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The shady side of my house has moss. I leave it because it requires no effort and is green.
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Mar 8, 2023 22:27
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That Old Ganon posted:Is anyone here really familiar with growing grapes? I'm curious about how the soil should be and recommended fertilizers. I live in "wine country" in California, but I treat grapes like I was planting a tree. Hole twice as wide as the pot, mix in a small amount of compost with the native soil, woody mulch on top. Use whatever fertilizer you would use on a fruit tree.
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Mar 8, 2023 22:27
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Fozzy The Bear posted:I live in "wine country" in California, but I treat grapes like I was planting a tree. Hole twice as wide as the pot, mix in a small amount of compost with the native soil, woody mulch on top. Use whatever fertilizer you would use on a fruit tree.
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Mar 8, 2023 22:47
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That Old Ganon posted:They're going to remain potted, but other than that, I have this citrus tree fertilizer. https://downtoearthfertilizer.com/products/blended_fertilizer/citrus-mix-6-3-3/ That fertilizer will work. What size pot are they going to be in?
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Mar 8, 2023 22:55
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Fozzy The Bear posted:That fertilizer will work. What size pot are they going to be in?
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Mar 9, 2023 00:34
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two things: 1) I have never grown grapes but I have opinions on them. I didn't plant any of it, but the fences surrounding my building are covered in grapes and they've pretty much strangled the life out of a nearby pear tree, the fuckers. Great for homebrewing wine but they're just as temperamental as vineyard grapes, so some seasons they're just trash. 2) moss is boss
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Mar 9, 2023 00:51
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Any suggestions for grow lights for starting seeds, or should I just grab whatever is cheap on amazon?
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Mar 9, 2023 17:40
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Spikes32 posted:Any suggestions for grow lights for starting seeds, or should I just grab whatever is cheap on amazon? IMO don't bother with fluorescents or colored LEDs. Technology has moved on, but these are still marketed because people expect plant lights to look like that (I have both from years ago that I like fine, but I don't buy them anymore). Just get a full-spectrum white LED. Plant lights need to be brighter and closer than most people realize, but they need to be adjusted upward as the plants get taller, so consider the area that the light covers and how you'll plan to adjust it. I've had mixed results with cheap lights from random Chinese companies. Some have been fine, but others have broken really quickly.
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Mar 9, 2023 18:02
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That Old Ganon posted:They're gonna be in five-gallon buckets, eventually That will work for the first year, but they will quickly outgrow those buckets.
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Mar 9, 2023 18:56
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Spikes32 posted:Any suggestions for grow lights for starting seeds, or should I just grab whatever is cheap on amazon? If it's any help, when I went through this same thing a couple months ago I settled on Barrina lights -- their six pack of 2ft 144 watt LEDs was the cheapest I could find at the time that also had decent reviews by real people. I'm pretty happy with them after two months of 18 hours/day usage, zip tied them to a set of shelves and put them on a timer and they've done a great job getting all my seeds going and indooring some of my outdoor plants during cold snaps.
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Mar 9, 2023 19:15
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I just got a 4 pack of those Barinna ones and they definitely seem better than my old colored leds.
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Mar 9, 2023 19:26
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I've been growing my starters under cheap home Depot led tubes and they look good
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Mar 9, 2023 19:42
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I've been using dirt cheap (<$25) Walmart shop LEDs for years and they work extremely well. I think my entire grow shelf with like 8 lights on it was under $150, and I even grow greens under them during the winter. I typically have to adjust them once (low for initial sprouting and then the top of the shelf once seedlings hit a few inches) and I always end up with extremely strong, stout seedlings. Edit- I used to use cheapo Amazon grow lights and then slightly more expensive HD ones and I'd always get leggy seedings that would eventually just ignore the lights and start reaching for the nearest window Paradoxish fucked around with this message at 20:14 on Mar 9, 2023 |
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Mar 9, 2023 20:04
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Thanks all I went with the barrina lights from Amazon and they'll be arriving tomorrow
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Mar 9, 2023 21:15
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When I was shopping for lights before and when I add to my setup, I just look for something specifically with 5000 K color temperature. 5000 lumens is the minimum light intensity that seeds need to start and start growing, and more is better. It is additive, as well, so you can put two 3000 lumen lights on one shelf to get 6000 lumens. Get whatever is cheapest and most convenient for you to meet those minimum requirements.
