Crimping steel cables to vine supports

Today is very rainy and chilly.
Curator was out ill today; the greenhouse was manned by Al, B, and undergrad student L. As usual, B had tasks all lined up for me: working on the vine bench, then repotting banana plants in room C2. B is so very organized.

On the vine bench, a vine plant had been moved from a different room. The plant - Thunbergia grandiflora, blue trumpet vine - needed more support. On the vine bench the plant will be allowed to grow up a stainless steel cable to a height of 8 feet or more. But, the cable had to be installed before I could attach the plant to the cable.

To install the cable, I had to loop one end into a double-barrel ferrule, then crimp the ferrule to secure the cable from slipping out. The loop of cable is then attached to another cable running overhead above the vine bench. Several vine plants of different genera are attached to the cable system.

The trick was having to find the crimping tool in the storage room, then learning how to operate the crimping tool. I used Google and YouTube to provide instructions. Luckily, B had provided me with a bag of hardware with multiple sizes of cable and ferrules.

After getting the vine attached, my next task was repotting several banana plants. The plants had started to outgrow and split their plastic tubs. To free the root balls, I broke apart the old plastic pots. I was able to divide three of the root balls, which went into separate pots. Al recommended soil mix 1a. Last week I mixed a new batch of 1a, but this week it is almost all depleted again.

The ladies all left the greenhouse at noon. I stayed until 1p to finish repotting the banana plants. Then, cleaned the work room, and disposed of the old soil.

Photos of the cable work:

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