Homegrowmen (Farming and Gardening) Thread #47

>>696039
US Farm Income and Taxes,
http://www.hobbyfarms.com/farm-marketing-and-management/farm-income-taxes-14991.aspx

US Grants and Loans for Small Farms,
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=GRANTS_LOANS
http://afsic.nal.usda.gov/farms-and-community/grants-and-loans-farmers
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/funding.shtml

Managing Risks on Your Small Farm,
http://agr.wa.gov/Marketing/SmallFarm/managerisk.aspx

Chicken info and forum,
http://www.backyardchickens.com

Rabbit guide
http://www.agriculture.gov.tt/publications/manuals/rabbit-production-a-producer-s-manual.html

A public access seedbank for many types of rare or endangered plants; both edible and ornamental,
http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/index.htm

Organic and heirloom selections:
http://sustainableseedco.com/
http://www.seedsofchange.com/
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/

Potato, Sweet Potato, and Tubers seed bank (free, but requies filling out forms and waiting in line):
http://www.cipotato.org/

Awesome interactive plant/gardening maps for USA, Canada, France, UK, BC, (frost dates, temp zones,

etc):
http://www.plantmaps.com/index.php

Sprout seeds and info:
sproutpeople.org

Insect Habitats for attracting polinating bees, predatory/parasitic wasps, hibernating ladybugs,

butterflies, etc.
http://www.inspirationgreen.com/insect-habitats.html

Toad and Hedgehog Habitats,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JetkWtw7Jc
http://familycrafts.about.com/od/frogcrafts/a/How_To_Make_A_Toad_Village.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces/hedgehog_home/
http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/leaflets/L5-Hedgehog-Homes.pdf

Chili Peppers
http://www.fatalii.net/

More on Aquaponics & Aquaculture,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=26xpMCXP9bw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=_WgfaJjvfxA
http://www.appropedia.org/Aquaponics

Sourcing plants from the grocery,
http://www.diyncrafts.com/4732/repurpose/25-foods-can-re-grow-kitchen-scraps

Anybody grow sea buckthorn? It seems kinda intriguing, but the plants are pretty expensive, wondering if it's worth it.

How do I deal with slugs, snails and ants eating my sprouting plants? Preferably through organic/natural means (i.e. biological control or crop pairing)

>>696114
Toads are a good control for ground dwelling pests, so look up ways to attract them, like building a toad house. A cup of beer set out in the garden traps snails/Slugs. Diatomaceous earth, sprinkled on your garden soil kills most ground-dwelling pests.

>>696114
Could try coffee grounds/granules around the plants as mulch, pretty sure they dislike the caffeine and the added nitrogen always help

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How much water would a two feet (60 cm) tall, three month old, potted avocado need?

Pot is about 19 inches (48 cm) wide, 17 inches (43 cm) tall and has about 9 inches (23 cm) soil depth

Pic related, it's the soil.

>>696294
Wait till the plant looks like its about to wilt. Water slowly over 5 minutes evenly until water comes out the bottom. Use the same amount next time.

>>696114
Two things slugs won't cross
1. Water
Put seedlings in a dish of water, obviously not submerged but so the slugs can't reach them.
2. Copper tape

Also what I did during slug season here was go out after dark when they are active and decapitate them all with some snips.

You can also attract them with yeast or other stuff and kill them all, at night too.

I also looked under pots and other stuff during the day and killed them.

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>>696377
>Also what I did during slug season here was go out after dark when they are active and decapitate them all with some snips.

>>696377
damn, no mercy

>>696377
Are you that Rhineland anon?

>>696377
That's cold, brah.

I usually pluck them and toss them in my compost bin. Its an plastic drum with a lockable lid to keep the coons out, so they cant escape. I think they eventually die, I never find slugs when I pull out some compost.

>>696374
What is this?
Can I eat it?

>>696294
In a pot that size (Which is super small) an inch of water would equal about 5.2 litres.
Since it's a young tree, 1.5-2 inches a week would do best, so either 5 litres twice a week or 10 litres once a week.

Personally, I'd put 3-4" (75-100mm) of straw mulch on top of the soil so you can get away with one big watering a week instead of 2 waterings and trying to battle soil moisture evaporation.

>>696591
that's a pinguicula

they're great for controlling gnats.

>>696476
>keep the coons out

Do they even steal your compost now?

>>696377
If you loved slug-o, your going to love the new slug-o plus. It's organic, just spray.

>>696655
They wanna go to school with us

>>696655
>>696738
Okay, that made me chuckle. But seriously, the little masked bastards like to dig in it and make a mess.

>>696459
Hah no that would be me, haven't had the chance to be such a sick cunt yet (I don't even kill spiders in the house but I do love bisecting fungus gnat larvae once I spot them, fuckers don't deserve any other way, deodorant spray can flame torching moths is fun too, that's what you get for waking me up at 4am).
Will do strawberries on my own the first time this year, unfortunately they tend to get snail'd a lot if it isn't dry, don't know yet what I'll come up with to deal with those

Are there any other evergreen vines, that will grow well even up north, besides ivy?

>>697019
Maybe some cultivars of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euonymus_fortunei

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I definitely want to add to my backyard garden this year since I might be full neet when I'm home from school this summer. I've already got a 3x12 addition planned, but I was also looking at some other potential spots.

Lot 1: Nice big area that gets 5-6 hours of sun. Would be my first choice except for the big stump in the middle I would have to get rid of somehow.

Lot 2: Currently some wild flowers grow here so it would be the easiest to transform but I'd rather get rid of grass instead of flowers. Probably gets 5-6 hours of sun as well.

Lot 3: Skinny strip of grass that gets full sun. Could probably widen it a bit and grow some things in partial sun under the tree coverage as well.

What do you guys think would be the best option of those three? Anyone have any experience with stump/root removal?

Can you graft trees even though the temperatures can still drop below zero over the night?

I saved seeds from heirloom tomatoes this year. I want to grow from these seeds this year. How early should I be starting them inside? I plan to transplant seedlings.

>>697370
They're cherokee purples, by the way.

>>697120
Other than the hillbilly method of a chain and a truck, no. Only works if its an old dead stump, not particularly big, and a very strong truck.

Might just be best to go with a stump grinding service m8t, other methods aren't near as easy or clean.

>>697370
6Wks before last frost for most any tomato.

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Started some seeds in newspaper pots this week. Not entirely sure what I'm doing but I'm going for it because I have a lot of seeds around. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

-Snowball X cauliflower
-Little Marvel shelling pea
-Sweetie Cherry tomato
-Jaune Flamme tomato
-Brandywine tomato
-Ozark Pink tomato
-Christmas lima beans
-Parade bunching onion
-Ping Tung Long eggplant
-Tam jalapeno peppers
-fennel

>>697449
>a dozen tiny nations raising their banners and marching to war

Good luck, and may God help us all.

How viable is it to grow ginger from a rhizome?
Is it a heavy producer?

>>697449
HOW DiD YOU MAKE THOSE POTS

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What are some good tips for a first time gardener? I'm looking to grow some vegetables and herbs this season and I want to know what some basics are that I need to know so I don't completely suck dick at it.

>>697207
You want to wait until the tree is starting to come out of dormancy. You can tell when this is happening when the bark on young growth readily peels off or is 'slipping'. Depending on where you are in the country, that could be happening now or you might need to wait another month.

>>697536
the sap is starting to flow, but the weather here still drops below zero so thats what im concerned about

>>696887
That's my problem with squirrels. They did in me mums potted plants on her porch. It will be my first time gardening even though we're had a garden plot for almost 10 years now. I think I'm gonna try spraying cayenne water on all of my posts. I'm willing to hear what else others do to keep those fucking rats out of their garden. This slug thread has been very healful.

