Fertilizer Booms and more
Ceylon Cinnamon Growing
Ceylon cinnamon scientific name cinnamon zeylanicum, true cinnamon or Sri Lanka Cinnamon. It’s a flavorful spice added to liquids, deserts and main food dishes. Ceylon cinnamon is considered the Cadillac of cinnamon’s. As a medical herb Cinnamon has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties.
It helps support lower blood sugar levels was a part of a study that showed it enhanced antioxidant enzyme activity. This means it may prevent or treat certain types of cancer. Always, consult your doctor or certified herbalist before using Ceylon Cinnamon for medical uses.
You can harvest the plant at the age of 2yrs. Harvest the new shouts and then left them dry out. There are many articles on how to harvest cinnamon and process the spice for usage. Yes, you can propagate the plant from cuttings or seeds. The seeds tend to be expensive and hard to find in the USA. Once the plant is well established (3yrs plus) it starts to grow more branches faster.
Growing Ceylon Cinnamon
Growing Environment: According to the USDA the plants hardiness zone is 9b through 11. It’s a tropical evergreen tree grows best at low altitudes in a moist climate. Epic Grower LLC is in North Georgia zone 7 so we grow it in a green house during our cool/cold months. No, Epic Grower LLC does not grow this plant in the ground.
Sun, Water and soil: The plant likes full sun to partial shade. It like moist soil and do not let it dry out. Make sure the soil is airy moist but not soggy. We grow the plants in pots under 70% full sunlight. It prefers alkaline sandy soil and is salt tolerant.
Usage: The Ceylon Cinnamon plant has many usages as an herbal/spice and ornamental plant. By purchasing this product you agree that Epic Gower LLC and its staff are not liable what-so-ever for usage of this plant or plant parts.
Plant Health Check Up
It’s a great time of the year for a plant health check up. Now’s the time during plant dormant to clear up weeds in the soil, check roots, growth space and do a general assessment of your plants.
First, Happy holidays to all and we wish you the best for the New year. Thank you for your support, questions and business.
Plant Health Check
Many plants are in full dormancy by this time of the year. Even plants that do not drop their leaves go into a slow growth phase (not all during winter) and need a plant health check. During dormancy, slow/no growth periods, reduce watering to once a month. Check root space and if the plant is getting to large for the pot then its time to re-pot in (roots fill up more than 70% of pot).
Please note for very slow growing plants you may not need to up size the plants pot. However, you still need to check the soil and roots.
Roots need some space to breath and to grow. They grow to search out new nutrients and increase watering intake. Plant health check includes determining next growing season needs. you need to prepare the plant now for the new season growth. If you wait until the season starts blooms, fruits, berries and overall plant growth will suffer.
This is great time to re-pot adeniums, most tropical and other succulents. Old soil gets depleted of nutrients and ability to retain moisture. Have you taken a plant out of a pot and just get a big root ball with very little soil? Why- because the plants takes all the nutrients and whats left is very little if any soil. Soil is a general term which includes soil-less mixes too.
When you replace the soil, consider mixing in a time released fertilizer. The fertilizer releases nutrients over several months to replenish the soil. Also, it decreases the recovery time of the plant. Mix the time release fertilizer in the fresh soil . If you top water the plant them place the fertilizer on top of the soil.
AdeniumRose Company LLC uses the soil and the same time release products offer on their website www.adeniumrose.com We are testing other products and plan to offer a 8 -9 month time released fertilizer in 2021 for tropical and other plants. If you overhead water (water from the top of the soil) or if the plant gets a lot of rain then the time release fertilizer is a great product.
Plant Dormancy Basic Care
Plant dormancy occurs with deciduous plants/trees, succulents, cactus, tropical and other plants during winter months. In addition, periods of drought and high temperatures causes plant dormancy too.
Dormancy is a period in an organism’s life cycle when growth, development, and (in animals) physical activity are temporarily stopped. The plant greatly reduces growth and defoliates – its metabolic activity slows down to conserve energy. Dormancy usually is closely related with environmental conditions such as shorter daylight, cooler weather, extreme heat and low water.
Watering During Plant Dormancy
If you obtained a plant during dormancy period please make sure you know what to do. During dormancy plants drop their leaves (most of the time 100%) so your plant may arrive leafless. During plant dormancy you need to reduce watering to prevent root problems and other issues. The majority of plants, not all, that go dormant still need to be watered once a month. Some plants need additional care including warmth and protection from cold weather.
