Gma's indoor gardening thread, winter #3 (Sulcata)

Odin's Gma

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We had our first frost last night, and we are due for another tonight, so it is getting a little cramped, and, as always, Odin is grumpy and hungry!
I started bringing in the opuntia, and planted a few in the enclosure. I saw him eyeballing them, so I immediately ran upstairs to grab the camera to get a pic before he started in.
I was gone less than a minute, and this is what I came back to.


001.JPG 004.JPG
That opuntia is now gone.

The greenhouse is still doing well, with constant reseeding and planting
005.JPG

And his latest hibiscus is blooming gloriously for now, but only because he can't reach that high (yet)006.JPG

These are some of the of the other opuntia, they are safe....for now007.JPG

And, of course, a couple of back-up hibiscus, a few banana plants, geraniums, a squash that needs to be seeded and frozen, mallow and squash seeds that have been collected008.JPG

And more opuntia, agave, and planting trays in the upstairs greenhouse. 009.JPG

Green thumbs don't fail me now! It is going to be a LOOOOONNNNGGG winter!
 

Odin's Gma

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Wow, you have a busy setup! I like busy! What state are you in?
Busy is right! We are in Minnesota, so indoor winter gardening is a must for a bottomless pit like the Mighty Odin. He is pretty excited at the moment, during the summer he grazes outside in his garden and we rarely give him the opuntia and hibiscus he loves so much. I let them grow and beef up all summer and then use them to augment his winter diet which is a mix of hay, occasional store bought spring mixes, and plants I have dried and frozen throughout the summer along with the grass and weed seedlings and plants in his greenhouse. He also rarely gets Mazuri during the summer but soon he will.
 

Blakem

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That's dedication! Your hibiscus is beautiful and worth the wait for Odin I'm sure! They dint have much patience!
 

wellington

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I thought it was funny, you thinking you were going to beat him to the camera before he started on the cactus LOL
Wish I had greens thumbs like that. Lots of work into all that. I'm sure if he could show ya, he'd be very appreciative.
 

Odin's Gma

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Well, the three opuntia I planted in the enclosure on Saturday are all gone now. Yes, I have at least 18 more, most of which are much much larger than the ones I planted, bit I am wondering if I have enough for the winter :eek:
 

J.Cole Reptiles

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We live in Washington and it's just now getting to cold for our guy to go outside so we've started setting up his indoor enclosure. Tonight we laid sod down.
 

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Fredkas

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Wow.. btw banana plant for what? Sulcata eats banana leaves?
And is it ok for them to eat opuntia with that little spiky spine?
It is weird mine don't want to touch opuntia hmmm...
 

Robber

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I will be bringing lots of stuff inside during the next week or so, too; it's dipping into the 40s here in MO.

I can't seem to get Tropical Hibiscus to live year to year. The one I tried last year made it all through the winter, then died shortly after putting it out in the spring(I tried to gradually reintroduce it outside a few hours a day).
 

Odin's Gma

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Wow.. btw banana plant for what? Sulcata eats banana leaves?
And is it ok for them to eat opuntia with that little spiky spine?
It is weird mine don't want to touch opuntia hmmm...

They sure do eat banana leaves! I would not say it is one of his favorites, but he does eat them. I am also drying some to supplement his hay mixture over the winter.
I generally feed him the new growth opuntia pads which have little to no spines or glochids. If I give him the older ones I singe them off, but I have heard that they can tolerate them.
I will be bringing lots of stuff inside during the next week or so, too; it's dipping into the 40s here in MO.

I can't seem to get Tropical Hibiscus to live year to year. The one I tried last year made it all through the winter, then died shortly after putting it out in the spring(I tried to gradually reintroduce it outside a few hours a day).

I have had my big one (Mr. Hibiscus) for about three years, but it was at least 3 years old when I inherited it. I leave t outside all summer and bring it in before the temps drop. It winters in a south facing deck door where it gets a lot of sun and had done very well. It rarely flowers in the house, and the leaves get much larger than they do in the summer, but with decent sun and plenty of water it can be done. It tends to get more pests than other plants (whiteflies every d*mn year, and another year there was an ant colony that made a home in the pot, that was a pain) but as far as tort food goes, it's a big hit and well worth the extra care.