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Mar 10, 2023 15:57
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I read this guy on LEDs. He seems to think Lumens and wattage has very little to do with what plants actually need. His argument seems pretty sound, and he recommends regular rear end shop lights for starting seeds. https://www.gardenmyths.com/18-led-grow-light-myths/
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Mar 10, 2023 16:19
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I've been using old rear end fluorescent tubes for forever.
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Mar 10, 2023 16:34
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A lot of gardeners follow advice on grow lights from indoor growers, but seed starting doesn't require nearly the same considerations since you're not generally trying to get light to penetrate through dense foliage to lower leaves. By the time your seedlings are that big, they're already outdoors.
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Mar 11, 2023 18:49
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I got three of these guys from Costco. Threw them on a metal shelf also from Costco. House plants at the bottom. Baby seedlings in the middle. Big seedlings at the top, where I can gradually move the light higher to accommodate them. Has worked well the last couple years.  Off to a good start this year. Survived an 8-day vacation. 
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Mar 11, 2023 21:21
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I started mixing my own potting soil this year after watching way too much gardening YouTube over the winter and I gotta say I've been pretty pleased with the price savings for what is essentially the labor of stirring stuff up
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Mar 21, 2023 02:16
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PokeJoe posted:I started mixing my own potting soil this year after watching way too much gardening YouTube over the winter and I gotta say I've been pretty pleased with the price savings for what is essentially the labor of stirring stuff up
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Mar 21, 2023 05:12
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Today I used maybe 1/3 peat moss, 1/4 homemade compost, and the rest some mixture of vermiculite, perlite, "used" potting soil, and shredded wood/bark. I live in the PNW and my stuff gets pretty swampy half the year so the vermiculite+perlite are pretty useful. $45 of stuff here:  Plus my compost and some vermiculite I already had makes 2x of these big totes of mix  Use equal amounts peat moss/coconut coir and compost, then add in drainage/aeration materials as appropriate to your climate. If you're gonna use wood make sure it's shredded, large chips take a long time to break down and can tie up nitrogen but a bit of shredded smaller wood is good for drainage and aeration. Price wise it ends up being 20%-40% of regular bagged mix depending on your local prices and you can mix it to your preference
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Mar 21, 2023 06:17
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I got a yuzu tree and the thorns on here are the biggest I've ever encountered in my life.
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Mar 21, 2023 07:37
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I mix giant bins of soil for all of my carnivorous plants (they are special and delicate), so I'm probably dumb for continuing to buy regular potting soil for everything else. Making good progress this spring though. Built a new bamboo trellis, spread wheat straw mulch over the whole bed, and got most of my seeds started (ok that last one is a bit behind schedule). Today was probably the last freeze of the season.
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Mar 21, 2023 12:42
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Fitzy Fitz posted:Today was probably the last freeze of the season. Famous last words.
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Mar 21, 2023 13:15
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It is possible we'll get an April freeze in the Southeast, but I'm not going to plan around one! I need to get this giant philodendron out of my living room (though I hear it's now called Thaumatophyllum)
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Mar 21, 2023 15:07
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That Old Ganon posted:I got a yuzu tree and the thorns on here are the biggest I've ever encountered in my life. Keep the thread up to date if you manage to keep it alive. I'm currently killing 4 or 5 potted yuzu trees.
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Mar 21, 2023 15:25
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What do you do about clay problems like bad drainage and turning into rocks in the heat? I figure organic material and enough time will make plants happy, but I’m pretty new to gardening. I’ve got something like 13% sand, 26% silt and 61% clay.
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Mar 23, 2023 13:17
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ThePopeOfFun posted:What do you do about clay problems like bad drainage and turning into rocks in the heat? I figure organic material and enough time will make plants happy, but I’m pretty new to gardening. I’ve got something like 13% sand, 26% silt and 61% clay. Organic matter and raised beds. If you can get enough organic matter into it clay soil can be wonderful but it takes a lot. Even that won’t really help if there is a hard pan or layer of really thick clay a few feet down that really fucks with drainage. Raised beds may be the easier solution to the drainage problems.
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Mar 23, 2023 14:05
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Try not to walk on clay, as that compacts it. And try not to work the soil when it's wet, because that creates clods. Keep introducing organic matter longterm. Don't add sand.
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Mar 23, 2023 14:27
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Any tips for gardening with squirrels? I don't have a way of easily physically restricting access, do the chili powder spray ideas actually work?
