The Buds Are Showing

Looking around my plants today I've noticed that around 75% of them have now got a bud showing so hopefully by the end of next week I will be able to start and secure the buds and select which of the 2 breaks on each plant to keep and flower.

The petal count in each bud will now be set so by reducing each plant down to its final flowering break will enable the plant to become bigger and focus all its energy into hopefully producing a bigger better bloom.

My Jessie Habgood and sports are still showing signs of yellowing to the leaves so I will nip round them in the morning and give them another spoon of Epsom salts and pray that it does the trick.

Andy Wickham sent me a couple of photos the other day of some of his plants, his Phil Houghtons appear to be a bit taller than mine but his Pink Duke of Kent's look very similar to mine so the new feeding pattern seems to be working.

Top Dress

Well the weather didn't work out for a liquid feed before I got the top dressing on, but another couple of dry days and I'll be able to give them a drink until then I will keep applying the dry feed.

I have top dressed with the same mix as the plants are growing in, 50% John Innes No.3 & 50% multi purpose compost with added grit. To each pot I've added about 3/4" to 1" of compost.

Below a comparison of a untop dressed pot and a top dressed pot.

Yellowing Leaves

I noticed some of the leaves on my plants were turning yellow so I have been round and given them all a spoon of epson salts, I put this down to all the heavy rain over the last week washing all the goodness throught the pot.

The rain has also left a lot of my pots very wet which means I have been unable to liquid feed as much as I would of liked to have done but hopefully with the ruturn of the sun today I may be able to feed again this weekend before I top dress my pots.

More Food

Well the weathers changed for the worst, rain and a bit of wind well all good things must come to an end but hopefully the good weather will return soon. Ive stepped up my feeding regime as per Andys instruction its been extra nitrogen all round, the leaves have now started to bulk up abit and the stems are thickening so hopefully I will get some good results come November.

I was at Barrys the other day and decided to take a couple of photos to compair his mediums to my large.

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Photo Update

A few more photos. Andy W has had a look and told me to get some more snap into them, so I will take his advice onboard and feed a bit more. (Ive also had my hands slapped for not having my breaks tied up)

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--------------Pink Duke---------------------------------------Jessie Habgood------------


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---------Leviathan & Lanc Lad --------------------------------Phils------------------


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------Shoesmiths------------------------------------------------Gigantics-----------

Update

Its been a couple of weeks since I last posted, Ive just returned from a week in sunny Mablethorpe a well needed for me Gemma and the kids so Barry has been keeping an eye on things for me.

My plants have all just enjoyed a good high nitrogen feed to give them a boost and I have started taking all my plants down to 2 breaks this should be completed tomorrow night when I return home from work. Over the next couple of days I will be spraying for red spider / 2 spotted mite as the weather at the minute is ideal for them.