This week, we'll dip into the mail bag one last time before it is too late and the year is over.
First up, what is the best indoor lighting system to install in Alaska?
I am being asked this more and more. I am sure this is a question that is being prompted, for some, by desires to try to grow cannabis. Still others have come to the conclusion that nine months is a long time without great plants.
I have been pitching indoor grow lights for so long that the loyal reader (and perhaps the infrequent one as well!) can call up from memory my shtick about a two-fluorescent-bulb (one warm and one cool) shop light fixture with a timer. Some of you may even remember back in the day when I pitched those grow lamps lights that gave off the purple glow that screamed "grow lights."
Well, indoor plant lighting has come a long, long way since I started writing this column more than 40 years ago. It is time we go beyond the two-bulb shop fixture. So this year I am simply going to suggest you go to a local indoor grow store, as every biggish town in Alaska now has one. These stores carry all manner of systems and surely have at least one that will fit your needs. They are staffed with people who know of what they speak and who are familiar with any lighting need you might have.
No store near you? Most of the Alaska stores also have websites if you need to have things shipped. Short of going to one of these great stores, take a good look around on the internet. You will find what you need and then can see if you can order it locally from a store here in Alaska. (And don't forget that an indoor lighting system would make a great holiday gift for others as well as yourself.)
Next, I keep getting questions about where to buy cannabis seeds here in Alaska now that it is legal to grow. The short answer is that new dispensaries should carry them. I have not been notified of anyone who has been licensed to sell them here, but it won't be long.
Note, that unless you have an indoor light system and probably even if you do, you should opt for auto-flowering varieties. These are dependent on the number of growing days, not the length of daylight. At least one famous commercial seed house in Oregon will be concentrating on developing these auto-flowering seeds, so maybe one day we will see them in a catalog. In the meantime, I am not sure how we get them up here legally (what a stupid, shortsighted and unsupported system we are developing), but it is good to know all of this will be fixed in time.
Next, a reader wants to know what is the deal with rosemary plants for sale this time of year? Rosemary was apparently used in Christ's manger and so has become a popular plant for the Christmas season. The plants are easy to take care of. They like six to eight hours of sunlight or artificial light to keep them happy and they should be kept on the slightly dry side, only being watered when the surface soil is dry. Rosemary can stand a pretty good range of temperatures, but must be kept indoors and above freezing.
You can take cuttings from the rosemary plants you buy or have. The rule is not to take any more than 1/3 off any branch, but if yours are long enough, you can snip off 3 inch cuttings. Strip the leaves off the bottom 2 inches and put that part into damp perlite, sand, peat moss or Alaska humus where it will root if you keep the rooting medium slightly damp.
Finally, a reader saw a hydrangea for sale and wants to know if it was "one of the hardy ones?" This is a blooming plant that folks in Alaska used to purchase for indoor use during the winter and very early spring months and perhaps in the late spring to plant outdoors as an annual. There are now varieties that will make it here in Southcentral Alaska, if given winter protection in the form of thick mulch.
What you want to look for on the label is Hydrangea paniculata. This is the variety that will make it through one of our winters, provided you give it good mulch. It is featured by Proven Winners, among other commercial nursery houses, and carried at local nurseries. Now that you know the name, you can look for them here and on the internet.
Jeff’s Alaska Garden Calendar
Last-minute holiday gift: A membership in the Alaska Botanical Garden (www.alaskabg.org).
Holiday cacti: Once they stop blooming, hold back on water for a few weeks.
Poinsettia: Once the leaves drop, that is it. They won't grow back this year.
Narcissi: Force some in water for fragrant flowers in four to six weeks. These bulbs make great stocking stuffers.