Friday Greenhouse Updates

Friday Greenhouse Updates

I'm adding a new greenhouse extending out the carport for greens and herbs.

It started raining and didn't stop, so I will have to continue tomorrow.

I only have one rockwool slab left in the greenhouse and I hand water it. It was just waaaay too hot during the peak of summer to continue. Many plants stopped producing and only cost money to keep alive. Money I didnt have, so if I couldn't transplant them to dirt, I composted them.

 

 

 

 

Sweet Orange Bell Pepper in Rockwool Slab. For some reason or another, this pepper plant hasnt developed any flowers. The tomato plants are large enough to lean them more out of the light, so maybe more light will solve this problem.

Lots of dirt starters. Most of these were outside, but the bugs attacked them, so I moved them in the greenhouse.

Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes

Dragon Tongue Beans

The ggplant stopped producing flowers and are now focusing on developing the fruits.

Suyo Cucumber 16 inches. Very delicious and a good producer. I have harvested about 6 to date and the squirrels have eaten about 10 small female flowers.

Outdoor Tomatoes with Pine Needles used as mulch. I also added some worm compost and let the dirt set for a week before transplanting these into their home. I grew these from seed in the greenhouse first, and transplanted them at about 2 ' tall.

Outdoor Tomatoes in Pine Needles

Tangerine Tree on the side of the house full of tangerines.

Recipe: Baby Spinach Cranberry Salad

Baby Spinach Cranberry Salad w/ Blue Cheese

This is an easy, nutrient rich salad that's very easy to make. I'm not a big fan of spinach, but this salad is great!

•    Organic Girl Baby Spinach
•    Sliced Organic Carrots
•    Sliced Organic Cucumbers
•    Finely Sliced White Onion
•    Dried Organic Cranberries
•    Organic Sunflower Seeds
•    Dressing of your choice.. I love blue cheese

Lots of Folic Acid for the ladies - Folic Acid deficiencies are very common in today's young woman adults.

 

SWC Suyo (Japanese) Cucumber

SWC Suyo (Japanese) Cucumber

 Suyo Cucumbers from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. So far, so good. I have these in a SWC (self watering container) and they seem to love it. Cucumbers are heavy water drinkers, so a SWC seemed like a perfect match. I'm using my chain fence to trellis these. I told my neighbor on the other side to pick them as he pleases. This cucumber plant seems like its going to be a heavy producer and is very heat/disease tolerant.

I have lots of female flowers cukes and about 3 mid-large size cukes. The squirrels run alone the fence, knocking some flowers/cukes off. Im going to have to solve that problem soon. Other than that, it looks likes it going to be cukes for breakfast, lunch and dinner pretty soon.

I will report back on first harvest with the taste test, which should be this weekend :)

First Eggplant Fruit! Finally!

First Eggplant Fruit From Hydro-to-Dirt Transplant

I never thought I was going to get a fruit. So many dropped flowers and no eggplants. One day I noticed a clusters of flowers and it looked like there were two different types of flowers, males and females. I did the research and some people said that they are self pollinating (which looks to be true b/c some flowers have both parts).  I've tried all types of pollination methods with the eggplant flowers, but all failed. Until the 'male' flowers appeared. 

These 'male' flowers have a skinner stem and  only contain anthers and not a stigma in the center of the flower. The female flower had a thick stem and a flower with both an anther and stigma. It seems that there is much debate on the male & female flowers on the eggplant. But in my experience with the 'Black Beauty' variety from Ferry Morse, the ONLY way I got my eggplant to fruit was to remove a male flower and rub it into a female flower. I'm sure natural methods (bugs/insects/bees) of pollination would have worked outside of the greenhouse as well.

When I rubbed the male flower against the female flower, I saw noticeable pollen from the male flower that was flying off. I've never seen any this from the female flower during all my pollination attempts.

In conclusion, maybe I pollinated the two flowers at the right place, at the right time. But after all my previous attempts, all of the flowers I pollinated with the male flowers are finally setting fruit. It's possible that although the female flowers supports anthers, they don't always produce enough pollen. But I'm no expert, so if you have the answer, please comment to give me some insight :)

**Update** 9/24/2010

Reusing Rockwool Slab: Removing Okra Plant, Replacing with Sweet Pepper

Reusing Rockwool Slab Experiment

Before

After

I decided to remove the large Clemson okra plant because it was getting way to large and not producing well enough (The plant last plant in the slab in picture to left). I used scissors to cut the roots. It didnt look like the roots took over the rockwool yet, so I'm attempting to plant a sweet pepper plant on the slab in its place. The Beefsteak Tomato plant is to the nearest right, and is getting huge also, so that plant shouldn't block much light. Its an indeterminate tomato, so it will be viney instead.

Hopefully this experiment will go well. The dead okra roots will most likely rot, so Im going to give the rockwool slab a good flush with Botanicare Clearex once a week, for a month.

Rockwool Cube Roots - Cut with scissors

The okra plant I removed was about 6 foot tall and it didnt develop any side shoots at all. And for some reason, the fire-ants loved the big okra plant and started to harvest aphids. 

I bought Burgundy Okra Organic from Burpee, but the plant I removed was no way Burgundy Okra... It looked like more like the Clemson okra variety. It was not red in color at all. The seeds must have gotten mixed up somewhere, but I didnt buy Clemson seeds.

Removed Large Okra Plant - hole in slab.

I'm not for sure why I wanted to grow okra hydroponically, but I most likely will not be growing okra in the greenhouse next year. I will just grow okra in dirt. Some varieties turn into trees and get huge! When I do plant these in the dirt next season, I will make sure to control the fire-ants better.

My other okra plant (Burgundy) is producing well and has a few side shoots, so I will keep that one in the slab for a while. Its not huge like the other one either, but still large. Im keeping it pruned well to encourage more side shoot growth and more fruiting.

 

Growing Medium Test (Soil-less, Rockwool, Dirt): Gourmet Lettuce Blend

Gourmet Lettuce Blend Growing Medium Test

Today I planted Burpee Organic Gourmet Blend Lettuce (Grand Rapids, Salad Bowl, Red Salad Bowl, Oakleaf and Prizeleaf Lettuces) in three different types of growing mediums (Rockwool, perlite & hydroton rock and soil. I will keep you posted on the growth & germination rates.

Rockwool

Soaked Rockwool in 5.6ph water for an hour+. Then added ubiogrow/water mixture & sprayed the rockwool.

Soil-less: Perlite & Hydroton Rock Mix

This is a wick/drip soil-less system. I will add the drip system in a couple weeks, until then, it will be hand watered.

Moisture Control Potting Soil

Other Dirt Starters

Doing well. Asian Cucumbers, Lots of tomatoes, sweet peppers, onions, broccoli and more.