Thought some of you would find this interesting. Apparently the instapot on the yogurt setting is good for germinating some types of seed https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/otta...ate-use-instant-pot-germinate-seeds-1.5966064
We germinate our peppers in 288 count plug trays. These guys are getting planted up to 4" pots today for late April / early May sales.
Makes sense... warm temps are key. I find some plastic and chicken coop heater does just as well, maybe better... as I can grow way more than what fits in an instapot.
Wife planted most of the wicking bed rhis past weekend and last weekend. Tomatoes are all that's left to go in. She decided to take a flyer on trying onions and beets in the bed. Looking online we found conflicting information whether or not they would do well in the bed. I have a feeling the bed will be too wet for them to grow well.
The weather out here is still too fucked to even think about planting shit outside. I woke up to snow on the deck this morning.
Very nice! How do you guys water them? Manually? Automation? I wish I knew where to get some greenhouse type supplies at a better price than the big box stores... all of those trays and pots are so fucking expensive in low volume.
And does anyone have any rules they follow for determining when to transplant shit outside? Problem I had last year was that the weather was so wet/frozen/cold for so long that most of my seedlings outgrew their space, and ended up becoming stunted before being transplanted. This year I held off on what I was doing up in seedlings, and just kept it to tomatoes and peppers. Everything else will be seeds in the garden when it's time.
Not my picture, but similar to this for these product lines. All propagation and seed starting are watered by overhead booms on double rails. They travel along the length of the greenhouse (480' in the production houses) and are capable of watering our of two different mist style nozzles depending on how much flow you want. They get adjusted and programmed for speed and number of passes over each crop section and crop sections are definable in the programming by the linear foot from the base. Which is way nicer than the old style that required magnets to be placed to start and stop zones. They are always able to be quickly hooked up to a dosa-tron for some basic chemical applications. Anything that avoids manual anything is almost always worth it. Hanging baskets are all watered on ECHO systems that travel the baskets to the back of the facility to weigh them and water accordingly. Most of the garden centers/greenhouses around here all grow at least some of their own products and sell all sorts of empty containers for people wanting to get their own stuff started. Might be worth looking into instead of trying to buy online or from the chains. Otherwise, prior to next sowing season I'd be happy to ship some packs of things for shipping costs. Whoops, the picture didn't work. I'll take some later today.
Appreciate the offer... probably not worth it to ship to Canada though. I've found that the local greenhouses are the ones that are charging crazy cash... like $9 for a 24 pod starter tray. I'll just plan ahead and get some shit in from China via AliExpress... it's cheap, but it just takes a while for shit to show up.
I got heat mat last year and the temp control sucks and sensor is way off. I feel it’s low to avoid cooking your seeds but boy I’d be surprised if it gets over 70 degrees. Just started my seeds this weekend. Is sage easy starting indoors from seed or just easier buying as plant?
I've never had much luck with sage indoors... it's up there with cilantro for me. As to the temp, I figure you cannot go too hot, as long as there's water. That's why I have a chicken coop heater cranked up to high and a few fans to keep things blowing around, then just keep the seedling pods nicely watered. If it's really warm, I'll leave some standing water in the dish they sit in to keep them moist. That's working for me very well so far.
This past week & weekend we had temps in the mid 70's F (20's C) here in northern Virginia, and while it is possible for us to have additional cold temps through May in this area, we are likely done with snow or frost barring freak weather. Where I live is about a month behind where I grew up in Pennsylvania, so I'm guessing I'm about two months ahead of you. The plum tree we planted last year is already at peak bloom:
In Alberta, it snows on the May long weekend about one out of every three years. Most people won't plant gardens here until after that. With my peppers I wait until nighttime temps are pretty steady 9-10 degrees C or higher, which usually puts me in the last part of May/first part of June
Yeah, similar to what I do here in Ontario... last year was SO late in the season for it to warm up it really messed things up.
I'm in NC. There is a cold front coming through Wednesday. High temp Thursday is 48F with lows @ 29F. I can't imagine you won't see similar temps where you're at.
Yep, southern VA here. We've got two nights forecast around 26F. Hopefully that's the last freeze, I'm sick of it.
I am not from this area so I don't have rules of thumb to fall back on. I looked up historical averages of temperatures on the town wikipedia page and then use the farmer's almanac plus a 10 day forecast to figure out wtf the weather and seasons are doing here. For the warmer weather crops like peppers and tomatoes mid May is looking reasonable. I will probably plant May 1 and then baby them along with covers and such. The issue is that even though we are seeing beautiful day time temps of 65 to 70, there is a dramatic swing from day to nighttime. Last night went down to 33 and there was ice on the duck tub. I think by mid May the night temps will be manageable, like around 55 or so. I have kale planted and am finally seeing some new growth on it. Radishes are growing well, and I have snow peas planted but no visible growth yet. The peppers get moved outside during the day to soak up that natural light. I think they are successfully hardened off now. I ran out of space so out they go. Plus side... pollinators seem to have found them. I see one little pepper developing. They are all blooming so let's get some early peppers! I have the peppers in tubs with poopy duck water in the bottom. Keeps them watered and fertilized. Duck poop is a good, weak, balanced fertilizer. The peppers seemed to respond to it a bit already. Love having basil ready at hand. I've already gotten a couple good chops off it.
Meanwhile, we have snow forecast for tomorrow night into Thursday morning. And today it was 68. Gotta love living in Upstate NY
I’m moving my two good sized compost piles to clear the area for a new goat barn. Most of it has gone in a large hay pile across the road but I got to a level that was pure compost. Beautiful stuff that’s been spread around our fruit trees. Additionally, I put a few trailer loads on my raised beds. When I built them I used almost 100% compost and over time the soil has become almost a sand or silt. It appeared lifeless. So I mixed in this new stuff along with some mostly but not quite composted hay. The effect is almost as if I added some peat, and I think in addition to adding nutrients to the soil, it’ll retain moisture better than before. And I still have a couple trailer loads worth to move and add to the beds. I got the notion to buy my seeds early this year, because I suspect a lot more people will be gardening again this year. The lady at our local garden center said it was a smart move, they’ve been busier than usual.