tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20499529884970946502024-02-08T20:13:56.127-06:00The Horticulture Society at UHThis is the blog for the Horticulture Society at UH.<br>
News and information will go here, and discussions can be carried out in the comments.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-71376287721274842692015-05-13T21:27:00.000-05:002015-05-13T21:27:21.794-05:00Gro Pods - Last General MeetingWe received a donation of three gro pods from Joe Meppelink of the College of Architecture here at UH, and we recently won a mini grant to fund the set-up of those pods! At our last general meeting, we set up the shade cloth and the gro pods, filling them with garden soil, perlite, and Microlife fertilizer.
Later, we added in a few plants. There are three chrysanthemums, aUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-87923170362309405102015-05-09T13:52:00.003-05:002015-05-09T13:52:33.659-05:00Sealing the greenhouseAfter UH Plant Ops removed the defunct swamp coolers in front of the greenhouse, it left two large holes in the greenhouse where the coolers once connected. Until recently, I simply covered the holes with pool wrap (the blue bubblewrap-like material), but I noticed that cats (and probably other small animals) were able to enter and exit from the holes despite the covering.
So, in preparation of Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-31678717579474060252015-05-07T13:36:00.001-05:002015-05-07T13:36:03.093-05:00Instagram!Hey folks. Sorry there haven't been any posts this semester - rather busy for all of the officers. Some good news - we now officially have an Instagram! Follow us at #horticulturesociety.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-46752882855510682152015-01-19T08:57:00.003-06:002015-01-19T08:57:55.501-06:00New succulents for Spring 2015
One of my (Chris's) goals for THS was to increase the variety of plants in the greenhouse and offered at plant sales. While we've had mother plants for herbs since our organization began, there wasn't much variety in our succulents until not too long ago. People love succulents because they are (supposedly) all easy to care for and "cute". Here are a few of the new succulents I picked up over Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-15259818857324086462014-12-31T10:40:00.001-06:002014-12-31T10:40:21.449-06:00Then and NowFrom its humble beginnings in September of 2008, The Horticulture Society (THS) has come a long way, increasing its presence and activity on campus and expanding its membership base. Six years later, the club is stronger than ever before, with a much larger variety of plants and members from all colleges on campus.
In the second semester since our founding, the greenhouse was pretty bare, with Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-21996668467339810302014-12-28T11:34:00.001-06:002014-12-28T11:34:32.917-06:00Annual Green Roof Maintenance
This winter, as with every year, we went up to our very own green roof on the Burdette Keeland Jr. Center near the College of Architecture and cut back the dead vegetation so that we can plant new seeds for next year. In previous years we have used a weed whacker, but the grass and flowers were too thick, so we had to use pruning shears. Surprisingly, there were also many bluebonnets still Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-58971636854974585882014-11-23T17:12:00.003-06:002014-11-23T17:12:48.354-06:00Hilton Hydroponics Field TripThis past Friday (11/21/14), we visited Dr. Jay Neal's aquaponics and mushroom lab in the UH Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management! Given that we no longer have any hydroponic setups in our greenhouse, seeing such a large system was very exciting and refreshing. For many of our members, it was their first time seeing such a setup; the last time we had seen aquaponics in action was a Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-45051213049117897442014-11-14T21:52:00.001-06:002014-11-14T21:52:29.404-06:00UpdatesLately, we've just been getting ready for winter. I set up the heater, closed all the vents and windows, and took down the shade cloth. This year, there was an unusual cold front that brought subfreezing temperatures to Houston briefly, but it'll be gone quite soon, and we'll be back to regular Houston winters.
In the meantime, we were featured in The Cougar, the university's newspaper! Daniel Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-58086173445945360872014-10-12T10:25:00.002-05:002014-10-12T10:25:55.474-05:00Green roof visitThis past weekend, we went up to the green roof for the first time in a few weeks; weather conditions were not favorable until recently. The green roof looked very much like an actual prairie; there were lots of grasses as well as some flowers and other ground cover plants.
Notice the storm clouds in the upper left
Thankfully it didn't rain while we were up there. In late fall or winterUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-52635133149811620062014-09-20T11:16:00.005-05:002014-09-20T11:28:19.877-05:00Carnivorous Plants, revisitedUntil this past plant sale (9/18/14), we never sold many carnivorous plants, save for the occasional Venus flytrap. But this time around, I was able to propagate a large number of Nepenthes ventrata (Asian pitcher plant or monkey cups) as well as a few Sarracenia "Cobra's Nest" (North American pitcher plant).
Every single carnivorous plant (CP) I brought for the sale was sold! We will definitelyUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-79005056358403565002014-09-13T18:52:00.004-05:002014-09-13T18:52:53.420-05:00Scarifying and germinating seeds To start the fall semester, I decided to purchase some interesting seeds online - dragon tree seeds. The fully grown tree is known for having blood-red resin in its trunk, which has a variety of uses. There are two main species of dragon trees that are harvested for this resin - Dracaena drago and Dracaena cinnabari. I could only find seeds for the former, which is native to the Canary Islands.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-20805736100524545692014-06-17T11:18:00.001-05:002014-06-17T11:18:04.666-05:00Help us Help You!Today is a wonderful day to buy plants!
But before we do that, The Horticulture Society would like for each and every one of you to fill out a survey to help us cater to your wants and needs.