Pruning Cropping Transplanting during Plant Dormancy
Dormancy is a great time to transplant plants into larger containers or refresh the soil. During plant dormancy many types of plants that grow vines or canes are pruned. Remember this is not the time to prune/crop all types of plants.
Here is a partial list of plants from Epic Grower LLC Company:
- Christia Vespertilonis – Re-pot but DO Not trim branches.
- Dwarf Flamboyant Plants – Trim branches and re-pot during this time. These are evergreens in most tropical areas. In other areas we are still testing.
- Pseudobombax – trim branches and re-pot.
- Fruit Trees – Trim them during dormancy. There are many articles on this on the internet.
- Honey suckle – Trim old growth in fall or winter. Check your area and the internet for more information.
- Berry plants – Trim and in some cases cut out old canes. Check internet on which berries will not product on old wood/canes. Goji berry grow on old wood and new wood.
- Butterfly Plants – trim and cut back old growth. There are a few that will produce on old wood so check your variety. They are evergreens in tropical climates. Other areas they may drop leaves and go dormant.
- Brazilian Grape – These are evergreens. Trim during main growing season. Growth slows keep very warm and soil slightly moist.
- Cinnamon, Green Tea, Miracle Fruits – These are evergreens. Do not over water. Keep warm and in a sunny location.
Watering Part 2: Dormant Plants still need water. Epic Grower LLC reduces watering to 1-2 times month depending upon plant type instead of every week. This stresses the importance in doing your research on the plants in your garden or containers. Every growing environment is different. The articles here are for general growing. In your area you may need to treat the plants differently. ***** WINDOW areas: Unless the plant sees the sun through the window this is NOT DIRECT SUNLIGHT. Many clients put inside homes tropical, desert plants and other plants that need DIRECT Sunlight throughout the year to survive. Repeat: This is NOT the correct growing environment for the plant and it will suffer and may die. If you plan to grow plants inside that require many hours of direct sunlight then you should get grow lights. Epic Grower LLC use LED grow light in our nursery during winter in Northern Georgia when its too cold.
Know Your Plants Life Cycle
Many plants go dormant in one growing environment while not in others. In SE Florida tropical environment, the Red Butterfly – Christia vespertilonis is an evergreen. Areas north of central Florida they will drop all their leaves. It important to know your environment and do your research.
Plant Types When to Plant
First, thank you for your support and patience. It’s been a busy year establishing Epic Grower LLC in Cleveland, Georgia the gateway to the Mountains. Planting started earlier this year for 2021 late winter and spring seasons. Up potting continually occurs at nurseries and homes. Do you know when and how to correctly re-pot your plants?
Plant Types – Different Planting season
Planting and growing healthy container plants requires you to know the requirements. If you re-pot a plant at the wrong time it could double or triple the recuperation time. It’s better to be patient and wait for the right season. What’s good for one plant is not for another. Winter blooming camellias japonicas do best when planted in the spring (winter blooming). Camellia sasanqua do best in early spring or late winter (fall blooming).
Planting and growing healthy container plants requires you to know the requirements. If you re-pot a plant at the wrong time it could double or triple the recuperation time. It’s better to be patient and wait for the right season. What’s good for one plant is not for another. Winter blooming camellias japonicas do best when planted in the spring (winter blooming). Camellia sasanqua do best in early spring or late winter (fall blooming).
Recent Up Size Potting of Goji Berry
Normally, Goji berries are best planted in spring when the threat of frost is over. Yes, goji berry tolerates cold weather including frost. However, when you re-pot take into account plant recuperation time and weather. The goji berries started by seed last fall.
Epic Grower repotted many of them into 1-gallon containers. We added a bamboo trellis to grow the plant taller/thicker. Without the trellis the goji berry would spread out too much.
Next year we plan to move some into the ground after threat of frost is over (we are zone 6a-7) so people who visit our location can see them growing. According to USDA most zones in the USA but if would protect them in zones lower than 5 until you test them. Go ahead and move them into the gallon pots before the season ends. Gradually move them from partial sun to full sun.
You need to know your plants. If you are not sure about a particular plant please post a question on this blog.
Epic Grower Is Now Open
Epic Grower LLC nursery online is now open with its website 97% completed. The Epic Grower website plant inventory is being updated now. It’s a great time to look for exotic and new plants. Register on the site to received news, future discount coupons and learn about any specials. Just click on the registration link on the top left of the page. No purchase is required what-so-ever.
Please note Epic Grower registration is 100% separate from Adeniumrose Company.
