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I am using what is called “deep water culture” buckets for green beans and a pepper plant. Basically, you take a 5 gallon bucket and fill it with nutrient water, cut a 2” or 3” hole in the middle of the lid for your net cup. The plant sits in that cup and is usually supported by media like expanded clay pebbles. The only mechanical part is a small aquarium air pump and air stone. You put the airstone in the bucket for aeration and to toss water up on the roots as the reservoir lowers. As long as you have your nutrient mixed right and your pH adjusted, it’s supposed to be really good for fruiting plants like tomatoes and peppers. My grow tent is a 5’x2.5’ rectangular box made out of 3/4 pvc and various elbow joints. That the actual “trip to Lowe’s” expense. For the tent material, I just wrapped it all up in 3 Mylar emergency blankets. Inside, I’ve mounted my WalMart grow lights, with a heat lamp all the way up top and fans closer towards the bottom for circulation. Everything is on mechanical outlet timers. My one surviving zucchini and pepper plant have really turned around in the last few days. I’ve 3D printed a small vertical hydroponic tower that mounts on top of a five gallon bucket, but haven’t got to use it yet…because I hosed up my leafy greens. I’ve also got a plan for container gardening on my back porch. I have to do something with all these goddam Tidy Cat buckets.
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Feb 13, 2024 22:24
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Marsupial Ape posted:I have to do something with all these goddam Tidy Cat buckets. they'd probably be perfect for making into self-watering containers a la the earthtainer:  
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Feb 13, 2024 22:38
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Oh, yeah, they’re all getting drilled and stacked, baby.
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Feb 13, 2024 22:41
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Marsupial Ape posted:I’ve also got a plan for container gardening on my back porch. I have to do something with all these goddam Tidy Cat buckets. I have a seemingly endless supply of plastic buckets from horse supplements. Now I might have a use for them!
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Feb 13, 2024 23:11
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how do you stop those things from being Mosquito City? is it just that it's hard for adults to get in and lay eggs
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Feb 13, 2024 23:12
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eke out posted:how do you stop those things from being Mosquito City? is it just that it's hard for adults to get in and lay eggs i have two earthtainers. when i first built them i figured i would eventually put a piece of net or something over the fill tube to solve that problem, but then it just never became an issue even though i live in mosquito city most of the summer that design has the pvc fill tube extend all the way to the bottom and you drill a couple good-sized holes across the tube near the bottom, so i suspect the water level is typically high enough that there's not direct access to any more water surface area than just what's in the tube i have to diligently eliminate any pooling water all summer, but i've never seen mosquitos in or around the earthtainers by the way if anyone is interested i have a pdf guide to building these somewhere
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Feb 13, 2024 23:18
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eke out posted:how do you stop those things from being Mosquito City? is it just that it's hard for adults to get in and lay eggs I just put a sandwich baggie over the fill pipe with a rubber band and it seemed to work fine.
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Feb 13, 2024 23:20
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goatse guy posted:I have a seemingly endless supply of plastic buckets from horse supplements. Now I might have a use for them! That’s a jackpot since they’ll definitely be food grade.
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Feb 13, 2024 23:27
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I had a huge stack of empty Vitalix buckets that I turned into planters by just drilling holes in the bottom for drainage and filling with soil. I forget the plastic code that they were stamped with, but they are supposedly food safe. They have turned out great and now I can keep just over fifty peppers going during the summer.
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Feb 13, 2024 23:30
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Lead out in cuffs posted:I have set up one sprinkler system, using stuff from that exact website (their warehouse was actually really close to where I was living). Those are all really good thoughts and comments, thanks! If there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the sketch in going to make a more detailed plan. The solenoid valves are mostly because I'm a gigantic nerd and into the whole automation thing
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Feb 14, 2024 02:46
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the milk machine posted:
please post!
