I will attempt to describe a "sport" that should be quite clear.
Assume that you take a leaf from a single blue pansy, plain foliage,
medium green. From this leaf you get five plantlets, four of which are
identical to the "parent". The fifth is a double blue frilled, quilted
foliage, dark green with red back. This fifth one would be a "sport" if
it produces "true" through three generations of leaf propagation. By
"true" we mean that the
progeny are like the parent.
This is an extreme example, but is done in an effort to help you better
help understand the term "sport". I just hope that I have not added to
the confusion.
Frank S.
My limited understanding of
the letter of the law is:
It IS unlawful for ANY propagation
by Anyone for ANY reason! HOWEVER, due to costs involved in tracking
down the individual who is propagating a few for their own use, i.e.,
replacement plants, gifts, exchange, etc., the patent holder typically
does not pursue patent enforcement. It is the individual, or nursery,
that is propagating for sale that they will go after, as has already
been noted. Even if being done for commercial purposes, the size
of the operation may be too small to justify the expense of patent
enforcement. Stop and think about it; how are they going to find out
about the individual propagating for
their own "use"? Most individuals doing this don't have the assets that
would make it worth the patent holders time to pursue legal action. The
cheapest approach for them would be to have their attorney send a
warning letter to the "found out" offender. At attorney's rates, such a
letter could cost as much as $100.00. For most such infringements, the
"sales loss" due
to a single individual violating the patent is too miniscule to warrant
even this expense. As previously noted; they tend to "look the other
way" if it is non-commercial propagation. An analogy would be the mother
who bakes a big platter of cookies for her AV club meeting and warns the
kids NOT TOO TOUCH! If one or two cookies turn up missing, no harm done;
but, if half the
platter turns up missing the reaction can be devastating. Am I right or
wrong on this? Think about it.
Hope this answers your questions and helps clarify the intent of the
law.
Frank S.
DEL'S TIP'S OF THE WEEK
#1
I thought for my first post I would give a tip that Tony C gave us
on the Learners chat awhile ago.
For the new and older growers who want to start wicking here is a
good way to know how many strands of wick you need to use for your home
conditions. Take 3 pots of each size you are going to be using for
wicking and in first pot use 1 strand of wick, in the second pot use 2
strands of wick, in the third pot use 3 strands of wick fill the pots to
the top with soil mix you are going to be using (do not put a plant or
leaf in the pot) and then use a container for water and set the pots on
the container and watch them for at least 3 weeks. this will tell you
how many strands you need to just keep the soil good and damp and not
over wet for your conditions. You can do this for all the sizes of pots
you are going to be using. It will save you a lot of head
aches and trouble and then you will know what to use for your
conditions, it takes the guess work out of it for you.
Hope this helps you out and a big thank you to Tony for bringing
it up on the learners chat. If you people would like I will try and give
a tip of the week each week let me know.
Del Setchell in chilly Saskatoon Canada
Thank you Frank for your help explaining this subject.
#2
hi gang,
a big welcome to the new members, try and make the Tues night
learners chat or the sat learners chat come join us and have some
fun and learn all about growing violets;
I would like all the members to join in on the tip of the week and
have some of the fun, please send your tip to me and I will post it
and also say who contributed the tip.
Tip this week is on bugs how to know if you got them and it also
helps you get rid of some of them anyways.
Its near Christmas time so go to your favourite store and buy blue
and yellow Christmas balls that you hang on your tree. The ones I
use are about the size of a goose egg but you can use what ever size
you like. The blue balls are for gnats and flea beetles that come
into the house on us and the yellow balls are used for white flies
and fruit flies what I do is cover the ball with Vaseline and set it
in a 2 in green pot in among my plants on the shelf 2 of each color
per shelf. You could also hang them by a string if you so wish, I
fill the pot with soil and put pot in a saucer this helps keep the
pot more stable on the shelf. Using the Vaseline makes it easy to
clean as you only have to take it to the sink wash off the old
Vaseline and apply a new coat. It is best to change the Vaseline
when it starts to loose its sticky substance which I found is about
every 2 months. Hope this helps you.
Del Setchell in balmy above freezing Saskatoon
VR moderator
#3
Hi Gang"
This tip of the week comes from our own old rooster BOB, enjoy.
Del Setchell
VR moderator
My tip is; To collect the valuable information that flows through
VR@yahoogroups.com, I cut and paste to a file in Word that I call,
VR Tech Notes. I condense the notes with a free program called "Clean"
which puts the material in full width lines and paragraphs. (You can
find this by searching for "Clean" or I can send it to you). I also
collect the AV albums and add them to my "favourites" under a file, VR,
for future reference
#4
Hi Everyone
If you are having problems with low humidity here is an
inexpensive way of raising your humidity. Instead of buying a high
price humidifier buy a table top fountain .A regular humidifier will
cost you around 70 dollars for a good one where a table top
fountain at Wal-Mart and home Depot runs between $14.95 to $19,95.
