NEWS & VIEWS
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Beds & Herts Society Chairman Cecil Rhodes sets the ball rolling with his compost experiment. Needless to say this is written tongue- in- cheek, originally for our December Newsletter. |
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“IT DOESN’T MATTER A JOT WHAT MEDIUM YOU USE” (Cecil puts three different types to the test) Earlier in the year I wrote about cutting medium, I took a few cuttings from our competition plants, mine and some of those we grew on for sale. I separated them out into three sets of about 10 plants each then planted each set in a different medium. Set A, I grew in vermiculite; set B, in a good peat-based compost from Alderton Nursery, the one favoured by Pam Hutchinson; and set C, in my own normal mix of a cheap peat compost with added perlite, vermiculite and calcified seaweed. The results were interesting:- Set A: all grew and had even root growth but were in need of potting up sooner than the others. I don’t think they would have survived being left in the vermiculite on its own for more than 25 days. Set B: all grew with four developing very large roots, four with average roots, and two with smaller but adequate roots. Set C: 10 out of 11 grew and only one had poor roots, the others were better developed than those from the other sets. Two months on there was no real difference in any of them and eventually most of them were good plants that sold for the funds. My conclusion is that it does not matter a jot what medium you use, it’s the way you look after the plants that counts and which suits your regime. Vermiculite would not be my choice if I were going to be away and plants were delayed being potted on. For that reason I will generally carry on with either the good potting compost, when I’ve got it, or my own mix knowing that both will sustain the plants if I’m away or too busy to pot them on.
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One other trial I have done this year is to try Chris Woolstone’s method for a hanging basket - 5 plants in a 16 inch basket. I got them planted OK, left them in the greenhouse while I was on holidays, with regular watering and shaded from sun. I came back after nearly three weeks to find them all about eight inches taller and budding up. Eventually I managed to get them sorted by which time they looked quite sorry for themselves with lots of bare compost!!All was going well, then I had a bad patch when I couldn’t spend any time on them and was away for a few weekends, with the same result - severely cut back but still growing. I will report in the spring if they survive the winter, if they do I will have to get some bigger brackets!! I have realised the difference between Chris and me, baskets are the same, compost similar, plants, maybe I should have gone for smaller blooms but…..perhaps it is the early mornings that I don’t spend tending them. You may remember Chris got up at 6 am every day to spend a couple of hours with his fuchsias as well as every evening till about 10 pm. I think perhaps I like my fuchsias a bit more natural with a few stray stems and uneven flowering pattern, that’s what I’ll get anyway so I might as well like it!!! Cecil inspects his trial plants at our Display |
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THE NEW "SHOW" FORMAT IS FLOURISHING On Saturday July 26th and Sunday July 27th we held our third Fuchsia Festival which proved to be even better supported than the previous ones. A total of 170+ plants filled the Parish Hall in Henlow Beds. In spite of the debilitating heat plants, members and visitors enjoyed a successful weekend which, unlike past shows, made a pleasing profit. Since abandoning the competitive shows of other years we have experienced a huge increase in exhibits and exhibitors. Members are happy to show what they have grown during the season without having to pass scrutiny from an eagle-eyed judge. We are finding new plants and talented growers that have previously been too shy to come forward. To any societies struggling as we did to keep their annual show going, or who are making heavy losses when the show is over, we would recommend trying a non-competitive display for a year or so. It certainly impresses the visitors to walk into a hall overflowing with such a wide variety of fuchsias. We include a few popular competitive classes such as Six Blooms, a Novelty Class and our monthly Competition Plant. Apart from that it is a colourful free-for-all. Expenses are amply covered by a tombola and plant sales - no judge's fee or lunch to provide: no rosettes to buy or cups to be engraved. As a redundant Show Secretary of nearly ten years experience I no longer rise at an unearthly hour for final staging on Saturday morning. Life jogs along happily and everyone seems to appreciate the new format. |
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Scenes from the 2008 Fuchsia Festival |
