Science Forums 2

[maikeru]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

Doug
I had no idea ozone was so bad.
WHY would you buy an "air purifier" that produces it???
From your link:-

Ozone on ground level or in your home is a very bad thing. (But let's pray that it stays up high in the sky, where it does great good.) It kills stuff by oxidizing them and creating reactive oxygen species (ROS, certain kinds of free radicals), and is destructive to human tissues as well, irritating the eyes, nose, and lungs. It might also lead to higher rates of asthma, immune dysfunction, and cancers because of the free radicals, resulting in protein, lipid, and DNA damage.

Ozone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Still when plants can do all this why bother increasing your electricity bill?

Exactly. Plants > ozone air purifiers and greedy companies.

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Maikeru
I have a flowering Ivy that has yellow daisy like flowers. I have been surprised how well it is doing on a shady balcony. I haven't been game to bring it indoors yet, but you inspire me to do so.

How much light does the banana need? They grow in people's gardens around here. They cost a fortune in nurseries but i should be able to score a free plant somewhere. Many chefs use the leaves in cooking.

Pineapples are cheap at the moment so I have just planted a couple of pineapple tops and will see how they go. Other bromilliads are thriving in very low light indoors.

If you don't feel like bringing in the entire plant, take a clipping of the ivy and put it in water. It should grow roots readily and you can start a small one indoors that way. I keep it indoors because I don't want it running wild outside, like Freeztar worries about, and it's OK if it runs wild in my room. I'll always have scissors handy to keep it in line. Several of my neighbors keep and grow English ivy outside. In some places, English ivy is a notorious pest, because it has a tendency to grow quickly, grow everywhere, is extremely hardy, and crowds out and outcompetes many other plants. Mine has done just fine in the harsh sunlight and high heat, although I know it can also do well in the shade. Most of the time I think they are grown in the shade.

I've been trying to stock the bedroom with tough and hardy plants, which I know will survive the hot temps, high UV, and occasional missed watering (because even the best gardeners make mistakes and forget).

I think the banana can survive on moderate shade to full sun, but I think that would depend also on soil, nutrients, and how much water it has access to. My bet is that the banana can adapt if it's got good soil and enough water. If growing outside, though, you may want to consider some type of light-colored mulch or soil covering to lessen the heating of the soil and heat stress on the roots. My aunt is growing some banana trees outside in pots with sandy soil in full sun. Temperatures are about 37 to 40 degrees C right now. But I'm using terra preta for my banana tree, and the soil heats up much faster and hotter than her sandy soil would, which is why I need to take care. If you can, ask someone for a sapling and put it in some terra preta. You should have it growing like a weed in no time, and it will produce more saplings that you can separate and grow individually. I want to get as many banana trees going as I can from this one. So far, the parent produced two saplings after I stuck it in the terra preta, but one sapling died while I was on vacation. The new one was produced not long after the first died and I've tried to baby it all I can. It's about half the size of the parent plant now, and still putting out leaves quick.

I tried to grow pineapple tops once, but the bottoms went moldy and eventually they died. That was when I was a kid. I wonder if this would work if I put them in terra preta.

BTW, I want to add that some green onion seeds I put into terra preta are coming up and growing pretty quick. I have them in a mug in the kitchen. They look like little chives right now. When they get bigger, I'll take a picture. From my own experience, terra preta does wonders on store-bought, then homegrown green onions. They grow two to three times larger and thicker than when purchased, mucher darker green or bluish green, and are available for continuous harvesting and cooking.

EDIT
some of you might know by now I am having some PH proplems in my garden
So I looked up the bromilliad society web page to find out what they liked
and serendipity found:-

http://www.bromsqueensland.com/pdf/Jul-Aug_2006.pdf

What does "sweetens the soil" mean. You often hear this said.

Perhaps we do need a hypog garden forum or at least aclub

Would the "sweetening" refer to odor control or neutralizing and balancing things? Seems that charcoal does all of those. I notice that the charcoal helps out a lot with soil odors in my pots, no matter what I fertilize them with (and that says a lot since spoilt milk, fish water, etc. are common feed).