Return to the Perennials Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Of Plants, S&M, and The Truth About Cordyline Neglect
| | |
Posted by arbo_retum z5 ,WinchstrMA (My Page) on Wed, Jan 6, 10 at 14:52
| Earlier today, as I was engaging in the unheard-of activity of watering my indoor and overwintering plants before they fully croak (what, no research to do? no books or papers to read? no emails to answer? no film research or reviews to write? no cleaning or shopping or cooking? NO WEB POSTING ???!!! ), I realized the condition I have been seeking to name for awhile, regarding the abuse that plants will tolerate and sometimes even flourish by. As in root pruning a tree or hitting a wisteria with a baseball bat, to get both to flower. What I've come up with today is that plants, not just humans, can sometimes be seen to enjoy,and thus join as full-fledged members, the ranks of the S&M crowd. PLANTS are into S&M !!
Case in point, and what I really wanted to share w/ you, is the actual answer to my summer '09 question about scale and my red cordylines(phormium-looking tropicals). Last winter, for possibly the second year in a row, my 2 potted cordylines, growing ever larger(4 1/2 ' H now) developed severe infestations of scale while overwintering in the plant room. The scale was mostly in the crevice between leaf and trunk. I put the two outdoors in May(they flank the entrance to the gardens here) and asked, via a GW post, if the scale would go away on its own, the victim of hot sun or hungry insects or, well, just AIR. As you might expect. I received a resounding NO from a few helpful GWers. I was given the spraying formula of a 10% rubbing alcohol (or was it ammonia?) solution to diligently treat my sick adolescent cordylines (on their way to giantdom.)
As you might guess, given my complete non-motherly garden nature, I did nothing to the two. I really meant to.... but it never happened. I checked them once or twice during the summer ; the scale was still there, and I did remove the resulting dead foliage. Then in the fall,after a few very cold nights, I brought them in again for the winter. When I did, I observed that, much to my pure delight, there were no signs of scale. And so they are today. Scale-free.
Now I'm probably jinxing myself in posting this, but I thought some of you might benefit from my experience.Maybe the scale froze on those cold nights. Of course it is possible that MY particular cordylines, realizing that they were gonna get no help from THIS quarter, mustered a solution themselves. I can't honestly say. But there it is. Any other self-curing plant cases out there?
best,
Mindy |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Of Plants, S&M, and The Truth About Cordyline Neglect
| | |
| We rarely get scale or mealybugs outdoors here in Phoenix. They get gobbled up by parasitoid wasps, usually. An established infection may hang on for a long time before the wasps get a handle on it, though! Kevin : ) |
RE: Of Plants, S&M, and The Truth About Cordyline Neglect
| | |
| For the past several years I've had a potted majesty palm which has never looked happy. I cared for it diligently, but it grew slowly, the foliage looked kind of ratty, and nothing I did made it snap out of its funk. To top it off, I noticed about a week ago that it had become home to a sizable population of mealybugs. So I put it outside, right in time for our biggest cold snap of the season. It got down to 2F, and those mealybugs bought it big time. Of course, the plant itself is deader than a doornail, but so what? It's an example to all the rest of those laggards indoors. Shape up, or else. |
RE: Of Plants, S&M, and The Truth About Cordyline Neglect
| | |
| eric, thank you for that. YOU are funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! mindy |
RE: Of Plants, S&M, and The Truth About Cordyline Neglect
| | |
| eric, I laughed so hard that my dog jumped up on the bed to see what was wrong with me! Thanks for your words of wisdom. Mindy, enlightening story, and pretty funny in its own right-plant s&m! |
RE: Of Plants, S&M, and The Truth About Cordyline Neglect
| | |
classy, so glad you enjoyed it. I was beginning to think that most GWers didn't have a sense of humor (but of course we know that's not true!)
best,
mindy |
|
|
|
|
