A Cabinet, a Closet, and a Table walk into a bar…

[H.A.F.]

If you want clone success, get Oasis Horticubes. Sheets of pre-cut/punched starters out of this floral foam that retains the water well. If you tip them at an angle all the water will eventually drain out, but sitting on a flat surface they keep it until the plant drinks it. I have had close to if not 100% getting them rooted. Maybe 10 days until they start poking out of the cube.

Low light is good, they don't have much leaves and no roots. No photosynthesis to speak of going on except what is directed at making roots.

A dome is a must for me. They like high rH until they get rooted. It also keeps the cloning medium from drying out - whatever you use. If it dries they die - unlike with established plants.

 

[Dis39]

If you want clone success, get Oasis Horticubes. Sheets of pre-cut/punched starters out of this floral foam that retains the water well. If you tip them at an angle all the water will eventually drain out, but sitting on a flat surface they keep it until the plant drinks it. I have had close to if not 100% getting them rooted. Maybe 10 days until they start poking out of the cube.

Low light is good, they don't have much leaves and no roots. No photosynthesis to speak of going on except what is directed at making roots.

A dome is a must for me. They like high rH until they get rooted. It also keeps the cloning medium from drying out - whatever you use. If it dries they die - unlike with established plants.

Appreciate the suggestions, success is not key for me, certainly not at the expense of buying additional specialty products. As I said Im gonna dome these, watch my moisture, go with looow light, and keep my temps up. I split my blackberries, clone and air layer my fig tree, clone my basils and tomatoes, grow slips on potatoes and currently have 19 aloe plants on the property all from pups, and I want to start grafting fruit trees, so for me its more about finding a way to make it work with things I already use, Id bet a growlight I could buy some Clonex and Root Riot cubes and be done with it. We tend to continually want to move towards lower environmental impact, lower annual cost, and a reduction in labor. I might not be able to do the work it will take, 15 years from now, so I need to spend the next 15 years building a system that allows me to continue this work when my body begins to fail to keep up. The soil blocker is a prime example of constantly looking for a permanent solution to a yearly problem without a additional increase in cost, while reducing labor.

I digress, I wanted to write a longer reply to your post about the 5yr plan. We are in our 4th year now... This was year 1, we started with plants on the deck, then we had too many, so we added a bed, then we had too many so we added 2.5 more beds.



Year 2 we added 2x more 4x8s and another 4x3


Year 3 I added the rows and 2x 4x3 beds, as well as the in earth 4x10 garlic (fall) / three sisters bed (summer). Trenched the rows 24" across, to 12" deep at the lowest point (smooth rounded trench, not flat bottomed), filled with some 50/50 loam compost from my guy, added some peat and pumice, then fed the rows with Bio Live. Now I use Nutririch as I get 50lbs for $12, vs 25lbs of BioLive for $60, veggies dont seem to mind.




And here we are in year 4.


Its been great for me and for us, with the level of food production Ive been able to go from full time residential retro/remod/repair to owning my own small and nearly extinct woodworking business (Covid) and managing our food and canna supply. Im feel very grateful for that. I too would like to find some spores, but cant seem to find anything stateside. If you know a guy... Let him know hes a guy Im trying to know. I have zero experience with it, other than consumption, but you throw me some environmental parameters and a syringe of spores and Id love to give it a go!

 

[Dis39]

Kitchen environmental monitor is normally over the table, threw it in the dome for this little science project. Sitting ontop of a ChilLED X1.

 

[Dis39]

Felt inspired by all this garden talk, figured Id do a little tour.

Root Row (the wife calls it the Scooby Doo Row - beets, radishes, potatoes, sweet potatoes to come, carrots if I can ever get them to germ right! A 2ft of turnips, 2ft of rutabegas, and 2ft of parsnips to try for the first time this season)


Brassica Row (not entirely - brocs, caulis, kales, bok choy, pac choi, brussel sprouts)


Coming Soon... Tomato & Pepper Rows - Im going to plant the tomatoes on a diagonal from each other on opposite sides of the mound about 22 inches apart. We tried in a straight line at both 18" and 24" last year, 18" was too close and 24" too far for how we managed them (single stalk until they took over). The peppers will be placed on the sunny side of the row between the tomatoes. Back row is pure preservation, Amish Paste most of the year then a last quick run of Sunrise Sauce before the cold ends the season is the plan this year.


Coming Soon Roselle / Okra Privacy Row - I think we are going to try to make a privacy barrier out of Roselle and Okra here, not entirely sure. Its the idea thats winning out right now.


Garlic, a resilient large leaf sorrel, and weeds... Last year we failed corn and absolutely crushed it on Moon & Stars watermelon here.


Early Season Corn Bed - Painted Mountain, we are going to try to do 2 or 3 corns this season. Painted Mountain is supposed to be cold hardy, so I chose this one for our first planting. We have Atomic Orange and Dauman KS from Baker Creek, my plan is to put in the second planting (into the then empty garlic bed hopefully) so that the tassels from the first will have receded before the pollen from the second appears, and if possible doing so a third time, back into the smaller 4' x 3'.


