Lab 2
Pest: This week I counted 3 whiteflys on my sticky paper. I also noticed that the lillys seemed to attract the most white flys and had quite a few swarming around them. All of my other plants seemed to be okay and had no signs of insects.
Nutrition: This was the first week I checked the EC/PH readings for my Sophie Ivy Geraniums and Easter lillies. The EC level for the Easter lillies averaged .83. This is a little low to the normal levels yet my Easter lillies appear to be doing okay. The average PH reading for my Easter Lillies was 5.86, which again was a little low. The Ivy Geraniums Ph averaged 5.95 which is within the normal range. However, the EC levels were at 3.25 which was a little high. This could be because the EC machine was a little off as the geraniums appear to be growing fine.
Growth: My ‘Miramar” Chrysanthemums grew 1/2 an inch over the past week. Though this appears to be slow they didnt seem to have any problems and appeared healthy overall.
Cultural treatment: This week we put tomato cages around our snap dragons to aid in thier support as they mature and grown bigger. By doing this, I can make sure that the fragile stems will be less likely to break due to wind or accidental tampering damage.
This week I removed all of the flower buds from both the geraniums and ivy geraniums. By doing this, it promotes more vegitative growth which the plant will put its energy in leading to a healthier plant rather than the plant having to put all its energy into flowering. This will also help my geraniums be more rounded and flower more towards the end.
This week all of my plants were watered with clear distilled water because they were treated just before lab this week.
I beleive the most interesting thing covered this week was the counting of the Easter lilly leaf to determine when it was going to bud. During the demonstration, it was determined that our Easter Lillies were unfolding 1.3 leaves per day when they needed to be unfolding 1.5 leaves per day. In order to get our leaves to unfold by Easter weekend, we can turn up the temperature a little which will help us be right on schedule. I found that it was neat how you can determine when the Easter Lillies will bloom by counting the leaves unfolded and the ones yet to unfold.