>>696639
What can I use to mulch a seedling planter? I'm a lazy cunt. Would newspaper work once they've broken the surface? I've had lizards and (almost) puppies die on me because I forgot they exist. I think I might actually have autism because I get sucked into something new and completely lose my frame of reference on everything not related to that thing.

About the puppy, I returned it to the shelter but there was a time that I walked into my living room and was bewildered by its presence and had a panic attack wondering when the last time I fed it was.

So would newspaper work?

>>697496
Not him but I just made some of these today for some yarrow. I used this tutorial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dlGQP81yfo

>>697508
How to starts seeds. How to water properly. And what plants do well in your soil type. I made a run on all the planting book in my local library. They had a bunch of really good/new books. I was impressed.

The most common mistakes, imo are over/under watering your seedlings, transplanting too early, and unanticipated predators like gnats, aphids, slugs, and motherfucking squirrels.

>>697496
I used these directions: http://www.hometalk.com/2039196/origami-paper-seedling-pots-from-newspaper

Except I only folded over once instead of twice (in the first two sets of folding to the middle) because the pots seemed too thick with that second layer. <- hope that makes sense? Really horrible at giving directions lol

>>697460
Haha love that. Thanks brother

>>697551
Squirrels are lazy bastards looking for an easy spot to dig so they can cache thier nuts. The soft soil of pots and tilled garden soil is ideal for them.

For pots, chicken wire over the soil. For gardens, a layer of mulch. Not woodchips, just straw, laid down really thick, like a couple of inches. They'll still attempt to dig, but will soon learn that they have to get through a couple of inches of straw before hitting dirt, and they'll give up. You might find stashed nuts occasionally in the straw, but they at least aren't digging in the soil itself and damaging the plants roots.

>>697554
Here's how to build a self-watering tray.

http://deepgreenpermaculture.com/diy-instructions/self-watering-tray/

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>Learn to keep plants alive
>Grandmother asks me to help her with her 3 year old lemon tree
>Get an indoor light set up for her to help it out
>She asks me to take care of her sapling that's dying
I think I'm actually liking gardening, at least when it's indoors

On a different note, at what point should I be moving the little plant on the left into a pot she had for it (About the size of the other one)?
The plant itself looks tremendously better than it did a week ago, but I'm not sure I'll have enough room to have 2 pots shoved into this corner

>>697378
Thanks.

What do you guys do to keep mammalian pests away? I'm going to use rabbit fence, fishing wire (moving it at various heights to keep deer out), and a perimeter of chickpeas(if I can get seeds).

>>697817
I read somewhere that citrus trees are notoriously finicky as indoor plants. How is your light set up? Curious because I really want to grow a dwarf blood orange tree but my zone is too cold for it to be out during the winter.

>>697853
I've actually had a great luck with my dwarf lemon tree; its on its second winter indoors and very healthy. They just go dormant in the winter, no new growth. Dont water as often and don't fertilize during the winter.

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>>697551
Anon ive got one suggestion for you. Remove acorn. Either a trap or pick related.

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>>697853
Like so
I don't really know what I'm doing, but it seems to be working because before I started taking care of it, it was nothing more than a stick with a leaf

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>>697853
>>697817
I've been having my lemon saplings (sprouted July last year) indoors since mid-October, on a south-facing window in black pots
And I'm living at 50°N which means very little day-, let alone sunlight during winter, yet those fuckers are still doing fine - slow but continuous growth throughout winter so far (on warmer days I now start to place them outside in the afternoon in a protected corner, to slowly get them used to UV and wind again)
Stem heights are now 22cm and 19cm respectively, with the longest leaf being 15cm
The key is to never let the soil temperature drop below ~13°C for extended periods while the plants are exposed to light, else they will drop their leaves. So if your room is cool but gets sun, aside from using black pots for heat, pour lukewarm (30-35°C) water on the soil

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>>697956
For comparison, this is what they looked like when I brought them inside last October (and they were in smaller pots back then, I had to re-pot them into bigger ones in early January because the roots came out the holes and already grew in circles at the bottom)

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>>697962
...and to round it off, a pic of them just 1 month after sprouting

>>697853
What zone are you? I'm 8a, so I could theoretically plant C. trifoliata outside very easily, but I don't really like the way they look and the fact they're not evergreen
Yuzu could just barely work here (said to tolerate down to -12°C), but almost no nursery sells those here, and the few that do charge like €50 for tiny seedlings of 20cm height, meh...

How do I improve the state of the grass in my backyard? It's mostly weeded and dirt patches. Have tried getting seeds and shit but it never takes. I don't know what I'm doing and I'm cheap as fuck, but I want to try to get some nice dark green grass in my backyard so it doesn't look like complete shit.

>>697975
Lawns need lots of fertilisation, pesticides (or manual removal if you're that bio) against shit like cranesbills, chickweed, knotweed etc. plus they hate even slight droughts, but then again in wet summers they grow so much they need mowing every 2-3 days - tl;dr they're an easy area filler on paper, but not in practice

>>697984
Pesticides would probably help a lot but I have a dog and idk if that's a good idea. Pretty sure he's part of the reason my backyard sucks too.

>>697975
Seeds, hay, manure spreader, lime, water, and your golden. Don't worry about "weeds" that's just what the pesticide company wants you to think of them as. Most of it is edible and some is down right delicious.

Dammit how the hell do I prune a double leader fruit tree? I find all these pruning tutorials online but I have yet to find one that shows you how the hell do deal with a double leader. Do I just lop one of them off? Choose one?

>>698023
what kind of fruit tree is it though?

>>697975
Whats the soil/light conditions of your yard? Sunny, shady? Pure sand, or sandy loam?

>>698025
Apple tree.

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>>698029
yeah pretty much just choose the best one

>>698041
Well shit. Pruning these things reads like such a big deal and that's it?

>>697966
I'm in zone 7a. I just really want to eat some blood oranges because they're never at the market lol.

>>697956
They look great! Might have to give this a try.

>>698043
no this is just the technique to use when removing bigger branches so you dont run the risk of the branch tearing of a substantial part of the bark or worse.

>>698029
not all apple trees are though, you should pick a variety that does well in your climate and is robust in general. for my region a 'topaz' should do well its often used in organic fruit growing around here, whereas a 'cox orange' is way more brittle, eventhough tasty as fuck.

>>697932
Not sure if serious. That seems extreme. Oh god, am I a pussy? What are the environmental implications of killing the squirrels?

>>698332
Squirrels are cute and they are friends :(

>>697539
It should be fine then as long as the scion is still in a dormant state and isn't leafing out quite yet.

>>698332
I'm sure it has less impact than eating beef.

>>698428
Yeah, with 20x's more work than going to the store and buying a steak.

>>698332
Well, if your in the city, the impact on YOU will be a fine. The environmental impact will be negligible.

Is there a giant torrent of compiled info for this kinda stuff?

>>698569
Not really. Torrent directories are almost entirely porn and tv/movies. All of which is created by Jews. There's nothing actually useful on torrent sites.

>>698552
Not really. It costs money to go to the store and money to buy the steak. You have to work for that money and it takes time to do that. Time is money.

You can kill, prep, and eat a squirrel in less than 15 mins. Of course it'd be better if you took longer to cook it for palatability reasons.

>>698569
Yes, one of them is in the OP the 400+ book one.

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Soon...

>>698644
You have to have money to buy a gun and bullets. Although...trapping might work. Wait, you have to buy the trap. Dammit, thier has to be a free way to catch squirrels.

>>698688
God, I can't wait, I've already started with my herbs indoors, and I was just getting excited last weekend because we had two sunny, 50° days. And then BAM! SNOW OUT THE ASS!