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Feb 14, 2024 02:50
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ThePopeOfFun posted:please post! this should work, it's a pretty good guide and i remember having some trouble tracking it down when i looked a couple years ago: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1px8UHozOuoTJxPBTjcwFjyMnX2VogWdB/view?usp=sharing
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Feb 14, 2024 04:07
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therunningman posted:Those are all really good thoughts and comments, thanks! No worries! And yeah, nothing wrong with the sketch that I can see (with my very limited knowledge). But definitely do get someone to double check quantities and parts before you order. You don't want to get halfway and realize you're missing a few key things. Oh one last thing: that blue lock stuff is absolutely worth it. So much easier than glueing PEX.
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Feb 14, 2024 09:40
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Pioneer42 posted:I had a huge stack of empty Vitalix buckets that I turned into planters by just drilling holes in the bottom for drainage and filling with soil. I forget the plastic code that they were stamped with, but they are supposedly food safe. They have turned out great and now I can keep just over fifty peppers going during the summer. That's the dream. I want to grow so many varieties of peppers but I'm so limited on space in my raised beds so I usually just stick to bell and jalapeno.
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Feb 14, 2024 16:02
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goatse guy posted:That's the dream. I want to grow so many varieties of peppers but I'm so limited on space in my raised beds so I usually just stick to bell and jalapeno. I keep finding new varieties to try every year, and I don't have the heart to not grow all the varieties I grew the year before...so, more pots. And more seed trays. And more warming mats. And more grow lights, etc. At some point an intervention will be needed.
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Feb 14, 2024 21:35
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What are your favorite varieties? I’m dialing back to mainly Anaheims.
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Feb 15, 2024 04:29
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I did something goofy today  It's a red maple and I've only got one tap in it so I'm gonna make approximately 4 ounces of syrup by the end of PA's sugar season, but hey, I haven't let the promise of low yields stop my garden efforts before.
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Feb 15, 2024 18:11
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Chernobyl Princess posted:I did something goofy today That tree could support three taps. Probably more
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Feb 15, 2024 19:45
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CommonShore posted:That tree could support three taps. Probably more Yep, and I have more taps but I don't have tubing or buckets... that tubing there is the (very well washed) tube from a baby nose Frida. I'm gonna see how much I get from this one before I try and order a bunch more supplies, but if it works the way I hope it does...... I'll definitely be investing in more gear
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Feb 15, 2024 21:02
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Chernobyl Princess posted:Yep, and I have more taps but I don't have tubing or buckets... that tubing there is the (very well washed) tube from a baby nose Frida. I'm gonna see how much I get from this one before I try and order a bunch more supplies, but if it works the way I hope it does...... I'll definitely be investing in more gear That made me cackle. In gardening news I got my hardwood mulch in this week for my paths. Almost feels like spring is a possibility. A little frustrated that the leaves I've had collected since fall 2022 still hasn't really composted into leaf mould. Maybe I could be watering/turning it more. Is there any reason not to use my fresher shredded leaves as mulch?
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Feb 15, 2024 21:57
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Chernobyl Princess posted:Yep, and I have more taps but I don't have tubing or buckets... that tubing there is the (very well washed) tube from a baby nose Frida. I'm gonna see how much I get from this one before I try and order a bunch more supplies, but if it works the way I hope it does...... I'll definitely be investing in more gear I just run into milk jugs, sometimes multiple taps per jug. The tubing... just have to buy tubing.
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Feb 16, 2024 00:29
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Chad Sexington posted:A little frustrated that the leaves I've had collected since fall 2022 still hasn't really composted into leaf mould. Maybe I could be watering/turning it more. Is there any reason not to use my fresher shredded leaves as mulch? Turning is key to making great compost, but I've seen people rig up clever ways to aerate their compost piles by drilling a bunch of holes in a piece of PVC pipe and sticking that in the pile. I leave the leaves in my garden as mulch and it does just fine so I don't see why you couldn't use your shredded leaves as mulch. I was thinking about getting a head start on my mulching this year as we haven't had measurable snow in months but we finally got a few inches on Wednesday. Everything beyond the retaining wall and up the hill will be getting mulched and then planted with natives. My yard looks really horrible here but this is what I'm working with. I would eradicate the lawn entirely but I have three dogs that need a lot of space to run. 
