Journal September 21, 2013 Telescoping Upright Plant Support

Today I had my first opportunity to try the telescoping plant supports and clips; my assessment is that they are great! The poles telescope from 18" to 36" and the clips are much easier to work with than the vine clips I have been using. They are available from this site.

The two plants in the photo are olive trees, taggiasca on the right and pendolino on the left.  Going forward I am going to increase the height of the plants significantly.  By rearranging the staging in the greenhouse I can use more of the center aisle to allow for bigger plants.

 Another tropical I have added is Allspice, shown above.  In addition to being a fairly attractive plant, the leaves can be used as a spice seasoning.  The top six inches of the plant have since  been removed to encourage branching.  

Last, but not least, I have added Gardenia jasminoides Veichii to my tropical collection.  Again, the top portion of the plant has since been removed to encourage branching.  For this plant I am using a 70/30 mixture of agricultural perlite and peat moss.  Also, I have mixed nutrients specific to the plant by adding iron and decreasing the pH.

The tops of both plants have been planted with my other clones and hopefully in a month or so I will have two more plants to experiment with.