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Mar 23, 2023 14:43
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ThePopeOfFun posted:What do you do about clay problems like bad drainage and turning into rocks in the heat? I figure organic material and enough time will make plants happy, but I’m pretty new to gardening. I’ve got something like 13% sand, 26% silt and 61% clay. Raised beds. I have a plan to try and break up my clay by doing some green manure work with crimson clover and buckwheat but I expect it to take years.
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Mar 23, 2023 14:53
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This feels like a very basic question but I can’t seem to find a great answer online from my (somewhat limited) googling. I used leaves to mulch my raised beds overwinter. In the spring, do I remove the leaves when I go to put more compost in the beds? Or can I just dump new compost on top of the leaves? I saw an article saying not to mix leaves into the dirt because it can use up the available nitrogen, and now I’m confused about how to properly use leaves as mulch.
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Mar 23, 2023 14:55
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Pipistrelle posted:This feels like a very basic question but I can’t seem to find a great answer online from my (somewhat limited) googling. Personally, I just mix leaves or other mulches right in. They break down. They will fix some nitrogen for a while as they're breaking down, but leaves have lots of N on their own and all of that will become available again as they go.
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Mar 23, 2023 15:02
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Spikes32 posted:Any tips for gardening with squirrels? I don't have a way of easily physically restricting access, do the chili powder spray ideas actually work? I've used chili powder, not spray, but didn't have good results. You have to reapply it pretty often. Maybe the spray works better, or maybe I just needed to try harder idk. For potted plants I cover the soil in some sort of mulch. They seem much more drawn to exposed soil. I've also used chicken wire on and around pots. Pipistrelle posted:This feels like a very basic question but I can’t seem to find a great answer online from my (somewhat limited) googling. The drain on nitrogen from mulch is usually overstated. It's not really a factor. My only issue with leaving leaves in my larger bed is that they create air pockets if they aren't fully buried by a new layer of soil.
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Mar 23, 2023 15:09
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CommonShore posted:Personally, I just mix leaves or other mulches right in. They break down. They will fix some nitrogen for a while as they're breaking down, but leaves have lots of N on their own and all of that will become available again as they go. Fitzy Fitz posted:The drain on nitrogen from mulch is usually overstated. It's not really a factor. My only issue with leaving leaves in my larger bed is that they create air pockets if they aren't fully buried by a new layer of soil. Thank you both, that was my plan originally, so I will just mix it in come garden prep time.
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Mar 23, 2023 15:32
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Pipistrelle posted:Thank you both, that was my plan originally, so I will just mix it in come garden prep time. No problem. And for what it's worth one of my personal pet peeves about yard maintenance is when I see people throw out leaves, and especially when I see people throw out leaves and then add fertilizer to stuff  It makes me wonder if lots of these ideas about "don't add leaves to the garden" are myths originating with fertilizer marketing campaigns and what not.
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Mar 23, 2023 15:39
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Spikes32 posted:Any tips for gardening with squirrels? I don't have a way of easily physically restricting access, do the chili powder spray ideas actually work? Choose violence. I'm perfectly happy with all kinds of critters on our property but the little bushy tailed assholes get the dirt nap. ThePopeOfFun posted:What do you do about clay problems like bad drainage and turning into rocks in the heat? I figure organic material and enough time will make plants happy, but I’m pretty new to gardening. I’ve got something like 13% sand, 26% silt and 61% clay. Raised beds, all day. I have sunk untold tons of compost and other soil amendments into clay. Go with raised beds unless you're trying to really go to commercial levels of production, like requiring a tractor levels. mischief fucked around with this message at 17:26 on Mar 23, 2023 |
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Mar 23, 2023 17:22
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People will tell you that oak leaves are toxic or that they take years to break down. I think it's mostly an easy justification for something they already wanted to do -- get those drat leaves away from the lawn!!!
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Mar 23, 2023 18:12
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Raised beds don't have to have to be boxes, you can literally just pile dirt up on top of your native dirt and now you have raised beds. If you slope them a bit, they can be better drained than a box kind of raised bed, plus you have get alot of planting space on the sloped edges of the bed. Unless you're in a really high rainfall area like the Gulf Coast you probably don't need to worry that much about drainage if you have any sort of raised bed tho.Fitzy Fitz posted:People will tell you that oak leaves are toxic or that they take years to break down. I think it's mostly an easy justification for something they already wanted to do -- get those drat leaves away from the lawn!!!
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Mar 23, 2023 18:17
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