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Feb 16, 2024 15:48
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Some leaves (like oak) are very waxy and require more time and shredding and heat. I will say hot composting did a pretty good job, but that was also summer with a black tarp over the pile. Wish I had more greens to a big pile goin’
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Feb 16, 2024 18:17
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ThePopeOfFun posted:Some leaves (like oak) are very waxy and require more time and shredding and heat. I will say hot composting did a pretty good job, but that was also summer with a black tarp over the pile. Wish I had more greens to a big pile goin’ Yeah mine are mostly oak. I've heard of people having good luck literally throwing leaves into a garbage bag so as to retain heat and moisture. My geobins I got for free from the public library look nicer but aren't retaining enough moisture I think. Plus I haven't added greens.
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Feb 16, 2024 21:38
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This year's "winter" has me wondering when the last frost date will be. Between the 2023 revised USDA zones and the fact that February has been like 65 degrees I really have no idea when it'll be safe to transplant outdoors. I think I waited until mid April last year.
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Feb 16, 2024 22:38
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Where I live it's always been a crapshoot anyway, but after last year I am afraid to start anything tender before, like, May 1, a full month after our "usual" last late frost. Dang climate change making the jet stream all wonky. I don't even pay attention to my hardiness zone now; it's all so random. Will this bush survive? Who knows!
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Feb 17, 2024 03:24
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Yeah over here we had a super mild winter, so mild that I thought some flowers that are usually annuals were going to perennialize. Then whoops ten days of hard freeze from the polar vortex. I had a whole bed of kale giving us winter greens and RIP.
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Feb 17, 2024 07:37
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My fig trees are on the cusp of waking up and we're supposed to be up to 80F this week, so I did a thing. I repotted my LSU Purple from a 5G bucket to a SIP of my own design based around a food-safe 10 gallon trash can. And because I a) want many varieties b) don't want to have a million fig trees and c) can't leave good enough alone, I tried my first multi graft tree.  Rootstock is LSU Purple. Left is a (bad) cleft graft of LSU Strawberry. Right is a (better) whip and tongue of LSU Champagne. I pruned off the only branch on the trunk because it was all hosed up, but this thing sends up suckers like crazy. If everything takes, I'll have a purple, green, and gold Mardi Gras LSU fig tree 
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Feb 20, 2024 07:34
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In case anyone needed another reason to dunk on Baker Creek, they recently got in hot water for renaming an unreleased GMO purple tomato variety and trying to sell it as a naturally bred variety despite 90% of their brand being "GMOs bad!" They pulled the variety from their advertising, posted a halfassed apology stating that they got the variety from a "trusted traditional plant breeder" and that they totally tested the tomatoes earlier and found them to be non-GMO, but they couldn't rule out the POSSIBILITY that GMO pollen was used in the breeding. You know, pollen from the tomato plants that haven't been released yet but accidentally got in Baker Creek's variety, somehow. Also anyone who brings this up or asks too many questions gets blocked from their Facebook page TL;DR Baker Creek is still run by chucklefucks but this time instead of shilling Cliven Bundy they tried to sell a patented GMO on the down low.
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Feb 20, 2024 21:29
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Chicken Thumbs posted:In case anyone needed another reason to dunk on Baker Creek, they recently got in hot water for renaming an unreleased GMO purple tomato variety and trying to sell it as a naturally bred variety despite 90% of their brand being "GMOs bad!" They pulled the variety from their advertising, posted a halfassed apology stating that they got the variety from a "trusted traditional plant breeder" and that they totally tested the tomatoes earlier and found them to be non-GMO, but they couldn't rule out the POSSIBILITY that GMO pollen was used in the breeding. You know, pollen from the tomato plants that haven't been released yet but accidentally got in Baker Creek's variety, somehow. Also anyone who brings this up or asks too many questions gets blocked from their Facebook page Well god drat it. I never knew this poo poo about Baker Creek.