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>>698703
You can make a trap with stuff you have laying around the house easily enough. Learn to make and use snares.

How dangerous is lead in the soil? I was watching a gardening show once and they had led in their soil so they paved it and put raised beds on top. I can't remember what the source of lead was though. Naturally occurring or pollution? In terms of eating plants in the wild is it a danger? I have edible weeds growing in a patch of dirt where I live and I will eat them but not if they could contain lead. Redpill me on lead in soil please.

would it be wise to start growing tomatoes under glass /out/?

it's kind of early, but last year the fruits didn't mature before the first frost.

>>698881
maybe. would you seal the glass to the earth?
Like a terrarium?

>>698883
>would you seal the glass to the earth?
using 'glass' figuratively.

I plan on using one of those big plastic grow boxes and just start the tomatoes indoors.

>>698862
Very dangerous. Plants are actually used to help remediate lead contaminated soils. The plants take it up into them, they are harvested, and disposed of in a proper location. This is repeated for an exceptionally long time.

This is only a problem in locations with pollution levels of lead in the soil. If you don't know a place contains lead in the soil, you are probably safe, unless that place was some factory lot or downwind/down stream of something producing pollution.

Never eat plants that are within 50 feet of any road. Dust from tire rubber has a shit load of terrible metals and chemicals plants are known to uptake. One of them is lead. Rain runoff from the road and tire rubber dust settling down wind of the road are what spread it into the surrounding area.

>>698881
>>698884
When you put them under cover outside, add containers of water with them in order to help maintain the temperatures at night or during cold snaps.

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Bought a seed starter this year because I'm not paying the upsurge for seedlings.

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>tfw cut asparagus plants back in November but postponed the digging out of the stems until two days ago
>tfw while doing so already found a lot of new shoots, partially already reaching the surface, I had to remove too in the process
So I got a fucking February harvest, normally this starts in early April here. Just hoping I haven't damaged the plants too badly

>>698953
Why are you digging them up? To propagate them further?

I can't wait for the hosta shoots to start coming up. I have a large bed of those and they are delicious.

>>698963
Well those old trunks can be very sharp and ramming your fingers into them during harvest later on can be quite painful 4u

>>698965
I normally use sheers to cut off all dead growth from last season, down to ground level. When the new shoots come up, I only harvest what is above ground.

>>698970
Ah so you're doing green ones? I prefer whites which have to be cut before surfacing

Hey /homegrown/i'm growing a variety of plants for the first time this summer. What are some good plant/herbs for a semi-shady plot?

>>699018
Most typical herbs such as thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil... require full sun. Bay laurel, lemon balm and mint tolerate a bit of shade

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So, one of the 4 laurel cherry prunings I put in a water glass back in mid-September (yes, over 5 months ago) has finally grown some roots now, and I potted it in. Such slow motherfuckers

>>699071
Holy shit, that's a long time to wait for something to root, I'd have given up by then!

So did you just keep it in the same unchanged plain water for 5 months?

>>697120

Or you could innoculate the stump and grow mushrooms. Takes forever for something that big, but zero work once it's started.

Then for a while, you'll have shiitakes or whatever. You'll be swimming in them. Then it's over and the stump will be soft enough to remove.

The idea is that mushroom substitutes for it just sitting there while you do other shit.

>>699078
Well in the beginning I changed it like once a week or so, but after maybe 1-2 months or so I got lazier, IIRC the water it sat in last was there since around Christmas
It's also the stuff that took longest so far, second is cherry plum which took about 3 months
It seems Prunus in general don't root very well

>>699109
Oh and I'm glad they did work out after all, the following species failed for me (eventually the 2-3 upper leaves I kept in each case fell off and the stems subsequently dried up)
- Laurus nobilis (bay laurel)
- Lantana camara
- Olea europaea (olive)
- Lavandula angustifolia (lavender)
- Mahonia aquifolium (Oregon grape)

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>>698939
I had them bubble wrapped, they still died the first frost.
>>698953
I made limburg asparagus soup today.

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>>699113
They're full-on harvesting now already?
Anyway, I eventually made Spargelgemüse out of mine (our local way to prepare it - dice 'em up to couple cm long pieces, boil, make a roux on the side with the asparagus water, add in the cuts and boil some more, serve with potatoes and ham)
Doesn't look appetizing maybe, but it damn is

>>699071
>5 months ago

Holy shit. Congrats. I wonder if they use a different chemical trigger to tell it when to root or use it up or it has such a long half-life that it takes that long to notice it's been cut off the tree?

>>699113
That sucks. Perhaps containers of water and a larger air volume inside might help? Black-painted containers of water like water bottles or soda bottles are amazing for thermal mass for starts and season extension in small spaces.

>>699116
Maybe I didn't place it in the perfect spot? Had it sitting by the sleeping room window which faces NE (therefore bright but close to no direct sun) at temps of around 15°C, I thought that's the way to treat them? (Put them warmer and sunnier and they'll dry out)

>>699117
I don't know. I'd put them in several places and see what worked and what didn't work.

>>699115
yeah, they're grown in greenhouses.
>>699116
I had them my garden in full ground.

they were growing against a hedge though, which I've now removed.

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I also started "slightly" too early with my first batch of tomatoes in mid-December (most are smaller ones sprouted in mid-February though, so do I have plenty of backup/properly started ones), you know, the impatience...
Now the weather is going to be quite crappy, mostly highs of 6-8°C and some nights might go down to -2.
Now I'm intending to plant out the biggest 2 of them test-wise because I'm running low on window space with all the other shit growing there (so I can't replant them into bigger pots inside first but they soon will need more root space).
Provided I can somehow protect them from the night-time frost, how will they develop? Will the cool weather just inhibit growth or will they die?

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I made one of those "self-watering" container bullshits a few weeks ago, I was surprised how easy it was to assemble and that it actually worked on my first go around

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>>697496
Just use egg cartons, jesus christ

>>699150
All well and good if you work in a kitchen, or know somebody who does, or have the foresight to save them all year and have your neighbors save them.

>>699150
Not deep enough.

>>699207
that's what she said desu senpai

Tired of spending a ton of money on spices and garnishes so I bought a bunch of seeds; sage, thyme, chives, etc.

What's the ideal set up for these?

>>699366
All those Mediterranean Lamiacea (vast majority of all spices) need is sun, sun and even more sun
Tbh I'm not planting them to save money, a jar of dried rosemary/oregano/thyme/basil... is like 50 cents and last for months, I'm just doing it for the fun of it

>>699149
might want to elevate the container off the bricks if the bricks get hot

Just recently moved into an apartment with shit windows and no backyard or dirt patches. Anyone got tips for growing basil and tomatoes indoors?

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IT'S HAPPENING.

>>697449
>>>/po/

>>699377
Lots of light, big pot, less fertilizer, hose them off in your shower if they get aphids or white flies. That's about it.

I asked the same once but couldn't come to see if someone answered: if I feed the birds near my plants will they left them alone or it will attract even more birds?

>>699053
Cheers. Another question. Can I use like, aluminum foil, to get sun onto my plot? Because it's half shady but there's a lot of son on the edges.

>>699182
This desu. I wasn't planning on planting til I did. Had a sunday paper on hand and now I have seedling containers for days.

>>699420
Do birds eat seedlings? I'm new.

>>696039
There is almost nothing better than picking a fresh mint leaf for your tea in the morning.

Why aren't you growing the sweet tasting weed right now?

>>696039
>>>/vg/133607936

If you like HM/farming games check this.

>>699420
Keep bird food sources away from your seedlings, fur sure. like opposite sides of your property. Birds may be picking at your seedlings because they're hungry, so feeding them, away from your precious plants, may work.

