Garden chat & photos for torts and people ♫ ♫

Wenzer

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Update ?

So I had left the previous plants in the container they had been planted in, even though they "died off". I had a feeling they'd bounce back if only a little, and I wasn't disappointed! The plantains seem to have taken the opportunity to show some fresh growth, especially the two broadleaf plants!

The narrowleaf looks like it's getting there but it still had a lot of dried/dead foliage and some pieces that were getting gooey, so I removed those things, hopefully I didn't remove too much. I think it will be okay, though. I had tossed the clover into this container as well when I realized the plants were drying out, but seems they were too far gone and/or got flooded. We had some nice storms and showers today too.

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Since it rained yesterday and today, I was able to find some dandelion puffs in the backyard since we can't mow yet haha. I collected quite a few seeds and I'm going to plant a few for more variety. I don't expect any issues with these though; I've propagated dandelion seeds in the past and it's really easy ? but I'm going to put this baggie with the remaining seeds in a dark container and stick them in the fridge for a week or two, as I'm curious about how well the seeds thrive as fresh propagation versus seeds that have gone through stratification.

... my life is just one big experiment ?

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leoturt

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Plant Newby here. I'm in zone 8.
Anyone have experience growing dwarf mulberry in a pot?

The mulberry (below) is still small but I want to plant it in a pot and grow as big as possible for being in a pot. Planting in the ground isn't an option. Will be high up on balcony and can get lots of sun.
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So I'm wondering, how big should the pot get? Would a 25 inch wide pot be too big? (Below)
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Should it be a wide pot or deep pot or neither?
What should I use for soil and any fertilizer? Should I use mulch? I have an blend of organic fish emulsion + forest bark stuff. I also have chicken manure to use with soil. I have pumice, aquariam water, and clay. I'm watching YouTube vids too to help and looking on google. I can't let this plant to die or else I'd have to wait till next year to be able to buy one again. Want the root system to grow fast and big. Bought the tree to feed the leaves for my leopard tortoise. I don't care much for the fruit, but obviously Ill eat them when they're ready next year.

And for fun..
Here is my hibiscus Red Dragon. I really badly wanted this type.IMG_20200623_101808.jpg

I already have a red hibiscus brilliant, but to me, I think the double pettle feature of the red dragon makes it look extra delicious for my tort..haha just my fantasy thinking. But it does look really nice too, but also not too much diff from my brilliant. I will repot this plant next week. I now have 2 hibiscus and 2 rose of Sharon. Wanted variety for my tort. I'm not feeding any of those plants until next spring cus I'm sure they all have pesticides on them. Sadly I don't think many new tort owners wait at all to feed their torts plants that were just bought from a garden centre of nursery.

Lastly, I bought this succulent cuz it will look cool, but it's not tort food.
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leoturt

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This is interesting. I've been planning on doing the exact same thing of grabbing safe wild weeds and potting them! Will be following this closely. I've been thinking if getting a little green house to keep them in during the winter. Have you ever considered it? Or maybe don't plan on going that long into winter?
 

Wenzer

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This is interesting. I've been planning on doing the exact same thing of grabbing safe wild weeds and potting them! Will be following this closely. I've been thinking if getting a little green house to keep them in during the winter. Have you ever considered it? Or maybe don't plan on going that long into winter?

I've also considered a greenhouse, perhaps for the fall and/or indoors. I already keep indoor succulents and cacti as a hobby from before bringing the turtles home, with some grow lights as supplement during gloomy weather/winter. I will have to bring any plants in over the winter because of the area I live in (Illinois, US) we get some pretty wet and cold winters lol. All of my plants are container-planted though.
A greenhouse (there's some fairly priced ones on Walmart and Amazon that aren't really huge but they do provide a good amount of shelf space! Ive seen them from $20-60 generally) would be nice, I think, even for indoors at my house, during the winter. I don't think it's a necessity for me, personally, though.

Edit- I realized my reply may be a bit confusing because I kind of skipped some information haha... Sorry! I meant to say that with my succulents and cacti indoors with some grow lights, I do plan to try and keep some of the plants going through winter! Im also borrowing the lights right now so I can keep the newly planted dandelion seeds indoors where I can control the environment better.
 

MichaelL

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Wow! Good luck, I have transplanted and done some stuff with weeds like you are. Just be careful with the root systems, on some weeds they are extra sensitive. But you're doing good!

Also, regarding Virginia Pepperweed, I am pretty familiar with it. In the spring when it starts to grow, the leaves are much bigger and my russians loved them a lot. As the heat intensified and they "bolted," growing upwards and having seeds, the leaves became very thin and small, and now all that's left is very small leaves and mainly seeds, like in your picture. When they start having the seeds, the leaves shrunk and it isn't good food anymore for them. This is a pic of what the plant looks like young. In spring you should transplant, very palatable and apparently pretty healthy.

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Wenzer

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Wow! Good luck, I have transplanted and done some stuff with weeds like you are. Just be careful with the root systems, on some weeds they are extra sensitive. But you're doing good!