A couple of things to look for when buying a good fountain is the
design (is it easy to clean, has it got at least a 2 quart water
container) also the fountain does not spread dust on everything in
the plant room like a regular humidifier does. There is a little
filter that should be cleaned ( by turning the filter over and spray
water from the back about once during the heating season (winter
time ) also once a week put 1 tablespoon of bleach for every quart
of water the fountain holds, this gets rid of any algae that could
form.
My fountain will hold 2-1/2 quarts of water and in my conditions
here I have to add roughly a quart every second day. with out the
fountain my humidity is 29 percent and with the fountain it stays
about 48 to 50 percent and my plants love it .
Del Setchell
VR Moderator
#5
hello everyone
this weeks tip is on cleaning your watering can and water
container. About once every 2 months when you empty your water jug and
watering can it is a good idea to clean them with a bleach solution 10%
fill both can and container with hot water and bleach solution shake
well let it sit over night drain rinse real good and it is squeaky clean
and you can to start using again , This gets rid of any un-dissolved
fertilizer and what ever you add to the water and also the algae that
can form in the bottom of the watering can and water jug.
If you are using a powder fertilizer it is a good idea to mix it
before you put it into the water jug, put in how much fertilizer that
you use into a CLEAN margarine (or what every you want to use) then add
just enough warm or hot water and use a coffee stir stick and stir till
the fertilizer is completely dissolved then put in you water container
and then fill container up.
It is advisable for everyone to have 2 different fertilizers,
every so often changing to a different fertilizers will boost a plant up
and make one that is not flowering to come into flower; Try for a
balanced fertilizer say like 15-30-15 and for your other fertilizer a
good one (at least for me ) is 10-60-10 use this one for a bloom
booster.
Make sure the fertilizer does not have urea in it, the bottle or can
should list any fillers that are present in the fertilizer. and there
should not be any difference in price in a fertilizer with urea and one
that does not have any fillers. A good fertilizer company to buy
fertilizer from is PLANT PRODUCTS they do not have any filler material
at all. another thing to look for is does the fertilizer have soluble
Potash and the Potash should read between 10 and 15 percent as most of
the soils you buy and ones we make up with peat, perlite and vermiculite
there is no potash in these materials so we must have them in the
fertilizer
that we use as the plant requires the potash for growing. remember that
your garden soil already has the potash in it where most of our mixes
does not.
here is a tip to help you when transplanting violets"
I made a 2x4 foot table for doing my transplanting, I used folding
legs and a piece of 3/4 inch plywood for the top. I went to the floor
covering store and bought odds and end piece of floor covering to fit
the ply wood, that way it is easy to clean and you can also use the
table when all the kids are home on holidays as an extra table or even
for planting or transplanting outside flowers in the back yard.
the cost of making mine was as follows.
folding legs---------------$8.00
3/4 piece of plywood------&4.00
floor covering-------------$2.50
A handy table with a multitude of uses.
Hope this is a help to at least some of our new violet growers.
a way to help prevent rotting of leaves you are putting down.
when you are wetting the wick to use in wicking use warm water and also
make up a mix of 1 tsp per quart of water of a fungicide such as what
ever fungicide you use or use Benomyl or no-damp and put the wick in
this to get it wet before you put the wick in the pot. also after you
have put your leaf into your soil mix or however you start leaves a good
idea is to water the first 2 watering's with the 1-tsp of a fungicide to
a quart of water. this will help cut down on chances of the leaf rooting
on you.
Here is a tip that might help a lot of the new people.
If you wick water or when you are refilling your water container
and see some algae on the wick, mix up a cup of water and add a tsp of
bleach to the water in the cup have this sitting close to you and when
you take off the pot to changing the water fertilizer in the water
container dip the wick in the bleach/water solution several times and
the algae will go away then dip the wick into a container of WARM clear
water to rinse the wick then put the wick back into your water
container.
When taking digital pictures of your AV's, the flash will frequently
cause the blossom to have a color change. On some cameras the flash
cannot be turned off. The solution to try is to put a piece of tape over
the camera flash. The picture
can then be taken in natural light with a better chance of true colors.
TINA IN WA IS GIVING US OUR TIP OF THE WEEK THIS WEEK DEL.
You know how folks ask for descriptions all the time. Well when you see
one that is posted that is not in first class add it to your database
and you increase your descriptions to you first class. I do it all the
time. If you don't use this idea it is ok I won't be offended. I almost
posted it but then thought of you and your weekly tip.
Tina in WA
Happy Violeting
VR Assistant Manager
LoveForWasps Owner
Gecko2T@msn.com
www.picturetrail.com/Gecko2T
#12
Hi Everyone
Here is a tip that we used to use at the horticulture department at
the University here. Seeing as there has been a lot of talk lately
on the list about Hybridizing I thought this could help could be a
help to some of you.