>>699420

It will attract even more birds, and they'll start on your garden long before they've finished with your bird feeder.

>>699737

Because it will overrun your plot if you're not careful. Grow it in a box. And yes freshly picked mint is bro tier.

>>699763
Nah I just throw it in the front yard where I'd normally have decorative plants and let it grow wild.

>>699377
Tip on the light- you can use regular desk lamps with compact fluorescent bulbs that give you the proper color spectrum. Regular bulbs aren't really going to do much for you. Shoot for ~6000K +/- 1000K and you'll be fine. A $5 timer from Wal-mart will help make sure they always get the light.

>>698730
This squirrel circus is off to a slow start.

>>699720
Dunno if that helps outdoors, but you could always try I guess
Or consider simply pruning back any hedges/trees if they take too much light

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What is this white powder on the leaves?

>>699844
Looks like hard water stains from using tap water to water your plants.

>>699850

But I don't pour water over the leaves when watering.

>>699919

Does it rinse off easily with water?

>>699923

Seems so

>>699940

Ok. Is there any way liquids might have ended up on the leaves?

Just came from /aq/ on /an/ and I'm starting to love the idea of a self sustained ecosystem/plant life. I have an extra ten gal and two flourescent lights, and I'd love to start growing non-aquatic plants in it.
What are some things that are fun and easy to grow, indoors? Bonus points for
>edible plants
>beautiful/exotic plants
>pictures that could help give me design ideas

>>700065
Herbs. Obviously herbs. Start easy and go to the supermarket or plant nursery near your home. Buy mint. Buy basil, parsley, and oregano. Bring them home, look up how to care for them.

http://davesgarden.com/#b

What you really want is a good site that has information about growing things common to your area in the conditions of your area. Check local universities (especially if they are publicly funded) sites. Agricultural Universities in your state should be a gold mine of information.

Anyway start small, start with easy stuff that grows fast and is hard to kill.

Planted my pea seedlings out today lads... nervous as fuck, it might still be a bit cold.

>>699731
no. they may eat germ though

>>700076
That's me. I looked it up. They do actually. They'll nibble your seedlings up to eight inches. Especially pea seedlings.

>>700078
Birds do? That's surprising, I'd think they'd be more interesting in seeds and tubers

>>700080
I made that pea thing up.

>>700072
Peas are hardy, they might still germinate. Best of luck.

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>>700083
Thanks. The seedlings I've just planted out are perhaps stage 4 or 5 on pics related. We're not scheduled any frosts in the next few days, and over the weekend I'll fleece them to protect from the coming bad weather.

I've also got a bunch of freshly-planted peas in some drainpipes, apparently makes for very easy planting out.

Next on the list, idk... got some aubergine seeds.

Three of the weed growing books in the OP torrent are the same
please rectify

>>699720
aluminum foil has low reflectivity
use mylar sheets or flat white paint to reflect light to places

>>700094
Noice. I have mylar blankets for days.

>>700089
Why even put them out if they are so new and the season so early? Not being a smart ass, just curious.

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>>699135
Update: I've now replanted the 4 biggest ones into pots (pretty much all the remaining ones I still had) and found them a place between radiator and SW-facing window (just 20cm width). Had a leftover press board coated with alu foil I put on the radiator so the plants don't burn, plus it gives them some extra light. Hope this will get them into the frost-free period (average last frost is April 5 here, but they're forecasting a rather cool spring)

>>699373
good thinking man, ty

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the grid is for my autism

>>700451
Your autism looks beautiful to me.

>>700451
What are those?

>>698974
Just put a mound of soil where they are growing to keep them underground.

>>700501
I do have them under a ramp already

>>700097

Not the anon you quoted, but peas are generally direct seeded. IIRC, they supposedly don't transplant well. I've never tried it myself.

How often should I losen up the soil of a potted plant, and how deep should I go?

>>700792
this is supposedly the reason for the drainpipe technique. You can grow them in a straight line, then sort of shuffle them out directly in to their new home with very little disturbance.

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>>700451
>that moment when the mint doesn't respect the grid

Is this a retarded thing to ask, but if I get a smoothie and there are a bunch of strawberry seeds left over at the bottom, is there any chance they could germinate under the right conditions?>

>>700891
probably if they were fresh strawberries in the smoothie and they didnt get damaged by the blender

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I bought this grow lamp online
Its pink light
Did I get memed?

>>700931
It is fine, but you need to keep the light as close as possible to the plant without burning the plant.

As in: MOVE THAT FUCKING LIGHT DOWN ALREADY GOD DAMN IT.

>>700931

No. I was having trouble with a small indoor NFT system. The side away from the window was not doing so well. I put one of these cheap little ~6W E26 A/B lights (about $10 on Amazon) and it worked wonders. It's a great supplement light.

>>701037
>6W E26 A/B lights
This is exactly what I bought. Okay thanks
>>701036
I need to work on a better holder for the light
I'll try something with a wire coat hanger

>>700891
Strawberry seeds are difficult to germinate under the best conditions, not to mention seeds that probably came from frozen strawberries and then churned in a blender. Very long odds there mate.

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>>701060
>>700891
Mine germinated easily (vesca species though, everbearing) but damn are they growing slowly as fuck. About a month in and they're still tiny with super thin "stems", I don't dare separating them yet, let alone plant out in the garden

Just bought 3ft^3 of peat moss, vermiculite and compost each, as well as a bunch of herbs and stuff. I have never done this before, wish me luck.

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>>701297
Here's where I got to. Shit, it's a lot more work to mix 9 cubic feet of substrate than I expected.
3ft^3 fine horticultural vermiculite
3ft^3 peat moss
2ft^3 cow manure compost
1ft^3 mushroom compost

I would have liked a mixture of 3-4 composts but I couldn't easily find any. Next time I'll hit up a specialty seed store or something.

I've got 1x bell pepper, 1x cherry tomato vine, 2x marigolds, 3x cilantro, 1x basil, 1x rosemary and some raddish, spinach, squash, chard seeds. As well as about 50 wild pink/white Morning Glory I went and gathered (these will be in a planter off to the side)

>>701507
Follow up, how should I plant out these boxes? I was going to put the cherry tomato in one of the north boxes, pepper in another north box (one marigold in each), cilantro + basil next to pepper but in their own box, rosemary and other herb in another, spinach / raddish in another box and one free box to do whatever with.

>>699410
>>699802
Thanks anons. Got a huge boarded up window that my landlord is gonna get someone to fix up so I should be good on the light situation.

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Just re-potted one of my 2 huge as fuck Yucca elephantipes today into the biggest generally available pot (60cm), damn that was a hassle, this thing is heavy as fuck (estimated 200kg), also there was apparently no more soil left in the old pot, just a massive spaghetti bowl of roots (pic related, yes I had to saw apart the old 45cm container it previously sat in, no other way to get that thing out), this will last her maybe another 2-3 years
The other one (slightly bigger) is already sitting in a ~55cm one so it's not worth it to spend another €18 for a second 60cm pot, so I'll probably be forced to plant it in the garden despite being zone 8a (they normally need 9a or even b), wish me luck...

>>701594
Does it produce seeds?

