work4bike

This is an outstanding video that captures my sentiments perfectly. Take note to the very apt title: Lawn Aren't Green

KraneXL

It might interest the author to note that most of our main food staples including wheat, rye, barley, corn, rice, and yep, sugarcane too, are all grasses. And lets not forget that delicious grass-fed beef.

work4bike

He's very aware of that fact. Here's just one example where he mentions grasses in this video on the Ringless Honey Mushroom, just jump to 1:15 in the timeline of the video.

This guy knows plants, but he focuses on foraging.

KraneXL

Something's been mowing through my greens. Can't seem to catch the culprit. Can anybody identify this damage. I have a few caterpillars but they didn't do this. Any ideas what would leave these chomp marks?

Anyway, I sprayed them heavily with insecticidal soap, so whatever's eating them will be having a terrible tummy ache for his troubles.





Chomping along the tender edges




Cabbage farm




Mowed down greens




Marigolds




Total devastation

KraneXL

Rats! Well one fat one anyway. I've been getting up all times of the night trying to catch whatever the varmint was and I finally saw it. Figures, what other creature could survive in the middle of a city? I saw it just as it bit off a leaf and toted it away.

I have to admit I never suspected a rodent could climb 5 stories to my balcony just to munch on my greens. He devastated my entire little crop, night by night and there wasn't anything I could do but view the results the next day.

Well that's not entirely true. I figured if I wasn't going to win this battle, I may as well go down fighting. I sprayed the leave with enough liquid detergent (as I wasn't worrying about damaging the plant at that point) to put a foul taste in its mouth. I figured if hes' going to dine on my green anyway, I would at least make his victory bitter sweet.

I still kept wondering how he was able to scale up 5 floors without any nearby trees or branches. Then I noticed the building's roof drainage pipe runs in a corner right next to my balcony. Worst part is, my complex is surrounded by foliage of all types but he knew to pick my tender greens instead. Diabolically clever creatures. No wonder we can't eradicate them.

. Cranky .

I bet you could catch the rat with flypaper, or at least give him one heck of a wax job.

KraneXL

I considered getting a trap, but I'll report it to the landlord instead and let him deal with it. Since it carried the leaf away, I suspect it may have a nest close-by.

Now I'm afraid to leave my sliding glass door open. The smells of when I'm cooking or fruit bowls would attract them; and I know they'd have no trouble chewing through the screen.

When I started this little balcony garden I didn't think I'd have trouble with any pests 50 feet off the ground. Who knew? If it gets into my apartment I'm moving.

chewybrian 

I can tell you from experience that this works, but you will have to see some ugly suffering or kill the poor beast, and that's kinda rough. Glue traps are hard core. I used one once and that's it for me.

work4bike

We have a few rats in my neighborhood, but between the cats, hawks and the owls, they're an endangered species that always need to be checking their six. I actually saw hawks, on three separate occasions, carry off a rat over the years and I actually almost ran into a hawk during one of my runs, because he flew directly past me with a rat in his talons -- he had a difficult time gaining altitude with the extra weight.

Zinger

An important tip for watering potted plants to avoid root rot.

First of all just don't water too often. Water when you see the leaves droop just a little. Don't just dump water in the same center of the pot every time. Because roots will seek the water so when you do that the roots will just go straight down where they're more likely to get waterlogged.

Instead always go all the way around the edges of the pot so your root network will seek the outside of the pot and likely stay comparatively dryer after drinking and will use any added nitrogen or other nutrients in the soil more thoroughly..

If you live in an area where it's advisable to PH your water because of chlorine and additives, always PH after adding any nutrients to the water as nutes can change your PH pretty drastically.


I pass them on as I learn 'em . . . a never ending education.

Zinger

I got these cool little sheet metal cage traps from a friend (don't know where he got them) where they can get in but can't get back out . . . like a quail trap. Just bait those with some bacon or hamburger and take the critters down the road a bit and kick them to the curb. No blood, no muss, no fuss.

KraneXL

Rats carry the plague, they will consume without limits and provide nothing in return. They replicate faster than you can blink and devour every food source they can find. They destroy crops and wreak havoc in homes. They are the scourge of the earth, and I have no compunctions with eradicating them wherever they appear.

BTW, thanks for the useful gardening tip. I've been doing it wrong, and learned something of value here today. 😊

Hondo Gravel

skijor

Ever read James Clavell's King Rat?

Zinger

Yeah my problem was with field mice and they're pretty much out of the house now. I'd probably just take the .22 to any rat that I saw so, luckily, I haven't seen any.

You and me both.

KraneXL

After last season, I now have an idea of what I can an cannot grow on my balcony with the limited amount of sunlight. I know I can get tomatoes, but only at 1/3 normal size. To compensate, I've begun to investigate light supplementation using grow lights, but not sure if the cost and expense would be worth it.