We are planning our best year yet, and we cannot do it without your input! Below is the link to the survey and our email address (just in case you would like to give us more points on how to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-62094513137545294202014-05-20T17:51:00.000-05:002014-05-20T17:51:58.361-05:00Earth Day UpdateWe had a blast at this year's UH Earth Day (4/22/14)! Numerous organizations were there, from UH's own Sustainability and Campus Community Garden to the Center for Biological Diversity and Galveston Coastal Prairie Conservation groups. Our organization was fortunate enough to get a nice tent, though it didn't end up raining.
We had a table set up with a board detailing our plants, our volunteer Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-66722282042825239202014-05-10T18:25:00.000-05:002014-05-10T18:25:55.053-05:00New succulents for the fall I recently went to Home Depot, looking for any new plants that I could add to the greenhouse. Surprisingly, they had a very large variety of succulents offered, many of which were native to South Africa and were never offered there before (to my knowledge). Others were succulents we once had, but the mother plants were sold off or died before propagation.
These are some pretty nifty plants, and Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-27061514843700997672014-05-07T10:56:00.003-05:002014-05-07T10:56:51.274-05:00Green Roof ProgressDifferent flowers bloom at different times on the roof, so we go up every week or so to check on it. Here's how the flora changed over a three week period.
April 18 - lots of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush
April 24 - most of the bluebonnets went to seed, and now pink primrose and plains coreopsis dominate. Dr. Medrano from the biology department was also with us.
May 2 - Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-37597253631104343072014-04-21T13:33:00.001-05:002014-04-21T13:33:01.154-05:00UH Earth Day
Horticulturists and Environmentalists!
Your very own Horticulture Society will be participating in the UH Earth Day festival!
Pleas join us from 11:30 to 1:30 in Lynn Eusan Park.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-88463848354687183142014-04-16T20:52:00.000-05:002014-04-16T20:52:07.997-05:00Test BedWhile many of our members know about the green roof, most haven't heard of the test bed 10 feet away from the roof. The test bed contained synthetic soil at approximately the same depth as the roof, and prospective rooftop plants were first grown on the test bed to see how they would do. Unfortunately, the oak trees in the area ended up covering the test bed in shade most of the time, while Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-34549447022434717042014-04-11T21:26:00.002-05:002014-04-11T21:26:19.266-05:00Green Roof Updates It's been awhile since we posted any updates on the green roof ever since we cut back the grass. Spring has finally arrived, and with it, many flowers began blooming on the roof! We have beds full of bluebonnets, plains coreopsis, pink paintbrush, and many other unidentified plants.
Paintbrush
Unidentified Yellow Flower
A sea of flowers!
Plains CoreopsisUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-82252189532519417652014-04-05T17:05:00.001-06:002014-04-05T17:05:37.300-06:00Volunteer Day - Success! Fellow Horticulturists!
We had a spectacularly productive day at the Sheldon Lake State Park. We were able to plant over 3 acres worth of native grasses (with the help of other volunteers, of course). We believe it is highly important for us to help in the preservation of our ecosystems, especially in Texas where a lot of wildlife are losing their homes to urbanization.
We will, hopefully, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-44825202021308845332014-03-31T07:24:00.002-06:002014-03-31T07:24:38.422-06:00Green the Prairie!Fellow Horticulturists!
We have an amazing opportunity for anyone who wished to volunteer at Sheldon Lake State Park!
Here is a little history on Sheldon Lake taken from the Texas Parks and Wildlife website:
"Sheldon Lake State Park & Environmental Learning Center is a 2,800-acre outdoor education and recreation facility located in northeast Harris County...
Sheldon Reservoir, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-54110009542282765062014-03-28T15:06:00.004-06:002014-03-28T15:06:57.542-06:00Plant of the Month - Native Series<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-86515554494089303012014-03-21T16:48:00.001-06:002014-03-21T16:49:25.759-06:00Micronutrient & macronutrient deficiencies and their symptomsThe list below shows the nutrients most plants need and their symptoms if the nutrient is deficient.
Micronutrients- Cofactors
that aid essential cell mechanisms that are
needed
in small amounts.
Boron
- terminal growths die/thickened/curled/wilting/reduced flowering
Chlorine - wilting/yellow-green/leaf bronzing; poor growth/marginal leaf necrosis
Copper
- stunted growth/leaf Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-51040078379141742292014-02-26T12:30:00.001-06:002014-02-26T12:30:50.020-06:00Greenroof Work Day!Hello, fellow plant lovers!
On February the 25th we had our first green roof workday and it was a HUGE SUCCESS. We managed to cut down all of the beds in just 45 minutes!
For those who do not know, we are managing the Green Roof and it is located right by the Architecture building. We are planning on seeding it with Texas native plants this Thursday (2/27/2014).
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-30207593671199522122014-02-17T23:03:00.004-06:002014-02-17T23:03:28.672-06:00Mutualism in Bluebonnets
I found some bluebonnets growing on campus last week and decided to plant one in a container in the greenhouse. As I was repotting it, I noticed that this particular specimen had a few nodules in its root system.
Note the three nodules indicated by the arrows
These nodules contain Rhizobium bacteria, which can "fix" nitrogen from the gaseous form in the atmosphere to the mineral formUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2049952988497094650.post-19793188127842032792014-02-07T22:03:00.002-06:002014-02-07T22:05:46.732-06:00How to Prune Your Plant
Ever wonder how people get their plants to appear so
perfect? There’s a trick to it – pruning. Pruning is basically training your
plant to grow the way you want it to. Its goal is to improve plant health,
appearance, and restrict certain growth.
<!--[if gte vml 1]>
<![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->If
you let a plant grow uninterruptedUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0