When the seed pod has dried and the stem shrivelled up take and put
the seed pod in a film canister. when you are ready to split the pod
to get the seed use a creased piece of white paper and let the seeds
fall onto the paper. then take the seed and put it into the film
container and add about 1/4 tsp of cinnamon in with the seed and
shake the container to mix the seed together. go to the camping dept
of a store and look for the salt and pepper shakers you would use
when camping, you can buy the lids for the shakers salt and pepper
tops, buy the pepper shaker top as the holes are smaller on that one
than the salt one is. make sure to mark the container with the name
of the seed on the side. When you are ready to sow your violet seed
it will be a lot easier to get a more even sowing of the seeds and
not have them pile up on you in one place. If you have trouble
finding lids for the film containers with the holes in them then
take a small drill and drill 6 holes in the lid that comes with the
container when you buy a film. When you are storing or not using the
container to sow seed cut a round piece of heavy paper and put this
under the lid so no seed spills out on you when you move or handle
the seed container. Cinnamon is beneficial to the soil so this
is why it is recommended instead of using say salt to mix with the
seed.
If you are wick watering a good idea is to buy a moisture meter
they are about $ 4.95 and can be found in Wal-mart. Home depot
or at a nursery. It will tell you if by wicking if the soil is to
wet or to dry and that can make a big difference on how your violets
grow. My Meter is by Tropical and made in Canada the model number is
PM-4111.
Even if you are top or bottom watering the moisture meter is a
real handy tester to have in the plant room. also a good way to tell
if the leaves you have starting are getting enough water ot to much
water.
Hope this helps the new people just starting growing and a good
reminder for the old timers LOL
This tip of the week comes from our WASP LADY Tina in WA.
This tip is in time for all those trades about to happen"
Have you gotten leaves that were so flat and limp you thought they
were a lost cause and just tossed them. Well hold on there do not
throw them out revive them. Yes, you can revive them. You need to
take a shallow dish or pan and place slightly warm water in there
with a small pinch of sugar and a drop of super thrive. Cut the stem
to the length you want them. Lay the leaves in the water with the
stems in the water . Let them soak. You may need to let them soak
over night. Just check them every few hours or in the morning. They
will plump back up and look as good as new. Take them out and dry
them well then put put them up as normal. You can even do this with
leaves from plants with root rot and leaves have all wilted. This
works with strep leaves also. do not leave them to soak to long like
over 8-10 hours as that can damage them also. I hope this helps to
save a few of your precious leaves. it has helped me have a great
spring trading .
I want to thank Tina for this tip at a very important time as
trading and shipping season is near.
Also if any of you have a tip you would like to contribute by all
means please do. Either send it to me or put it in yourself but
please let me know if you are putting it in so I can keep track of
them in case I am asked about a certain tip ok.
Del Setchell
VR cordinator
#15
Here is a tip that might help you people that have it so hot
and
low humidity:
How about trying matt watering individual pots???. take a margarine
container or any container you want to use and cut a strip of matting
material at least 1-1/4 inches wide. Now take what ever watering
container you want to use and cut a 3/4 (at least size hole) in opposite
sides of the watering container, then cut your matting strip so it is
long enough to reach the bottom of the container through each hole and
lay it across the top of your watering container and down to the bottom
of the container. Pre wet the matting fill your container with water
fertilizer what ever you are using. Leave the wick in the pot if you
wish and set the pot with the plant in it on the wick, make sure the
wick is right under the pot this could be one way to beat the heat and
not have to fill your water container as often as you are now doing.
I have used this method with starter leaves and older plants it
works at least for me.
Hope this will help some of you anyways.
Del Setchell
vr moderator
setch-dh@shaw.ca
#16
Hi Everyone
I did a experiment to see what gets rid of algae and it works I
took baby food jars, clear deli containers, and margarine tubs. I
used 2 of each for the experiment in one set of each I put
water/fertilizer and the other set I used large sized charcoal.
In the set with the water/fertilizer algae appeared in 2 or 3 weeks and
in the other set with the charcoal the containers stayed clear. I
started the experiment the first week of dec and as of today the set
with the charcoal is still clear and have not had to change containers
or wash them. the ones with the water/fert by every 3 weeks they needed
cleaning or changing. I tried the aquarium charcoal ) the refined small
charcoal but found that some of it would float so got some of the large
charcoal and it all sinks to the bottom and stays there it worked
better.
It is a good idea to rinse the charcoal so as to get rid of the
dust and any impurities that is in there before using. I just covered
the bottom with the charcoal about 3 TSP per container in the baby food
jars and the deli and margarine tubs you can use more if you want but I
could not see any difference in the amount used. I also used the large
charcoal in saucers of pots I bottom water and found there was no
deposits left from water/fert like there was with not using the
charcoal. I bought a 3 pound bag of the large charcoal at Wal-mart for
3.95 and did 50 pots with it and got some left over.