Anyone ever use grow lights or know someone that has? From what research I've gathered so far the LED type appear to be the most efficient but of course have the greatest initial cost.

I guess I should have taken that eastern facing apartment when I had the chance. I didn't know my growing bug was going to blossom again after all these dormant years. What have I gotten myself into?

Zinger

I would go with T5 florescents as being the easiest on your wallet / electrical bills as combined. They come in 2' and 4' lengths and all manner of reflector holders (I've fabricated my own reflectors out of sheet metal). It definitely pays to price shop for those. I'm not supposed to talk about things not legal in some states but the fixtures that you can find on grow-sites for you-know-what are better than the ones you can find at the national chain hardware stores. They also connect with one another gang style. LED is experimented with but T5 florescent and halogen are what are currently on the market for this particular endeavor of growing anything.

T5s put out the right lumens and you can keep them close to the plants. They are the popular setup for veg growth. T8s are what I use for lighting up a room but T5s are what I use for veg growth. And I run them 24/7 until it's time to flower or "bud".

Halogen is what I use for the "flowering" stage and I run a 400 watt HPS (600 was too hot for 2 or 3 plant enclosed area) 12 hours on (at night to keep the heat down) and 12 hours off (and totally dark) in the daytime. Plants don't know any better . . . and don't nobody tell them I said that.

You can run T5s for everything and I would for your needs.

KraneXL

Yeah, halogens are known for their heat and wattage. I've looked at a few grow light comparison and all I got so far is that you need red and blue light for best results.

I want to create this garden as a means to relax not increase my stress. Just as I'm about to harvest my cabbage, along comes a rat (on the fifth floor of all places) and decides to make a meal of six months of growing work. Finding the right balance, may be a challenge.

Zinger

What I'm told about blue lights is that plants don't notice them so you can use them to light up a "night time" in a "flowering" or "budding" enclosure to do some needed task in there without any confusing signals to the plants as to what the heck season they are supposed to respond to. Seeing a bright light too often during a plants night time while in it's flowering stage will actually stunt it's flowering process by setting it back or even morphodite some species of plants if it happens repeatedly.

They have different shades of T5 florescent bulbs for veg stages and flowering stages but I just go with bright white for veg because the halogen works my flowering room for 12 hours a day. I personally don't think there's that much difference in effect between the two different shades in florescent lighting but it's not like I'll get to put that to test because my florescent lights just do veg 24/7.





I always thought that red lights meant you'd be here in the "Stingaree" district of downtown San Diego in the '70s or maybe the "Tenderloin" district of 'Frisco. I think it's supposed to remind you to "mind your wallet" while you're there.

LAJ

Mrs. LAJ picked this weekend to get seeds rolling. She had the greenhouse all set up, but decided to set up a table in the house, and fire up the heat mats there for now. A greenhouse isn't known for insulation, and 0F is a little too sporty for her mats and heaters.

Zinger

^^^^^
Now that's looking widely capable right there



My seed germinating setup. I prefer add brochures with paper pages (or newspaper or the like) over paper towels for peeling the roots off easier. Just put a wet rag down and the soaking wet brochure on that with seeds in the middle of the pages and put the pan in a dark closet for a few days, replenishing the PH'd water in the brochure once and I got sprouts.



And here's my seedling and cloning setup with a 2' T5 florescent. This is where I'll spend a little extra for some "Black Gold" potting soil because it just packs well especially around clones. For cloning I just turn a razor blade to rake the bottom of the stem at a negative angle to peel the outer skin a half inch or so up all around. Then I slice down the middle twice 90 degrees apart, dip it in PH'd water then dip it in honey ("Dollar Tree" honey works for me just as good as "Root Tone") and then plant it.

The trick to cloning is to get the leaves down to a size that the split stem can support while it's rooting even if you have to chop half the length of the leaves off. Some strains root faster than others so patience is a virtue with strains that have a "difficult" rooting reputation. I'd get a 50 percent survival rate when I started out and now it's nothing for me to get 100 percent with just about any strain.

KraneXL

Well this looking a lot more complicated than I had anticipated. Unless I find some kind of prefab grow box, I doubt this will be the season of grow lights. Meanwhile, my peppers are flourishing. Even the runt Carolina reapers that didn't produce anything last year are holding on (BTW, there is a new hottest pepper on the books).

The leaves are a really light green, and squiggly so I'm pretty sure they're nutrient deficient (I haven't changed the soil from last year yet). I have the feeling 2019 is going to be a long hot growing season.

LAJ

Very cool, Zinger.

Yeah, she doesn't mess around.

Zinger

I wonder what these might do in Elk no-beans Texas style chili as substitute for jalapenos

Maybe about 1/3rd as many cause they HOT !

LAJ

Lots of fish emulsion in those peppers, then stress them.

Pepper X? Puckerbutt says he has a new one in the works....

Some of Mrs. LAJ's crop.



Ready to dehydrate.