I'm trying snapdragons again this year. My snaps looked *really* pathetic
last year when I set them out. BUT- they turned out ok! Seems all the
snaps around here look like mine! I bought some plants, and the nursery
guy said the veiny-ness was likely stress. I hope to get a cold frame
going here soon, to grow them out in.
Thing is, I'm trying a new variety this year, "Lampion" snaps, from
Johnny's. They're pendulous, multiflora, and fragrant! That is, IF I can
get them to grow successfully.
So, two questions for y'all.
#1. _Seed to Bloom_ says to start snaps in sterile mix, for great fear of
damping off. I started using soil blocks this year, and wonder if they'd
be okay for the snaps. I'm afraid to try my expensive seed only to have it
shrivel up and die on me. Has anyone tried snaps in soil blocks?
#2. Can you take cuttings from snaps? _Seed to Bloom_ says only seeds.
Cuttings could make 20 seeds seem like 100 seeds!
#3. -okay, three questions - I want to put these snaps in hanging baskets -
how do I fit hanging baskets in a cold frame?
I'm also going to try some regular snaps from Cook's in hanging baskets, to
see if the difference is worth the $$$.
So, any opinions?
thanks,
Jess
I'm trying snapdragons, too, but instead of a cold frame, I am going to
put together a hot frame. I am using the directions in Crockett's
Victory Garden, 1977. I hope to have this ready to go by the first week
of February.
Looked at "lampion" in the Johnny's catalog (p. 131) and it is indeed a
beautiful, cascading snapdragon. I ordered a trailing snapdragon last
year from Shepherd's and they also only gave you 20 seeds for around
$3-4. This year, though, I will be able to plant some of the many seeds
I harvested from the few snapdragons I got to grow from that packet last
year.
Hope to hear more on your progress with growing them and if you get
yours to look like the ones in the catalog, post a pic on the Web!
Cher
W. Orange, NJ
If all the snapdragons around you look like yours there may be a soil
deficiency of some sort
> Thing is, I'm trying a new variety this year, "Lampion" snaps, from
> Johnny's. They're pendulous, multiflora, and fragrant! That is, IF I can
> get them to grow successfully.
Grew a similar one last year no problem once they got into their stride but
I lost a couple when they were tiny
Yes - it works
> #2. Can you take cuttings from snaps? _Seed to Bloom_ says only seeds.
> Cuttings could make 20 seeds seem like 100 seeds!
Yes - and snapdragons are perennial, take cuttings in summer and bring
inside for the winter
> #3. -okay, three questions - I want to put these snaps in hanging baskets -
> how do I fit hanging baskets in a cold frame?
put in a couple of bricks under them and stand them on it. You don't need
to plant the pendulous ones through the sides - three plants in the top
will climb down and meet underneath
kathryn
I read once what someone had decided the combination of causes For that
leafy veining is but I can't for the life of remember. It was cultural to
be sure, so reducing stress sounds like the right way to go.
I've never grown the trailing types. But, I have grown a lot of tall
uprgihts when I used to grow cut flowers for sale. Snaps have always been
one of my fave flowers...They are so common and yet so wonderful.
I don't believe in sterile starting mixes. Probably cause as much trouble
by killing off the "good" fungi/bacteria as anything else. I've had great
sucess in starting my snaps in homemade 'non-sterile' mix :-)
Not sowing these tiny seeds too thickly is a trick for me :-)
Snaps are perennial in their native mediterranean climate. In fact, here
in portland, oregon I've had them overwinter and live. One lived three
years before puking out. So you can take cuttings.
Rust usually moves on to snaps around here. Sometimes it really does a
number and sometimes, like last summer, no problems:-) For me rust is just
part of the natural snap cycle (like powdery mildew on squash vines in
late summer). Point being, that I usually don't try to make my snaps live
any longer than they want to around here, which means most of them are
treated as annuals.
btw, 'Potomac' has a fair amount of rust resistance.
I don't have experience with cold frame snap growing because snaps are so
well adapted to climes like mine and I try to do as much plain old field
cropping as I can. But, fwiw:
I start snaps indoors and set them out when they're quite small maybe 2-3
pairs of trues leaves when the temperatures are still quite cool. They
like it cool and most varieties strongly regulate their blooming to the
daylength. (Tons of breeding there, if you check out a commercial
cataolgue you'll snaps for greenhouse, snaps for northerners and snaps for
southerners...day length requirement based). I did plant in succession
with success but because of their day length regulation the later
plantings would bloom sooner and shorter. (That is, I got a spread of
bloom time through succession planting but definitely experienced a
scrunching up of harvest times at the tail end.)
Let us know what you think of your snap trials:-)
eliza
