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DECEMBER 12th.
2016
To all our very valued members, all the very
best for Christmas and the New Year and the soon to be following
2017 growing season. Watch out for Jack Frost he can ruin the best laid
plans of mice and men.
Please ALL remember our free raffle and
donate tubers for members less fortunate than yourselves. Let us know if
you can donate early in January. The winning members really value the
prizes that are other growers surplus!
Regards
Robert Bryce
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JULY 16th. 2016
Hi
all members,
My
plants are progressing well but could do with more sunshine. At the
moment my buds for Shrewsbury look colourful. Lots to look forward to.
Do not forget to support our National show as well as our area shows and
local shows. I hope to see some new champions this year!
I
currently have a plant of the new variety Moira Callum,
see picture, in a 2.5 litre pot (7 inch). This has
been donated to be raffled at
Shrewsbury Flower Show, tickets will be £1
each. If any member is not attending the show they can buy tickets by
contacting Bob Bryce NBS Secretary. Please note this is the best cut
bloom new variety that I have grown in the last 10 years and it won best
in show as a seedling at the National in 2014. The picture is of one
grown by me last year that was 10 inch diameter. This variety cannot be
bought anywhere.
All
the best to our exhibitors at all shows.
Regards
Robert Bryce
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JUNE 1st. 2016
It is the first day of June and I hope
all of you have some beautiful plants coming along. The sunny and warm
weather in Blackburn finally arrived over the last week. My plants grew
more in the last 7 days than the preceding 2 months. Everything is in
final pots and next week I will be sorting out the plants that will be
grown for the shows. Please do not over feed your begonias at this stage
as by the time you come to flower them the macro system will be locked
and
the resulting flower will be small.
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APRIL 17th. 2016
It is now the middle of
April and we are looking for copy for the Summer Bulletin as we have 40
pages to fill. It is obvious that members look forward to receiving all
this news and information but without members providing their
experiences, worries and concerns we cannot possibly carry on filling
it. Please can all members please take part and provide letters, emails
or photo's then it will truly be a bulletin by the members for the
members. How about you do not leave it to others.
My growing so far this
year has provided me with a warm feeling. I am finally making progress
after some years lagging behind. I have spent the last 5 years trying to
remember what I did before I fell ill between 2009 to 2012. I used to be
able to grow much better begonias! My losses this year have been minimal
and about half my tubers are in their first pot. Singletons JI No 2 is
the compost. This week the weather has turned colder with only 2°
forecast for tonight. I have stopped potting up as I have no heating in
the big greenhouse. A good number of my cutting tubers are now in 6 inch
pots.
My seedlings are
progressing nicely and are now about 2.5 inch across and my next move
will be into 4 inch pots. This means that I will have lots of new
varieties to look at later in the year hopefully with a small number
making the grade. I only keep the best, selection is a key skill. I look
for form mainly, then colour and then is it different than those
currently grown.
Please make sure you
have an additive for vine weevil in your compost as the mild weather
will mean that they will be laying eggs much earlier. I believe
Intercept is the new thing for ensuring you have no problems. Please
also note that Bio Systhane has been taken off the market and this used
to stop Mildew. I am not sure what will replace it but if you see any
old stock buy it. Hope to see all the members exhibits at the NBS Shows
later in the year. Please all show us your wares and beat all last years
champions. Remember that showing helps make life long friendships it is
a pleasurable experience certainly not daunting. If you need help,
advise or support please contact me.