Also, regarding Virginia Pepperweed, I am pretty familiar with it. In the spring when it starts to grow, the leaves are much bigger and my russians loved them a lot. As the heat intensified and they "bolted," growing upwards and having seeds, the leaves became very thin and small, and now all that's left is very small leaves and mainly seeds, like in your picture. When they start having the seeds, the leaves shrunk and it isn't good food anymore for them. This is a pic of what the plant looks like young. In spring you should transplant, very palatable and apparently pretty healthy.

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Oh that is super good to know!! Maybe tomorrow I can take a look at the ones in my yard and see if there's an easy way to get the seeds from them. I'll look for them again in the spring too :)

I should actually get a better picture of where the virginia pepperweed is in my yard: when I first moved in here, there was some kind of metal cylinder (kind of reminds me of a large tire rim lol) set up a little ways from the back porch, I think it may have been used as a fire pit, it seemed like there were some coal remnants. Right now, the whole thing is packed full of the virginia pepperweed! My neighbor mows around it for me but I haven't taken any time recently to go pull up some of the weed-y areas that he cant mow (which I'm kind of glad I didn't, now! I can try to utilize them for the russian tortoise ? ).
 

Tom

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The bigger the pot, the more the roots can expand. I'd just use some potting soil and go easy with the fertilizer.

I don't know how it works in Canada, but down here all decorative plants are grown with systemic pesticides. You can feed them to your tortoise for at least one year. If you didn't grow that hibiscus from seed or cutting, then I'd be careful.
 

Yvonne G

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I've always been told when repotting only go one size bigger. So I would start with a medium-sized pot and repot as needed (when getting root bound).

I like pots with straight up and down sides as it's easier to get the plant out when repotting.

Also, I like clay pots because they're porous and 'breathe' better.
 

leoturt

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The bigger the pot, the more the roots can expand. I'd just use some potting soil and go easy with the fertilizer.

I don't know how it works in Canada, but down here all decorative plants are grown with systemic pesticides. You can feed them to your tortoise for at least one year. If you didn't grow that hibiscus from seed or cutting, then I'd be careful.
My 2 ROS I bought from local garden stores are from 'Proven Winners'. My 2 hibiscus are both 'Monrovia'. I think they're both US companies. But anyways, some garden store lady told me that all of these plants use systemic, specific pesticides or something along those along I can't remember. I bought what I think should be a year's worth of organic, dried mulberry leaves and hibiscus flowers for my baby tort.IMG_20200619_191121.jpg
 

leoturt

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I've always been told when repotting only go one size bigger. So I would start with a medium-sized pot and repot as needed (when getting root bound).

I like pots with straight up and down sides as it's easier to get the plant out when repotting.

Also, I like clay pots because they're porous and 'breathe' better.
Hmm I'll try to get a clay pot. I won't get a huge pot like the one I posted but 2 sizes bigger instead so the roots can grow well. I want to avoid the roots from even starting to get root bound before repotting again later. I literally just read online a few minutes ago that getting too huge a pot can cause root rot cus of all the excess soil that stay moist which helps the harmful microbes to destroy the roots
 

Lynda362

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You can see my torts are enjoying the sun bath next to the garden that she planted some yams.........with every opportunity, they will try to have few bite of them.......

All the credit to my Mother in-law! ! ! ! ! !

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What type of tortoise are they and how old? Also, that one guy just climbed out like a spider!!
 

KarenSoCal

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Anyone have experience growing dwarf mulberry in a pot?

You're going to end up with a pretty big pot. These are my 2 dwarf mulberries, planted 2 years ago.
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And this was when I first got them.

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I had lots of berries this spring. Delicious!
 

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leoturt

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You're going to end up with a pretty big pot. These are my 2 dwarf mulberries, planted 2 years ago.
View attachment 298269

And this was when I first got them.

View attachment 298271

I had lots of berries this spring. Delicious!
Wow! I didn't think they'd be that big already by 2 years. Lots of leaves too!
I might actually be able to plant the tree in 2 years or less cus we will have moved by then. Thanks for posting those pics.
 
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Len B

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You're going to end up with a pretty big pot. These are my 2 dwarf mulberries, planted 2 years ago.
View attachment 298269

And this was when I first got them.

View attachment 298271

I had lots of berries this spring. Delicious!
Do you need to water often? just wondering how they do in the desert. Here they grow like weeds and pop up everywhere and anywhere just like rose of sharon.
 

KarenSoCal

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Do you need to water often? just wondering how they do in the desert. Here they grow like weeds and pop up everywhere and anywhere just like rose of sharon.
I've been watering every 2 or 3 days in the heat. Today we topped out at 116° with low humidity. All the plants look stressed, especially when the wind and sand blows.
 

leoturt

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You're going to end up with a pretty big pot. These are my 2 dwarf mulberries, planted 2 years ago.
View attachment 298269

And this was when I first got them.

View attachment 298271

I had lots of berries this spring. Delicious!
Whats the exact name of your dwarves? Mine is morus nigra, I think it looks a bit diff from yours but that's just a quick guess.
 

leoturt

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does 1 potted grown dwarf mulberry have enough leaves for 1 grown leopard tort to eat each year?
 
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leoturt

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Is it fine if 2 opuntia pads are planted in the same pot? Will they both grow up big and fine or not? They're both young still bit will they be able to get really big together?IMG_20200627_193038.jpg
 
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