What a nice reunion! and great meeting Tim and Jo Ann too!

I'm sure we scared away a few of Cynda's customers as we looked like an odd mob! Of course I was worried Bev and Lynn were going to get escorted out of the place as they came up to every guy they didn't know and say "are you Tim?". The vendor next door to Cynda was TOTALLY amused at their antics!

Tim if you got Lynn to give you 'Purple Dazzler' you are indeed SPECIAL. That is one of the few of Sue Thomas's hybrids we have in the US.

Got all my loot planted and I'm digging out the selected spuria and Siberian iris seedlings. Unfortunately about 3K to THROW AWAY too.

Kevin

3,000, to throw away? How many are you re-planting? What a job that must be.

Funny thing is when Tim and Jo Ann finally came in I recognized him immediately.

I'm planting back about 30! Am remaking the beds after I dig as I got 4 yards of compost. It will be gone after this! The beds where I've used this compost have the most lovely friable soil and the plants in those beds have enormous, beautiful root systems.

It was good to have another local crazy person now that we have lost Patty to WA. Now to get Tim crossing.......

Kevin

Yes, we need to get Tim interested in crossing for new cultivars. I think he would be quite good at it.

JungleShadows said:
Tim if you got Lynn to give you 'Purple Dazzler' you are indeed SPECIAL. That is one of the few of Sue Thomas's hybrids we have in the US.
Kevin

Really? Uh oh!
After reading that I scampered back to check the 'Purple Dazzler' bag I brought back from Lynn's and did indeed find an overlooked chick or two at the bottom of the bag.
They have been rescued! I don't want to become known as the wasteful scoundrel.

Hybridizing?

JungleShadows said:What a nice reunion! and great meeting Tim and Jo Ann too!

I'm sure we scared away a few of Cynda's customers as we looked like an odd mob! Of course I was worried Bev and Lynn were going to get escorted out of the place as they came up to every guy they didn't know and say "are you Tim?". The vendor next door to Cynda was TOTALLY amused at their antics!

Kevin

Hey, we only approached guys with glasses. If Tim had mentioned he was going to wear those special gardening shoes, it would have made the hunt a whole lot easier... and less embarrassing. We didn't get kicked out, but, Lynn, the offers we got... remember?

Good one Bev! I needed a good laugh!

Tim, we'll get you trained as a hybridizer and you'll have a good time at it. We need more people doing it.

Kevin

Getting back to actual soil issues... I had my first rotter.
This was I think my best looking semp which was purchased as a NOID from a nursery in Woodburn. A very robust and sizable specimen at the time.
I had noticed the lowermost leaves shriveling but it didn't seem altogether unusual. I just thought (hoped) it was the old leaves dying and making way for the new ones. And the top of the rosette seemed solid. However this morning it was noticeably worse and my optimism could no longer be sustained. I tugged at the semp and it came out of the ground without alot of resistance. The first thing I noticed was the roots appeared to have largely dissolved away.



Pulling the rosette apart revealed rot up the central stem.



Digging down into the soil revealed a soggy mass of potting soil... bingo. The surrounding soil in the bed was only very slightly moist.
This semp had been purchased in a 1.5 quart pot with a moisture retentive, organic potting mix. I suppose this is fine as long as it allowed to dry out between watering. But I made the rookie mistake of planting the whole root-ball including the potting mix into a quick-draining, quick-drying, sandy loam bed. This sort of soil drained and dried alot faster than the ball of potting mix, so that mix remained consistently wetter than the surrounding soil and caused the rot to occur.
Lesson going forward is to shake off any kind of potting mix before planting, even if it stresses the roots a bit. Although I doubt the little 2" pots would pose this problem... or would they?

Luckily all the chicks seem OK as they have rooted out in the sandy soil.



Live and learn.

Tim thank you for the photo story of why we want to remove all potting soil from our new semps before planting. You have a great analytical mind.
And those remaining offsets look wonderful. So glad you were able to save them. Good work.

Gosh, Lynn, you say nice things even when I screw up!
I think I'll rush out and gravel that area before the "big rain" comes through tomorrow.

It has started raining here this evening Tim.
I am hoping to get mine graveled by this weekend. I also need to harvest seed stalks.
Both of us are going to be busy the next week or two.

I did finally get all the beds weeded and ready for the gravel. I was going to start on graveling when I got home from work, but the rain had already started.

Tim, thanks for the lesson. I'm still trying to get a grip on how to water these beauties. I didn't know you were supposed to remove the soil before planting them. All of my semps are new, so I have yet to lose one. Now you have me worried. I'll have to go out and tug on them to make sure they are still rooted well.

And Lynn, it sounds like you are very busy. Thanks so much for continuing to moderate this forum. You keep it moving right along, and it is so valuable. I've learned a ton. I'm currently watching the videos on YouTube that Kevin made. Fascinating!

Lots of great information to glean from the videos Judith. Hope you enjoy them. It was Toby, from Youngs Garden Center in Roseburg, Oregon, that made the video.
He has some wonderful sempervivum for sale. Great place for online ordering.
http://www.youngs-garden.com/s...

Great site. Thanks for the link.

After having one semp rot I got suspicious about this one with the number of dead leaves it has. This was a little scary since to my knowledge I had done everything right with the semps in this particular bed. The crown was raised slightly over the soil line and gravel was tucked in underneath the leaves and chicks. If this one is rotting then the whole enterprise is in real trouble. I don't like mysteries so, like before, I pulled this semp completely out of the ground. What I found was the original root system intact and abundant new roots branching into the new soil. No softness anywhere or any evidence of rot. Whew! I regret having disturbed this poor guy but it's worth it to learn what's going on underneath.

Does anyone think this semp has an alarming number of dead leaves? Or is this normal? It was acquired from PO in a 2" pot and planted a few weeks ago.

Well, a lot of mine look like that this time of year. Our brutal summer heat hasn't helped.

Nope, but the hen has a satisfying number of chicks!

Tim,

I do pull off dead leaves around the crowns to prevent further rotting. Generally those leaves are watery and have lost color and they pull away easily. The big tectorum types tend to be the ones with the most of these watery leaves and the heuffs next. The calcareum cultivars tend to have leaves that dry up and shrivel into hard structures. These can be rather sharp and difficult to pull. Try your best NOT to disturb the rosette during this process. Most of the ones I treat this way are very established plants so they are securely anchored in the ground.

This is one reason I like to do most of my semp plantings in the spring here as you get good root growth before winter sets in as rotten leaves + no roots is sure disaster. Luckily we generally have a long cool fall here in OR so you do generally get root growth despite the declining light.

Kevin