Late Winter 2020/2021 Epic Grower Location Openings
Epic
Grower is located in Cleveland, GA north of Atlanta about 1.25 hours drive. Land is being cleared for a new 100 foot long cold frame. The cold frame (unheated growing structure) will allow Epic Grower to expand into more rare and exotic plants. Plus, it gives us the ability to allow limited special weekend only on-site retail business in the future.
We plan to have exclusive 1 or 2 weekends only per month onsite plant sales. Our first one will be for very popular exotic Camellia plants where we expect to have 20 or more varieties of blooming size in 1 and 3 gallon size nursery pots. These sales will start in late winter 2020/2021 and spring 2021.
In addition, there will be over 500 fruit/Berry trees. Several varieties of apple, pear, fig trees, goji berry, and much more. These large plants will only be available during the onsite special weekend events at our Cleveland, GA location.
If you are interested in these special weekend events then register on the Epic Grower site and follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/epicgrower.
When you visit us during the special event weekends make sure you leave time to visit the German town of Helen Georgia (18 minutes away) and the gold rush town of Dahlonega about 20 minutes away. If you come during spring/early summer you may want to plan a white water rafting trip or hike/bike the many trails in our area. Cleveland, Ga is the gateway to the mountains so there are tons of activities here!
The Hoya inventory will be updated by this weekend on the site. Many of the hoyas are growing in 4 to 4.5 nursery pots. Yes, we will still have auctions on eBay for large plants. Please note due to high demand and longer growing period before they are ready for sale quantities are very limited. It takes 6 month to 12 months for the cuttings to establish themselves with good roots. These are grown outside under a shade house during the summer and indoors under LED grow lights during the colder winter months.
AdeniumRose Company Update
AdeniumRose Company completed its move from South Miami area to North Miami. Part of the inventory was transferred to Epic Grower LLC located in Cleveland, Ga. AdeniumRose company continues to specialize in adeniums, rare tropical and herbs plants.
Clients noticed the addition of extra-large and jumbo desert rose adenium plant additions. In the next week, expect more listing of one of a kind adenium plants from AdeniumRose Company. The extra-large and jumbos plant listings shows the actual plant you will receive. The extra-large adeniums are 5 to 8 yrs old and the jumbos 8 to 10 yrs.
AdeniumRose Company Recent Herbal/Berry Plant Additions
Recent plant additions include the Sherbet Berries, Katuk plant and similar plants that are rare herbs/berries.
Sauropus androgynus, the Katuk plant, star gooseberry, or sweet leaf, is a shrub grown in some tropical regions as a leaf vegetable. Often called tropical asparagus in Asia. People add the leaves to various dishes (crab, pork, shrimp, etc. Used in Stir-fry dishes and plant is used as a medical herb too. AdeniumRose Company offers this plant in a 4″ pot (shipped in the pot)
The leaf has a nutty-pea flavor and the flowers. Yes, the flowers are eaten too in Asia. The Katuk plants is semi-drought tolerant. They prefer moist soil (Not wet) and shade to partial sunlight. In the wild they grow below the canopy of tropical forests.
The Grewia asiatica Sherbet Berry plant offered by Epic Grower LLC is a NON GMO. Shipped in regular 4″ nursery pot. Its has a minefield of antioxidants with many many medicinal uses. It flower in spring and produces fruit in the summer. Great for in ground for zones 9 to 10 with a mature height of 6′ to 8′. It will grow in full sun or partial shade.
Colorful fruit in many Asian it is widely cultivated and commonly known as Phalsa or Falsa. We simply refer to it a Sherbet Berry. Phalsa produces a edible drupe that is purple to black when ripe. This small fruit is loaded with antioxidants. It is eaten fresh with a sprinkling of salt and black pepper. Phalsa also make an excellent thirst quenching sherbet juice that has a cooling effect.
Look for the Sherbet berry, Katuk plant and others in the exotic and strange plant section.
Herbal Plants – Do your Own Research be Usage
AdeniumRose Company LLC highly recommends that you do your own research on uses of the plant and plant parts. Consult a certified herbalist. AdeniumRose Company, its staff and officers are not responsible what-so-ever for any reactions or consequences in consuming plants, plant parts or using plants offered or described here or on websites.
Adenium Spider Mites & More
Adenium Spider Mites problem and other issues from a new collector. Here is the question (name removed for privacy):
“Hi, my name is M from Illinois. I discovered Adenium Desert Rose plants (purchased 5 from TV show) about two years ago I am slowly learning how to take care of them. After losing two adeniums, I had ordered three more. I was having issues with a white powder substance on some of the leaves and stems. My original two looked really bad with one of them having a Caudex which became rather soft.