Indoor gardening still going well. Off course the hibiscus are dropping leaves and flowers, which I am collecting and drying, and since we had a light frost before I brought the bananas in most of the old leaves are dead or dying. Saving and drying those too! I have gotten a few pumpkins and several squash from the outside garden and have cut them into chunks to freeze for winter treats. I had saved all the seeds to plant over the winter and into spring. I also saved all the guts and froze them! He absolutely loves a bite of that mess now and then.
I have been gradually collecting other leaves and tasty bits from outside like grape, mulberry, various squash leaves, roses and rose leaves, raspberry and blackberry leaves, plantain, mustard, kale, radicchio..(.the list goes on and on) to dry. It will be a nice addition to the store bought hays and fresh offerings for the winter.
 

Odin's Gma

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It would be interesting to see some of the dried foods when you start feeding them.
We haven't started with the dry food yet. Our fall has been wonderful and the garden and yard are still producing enough fresh stuff to keep him happy and full. As a matter of fact, he and I were outside for a couple of hours yesterday while I finally pulled my tomato plants and the squash and pumpkin plants that didn't survive the spate of frosts we have had. We will be going out again later today! November 5th! Can't believe it!

Every time we go out I pick enough for his "after grazing dinner" :rolleyes: and plenty of additional to dry. along with clippings from the now indoor plants (like the banana). It certainly isn't the classiest set-up but it is working. I keep the items in flat boxes on the dining room table under the ceiling fan and toss them about every couple of days:
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And once they are completely dry and brittle I toss them into a paper bag and crumple them up. leaving the bag open in a well ventilated room. You can see bits of dried hibiscus flowers in there,003.JPG

I am also still collecting and drying seeds from squash, pumpkin, mallow and soon radish.004.JPG

Busy, busy, busy!
 

Odin's Gma

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Tortoising in the fall leaves006.JPG

The mint is still going strong, and there are a couple of pumpkins still hanging on the fence, but the grape leaves are yellowing and the squash plants are gone008.JPG

Odin doesn't care, he'll eat anything.010.JPG

Although the leaf pile freaked him out, he ran away from it! :D011.JPG

I lifted the lid to his burrow to rake it out and you can see the extra addition he was working on013.JPG

Yeah, getting him out of there was darn near impossible!014.JPG

Of course he found an errant cherry tomato on the ground from the plants I pulled yesterday. He knew he was busted, but I couldn't get it away from him.022.JPG

After grazing dinner:024.JPG

Him filling up his carry box. Gonna need a bigger one.025.JPG

Bath-time grumpiness026.JPG

And the mud caked on his face that he won't let me remove. Jerk!034.JPG

This is likely the last weekend he will be able to get out there, so I am glad he enjoyed it.:tort::<3:
 

Odin's Gma

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Well, it looks like we finally had a pretty hard freeze last night, so it's all indoor gardening from here on out. I spent the morning sprucing up his greenhouse. taking out the poor, half dead hibiscus. adding in a banana plant, seeding and transplanting some of the grasses and plants from one of the flats I am keeping.
I gave him a slice of pumpkin to distract him. he was pleased002.JPG

Og course when he realized I planted an opuntia he still made it his mission to destroy it . It won't last the day. :oops:004.JPG

The greenhouse is looking okay with all the new plants, I am hoping, as always, that they distract The Mighty Odin long enough to let the seeds grow beyond seedling stage, but I know better.011.JPG

Upstairs still looks like a greenhouse on it's own. The Ice cream banana plant is ceiling height now, (9 feet?) and growing into the ceiling fan, so I have to keep moving it. The second mini banana needs to be separated but I think I have done enough today012.JPG

I have one new flat and one growing flat to add in as necessary to his greenhouse013.JPG

And those agave seeds that I started a couple years ago? ADORABLE little plants all in their own 4 inch pots!:<3: There are 8 in total, not sure of the varieties yet014.JPG
And, of course. opuntia everywhere!015.JPG

I added some begonias to Mr. Hibiscus' pot 017.JPG

and today I removed the saddest hibiscus in history from the greenhouse. It's not dead, I cane bring it back, but man, that Odin is a destructive jerk! It was only in there for a month or two!018.JPG

Seeds are a huge variety, many grasses, clovers, lettuces and greens, dandelion, plantain, mallow, radish, pumpkin, squashes...the list goes on and on!
6 months until spring gardening.......
 

Fredkas

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Wow odin is so smooth and looks very healthy..
I am working on mine about the mud face.
When he is playing outside, he will have that mud nose, all black. i am trying to wipe it out slowly with water. i'll do it untill he fully accept it. he is fast learner and within 3 days attempt he let me do it without too much pull-in head. i am working with brush (the softest toothbrush of course) to his head now, it will be usefull when his head is as big as my hand.
 
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