Hi Sandi,
Joined ATP about a week ago but read your post 2 minutes ago and noticed you asked for input over a year ago. Hope the frame is progressing but no matter how many one does, there's always something new to learn...?...
From my experience the light exposure on a frame is never optimal so I find that eventually some of the semps will start to "lean" towards the sun and thus become asymmetric in the way they look as a group. This is why I sometimes will put two hangers on the back of the frame so that I can hang rotate the frame occasionally to even out the growth. If frame is not hung you can still rotate the frame to promote even growth. I also find that when starting out a newly planted frame, morning sun with afternoon shade is easier on the need-to-establish-into-frame plants.
I also use florist pins to stablize any semp that hasn't developed a good root system so that the heads don't fall out of frame when hung vertically. I have also found that not all semps root/establish at the same rate so the pins help to hold into frames. Sometimes I don't even remove the pins until much later when I have discovered that the other neighboring semps have grown over the hidden pin.
I plant my semps into the frame soil that I have sprayed damp with H20 bottle sprayer. When I am finished with newly planted frame, I use spray bottle to spray new plantings with a solution that helps foliage and root formation for the first week or so. And then water accordingly with bottle or water can or gentle hose dowsing depending on climate frame is in. During the harsh winters I took the frames down and lay them on the ground on hay or mulch and I still watered but less frequently.
Hope some of this is useful.