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FEBRUARY 20th. 2016
JUDGES FOR 2016 SHOWS
|
Show and Area |
Date and Venue all 2016 |
Judges Names |
|
National Open Cut Bloom and Pot Classes |
Friday 12th. &
Saturday 13th. August
Quarry
Park, Shrewsbury |
Robert Nelson and Chris Davies |
|
National Species, Intermediate and Novice Classes |
Friday 12th. &
Saturday 13th. August
Quarry
Park, Shrewsbury |
Sandra Davies and Robert Bryce |
|
Yorkshire and Humberside |
Saturday 30th July
Outwood Hall, Wakefield, Yorks |
Barry Walker |
|
East Anglia |
Saturday 13th. &
Sunday 14th. August
Baytree Nurseries, Weston,
Spalding, Lincs |
Andrew Mc Dougall |
|
North West |
Thursday 18th. -
Sunday 21st. August
Southport Flower Show
Victoria Park, Southport |
Jeff Rhodes and Ian Rhys Williams |
|
South Coast |
Sunday 21st. August
Crookhorn College of
Technology, Purbrook |
Chris and Sandra Davies |
|
South West |
Sunday 21st. August
Bideford Show The Pannier
Market, Bideford |
Phil Champion |
|
North East and Scottish Borders |
Sunday 28th. &
Monday 29th. August
Dobbies Garden Centre
Street House Farm, Ponteland,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE20 9BT |
Robert Bryce |
|
South Wales |
Sunday 28th &
Monday 29th August
Wyevale Garden Centre, Siemans
Way, Enterprise Park, Llansamlet, Swansea. SA7 9FT |
Dave Coates and Terry Tasker |
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FEBRUARY 14th. 2016
FREE
RAFFLE PRIZE WINNERS & PRIZES
January 25th. 2016
Hi All
We are going to draw
the annual free tuber raffle on 9th February 2016. Only members that
have renewed their subs or new members before that date will be included
in the raffle. Please note that there are over 80 tubers in the raffle
with some of the new rare varieties. These have been kindly donated by
the members for the members! This is democracy demonstrated. Thank you
to all the generous people especially Norman Burgess and Tony
Shepherdson. As secretary I am delighted that we are spreading goodwill
and everyone has an even chance to win the newest and latest with the
odds just 10-1. Any member winning a prize should be very happy as this
would be like getting a free membership. If any other members wish to
take part and donate please do not hesitate to contact me. Good Luck
all!!
Raffle Prizes & Donators
Regards
Robert Bryce
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January 11th. 2016
Hi all and Happy New Year for 2016!
I hope you have all
enjoyed the festive season as much as me and are now preparing for the
new begonia season. Over the last week I have been taking all my cutting
tubers out of the pots, de-scabbing them and healing them with cosmetic
yellow sulphur aka Mike Richardson. I have been to a supplier in Bolton
and bought 7 bags of Clover Professional potting compost. The compost
has been mixed with coarse perlite and put in trays in a heated
propagator. The cutting tubers are now in with the propagator set at 70
deg F. This was done because frost is forecast this week. All my adult
tubers are safely stored frost free.
The tuber raffle will
be drawn in the first week of February. I have taken a number generous
donations but we still have room for more. Please contact me before the
end of January if anyone has tubers to spare as I am sure some lucky
members will enjoy winning them. Please be generous and spread goodwill.
I hope to see you all
at the AGM or at the shows. Please beware of Jack Frost he can ruin a
lot of plans!! Good luck to all exhibitors this year. Please stretch all
previous champions. They can all be easily beaten!!
The South Coast Show
will take place this year at Purbrook, this has been
negotiated with the NBS committee and Purbrook Horticultural Commitee.
In the absence of an Area Rep and venue we had exhibitors that still
wanted to show. In order to achieve this we approached Purbrook and
agreed the South Coast Area Show would form part of their show.
Regards
Robert Bryce
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June 16th.
Hi all,
I have now completed my second propagator and hence my smaller
greenhouse has been completely stripped out and refurbished. I have over
200 cuttings potted up in 5 inch square pots with a further 150 cuttings
rooted in the propagator. Hopefully this will help replace my losses.
The adult
plants are now motoring and I believe that I am less than 5 days behind
my competitors. I am becoming happier each day as I catch up. Up until
now my plants have had one feed with Chempak 2 at full strength and last
week one feed of Calcium Nitrate at 1 teaspoon to 1.5 gallons of water.