>>701606
Nah, they don't flower at all in our climate. But it's easily cloned by cuttings, I already have several clones at different ages/sizes around, still don't want to get rid of the biggest ones

>>701608
Could you mail me a clone? Think it would survive in a sealed package?
I'm in Canada, I'd pay shipping costs

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>>701594
bretty cool mane, I had to put my 3 year old avocado in a bigger pot and i had to saw the container off the rootball

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>>701609
I don't think that would be possible without much of a hassle as I'm in Yurop.
Those plants can only temporarily withstand light frosts, so this already excludes air mail
But you can't get them where you live? It's native to Mexico but a very popular ornamental pot plant here or planted out on the Med Sea. Surely people around your area have them too?
I suggest you find someone around your area or Murrica and simply ask them to give you a pruning when they have to cut back the plant, you can either use head or trunk prunings, put them in a glass/bucket of water, place off-sun at consistent 20°C (so inside a bit away from the window but not in total shade) and after 4-8 weeks roots should appear, then you can put them in a pot. I'm doing some right now again too after thinning out the one I repotted (see pic)

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>>701619
This is what it should look like after a couple weeks on the bottom (different pruning from back in summer)

>>701619
okay cool I'll look into it

Anyone have experience planting over a shallow septic holding tank? Need to to hide the ugly brown patch where mine is

>>701659
>Need to to hide the ugly brown patch where mine is
Just grow grass senpai

>>696114
>How do I deal with slugs, snails and ants eating my sprouting plants?

ducks. ducks will exterminate your local slug and snail population.

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I built a raised bed in preparation for summer!

I had the guy at home depot cut the wood, which means I was off by a quarter inch on one side. Looks great despite that.

>>701721
>off by a quarter inch on one side

You mean CUSTOM

How do I cultivate hybrid peppers in a dorm?

>>701775
artificial light, south facing window, and possibly a fan

>>701780
Would this piss off the dorm management?

>>701781
Where would you be growing it? In your room or a common area?

>>701785
Room

>>701787
shouldnt be an issue senpai

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Close enough?

>>701203
Might just be easier to thin them by sniping the little ones with scissors instead of trying to separate them.

>>701790
So long as it isn't harming the plant with heat, yes it should be close enough. For a pumpkin plant, it would be better to have several lights at different angles so each could cover a section of the plant.

You should also build a grow box for it, even if it will outgrow it. That's just a cardboard box lined with aluminum foil. Use wood glue or Elmer's glue in a mixture of half water and half glue. You can leave on side open for the window side. I find that type of reflector is much easier to control and doesn't want to fall over or fold up since it can be anchored solidly.

>>701781
It shouldn't, but ask them.

>>701721
Call me dumb but I never know what the purpose of doing that is, I mean it's not like ramps for asparagus (so you get long white shoots) or potatoes (which you gradually raise to improve the roots).
Doesn't it make things more vulnerable to frost/low temps especially near the edges because it can "attack" from all sides? Or is it mainly to control pests like snails?

>>702146
I use raised beds because there's a septic system that drains over most of my lot. You can't eat vegetables that are exposed to the septic drainage cause you can get sick, but if you build a raised bed and fill it with clean soil and water it from the top then it's fine to eat what you grow.

If you have the right kind of septic system it doesn't matter too much

>>702152
Ah I see, sewage is all piped here

I believe one of my plants is suffering from salt burn.

What can I do to fix it?

>>702156
Potted? Water thoroughly with rainwater (so that a lot comes out the drain holes, discard that) several times (wait a couple minutes between each turn so it mixes/dissolves well)

>>701659
Grass grew really well over mine, but if you want to get creative, just sow wildflowers. Rough up the soil, rake it smooth, water it, sow, and then walk over the plot to tamp the seeds down so they get good contact with the soil. You may have to spread bird netting over the soil to keep birds from eating the seeds or squirrels digging in it.

>>702158

Potted, yes.

What do I do if I don't have any rainwater handy?

>>702161
Filtered water. 99cent a jug at the store.

Would raised beds work for carrots and potatoes?
Would I have to dig under them? (kind of against the point.)

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>got an interview for an apprenticeship with the horticulture team for my nearby town's council on Monday

I'm 23 so a bit old, will probably lose the job to some 17 year old.

>>702208
I've grown carrots with a lot of success in raised beds, but I'm not sure if they're ideal for potatoes. I've had a lot of luck growing potatoes in those purpose made potato bags, large buckets, and I've used wire fencing rolled into a tube lined with old newspapers.

>>702208
They will work fine, just hill them up anyway for easier extraction when harvesting. That's what I do for potatoes and carrots in open ground and raised beds.

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>>702146
-Better drainage and soil air flow.
-No need for tilling since it never gets compacted. Just planting and digging up crops is tilling enough.
-Due to the lack of tilling, mycorrhizal symbiosis is enhanced, increasing water and nutrient uptake, resulting in higher yields, better drought, cold, pest, disease, heat tolerances, and soil toxicity.
-Soil temps are higher at the beginning and ending of the seasons to extend the season a bit.
-You can more easily use polytunnel systems to have year-round gardening.
-You can more easily cover with cloth or netting to prevent frost or certain pests from harming crops.
-Permanent watering systems are easier to install and maintain.
-Reaching things is much easier, especially if your raised bed has a wide wall you can sit on.
-You always have well established walkways for you and your tools/wheelbarrow.
-It creates a buffer zone for weed seeds and many crawling pests.
-Less need for weeding and when you do need to weed it is super easy to reach and pull out of loose soil.
-Easier to apply intensive gardening techniques for much higher yields.
-Complete control over soil composition.
-Landlords normally allow it, because it does not destroy the hardpan of the yard and can be easily moved/removed.
-You can more easily employ a wide range of permaculture techniques.

You can even get industrial equipment in a variety of sizes to make beds for giant farms.

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Fellow /out/casts! Tell me this is an awesome deal and that I should just go ahead and purchase two to adorn my future cob home for rain water collection.

http://springfieldil.craigslist.org/grd/5473973847.html

going to atch an chop up some fish to burry in my garden a week or two before i put in seedlings

>>702409
good idea or nah?

>>701507
>>701511

Whats the purpose of the marigolds?

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>>702146
I'm from Florida, I don't get frost really,

I also have shitty sandy soil that cats poo in and wild bamboo-like monster-grass grows in.

Trust me, I have a much shittier raised bed that has been the answer to my gardening troubles. This will only make it better.

>>701735
At least it's on just one side-- that can be the side that faces the fence. Learned my lesson, tell the ass at HD what I'm making and to make em all match each other. For getting the wood on two separate days, this could have been worse.

ALSO, I stained it--super light application on just the outside. I can't wait to prepare the site this weekend.

>>702415
I'm not them, but I use them as a trap plant for slugs. They also look great with their splash of color among all the green.

>>702409
>>702411
You really should use composted biomaterial, not fresh. Fresh rotting stuff that isn't composted properly can harm the plant and you when you eat the plant.

>>702399
$50 is a good price for 1 of those IBC things. Go for it. They are very useful and durable. I wish I could find some around here. Even the framed cage is very useful on its own. Since those are HDPE, I highly suggest covering them to prevent sunlight from destroying them. That's about their only problem.

>>702437
im nto going to be putting it directly with the plants, il chop it up and berry it 1-2 weeks before planting seedlings, hances are by the time any of the oplants had matured it would be gone

>>702415
It brings bees and wasps for pollination/pest control and it adds a bit of color.

Also, it's "supposed" to deter certain pests like cucumber beetles, but I don't know if any of that is true. I have them every here and there in my garden along with nasturtium.

>>702438
>>702438
>by the time any of the oplants had matured it would be gone
No. No it won't be gone. It'll take more than just a couple weeks for it to break down. If you'd be far more successful to make a compost pit and add food scraps, coffee grounds, occasional wood ashes and egg shells to it and let it sit for 3 years. Then you will have great compost to mix in your soil. In the meantime you can purchase mushroom compost, or 60/40 topsoil/compost mix.

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>>702437
Thanks. And yea I'd absolutely cover it, regardless of plastic type.