I re-potted my two original adenium plants and potted my new ones in clay type bonsai style pots with SCHULTZ Cactus Palm & Citrus Potting mix. I have had them out in full hot sun while watering every two or three days. They have all come back and are full of leaves and one is blooming vigorously. Their Caudex’s are now all firm. You may be wondering why I am telling you all of this. I ran across your site, and wish I had found it earlier. I want to order two or three of your very large plants, but want to make sure I am doing nothing wrong now. Out of all of the plants I own, these are by far my favorite, and I want to have success with them.”
Adenium Spider Mites Problem on Plants
The white powdery substance is appearing again. I read to use neem oil. It does contain other ingredients as well. So I have not used it yet. Other people say use a soap based product instead.
I am also wondering what the best type of indoor light to use when I move them inside for the colder months. I have several items in my cart on your site, and even though I have three large plants picked out, I’m wondering if I should start with one. I want to order the Dyna-Gro fertilizer on your site,. Also some of the soil that you use. I know it may seem odd to ask for advise before I place an order. I don’t want to destroy one of your beautiful plants. Thank You if you can give any feedback.
Adenium Spider Mites Resolved
The white stuff sounds like spider mites. If its sticky then is a adenium spider mites problem? They are hard to get rid of with neem oil or soap. We use Bayer advanced Total spray on the adeniums. I would spray all the plants every 5 days for 3 weeks to make sure you get rid of the live ones and news ones once they hatch. You need to consistent when you have adenium spider mites. Even if you do not see anymore keep spraying.
Yes – change to the Dyna-Gro grow instead of the The palm and citrus. The Dyna-Grow Grow is better balanced and has more micro nutrients for the plants. AdeniumRose Company LLC use the Grow and/or foliage on all out plants not just the adeniums. During the rainy season we use Dyna-Grow Tekt too to help the plant with nutrient absorption.
Lights for growing is a whole different topic. AdeniumRose Company does not use grow lights at our location is SE Florida location (a cold day is 50 degrees during winter). However, Mike started a new nursery call Epic Grower LLC in the North Georgia mountains (elevation 1700 feet). His brother, Harris, has taken over AdeniumRose Company LLC day to day operation this past spring (2020) with Mike’s help remotely.
Epic Grower LLC is used LED lights for various plants. Presently, Epic Grower uses lights from Spider Farmer and Mars Hydro. No they do not offer LED lights. There website is almost ready to go live.
Reply from M: Thank You very much for that feedback. I will get some tomorrow, and I’m glad I didn’t spray them with neem oil. Yes, it is a little sticky, and actually if I look closely, there appears to be very small spider web type material in a very few places. Yes, its a adenium spider mites problem. I hope everything else I have been doing is okay, because I’m probably going to place an order with you guys tomorrow, and I don’t want to risk damaging a new plant. Thanks again
Mark
Desert Rose problem Leaning
Adenium desert rose problem question: Hi, Please tell me if it’s normal for my Sabi Star or Desert Rose to change from from being tall and thin to suddenly start leaning way over curling up? I’ve had the adenium 1 year. No flowers yet. It’s very tall and has another shoot at the lower part of the main stem with leaves on it too. All the leaves appear to be healthy. Please tell me what i need to do to promote flower growth. I fertilize and water according to the directions I was given at the time I got it which is the same as your site. Thank you!
Desert Rose problem
Answer: Adenium plant should not lean over unless it has a heavy flower causing the branch to bend. The desert rose problem could indicate a lack of water which gives the branches strength to support itself. Or possible root problems.
Fertilizing a Desert Rose problem plant does not always solve problems. When was the last time you re-potted the plant? Have you check the adenium plants root system for rot? How old is the plant? I’m assuming “Sabi Star” was the name given when you purchased the plant. Was it a seedling?
The image to the right shows a large seedling about 1 year old. Its starting to produce lower branches which will increase the size of the caudex. The desert rose problem on this one is that it needs cropping. Cropping the top will force more growth at the base of the adenium plant. Plus the lower branches will grow faster.
I would the main branch 1/2 down. Once the desert rose plant is cropped keep it out of the sun for 7 days to let the cut heal. You do not need to put anything on the cut.
AdeniumRose Company crops plants all the time. The plants are left in a shade area with indirect sunlight for 2 to 3 weeks or until we see new branches form.