Yep, their website has very clear and easy to follow instructions, including what you said. I’m stupidly excited about this for some reason.
Not sure if you've seen this yet or not, but sounds very similar to what you're attempting. https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/..._monarchs_a_few_more_than_i_expected/k80ofy2/
Wow, that's pretty cool. I have a friend who was raising monarchs for a while, but I think I'll leave that to the bugs themselves.
Next time I'm at my folks place I'll have to take a picture of their backyard. My Dad killed the entire backyard lawn and planted a bunch of native species and herbs. He even took a natural low spot and made it a bird bath. It attracts a ton of birds and other wildlife and is really peaceful.
I’d love to see that. My backyard is a shaded mud pile right now and I’m looking for options other than grass.
The lower portion of my backyard is like that. I’d love to grow some monarch-friendly flowers , but it would basically be an all you can eat buffet for the deer. We have what can only be described as a herd that wanders this area and wrecks havoc on shrubs and flowers. They bed down regularly in my yard. Our community garden is surrounded by a 10 foot high fence, otherwise it would be devastated.
I have been weeding the back flowerbeds and applying my duck compost. It's some good shit. Here are my helpers. https://streamable.com/l1g8zt?src=player-page-share
The ducks have been so pissed about me digging while they are locked back in their regular run. Sometimes I feed them an odd worm or two. They are little beggars. I planted most of my spring starts this weekend - dinosaur kale, Swiss Chard, pak choi, leeks, broccoli. It is amazing watching things come back to life. My perennial herbs are popping back out and a few annuals have self sowed. The asparagus I planted last year is crowning and some stuff never even got killed back, like strawberries and the sage. The ducks were helping themselves to things in the garden over winter before I kicked them out. They clearly prefer the garlic chives over the regular. Now that room is cleared from under my lights, I will be starting peppers and tomatoes.
I know this is probably a bit of a basic question, but this is my first year trying to grow directly from seeds indoors, and I've been using an indoor growing light, but I'm wondering how long you guys usually run your lights when indoors. Are you just keeping it running 24/7, or only doing a few hours a day?
I let them rest overnight, jdoogie, off for 8 hours ish. I leave the fans on, though. Best of luck with your first round of seeds!
I have been mentally going through my herbs to monitize what I can for my market table. I have been drying some catnip to sell, and I've been experimenting with making smudge sticks. I think as the season goes on and the leaves fully grow out on my sage plant, my sticks will look more like the ones I see online. I also fucked up my hands. This is a gloved activity from now on.
Don’t know about much else but tomatoes on the subject but seedlings can have 24/7 for the first 2-3 weeks then you switch to a day night schedule. I don’t start an oscillating fan until they are pretty well established after this. Had my fan dry out the soil and kill small seedlings before. Hell I’ve had the lights do it too. I’ll let them get a little leggy sprouting to avoid this before moving them under lights. Once they’re established in the ground it all evens out. My plants all look like Charlie Browns Christmas tree when I put them in the ground.
Kubla, make sure that your lights are right down on the plants, and raise them bit by bit as the tomatoes grow. You don't want the leaves to touch, but stay right down on the plants as best as you can. That will keep your stalks stocky.
It’s a good thing I know this wildflower project is going to look nice as well as be good for the pollinators, because breaking ground on land that hasn’t been worked in well over 25 years is a pain in the ass.