Pretty much everything showing some flowers now. There are a handful of TCs that grew larger and waited longer to go all out with the flowers. The Perique started opening yesterday. Little Dutch is almost 100% open at this point. Samsun also began opening in the last couple days. Staghorn is showing signs of flowers but looks like it will be at least a couple more weeks before opening. My few southern beauty plants show minimal signs of flowers.
I still feel like almost everything is smaller and earlier than it should be, but overall think I can't complain too much with the level of success I've had in my first season. Sure some mistakes were made but that just gives me something to look forward to next season about.
Things I will change next year.
1. I'm going to build a small float bed for my seedlings.
2. No peat pots
3. I'm going to keep the artificial lighting limited to 12 hours and maybe add a short overnight on period aligned with the research on preventing early flowering shared by
@deluxestogie
4. I will seed FCV varieties much earlier than others and in greater quantities.
5. I'm going to clip the seedlings.
6. I will wait until after the equinox to set out.
7. I will be looking for something to mix with the compost to make it provide a sturdier base. It seems too loose and fluffy during high wind and rain.
8. I will plant orientals in an offset double row.
9. I will plant slightly 1"-2" deeper.
10. I will plan on two rounds of BT treatment and not wait to see caterpillar issues, two applications shortly after transplant in mid-late march and two applications in mid-late April.
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