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January 19, 2001     Cape Gazette
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January 19, 2001
 
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58 - CAPE GAZETTE, Friday, Jan. 19 - Jan. 25, 2001 GARDEN & FARM Poinsettias can lend color to the long, White winter Those brilliant red, pink and creamy white poinset- tias that set off a holiday decor don't have to end up in the trash when the decorations come down, said Jay Windsor, Cooperative Extension agricultural agent for the University of Delaware. With a little care, this popular winter-flowering plant will provide color for several months - and, with patience, can even be coaxed into another display for next Christ- mas. "Caring for your poinsettias is not difficult," Wind- sor said. "It's simply a matter of timely watering, feeding and trimming and providing the right light conditions." He offers a few tips for keeping the hol- iday spirit alive all winter long with poinsettias: • Don't overwater poinsettias - they won't tolerate 'wet feet.' • Remove any foil covering the pot, or punch holes in the bottom of the wrapper to allow drainage. • Place the plant in a shallow saucer and water on- ly enough to saturate the soil. • Let the soil dry out between waterings. • When leaves begin to drop, water thoroughly again. • Feed once a week with liquid or water soluble fertilizer. • Keep poinsettias in the brightest, sunniest win- dow possible. To keep poinsettias for another season, Windsor suggests keeping the poinsettia indoors until the end of May, or until the danger of frost is over. Then cut the branches to 4 to 6 inches long - even if this means all the leaves are removed. Leave the plant in the pot, placing the poinsettia in full sun, feeding and water- ing it regularly. "Then, around the first of September, cut it back again, repot in a slightly larger pot, leaving 4- to 6- inch branches," Windsor said. "Keep it outside until the beginning of October, unless frost is in the fore- cast." According to Windsor, poinsettias need total darkness for 12 to 13 hours a day in a temperature of 60 to 65 E Without this dark period, the plant will not bloom for the holidays. "Place the plant in an unused room where it gets daylight and evening darkness," Windsor said. "Or keep the plant in a sunny window by day and move it to a closet or cellar at night, being careful not to dis- turb it by turning on a light at night, even for a short time. Continue to feed and water it, and your home grown poinsettia will bloom again in time for the holidays." Those brilliant red, pink and creamy white poinsettias that set off a holiday dcor don't have to end up in the trash when the decorations come down. Here's one way to help keep scurvy at bay Paul Barbano With a bright window and good luck your Meyer lemon tree will produce fragrant blossoms and ripe fruit almost year round. Eventually it can become a large specimen potted plant, reaching up to five feet tall. Here on the Delaware coast the sea is never too far away. Weeks or even months at sea used to weaken and sicken men. The scourge of the seas was not the dragons nor mermaids nor the song of the sirens. The real killer was malnutrition. Specifically, the lack of vitamin C that resulted in the deadly dis- ease of scurvy. So it was a wel- come find for mariners every- where when the British Navy dis- covered that scurvy could be pre- vented by issuing rations of lemons and limes. Indeed the British Merchant Marines are still nicknamed "limeys." As our gardening instincts drive us indoors, it's nice to know we can continue the Delaware mar- itime tradition and grow our own symbolic citrus trees indoors. But dreams of a coastal orange grove must be put aside for a more prac- tical scaled down venture of per- haps an indoor lemon tree. It was in the early 1900s that our subject was discovered grow- ing in a pot in China. Frank Mey- er brought it back to the United States. He was an American plant explorer, a real occupation whose quest is to search the earth for useful plants. The Meyer Lemon is probably a cross between a true lemon and an orange. As such it is a little sweeter than most lemons. It is therefore a good in- gredient in Shaker sliced lemon pie, a pie made from thinly sliced whole lemons. Meyer lemons are widely avail- able from mail order nurseries such as Raintree (www.rain- treenursery.com), Shepherd?s GARDEN JOURNAL Seeds (www.shepherdseeds.com), Gurney's (800-824-6400) or One Green World (877-353-4028) among others. To grow a Meyer Lemon in- doors, choose a rather large con- tainer with good drainage. Use a premixed sterile potting soil. Most garden soils are simply too dense and slow draining to work indoors. Let the soil dry out between wa- terings. When the top two inches of soil are dry, water until it drains out the bottom of the pot. Since potted plants require more water- ing than those in ground you will soon come up against the phenom- enon of leaching. Leaching caus- es the nutrients to be literally washed out of the soil by water- ing. So you will have to fertilize the Meyer lemon with, what else, citrus fertilizer. This is available by mail from the same nurseries that carry Meyer lemon plants. You can also use a good all-pur- pose, slow release houseplant food. Citrus are more prone than most plants to suffer from lack of iron, manganese and zinc. All- purpose citrus fertilizers often contain these. Otherwise once a year in spring, add chelated iron supplements. The danger to in- door plants is usually in over fer- tilizing rather than under fertiliz- ing. A sunny window or supplemen- tal lighting will help the Meyer lemon bloom. When the waxy fragrant flowers emerge it's time to pollinate them. Use an artist's camel hair paintbrush to gently touch each blossom, transferring pollen as you go. In late spring you can gradually bring the potted Meyer lemon tree out into the sun. For the first few weeks, bring it in every night and out every day. In the fall shower it thoroughly to remove pests, and bring it indoors before frosts. Placing the pot on a tray of moist pebbles will help keep the humid- ity up. With a bright window and good luck your Meyer lemon tree will produce fragrant blossoms and ripe fruit almost year round. Eventually it can become a large specimen potted plant, reaching up to five feet tall. With this cit- rus from China, you will tie your garden to the sea, and the land- loving Shakers. And keep scurvy at bay one more winter. Paul Barbano writres about gardening and farming from his home in Rehoboth Beach. Ad- dress questions or comments to him c/o the Cape Gazette.