Why does every lavender I try to grow in a pot end up dieing? At first they seem happy and grow fine, and the bastards start to crisp up and die off. I re-pot them when the outgrow their pot, I water when the soil feels dry. It gets the same treatment as the rest of my plants, which do FINE but the lavender just hates me. This is the 2nd plant and it's already half-dead.

>>702461
If he puts it in a black plastic barrel and turns it every once in a while, he can cut that down to one season too. It's a good alternative if he's in an area where you aren't allowed to have open compost piles.

>>702409

Coons will go apeshit and dig up the rotten fish and make a mess. Even in the city, you WILL have racoons ready to destroy your garden.

It's better if you tossed them into a lockable compost barrel and mix them in with grass clippings, plant scraps, etc. and let them break down until it doesn't smell like anything other than nice, earthy compost THEN use it. You wont risk 'coons digging up your garden then because the fish will have broken down enough to not be of an intrest to them.

Granted, it might smell a little. Turn the barrel frequently and balance out the fish with plant matter to cut down on that.

>>702409
>wanting to attract raccoons

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My Serrano pepper plant has really taken off since the days have gotten longer (49°N) and I have 9 peppers growing and close to 20 buds and flowers
It's against a south facing window now and the plant has noticeably hunched
over toward the light
Would it be wrong for me to rotate the plant? It won't be warm enough to leave outside until probably June so it will be homebound for some time

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>>702878

>>702878
Rotating them will be juuust fine. You have to do that with most any indoor plant, because they all lean towards light. They do it outside too, following the sun as it makes it's way across the sky. Since the sun moves around though, instead of consistently staying in one spot, the plants never really lean in one direction. By rotating the plant, your mimicking what naturally happens outside.

can i use vegetable fertilizer on flowers? or should i get flower fertilizer?

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>>702951
>Since the sun moves around though, instead of consistently staying in one spot,

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>>702982
>inb4 some smartass comes up with movement of our solar system compared to some other definition point
>>702961
Unless you're commercially cultivating hectares of flowers (in which case it's cheaper to use single-nutrient fertilisers combined by yourself), I'd suggest using regular, run off the mill liquid fertiliser for €1/litre (like pic related). Sure, you can use different NPK ratio fertilisers at different stages of growth to get the maximum optimised bloom, but for ornamental flowers around home it's not worth the hassle and ridiculous prices they charge for "special plant X" fertilisers desu

>>702988
thanks lad. i already have the veggie fertilizer (eb stone organic tomato & vegetable fertilizer, if brand matters), would it work fine with the flowers?

also, any special tips for growing potted flowers? sowed them directly in the pot on monday and they're just starting to sprout

>>703012
Do you know how the N-P-K ratio is? IIRC high nitrogen rather encourages leaf growth, while flowers are encouraged by higher phosphorus and potassium, but this simplifying things extremely

>>703012
All depends on species (some germinate better light/uncovered while others need darkness. Some need elevated heat, others need stratification period etc etc. Also whil growing some tolerate more sun/shade, moisture/drought, salinity... than others) - just follow the instructions on the seed package

>>703022
4-5-3. it's a mix of shade flower seeds, but all the instructions are for growing in the ground, so i adapted them as best i could for the pot

Is it reeeeally worth it to get the special full spectrum bulbs for my florescent fixture, you know, the ones they market as being for growing plants, or is it a scam and they aren't really any different than daylight bulbs?

>>703038
It's <current year> so just get LEDs with their wavelengths fine-tuned to plant growth
>>703025
Are you having the pots inside the house or outside? (Latter is much easier)
In any case, just don't have your soil consistently too wet, which is the most common gardening error. Only water as soon as the surface gets dry. Also fertilising once a month to once a week (depending on season, in high summer it generally needs more than other times) with the recommended dilution is usually enough

Anybody here have an apple orchard? Whether commercial or hobby, doesn't matter.
Was just wondering if any of you do, if you have a handful of different species or all the same type.

>>703051
I already have a 4' florescent, I was just hoping I could use it with the regular bulbs without paying an exorbitant amount for special bulbs or LED.

>>702878
As >>702880 said you could rotate it, it will grow more "evenly". Your pepper is nice, did you consider topping it? It seems to me it is quite "leggy" (though, depending of the light income, that could be quite unnecessary)

>>703095
Tomorrow I'll post a pic of the full plant, it's pretty tall

I cut back a lot of lower branches on it so it's only one long stem now

>>702208
You can grow like 100lb f potatoes in a single barrel www.motherearthnews.com/diy/garden-yard/no-space-potato-barrel-ze0z11zkon.aspx?SlideShow=1

>>703038
No, just use whatever you have on hand. It is mostly a gimmick. The difference is only really noticeable on statistics charts, which means fuck all irl.

>>703096
Ah I see, so it is quite voluntary. Is it for aesthetical purposes? Is the stem tough enough to take the weight?

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So my seeds are sprouting, which is very exciting. I feel weirdly maternal about them. They remind me of the tiny velociraptors from Jurassic Park, the way the seedlings push through the soil and crane their little heads upwards. [spoiler]Clearly I don't have enough going on in my life right now.[/spoiler]

>>699802
I followed your advice and set up a desk lamp + 800 watt CFL bulb to supplement the (weak) windowsill sunlight. It's only been two days but I can see that the extra light makes a big difference.

Also I had two questions:

1. Three of my Christmas lima beans didn't sprout so I waited a few days and then dug them out. And... oops. They were in the process of sprouting. I stuck them back in their little newspaper pots. They should be okay, right?

2. My jalapenos haven't sprouted and it's been 12 days. At what point do I give up and stop watering them?

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>>696039

any grapevine fans here ?

In my country sometimes march have too changeable weather. So I brought it inside ,just in case (.. you know - spring frost, hail, etc).

>>703226
>They should be okay, right?

If you didn't break them they should be fine.

> My jalapenos haven't sprouted and it's been 12 days

Wait up to 1 month. You can help them along before planting them by using an acid bath (10 seconds in vinegar or 30 seconds in most any cola drink). This simulates being eaten by a bird and shat out.

>>703288
I have a couple vines. I rarely ever get anything from them due to high humidity and raccoons.

>>703298

My biggest problem is the sunlight per day and the area of land.

I'm thinking about increasing the vertical land size, but the sunlight will be still a problem..

By the way there is pretty nice ways to lowering humidity in air also you can use drainage methods about the soil.

What vines do you have ? Do you use fungicide ?

Fucking raccoons ,mate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDUBjktx9S8

>>703150
I cut the lower branches off because they weren't getting enough light and none of them had buds on them
As soon as I removed them the main stem exploded with buds
I'm sure it will be strong enough, worst case scenario I'll have to stake it

>>703313
Yes, no big deal! I for one just went into severe pruning my peppers to make the stems stronger (I want them to look more and more like a tree)

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>>703345
Here is the entire plant

>>703475

who is that creepy dude on the left?

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>>703477
That's Bill

>>703226
My bell peppers (same species, dunno if there are significant differences in the germination process between different cultivars) sprouted very quickly, maybe 4-5 days. Had put them on the radiator for that though so they had a constant 30°C

>>703475
nice

>>703300
I live in a temperate rainforest. No amount of draining will help. It can get 105F and 95% humidity here in the summer.

Concord grapes. I don't use fungicides. I wouldn't eat them if they were sprayed with anything.

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>>701799
I did separate them now (didn't want to thin out because I want to have quite a few of them because they don't carry as much as regular garden ones at once)
Ended up with 56 of them (+ a few tiny ones i discarded), let's see how many of them will survive the replanting

>>703558
I just asked because of the high humidity. I'm using more natural methods (plants + essential oils +ashes /etc) and products to get rid of fungus & parasites.

>Concord grapes
Beautiful and tasty

>105f
>95% humidity
hardcore weather over there

>>703226
>Clearly I don't have enough going on in my life right now
hahahah, don't worry anon, we've all been there!

