Guy_wires Collection

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Not sure this is true, terracotta holds moisture longer than regular bonsai pots or plastic containers.
For longer periods of time between watering change the position of your plants to avoid direct sun or wind exposure for the weekend.
Another suggestion would be to add some shredded sphagnum moss to the surface for a few days or so to extend the watering times.

Or sit them in a bowl or soup plate of water. For 24 hours, that's usually not a problem.

@Ply I would use about 5-10% bark flakes. But bonsai pots dry way faster in the summer, so getting away with skipping watering is taking plant death risks. A bigger pot however, holds water for longer. My minimum diameter is 12cm, internal height 3cm. Everything smaller than that, turned out to be a tree killer.

 

[Ply]

@River's Edge @Wires_Guy_wires Sphagnum moss and the plate of water are both good ideas. I'll keep them in mind when summer comes.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Today on how to lose 100 seeds..
Blackbirds.. damnit.

 

[Crazy Diamond]

View attachment 419947
Today on how to lose 100 seeds..
Blackbirds.. damnit.

xD what they were?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

The seeds were scots pine.
The culprit is Turdus merula.. It's in the name. Turd bird.
I'm taking the liberty this year to set remove their nests this year and feed the eggs to the crows. 15 dead trees over a 2 year time span, hundreds of lost seeds and seedlings.. I was quite lenient on them because a virus wiped them out almost completely. But their numbers are back to original levels now, so it's hunting season for me.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Taking a gamble today!

Blaauw on stricta.


Itoigawa and sabina var. Rastrera on a cypress. There's already chinensis on top.


More chinensis on the zombie pfizer.

40 grafts. Done. Planning on doing +/- 40 more in march.

 

[RJG2]

View attachment 419947
Today on how to lose 100 seeds..
Blackbirds.. damnit.

Sorry for your loss, but I'm glad they weren't the rigida seeds I sent you =P

Did/have you started germinating those? Wondering how viable they were.

 

[Crazy Diamond]

Sorry for your loss, but I'm glad they weren't the rigida seeds I sent you =P

Did/have you started germinating those? Wondering how viable they were.

Well if they eat them and then poop them back in the pot would be the best germination treatment xD

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Sorry for your loss, but I'm glad they weren't the rigida seeds I sent you =P

Did/have you started germinating those? Wondering how viable they were.

I'll start the process of stratification in March if all goes well. I think I'll mix the batches of seeds though. In a couple years I don't think I'll be able to tell them apart, so I figured to just throw em together.

 

[Crazy Diamond]

Taking a gamble today!
View attachment 420441
Blaauw on stricta.

View attachment 420442
Itoigawa and sabina var. Rastrera on a cypress. There's already chinensis on top.

View attachment 420443
More chinensis on the zombie pfizer.

40 grafts. Done. Planning on doing +/- 40 more in march.

Interesting projects, what cypress you used? Cupressus or Chamaecyparis

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Interesting projects, what cypress you used? Cupressus or Chamaecyparis

I think it's an italian cypres. It made some shoots at the graft junction that look a lot like italian cypres foliage.
This'll be my mother tree for future scions and cuttings.

 

[Firstflush]

That loss is a real bummer. Have you thought of putting up an owl or hawk pole?
Also, I have found shredded mylar or grocery bag on a pole works. The slightest breeze keeps it moving and keeps the birds sketched.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

That loss is a real bummer. Have you thought of putting up an owl or hawk pole?
Also, I have found shredded mylar or grocery bag on a pole works. The slightest breeze keeps it moving and keeps the birds sketched.

My village is quite urban. There's not much to eat for owls and hawks, which are also some of the rarest predator birds in the country. The buzzards go for lazy meals like roadkill, the falcons do a good job but they manage to get maybe two or three kills in our backyard per year.
We've tried the moving wind stuff for about a decade (bags, reflectors, CD's, DVD's, blurays, chimes, kites, rattling things) but the blackbirds don't give a hoot. We can basically hand feed them. Especially in the soft fruit season.

Anyhow, 200 more seeds are on their way from Italy and I've loaded up the pellet rifle.

I'm a big animal fan, but I've been calculating the losses from blackbirds alone over the past 15 years into monetary value and it's not a pretty picture. About 3000 euros (excluding breeding projects, missed gains in micro-vegetables, fruits and lawn repair).

It's karma time.

 

[Firstflush]

Are those black birds native to Nederland?

 

[Crazy Diamond]

Are those black birds native to Nederland?

Yes but as guy wires said in the cities they dont have predators and a lot of food so they breed like crazy. Ive raised some young ones fallen from the nest, they never mess with my plants lucky me

 

[leatherback]

Are those black birds native to Nederland?

Yup.
Does that make them less of a nuisance?

 

[Firstflush]

Yup.
Does that make them less of a nuisance?

Not getting all hippy dippy but, if they were not native you could pose the question of them being an invasive species and potentially ask the local gov for help. That is what I was thinking along with private control

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Not getting all hippy dippy but, if they were not native you could pose the question of them being an invasive species and potentially ask the local gov for help. That is what I was thinking along with private control

Nah, don't count on it. Even if they were invasive.
We're the kind of country that reintroduced beavers, beaves eat through a bridge next to a elderly care facility, ambulances can't cross the bridge.. Government says: "Well, just carry them out on the stretcher for half a mile".
We do have animal ambulances though!

 

[Firstflush]

That is real good! Hahahah!

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Second bird victim.
5 foot drop.


Gotta love the myc. Kept everything intact.