Philo seed advice needed.

From: SNALICE at aol.com on 1997.03.11 at 19:07:53(485) Hello list, I am on the Philo seed list and I was wondering if someone can help me choose some approiate varieties to grow both inside my house as well as outside in my area? I live in extreem northern CA, in zone 9-9b. The winter temp. ranges from 40's to 50's, sometimes dropping to the 30's (this only happened twice this year), and on very rare occasions has dropped to the high 20's). The summer temp. ranges from 50's to 70's, occasionsly reaching 80's and very rare 90's. The plants I choose need to be able to withstand fog, high cloud covering until noon ,and many times, lack of sun all day, and no rain throughout the summer ( I will water where necessary). The winters are totally wet and cold. The soil on my property is a rather acid form surrounding fir trees. If someone can help me choose wisely, I would really appreciate it! Thank you Sue Zunino

From: Eduardo Gomes Goncalves <eggon at guarany.cpd.unb.br> on 1997.03.13 at 19:27:10(494) On Tue, 11 Mar 1997 SNALICE@aol.com wrote: > Hello list, > I am on the Philo seed list and I was wondering if someone can help > me choose some approiate varieties to grow both inside my house as well as > outside in my area? I live in extreem northern CA, in zone 9-9b. The > winter temp. ranges from 40's to 50's, sometimes dropping to the 30's (this > only happened twice this year), and on very rare occasions has dropped to the > high 20's). The summer temp. ranges from 50's to 70's, occasionsly reaching > 80's and very rare 90's. The plants I choose need to be able to withstand > fog, high cloud covering until noon ,and many times, lack of sun all day, and > no rain throughout the summer ( I will water where > necessary). The winters are totally wet and cold. The soil on my property is > a rather acid form surrounding fir trees. If someone can help me choose > wisely, I would really appreciate it! > Thank you > Sue Zunino +More Dear Sue, Your area isn't pretty suitable to grow Philos but you can try some rustic species. If you want to try some species outside your house, you better choose some huge guys like P.bipinnatifidum or P.undulatum. Both can be found growing on Northern Argentina and Southern Brazil, where the weather is somewhat cold during the winter. They grow better in full sunlight but you must add some limestone powder (or something like this) to correct the pH. P. speciosum sometimes grows on cold mountains from Southeastern Brazil, but I'm not sure if it can resist much time outside there. If you want pot plants to grow inside your house, you can try P.imbe (small size), P. cordatum (small size), P. crassinervium (small size, somewhat fragile), P. adamantinum (medium size) and P. saxicolum (medium size). Probably, you'll have to keep a dish with water under the pots. P. adamantinum and P. saxicolum needs direct sun or strong light. Seedlings from any species are fragile and need good humity and a somewhat warm place. After this critical phase, you can slowly adapt them to colder environments. Hope the above helps, Eduardo.

From: SNALICE at aol.com on 1997.03.14 at 00:49:28(495) Thank you Edwardo, I will write these down and study the possibilities. If I decide not to plant all of the seed I get from the order this year, for how long are the seeds viable? Can they last until next winter so I can start some earlier to allow for the hardening period before going outside? Aslo, I have a 9' by 15' plastic covered greenhouse (lower half is 2" redwood and the upper half is poly pipes arranged quansit style over the top with white plastic covering). I have no heating system, but I do have a misting system installed, and electricity. In a short while, I should be able to start seed inside, but as far as winter goes, when the temp. drops outside, it also drops inside. The only protection it would really provide would be from frost. It wouldn't help a bit when it comes to freezing (which we don't get much). Is there some way I can utilize the greenhouse for the Philos? In summer, it would be very warm and humid, but winters are another thing. Do you think the rustic species would survive in there? Thank you. Sue Zunino

From: Eduardo Gomes Goncalves <eggon at guarany.cpd.unb.br> on 1997.03.15 at 01:40:52(500) Dear Sue, As we've already commented in this list some time ago, the viability of Philos' seeds are somewhat short (say 2 months or usually much less than this). Your greenhouse would be great to grow your babies in the summer, but you should remove them before the winter. As I already told you, seedlings are very fragile (even here, in Brazil). When your plants get older, you can try to grow them in the greenhouse along the entire year. I have seen some plants of P. imbe growing on so weird places that I guess they could grow almost everywhere!!! I think I'm not the best one to talk about this, 'cause I'm living in Brazil and here in Brasilia the temp. drops down to 50's in the coldest days of the winter! Maybe there is anyone in this list that have some experience on growing Philos in colder areas. Hope it helps, Eduardo

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