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>>703659
>Beautiful and tasty

One year, I actually had a harvest. Most godly grape juice I've ever had (pic related, but grapes pic not mine). I made jellies & jams and cried for how good everything was.

>hardcore weather over there

Winters can have 4 feet of snow, -40F, and power outages that last 2-3 weeks. It was snowing yesterday, next week is supposed to be in the 70Fs.

>I'm using more natural methods (plants + essential oils +ashes /etc) and products to get rid of fungus & parasites.

I'll look into it. I had a good crop when I put brown bags over them just after they showed signs of developing, but ....raccoons. If they look like they'll be doing anything this year I'll put electric fence around them.

>>703576
Best of luck mate. Keep me posted, I am really interested in this because I've never seen anyone propagate strawberries from seed.

>>703226
>I feel weirdly maternal about them.

I feel the same way about my baby tomatoes. I'm worried that my yarrows seemed to sprout little leaves but aren't growing at all like my tomatoes which are nice and gangly.

>>703226
how'd you get your newspaper boxes that small and cute?

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>>703300
>trashpandas eating hardworking man's bounty
I've never wanted to shoot another living thing in the head as much as I have since I started gardening.

>>703659
How do you incorporate plants +essential oils +ashes to keep fungus out?

>>703770
This

Goodbye corn.

>>703770
I've had great luck with ground beef laced with poison pellets. Never saw the fucks again.

>>698569
Alternatively, look up information from your local agriculture university. They can have treasure troves of information specific to your region. For example, Texas A&M has a page that's a research paper solely about central Texas patio gardening.

>>702464
Is this for plants growing in the same soil?

>>702464
>brinjal

South Africa, explain yourself immediately.

>>703816
That's illegal where I live. The only thing your allowed to poison here are mice and rats. Plus, I wouldn't want anything else to eat the dead raccoon and get sick too.

>>703857
Yes, companion planting is growing the plants together as a single unit. This can be side-by-side or intermingled. It depends on the techniques. Like the Three Sisters method for instance.

There really needs to be more hard science on companion planting. With reasons stating why something is better when planted together. Most companion planting charts don't even state the reason and the authors often times don't even know, they just pass on the same info chart with different graphics.

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Is one of those cheap plastic greenhouses good enough to seal outside genetics from my peppers? I am the pepper crossbreed beginner from earlier.

I've hung bird's eye peppers for around 2 weeks and I'm not sure when they are done. Should they still be slightly moist inside? I've also tried drying in an oven however that resulted in flavourless chips which smelt like roasted capsicum compared to the much more flavourful air dried peppers. How do I ensure that hang dried peppers are still safe to eat?

>>703889
You just need to keep out pollinating insects. That's bees, wasps, beetles, and flies.

>>703910
>Should they still be slightly moist inside?

No, they should be crispy like a cracker.

>How do I ensure that hang dried peppers are still safe to eat?

If they take on a smell like an old shoe or grow mold, toss them.

>>697017
A good way to grow strawberrys is to mulch them with straw(Stroh auf Deutsch) , because it keeps snails away and prevents the strawberrys from rotting

>>703745
Well, the vesca species has to be done from seed as most cultivars don't make shoots
>>704004
Yeah see that done a lot, might consider that

>brown hares have begun to have their yearly spring orgies on my veggie patch
>produce mountains of poop on the patch

T-thanks, I guess.

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>>703778
My corn from last fall
Fucking coons

>>704042
Yup, a sad sight. They usually strike just before the corn is ready to be picked.

I found that the best solution was to use electric fencing. Several strands of it starting at 2 inches off the ground and going up only about 1' to 1.5 feet high. You can easily step over it, but it stops everything except cats, dogs, deer, and squirrels. Rabbits, groundhogs, opossums, and raccoons be damned.

How can I demineralize water without a filter? My tap water is really hard and its hurting some of my plants.

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>>701507
Raised Bed newb here. Got the first batch of plants in today. I hear that rosemary and basil are both good near peppers, so I stuck them close to the pepper's box.

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>>704234
Sorry for the crazy huge pics, they're from my phone. Pic 2/3. I'm worried about my fucking cilantro, I left them in direct sunlight for a day and now 2/4 of them are completely limp. I rewatered after planting...

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>>704236
Sad cilantro. Should I be worried? I put the healthiest two on the corners in case the center two die off...

>>704238
no, cilantro is gross

>>704299
Cilantro is the bomb. You must be one of the people that have the taste bud issue where it tastes like soap.

>>704310
yeah i guess I am

Good books on permaculture?

>>704238
Have there been frosts lately? My celery looked the same one cold winter day, but as it got above freezing again it quickly raised itself back up

>>704422
Nah they were fine at the store when I bought them. Left them in direct sunlight for a day and came back to droopy cilantro. Oddly, two of them didn't droop. Maybe they just needed a good watering. I've got them all watered and in good substrate now.

Anyone have any experience with compost mixtures? I just got generic cow manure compost + mushroom compost, 2:1 ratio. Sadly, I was only able to get to Lowes that day.

Second question: should I sow these spinach and chard seeds directly into my boxes or should I put them in a seed planter tray first?

>>704442
Dunno if coriander is especially prone to it, but many plants don't like sudden changes in environment (temps, light, soil, moisture...)

>>704217
Distill it.

>>704310
I never liked it but it never tasted like soap to me, just nasty. I dislike basil and celery for the same reasons. But, I can chow down on fresh picked chicory and not bat an eye.

>>704234
>>704236
>>704238
Mad jelly, the snow just melted here. Put some shade over them for about a week, they should be fine. Always allow them to establish after planting before full sun exposure.

>>704514
Oh didn't know that. Is this for all plants or what?

Time for another grand update of pretty much all my indoor stuff as of right now, last one was around mid-January. things are generally growing slow because of the shitty overcast weather
1) fig seedlings - some stopped growing and let their leaves hang, dunno why
2) Greek oregano, clipped most of the etoilated main shoots, now they're growing well and compact/bushy with many side shoots, yet slowly
3) pomegranate, very slow so far
4) San Marzano tomatoes from February (December ones can be seen here >>700128), lush growth in general
5) Cherry plum cuttings, shooting since mid-February, except the nigra variety one which still has its 2015 leaves
6) thyme, slow but steady growth, I regularly prune them to encourage bushy growth, have already planted out one in the garden a week ago test-wise and it's still alive after temporary night time frosts down to -2°C
7) Cherrola tomatoes, kinda disappointed, only 3 out of 10 seeds germinated, growing very slowly, not looking very healthy
8) sage seedlings, one of the previously 4 died for no apparent eason
9) lavender seedlings which finally worked on my 3rd try (this time without stratification), very slow growth
10) rosemary cuttings, some grow well but a few have already died (maybe kept them too wet?)
11) the surviving 4 of my 15+ kiwi seedlings from early November(!), barely grow at all (smaller than 1cm) and look unhealthy, dunno what I'm doing wrong
(continue...)

>>704561
(continue...)
12) lemon balm, recently had harvested it for some nice tea, but after just a few days the "canopy" closed already again
13) money tree cuttings, to the right you see a zoomed-in version of the bottom leaf cutting which already shows a tiny young new plant emerging
14) watermelon from November. Grows extremely slowly
15) Tomato cutting of cutting of cutting over-wintering experiment, looks leggy as fuck now and you can almost watch it grow, 75cm tall now (a few days ago was 60cm), already started producing flowers but most were dropped, I wonder if I should decapitate it again to make yet another clone
16) bell pepper seedlings (California Wonder), sprouted Feb 29 after just ~5 days
17) sage pruning I had put into a water glass in early February, developed roots about 2 weeks later, put it into a pot then, has started visibly growing since then
18) single basil plant from mid-December, dunno why it has chlorosis (had it before in January but eventually recovered from it)
19) lemon seedlings from July, now 22 and 21cm tall with the longest leaf measuring 15cm
(continue...)