Flowers will go here, largely by and for the wife. Those are her lilies and calla lilies shes grown for 2 yrs now. I got her some daffodils in November that will be coming up as well, however they are potted and out of frame. Please ignore the disgusting tub of murky water... I am washing some bottles to turn into individual humidity domes for 1gal pots. Bocking 19 comfrey in the fabric row, going to try to be better about using it this year.


The outdoor work station, most recently to split all these Bocking 19 comfrey crowns and take aloe pups.


Some rooting fig cuttings, dont panic its DE.


Garbage Bed... Old compostable deck pots and plants from last season we threw into an empty frame and put some dirt on... Low on the list of things to deal with today.

 

[Dis39]

And a quick table update shot to cap it off.

 

[Dis39]

Not gonna lie, getting tired of posting here, no traffic! Heres what youve missed.

And another addition to the farm, between this sprayer, the Risentek trimmer, and getting everything on irrigation, I will easily free up 20+ hrs a week. I got the HD4000 (outdoor veggies) w/ 32oz battery sprayer (indoor starting table). I was considering the fogger, but based on my needs the rep said the HD4000 would suit me better, despite being cheaper. Through Petra direct was cheaper than Amazon, no tax, and they offer the promo code PetraSMS10 for 10%. Up until this point Ive been using a Smith Contractor 190216 and a Smith Professional R200 (2gal manual sprayers).


Sometimes the room looks like this.


Cuttings are holding so far, this is about 2.5 days. They had mycelium forming on the exterior of the cubes, when I sprayed them (Agsil, Ful-Power, BAS Coconut & Aloe) it all matted down. Temps are staying more in the range I want. As the day warms the temp moves up to 77.8ish (based on yesterday).



This week has been a good one. I spent a few dollars to reduce my workload considerably, which will allow for, well... More work, more projects, more play. In addition to the Petra HD4000 sprayer, finishing the Blusoak irrigation, and picking up the Risentek trimmer, I also ordered a set of these here bags to get more out of the work I already do. This week has been about getting more out of what we put in, and needing to put in less, while increasing our output considerably, vs. needing to create more work to generate more output.

 

[Dis39]

Sprayed the table with my normal "starter" (Agsil, Ful-Power, BAS Coconut, BAS Aloe) foliar this morning with lights turned down to 20% until the solution dried, mostly because I had to mix a pint to spray the micro clones.


Hit the table at lights out with the KNF Trio, still at 1.25mL LAB, and WCA, and .625mL Aloe FPJ per pint. I also rotated the pots in back (the Glue run) and the plants in front (fem photos + the Glue best performers). Got some light burn on the OBSM01, so I moved her to the edge of the light. The fem PJP may just be a reg JP, but its stacking nodes hard and stacking short. We'll see!


The Gorilla Zee by County Line Genetics (@J.James testers) and the Gorilla Hammer by Freak Generics ( @Frimpong - pH) were labelled based on their size/vigor at the time of up potting. They were up potted when I saw solid root emergence from the soil cubes. I am getting a little upward leaf curl on the lower edges of the big fans on the Gorilla Hammers, Im sure someone more experienced than me can tell me what that means, but other than that all looks well.


Puma, Tobago, Jimmy Nardello, Ancho Grande peppers have all popped. My wifes (tray) sunflowers and Purple Perversion Plantain are all on their way.


For some reason my (tray) Purple Perversion Plantain didnt pop.... Nor did my Nigella Sativa which I have failed at for 3yrs, however the White Horehound, Green Twister Echinacea, St. Johns Wort, Self Heal, Bee Balm, and some kinda lavender (I planted 3 varieties in the same cubes, battle royale style!). 0/3 Mimms Kush, 2/3 Starfighter Zee, 4/4 Vanilla Gorilla x Black Cherry Pie ( @Mim Towls - pH ), 2/4 Gherry ( @Capt's Farm - pH ).


These are starting to push roots out the side, they will be up potted in a couple days more than likely.

 

[J.James]

How are the plants coming along @Dis39

 

[Dis39]

How are the plants coming along @Dis39

Coming along great. Been dealing with a lot lately. Cabinet plants got dry af but bounced back strong and quick with a KNF trio drench, however resulted in some lower leaf damage. Dog stopped eating for 4 days and looked like she was gonna die, wifes health took a turn, and spring garden demanded attention all at once. Out of 6 GZ wet 5 popped, 2 males, gifted the these 2x GH and 1x GZ. Internodal spacing on the 2 I kept looked more like what I was looking for. Ill try to get some uploads soon, been posting over yonder mostly, and even that is scarce these days. Took down the ASAs and the Sangria Cookies, the SC is my favorite homegrown smoke to date. I took down 2 of the indoor JEMs to hash, left one to flower a little longer. Anvils are wrapping up. Heres some random pics.






Next round of starts. 8x of each. Briscoe's Midnight Crack, Freak Genetics Blackberry Bread, and my first experimental chuck, Peyote Critical x Mr. Iyotu. Mine are left and top center, Frim's are right and bottom center, Amos' are in the small tray on the right.

 

[Dis39]

The 2x unsexed Starfighters


JEM selfing project.


Some live plant starts.






Friend asked me for a male if I had an extra, sending the GH, think Im gonna take a clone of the PJP Mystery. Just spraying them down regularly, they are on the table under 18hrs now.