Quote:
Originally Posted by coast crab
Wow, this has gotten HOT!!!
As a newbie to this org, here are a couple of my thoughts:
First, you can't stop or even slow down the repeats. It is just the nature of this beast and happens on all forums my partner and I belong to regardless of the topic (Bonsai, Arisaema, Amorphophallus, Trillium, Banana, Cadillac, Imperial, Thunderbird, Oldsmobile - that's our house). Every new person that joins (and that's what we want, right?) is going to ask a question that's been asked before. We've all "been there and done that". What we can do, as others here have done for me, is provide a link to a previous thread that addresses their question instead of starting over completely - or worse, ignoring it as we saw a month ago or so.
We may actually be able to cut back on the repeats if there were less forums to choose from. For instance, there is specific forum for ornamental bananas that has a total of 6 threads on it. Go to the main discussion forum and take a look at the number of siam ruby and ae ae threads that are there. Why aren't those threads being posted to ornamentals? Because the most traffic is in the main discussion, and if you want something seen and responded to you better put it there because we use it as a "catch all" forum. Do ornamental and species really need to be seperate forums? Do propogation techniques and seed germination need to be seperate? Half of the threads in the for sale and auction forum are [wanted], yet just below this is a wanted forum! And aren't both of these forums already covered by the "classifieds" in the menu bar at the top of the page? Am I missing something? There is so much overlap that I have had to post the same thing in different forums so the right people would find it and answer a question. In other online clubs, moderaters will move threads when they end up where they should not be, but there are too many options here.
I can see the logic behind both sides of the zone split thing, but I would end up in "no mans' land". Here on the northern Gulf Coast (and the southern Atlantic Coast) we may not have a zn 10 and higher 365 day per year growing season, but we can grow most every banana y'all grow and almost as well. Maybe a little smaller and slower, but we do just fine here, thank you. On the immediate coast we may lose a few winter months of growth and our foliage to frost, but I can't remember the last time I lost pstems to a freeze, but just a few dozen miles inland things change fast. My clump of ice cream is putting out its second flower of the year now. Will it amount to anything? Probably not, but that's not why I grow bananas - its just a perk when it works out. You folks growing bananas in pots or worse - digging them up to store in a basement for the winter - amaze me. That's what I call dedication! I rarely go to the cold hardy forum, but actually replied to a siam ruby post there (the least cold hardy banana I have)! As for the container forum, this doesn't factor into my life at all except for some new plants I potted to establish and give a little extra protection to this winter. Just like the zone 9 and 10 guys, bananas in containers (full time) just doesn't apply to me. Could the cold hardy and container forums be combined and dedicated to folks growing bananas outside the "comfort zone"?
I'm eager to see how this works out, my guess is that we'll survive either way. Sorry for the blah blah blah.
Russell
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It HAS gotten HOT in here! Like a naner in a hothouse, this thread is taking off!
I even sense a little bit of "Zone Envy" here and there! LOL! C'mon, admit it, MOST of us have at least a little bit of zone envy!
Anyway... on to the topic at hand:
I tend to agree with alot of what I have quoted above. I tend to be of the mind set "if it aint broke, don't fix it" when it comes to things that work, and for the time I have been reading and posting here (and admittedly I could participate alot more and will try to do so) everything seems to work pretty darn good the way it is. That is not to say there cant always be room for improvements. Reposting is inevitable on any forum, it just happens, and I am one of those that do not think its a bad thing at all. Granted, there may be times when a topic gets reposted too often, and if that happens, well, perhaps its just time to combine the threads on the same topic sticky that topic for a while, or direct people to use the forum search function.
I agree with the poster I quoted about the overlap, and about how the forums are used. Perhaps too many "choices" are not t he best thing. I have noticed some of the same things they pointed out in their post. It seems to me that some of the forums here could be pared down by combining them into one singular section. For instance, the "classifieds" as pointed out above. Also another thing that has proven very effective on another message board I post on is user moderation. People who have the time to, and participate regularly, even if not posting all the time, make great candidates to "moderate" forums, and by moderate, mostly that means making sure that threads get moved to the appropriate place.
As far as zones go, well lets take a look at zones. I think zones can be somewhat lumped together here. Here is my way of thinking. 1,2,3, in one group, 4,5,6, in another, 7,8,9 in another, and 10+ in another. I know there is ALWAYS going to be variations, and "edges" of zones, so some may have to visit a couple areas, but I think a grouping like that addresses the vast majority of folks since that type of zone breakdown seem to me to have more in common than not. For instance, 7,8,9, while zone 9 can gro more than zone 7 for sure, one BIG thing they all have in common is frost / freezes. While zone 9 gets considerably less than zone 7, it is still a major component of most in those zones in as far as overwintering, / cold hardiness, protection methods. zones 1,2,3, all freeze and freeze rather deeply, but zone 3 probably has a longer and HOTTER summer. Zones 10+ are all much more tropical in nature, and frost / freezes are relatively rare. I personally live in an area that is a cusp. Its 7b, and also 8A. Some microclimates here are easily 8A, and some even approach 8B. However, we CAN, and do once in a while experience 7b, and 7A cold, but generally given the city and its urban heat island and the influence of the tidal river here, are a rather warm 7B or cold 8A over all. There are microclimates here where Serenoa repens grows outdoors, unprotected, and does just fine. Saw Palmetto, which isnt nearly as cold hardy as Sabal Minor, or even Butia butia capitata. I have also seen someone overwinter a Red Abyssinian here in a micro climate. I think some lines need to be drawn in terms of breakdowns, and inevitably that is going to leave some having to use multiple forums more often than others, which is not a bad thing at all IMHO. I dont think you want to compartmentalise too much anyway because while that may be "Convenient" it may also curb or slow the spread / dissemination of experience, knowledge....etc
General growing conditions are great, but so are geographic locations for trading, swap meets, local / regional clubs or groups..etc.. but perhaps that could be covered under one subsection, which is further devided by state, say a sub forum called "state forums' where each state has its own forum and people can "connect" on here via posting in their particular states forum. This solves the whole breaking down the country into regions or sections, and also provides MOST, with a viable forum to go to post gatherings in their area/ region. There are going to be some who live in places that are on state lines, but that can be overcome by posting a "metropolitan area's gathering, in two or three different states forums as needed, to cover that cities entire metro area.
If you are going to break it down into regions such as your map in the initial post, while I cant speak for others in other areas, I can say that many people in the mid Atlantic states prefer to be called just that. Im not too sure the good folks of NJ, DE, MD, even PA want to be lumped in with the northeast or new england, nor do they want to be lumped in with the southeast. There are even those in NC, who prefer to be referred to as a mid Atlantic state. From what I have seen, the mid Atlantic states are largely defined as, NJ, DE, MD, DC, VA, and often NC and PA are included. But I digress, there is ALOT of climate / zone disparity in just that one region.
So many great ideas in here! I think the big question lies in Mkoinld's post a few posts back and is spot on. Specific goals should be set as to what exactly we want to accomplish here. The goals, and which direction we want to go I think MUST come first, and once those are sussed out, then we can really think about how to go about the best way of attaining those set goals, and making the appropriate changes to meet them.
Just thought I would put my .02 in. Sorry to be so long winded!
I hope something I said here someone found worthwhile! Happy holidays everyone!