster, called Nirvana!” he shouted. “It’s a concentrated liquid that can be applied to the leaves or to the roots!”

He sometimes finds it hard to contain his enthusiasm. Sometimes I think that’s what’s so lovable about him.

“It’s been successful in test gardens in almost doubling the size of flowers! It contains vitamins, minerals, amino acids, carbohydrates, and such organic growth stimulators as guano and seaweed.”

“Seaweed has those things you’re always talking about—cyto…cyto…somethings,” I added, wanting to sound knowledgeable. “Yeah, cytokinins, auxins, and gibberlins,” he bubbled. “The web is all abuzz about these natural hormones that aid cell division, nutrient utilization, and overall plant growth.”

“As long as our Roses don’t grow to be over six feet tall, like what happened last time,” I reminded him. “Yes, the Granada and Ambience Roses did grow very tall, but we were able to sell them at the auction for a very good price,” said Pedro.

He got on the phone immediately and ordered some Nirvana for each of our Glasshouses. He also made sure that we have enough Iguana Juice Grow and Bloom, our 100% organic basic fertilizer, to last well into 2008.

“The Humic Acid and Fulvic Acid were running low, the last time I checked,” I called out to him, as he was making the phone call. He ordered a generous amount of these products that are designed to recreate the rich, black, humus-like environment of bygone eras in our hydroponic reservoirs.

Pedro insists on ordering Carbo Load powder, even though I’ve asked him a few times to switch over to liquid. “Why would I switch?” he asked. “They do exactly the same thing, and the powder is more economical.”

I reminded him that when I wanted to save money by going with polyethylene for our greenhouses, he’s the one who insisted on glass, imported to boot. “That’s different,” he insisted, “glass lets in more light and it’s stronger in adverse weather conditions.”

We’re growing our Roses in coco coir, so Pedro ordered a large quantity of Sensi Cal Mg Grow and Bloom. It seems that coco depletes or leaches calcium, so this important nutrient has to be replenished.

“I heard an interesting story about SensiZym,” Pedro said after he got off the phone. “A friend of mine decided to do a test grow—one batch of Roses he grew with this enzyme additive, the other one without.”

“Don’t tell me,” I said. “The Sensi-Zym batch grew to twice the size,” I offered, not without cynicism. But Pedro was dead serious. “Not quite twice,” he said, “but the size of the plants and the girth of the flowers noticeably increased in the batch given Sensi Zym.”

“I thought you added it just to clean the grow medium of plant debris,” I said. “Yes, it does exactly that, but it doesn’t stop there. SensiZym turns that plant debris into easily absorbable nutrients, thus ensuring a healthier, more robust, larger harvest.”

Pedro becomes like a little kid in a toy store when he’s thinking about Advanced Nutrients and their wonderful products.