A few updates...

Last Saturday, Oct 20th, was Project Blazing Star. There was an informative talk about the formal Coastal Prairie that originally covered Houston and of the efforts being put into preserving the native prairie in Herman Park. We're trying to plan a Saturday event where a group of us can go and volunteer at the Herman Park.

Furthermore, Horticulture Society is participating in the UH Green Fest that will last from Nov 1st-4th. Here is a flier with detailed information.

On Nov 1st, the Horticulture Society will have a table in front of M.D. Anderson Library, where we will celebrate Sustainability Fest. We will be informing people about what we do and how we're helping the community. We will also be inviting students to make seedballs. Please make sure to take the time out to volunteer. 

Email us at uhgreenhouse@gmail.com for any comments or concerns.

Hope you all are having a great semester.

Meeting Updates

Our Friday meeting (9/28) was very successful and productive. We saw many familiar faces and some new ones. The meeting began with Chris, our treasurer, giving a presentation on the basics of pruning plants to make them grow in the direction you want them to, and later everyone took cuttings of the large rosemary plant to try out propagation. By the end of the meeting, everyone was well-informed and had his/her own cutting which will eventually grow into a new plant.

After the meeting was over, two of our senior members cleaned out the hydroponics system for the aloe vera and ghost peppers. Meanwhile, one member planted numerous seeds - sunflower, basil, broccoli, wild strawberry and okra, to name a few - and Chris took cuttings of Mexican sedum and Christmas cactus for propagation. We all decided that our semester field trip will be to Maas Nursery near Kemah, but the date has not been scheduled yet. We also planned the date for the Plant Sale and have a tentative date for the green roof raking and Project Blazing Star. 

Greetings Fellow Earthlings!

Hey guys,

I am Mina, your new Webmaster, which means I will be in charge of updating this blog and the Facebook page (if you haven't liked it already, you should go ahead). Don't be afraid to offer suggestions or any new ideas that we could use to improve this blog, the Facebook webpage, or the club in general.

Hope you guys have a great weekend!

-Mina Khan
Webmaster

P.S. Batman is now a part of the Horticulture Society at UH, so you should join too (and tell your friends).

Working on the Greenroof

I went up to the greenroof on Sunday with a Horticulture Society member, planning to weed and plant bluebonnets on one of the plots. A few bluebonnets had been spotted alive after the drought of 2011, so I decided to go with a monoculture of bluebonnets as a test. Thanks to the College of Architecture providing funds to fix the watering system, we can begin planting different species of plants and giving them water in a timely fashion.

After raking up the dead grasses and throwing the refuse off the roof for later cleanup, there were still many small weed plants that would need to be manually pulled to fully clear the roof.

I would recommend that a hard rake be pulled through the media to loosen the roots, then separate the media from the weeds by running a regular rake back and forth over the mixture until the plant material is on top. This is virtually the only way to guarantee a weed-free environment up there and prevent competition for moisture.

The plot on the northernmost end of the roof is mostly filled by a low-growing succulent weed, which seems to be doing fine. Here's an up-close example:

ID, anyone?

In what space was left in that plot I scattered seeds from an old Texas Wildflower mix that may or may not germinate.

Here's a view of the greenroof proper, and a picture of the cleared plot:

We wound up not planting the bluebonnet seeds because there are just too many weeds. The watering system was set up to water the northernmost plot about twice a week, which will be readjusted as needed.

Heavy items were hauled up using a metal bucket and rope, which were left on the roof. 

Updates from the greenhouse (and basil!)

Hello again. Here are a few pictures from the greenhouse, along with a comparison of basil growth over the month of August.

Gigantic sugarcane

Buena Creek Aloe Vera

The above picture is of a pot of "Mexican Sedum", purchased in February of last year to determine how well it will stand hot and humid conditions in the greenhouse. It's grown slowly but has survived and seems to be doing well. Each leaf of this succulent can be plucked off and placed in soil, and it will grow into a new plant. This would be a great candidate for the green roof.

Another pot of "Redskin Pepper"

Below is a pot of six spicy globe basil plants. The first picture was taken in late June, two weeks after planting, and one week before spraying with a 150 ppm solution of gibberellic acid.The second picture was taken in late August, just before harvesting for pesto. Notice that the basil in the background is quite tall for such a plant.





The basil produced the most scintillating pesto ever, turning the parmesan more cheesy, the pine nuts more like peanut butter, and the garlic more intense. Compared to the pesto made from Dolly Basil it was gone much faster. There's still a bunch left, if anyone needs some (just email uhgreenhouse@gmail.com and ask for Yosef's basil).

Horticulture Society Membership Form Fall 2012

Please fill out the HS@UH Membership Form .

(posted for the Fall 2012 semester, but is applicable for all semesters)

 

 

 

 

 

New Plants for the Fall

Hello all. During the summer I started growing some new plants for the Fall Plant Sale, and they are doing great. Here are some pictures to show how much they've grown. Most were started in June or July.

This is a cherimoya seedling about a month old. Cherimoya is a fruit tree originating from South America but is now grown all over the world. I started it from seeds that a friend gave to me. Various sources told me that you should place the seeds in water before planting and that any floaters are 'duds', and every seed I wanted to plant floated. Fortunately, three of those four floaters were not duds and are doing just fine.

Only two leaves for now. 

Stevia is growing a bit slowly, and I actually haven't seen any new growth in a while. They're not the easiest herb to grow from seed, though, so I think it will just take some time for it to really get going. 

One of the many Thai basil plants I have. They are also growing very slowly now, though if you go close you can smell their fresh fragrances. 

I started this Christmas cactus from a cutting I took from one of the original Christmas cacti in the greenhouse. All you need to do is take a cutting with 3-5 segments, bury one of the segments below the soil line, and keep the soil moist but not too waterlogged. After about 2-4 weeks, the cutting showed signs of new growth, so I know that it has begun rooting. 

Note the red growth buds.