All my baskets outside are planted full of named multiflora and basket
begonias. New ones this year are Million Kisses Blissfull and Embrace. I
also have small plants of all three of the Buttons Series, Goldfinch,
Orange Drops and Linda. I was lucky to acquire them. My collection is
increasing.
The next
stage is to stake and tie my adult plants and put the surplus plants
(30% plus) outside. Lastly they will spaced out at 3ft centres. From now
until the first buds are taken (49 days to Shrewsbury) I will be feeding
with Chempak 4 at full strength.
Hope this
helps you all and I look forward to seeing your exhibits on show. Please
challenge our Pot Plant, Species and Cut Bloom Champions they definitely
need the competition. Our Novice and Intermediate classes always need
more support, if you need a start why not give it a go the prize monies
are generous. Please all do your best. If you need advise please give me
a call.
Regards
Robert Bryce
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MAY 26th. 2015
Hi all, my apologies for not putting anything in
last month. I was full of compost problems which resulted in my losing
around 100 tubers. This was as a result of using peat stored outside in
the sunshine for several years. i was always of the opinion that peat
was inert but apparently not! My root systems had not developed so I was
forced to re-pot everything I had left and with the very cold weather
problems persisted. My plants are only now starting to develop as I
would expect. Although I am not a happy bunny I have managed to root and
pot up around 150 cuttings as an insurance for next year. I have at
least one of every variety so it was not a total disaster.
I have also built a new propagator 14.5ft x 32" and my cutting are on
the bed. I am currently potting on my adult plants and the next job is
to build a second propagator. This re-organisation comes after 28 years
where almost everything in my greenhouses had been neglected. I am
planning for my later years cutting down and making things easier. I
have been spraying my plants most nights with maxicrop diluted to
stimulate plant growth.
I was way behind our top growers a month ago but I am catching up fast
and hope to exhibit some cut blooms at our National Show. It should be
easy for them to beat me again!I hope you are all trying to support our
area reps at the local shows. I look forward to meeting you all around
and about in 2015 please make yourselves known. Till next time?
For anyone needing soil warming cables VERY are selling 80 ft ones for
£25
Robert Bryce
MARCH 18th.
Hi all, the weather in Lancashire has been cold and my
propagator heating cables have been working overtime. I have lost a
smattering of tubers in the propagators both adult and cutting tubers.
Almost all of my tubers are now sprouting under the compost and many are
showing above. The cutting tubers are around 50mm above the compost with
compost around them being replaced by a new mixing this week. I have not
sown any of my begonia seed this year as I have a number of small
seedling tubers that I want to look at again. I am in the process of
ordering the ingredients of my potting compost. I will be using a JI No2
as usual for potting on. At this time it is important not to pot up any
plants from the propagator unless you can provide a good air temperature
(around 15° C) as the
plants will collapse when cold. I expect to be taking the small Ian
Donaldson type cuttings in around two weeks time when I will update the
page. Hope all your troubles are small ones.
FEBRUARY 14th.
Hi all members I hope the sap is rising ready for spring. My
cutting tubers are showing signs of life having been in the propagator
for some 3 weeks. I thought things were going well until I found that a
field mouse was living in my propagator using my cutting tubers as a
food source. I kept noticing small tubers lifted out the trays and on
moving the trays the critter was nesting warm and happy. I did not catch
it but hope it does not come back.
My adult tubers were removed from under the roof last week and have
been hot water treated. They went in the propagator yesterday set at 80°F.
My starting compost was my own mix 3 parts peat, 1 part coarse sand with
carbonate of lime (3 gram for each litre of bulk) and Vitax Q4 TEV
fertiliser (4.5 gram for each litre of bulk) added. My losses were
average but as usual I lost some that I wanted to keep.
Look forward to meeting you all out and about in 2015. Please
remember to help other members in the NBS as we are all having
difficulties and friendship and companionship costs nothing.