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Feb 20, 2024 23:46
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 Pepper seed are sown in flats it has begun
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Feb 21, 2024 18:01
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It's been ridiculously record-breakingly warm this winter, and some of our perennials (mostly hostas) are confused and coming up way too early. Should I be doing anything about this? Should I encourage it by watering them, or wait until we're in at a much more normal time?
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Feb 23, 2024 15:44
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If nothing else I'll usually just mulch or pine needle when it happens. The biggest risk is a snap frost at that point and any kind of cover helps them not get zapped.Chad Sexington posted:
Dangit. I was really hoping to be lazy this weekend but I guess I know what I'm working on now. Show off. 
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Feb 23, 2024 16:09
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Chad Sexington posted:
I got my super hots sowed Jan 15th, they've got about three sets of true leaves now in solo cups. This year I'm making a crappy webcam time lapse of them growing for the whole season. Unfortunately my cam doesn't have adjustable focus up close so the quality will be kinda blurry until I move them out to the patio and the camera is a few feet away.
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Feb 23, 2024 17:24
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my onions and leeks are germinating! They're germinating!!!!!!@!
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Feb 23, 2024 17:40
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Dr_0ctag0n posted:I got my super hots sowed Jan 15th, they've got about three sets of true leaves now in solo cups. This year I'm making a crappy webcam time lapse of them growing for the whole season. Unfortunately my cam doesn't have adjustable focus up close so the quality will be kinda blurry until I move them out to the patio and the camera is a few feet away. man some peppers are so slow -- half of mine started in december are in small pots with numerous leaves, meanwhile some hong gochus and aji dulces barely even have their second set of true leaves yet. probably should've started them at like 80 degree soil temp or something, but my heating mat struggled indoors when it was literally freezing outside
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Feb 23, 2024 18:05
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eke out posted:man some peppers are so slow -- half of mine started in december are in small pots with numerous leaves, meanwhile some hong gochus and aji dulces barely even have their second set of true leaves yet. Yeah, they're all super slow for the first month or so. I invested the $20 or whatever for a germinating mat and it really helps speed up the germination process for peppers as well as the early growth rate for seedlings. It still took like a week or so before they started popping up, where as lettuce seeds will start sprouting roots overnight on the heating pad. I planted all C. Chinense varieties this year, the Yellow Fatalii are growing faster than all the others and have the thickest stems. They really seem to be the healthiest and most prolific variety I've grown. I think I'm going to also try a hybrid project this year between Fatalii and peach moruga scorpions.
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Feb 23, 2024 18:20
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My peppers and tomatoes had a rough start too. I started mine in mid-January. Unfortunately, I was trialing a new LED grow light setup, and despite following the directions, they got torched pretty good before I raised the lights. I'm way behind in terms of development - some still on their first set of true leaves - but somehow nothing died, and an early application of diluted fertilizer seems to have kicked them back into growth mode.CommonShore posted:my onions and leeks are germinating! They're germinating!!!!!!@! I am growing multiplying onions for the first time (descendents of a single flat my dad bought 20+ years ago) and I am wondering why I slept on these. I'm eating fresh green onions on my eggs every morning 
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Feb 23, 2024 18:27
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This will be my first spring starting my tomatoes and other seeds in late April. Normally I start them (indoors, obviously) earlier. We’re going to be way for 2 weeks starting the first weekend of April, so I didn’t want to start them prior to leaving. Is late April too late to start them in New England?
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Feb 24, 2024 02:42
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No, not too late. The ground won’t be warm enough to plant until mid June. Plus now that the climate is whacked, you can expect them to grow well into October.
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Feb 24, 2024 13:10
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