>>704569
(continue...)
Furthermore I got strawberries going on (see >>703576)
and Yucca prunings (>>701619)
Not pictured stuff from my previous display
- Salix integra, olive and cypress cuttings I tried to get in a water glass - all failed (the S. integra grew some roots and shoots, but upon very carefully replanting into a pot shed them all)
- Fig cutting, gre some roots too and started shooting in Decmeber but eventually dropped the 2 leaves, grew a new one and dropped it too. Upon inspection the few roots were damaged severely, I blame fungust gnats. The cutting is still soft so I gave it a second chance by directly sticking it into the garde, let's see if it'll shoot later in spring

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>>704561
...aaand I only noticed now that I forgot pic in my first post

>>704544
When you replant stuff their roots and mycorrhizal network all get disturbed and damage. Couple this with a new environment that wants to take all the moisture from its original soil and you have a plant that becomes very stressed. It will have lower water content throughout its structure. Wilting is a normal function of healthy plants when the temperatures rise too high. It allows them to have less of their surface area exposed to the sun, there by cooling them. They also expend more water vapor for the same reason. To keep cool.

Newly transplanted plants will need some help for a few days in order to establish their damaged soil systems in the new environment. Shading them for this period of time is the best thing you can do.

Another trick is to play the weather. Only transplant when there's a few days of cloudy skies or even rain. This is a good strategy for large plants like nursery trees or wild tree transplants. Especially, the latter.

Shade screens provide x% of sunlight through them and are normally the best thing you can use, but you can use anything that casts a shadow and fall on or blow down.

>>704569
>18) single basil plant from mid-December, dunno why it has chlorosis (had it before in January but eventually recovered from it)

Overwatering is my guess, judging from what appears to be algae/moss starting to grow in the post.

>>704591
Looking good. I wish I had things started already.

>>704661
Yeah the soil I used back then for it is very heavy and slow draining but had already some moss on it, guess that could be the issue. I'm only watering though as soon as the top gets dry, maybe I should wait even a bit longer

>>704688
You may need to amend the soil with stuff to allow it to drain faster. Like sand for instance.

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Planted a sago palm months ago, finally getting some new growth. I guess it was dormant over Winter.

Have one other planted and need to make space for two others.

They're surprisingly expensive, one like pic related is about $40. Transplanted mine from my grandparents' garden

>>704721
Pretty neat, I hope yours is in a prettier pot.

Better pic of pepper plant

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>>704729
Oops here

>>704731
Bill seems to be dubious
I think he wonders whether he should cut the right long branch back to its first node

>>704749
he protects the plant when I'm at work. He takes his job very seriously.

How long should I keep my peppers indoors before transplanting outside if I should at all? I am in Texas with poor soil and a large planter box, I want to crossbreed them but there is no space indoors for big pepper plants (cat likes to chew plants).

Or should I make a big box out of black nylon tarp lined with aluminum foil on the inside, a 50 watt incandescent grow lamp, and pvc?

>>704755
haha I can see that

>>704771
I would wait for at least 18°C outside and no risk of frost. Though I have absolutely no idea of what may be Texas' climate, I suggest you to wait for other opinions.

>>704780
It's 90 freedom degrees out senpai, I think it should be fine.

>>697817
If the lighting is good, then it's the soil. And that soil looks terribly soggy and probably smells like swamp. Amirite? Try a 511 mix (google).

>>704789
Then give them a taste of freedom. Though not all of a sudden, liberty could fry them if they were in an environment with less light and less heat

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>>703502
>>703297
Thanks. I'm going to start a couple more pots with an acid bath first and monitor temps better.

>>703708
>>703767
Lol I'm glad I'm not the only one.

>>703768
I used these directions: http://www.hometalk.com/2039196/origami-paper-seedling-pots-from-newspaper

But only folded to the middle once, not twice. My initial square was roughly 7"x7"

I made a gif, if it helps at all. I'm super bad at explaining things though.

>>704827
>I'm super bad at explaining things though
Can confirm

>>697941
That is not worth jackshit,fyi. Look into it before you do dumb shit.

>>697941
That setup looks like it was made by a retard
Are you going potatoes?

>>697941
You can put the light as close as you can to the plant, as long as it isn't too hot. Also, if you want a more bushy plant, use a higher color temperature (it seems you use 2700K here, you could try 3700K and see what it does)

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>>704712
I think I found the issue. The pots under the grow light were all standing at the bottom, and while room temp was about 20°C, the pots felt very cold, so I measured the soil and it turned out 14°C, which is way too cold (apparently lots of cold air sinking down there)
Now I put everything on a more elevated place on a rack and with a press board in front, all sides are pretty much closed off, hope to trap some better heat there

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>>703770
>>703778
Racoons looks like a douchebags, reee.

>>703715
mmm nicee :3 wish you luck.

>Winters can have 4 feet of snow, -40F.
That winter, mate ! Winter-chan's wet dream.
Similar (except last 2 winters) weather here but with lower humidity and higher temp.


>I'll put electric fence around them.
Equipped with fire and magnets,just in case.

> brown bags
will try it

>>704042
well , that's sad ;__;


>>703771
>pic related.

I'm not a drawfag ,so don't expect too much from me.

Hint - The amount of amixed ashes >> The amount of free ashes.

The plants are very efficient.
But I'm from bulgaria ( damn you CIA ) - and I don't know the real names of the plants ,only some ( funny) redneck slangs.

>>704658
Very cool, thanks for the info.

>>705107
Aren't you worried about fire hazard with your installation? (honest question)

>>704771
It should be no less than 55F at night and threat of frost should be well over. Cover them at night to ensure nothing happens. Remember to take a week to "harden" them off before allowing them to stay out side completely.

They will do better outside. You can also bring them indoors during winters and keep them several years.

>>705149
>I don't know the real names of the plants ,only some ( funny) redneck slangs.

What are the names you know for them? Got any photos of them?

>>705198
The lamp is 24W LED and has appropriate distances to the wood, also it's not completely airtight, the top 20cm are open so direct thermal heat from the lamp can escape upwards
Monitoring temps too in the lower part, currently 20°C so should be fine

>>705296
Fine! I was more afraid about the attach of the lamp. I see it's plain wood inside, did you consider a reflector material? I'm hesitating between aluminium and white paint for my plants.

>>705306
Oh that clamp sits solidly as fuck, I could probably pull myself up it
Yeah, probably gonna foil the lower inside parts of the rack again

new thread >>705361

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>>704025
Thanks, Mr Rabbit. Doot doot.

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>>704025

>>704561
>rosemary cuttings, some grow well but a few have already died (maybe kept them too wet?)

A lot of the mediterranean herbs fail to thrive because of overkindness rather than neglect. They are very harty.

>>705455
Yeah I noticed that with some of my thymes when I kept them in little plastic shot glasses, sometimes forgot about them for a day or two and the soil was completely dried up, yet they didn't mind

>>704827
Thanks for the gif and the repy, anon. You are bad at explaining things. Also your way of folding is unlike how I made them and this scares me and makes me angry so I'm just gonna not.

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>>705149
You try to explain it in words? I want to understand.

>>705466
Haha I'm sorry, friend. Halfway through I was like, this isn't going to make sense to anyone except me but I'm I'm a finisher, damnit, so I finished it.

Hi, new to diy composting! I can't find an answer online: Can you compost strawberry leaves, and other fruit / vegetable leaves / stems?