BTE, hugelkulture, hydroponics and other unconventional gardening

[Lazy Gardener]

I'm trying yet an other experiment. "They say" that you can't use potatoes from the grocer as seed stock, b/c the potatoes have been sprayed with a herbicide to delay sprouting. "They say" that even if those potatoes grow, they won't produce a viable crop. I think @Beekissed has had experience with this. So, my experiment: I've had a nice potato on my windowsill for the last 2 months. It's slowlysending out sprouts. As those sprouts get the beginnings of leaf points and root nubs, I'm gouging them out of the tuber and planting them in a 6 pack. My thought: Perhaps by removing the vegetative matter from the sprayed potato, and giving them extra time, they willproduce a viable crop.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Some of the reading I've done stated that the inhibitor WAS an herbicide, and that it will negatively affect yield.

So, I'm glad you did have a good experience with this. I wonder if the "they say" stuff is typical of many things. "They say" not to use grocer potatoes b/c they are not certified potatoes, thus not "disease free" HAH! Have you looked in the seed bins at the feed stores lately? Those spuds look pretty dismal to me. "They also say" not to save your own spuds for seed or to destroy any volunteers in your garden. I've done both for years without problems. Makes me wonder if there is a vested financial interest in "they say" advice.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Here's an interesting article:

https://livingmaxwell.com/health-risks-conventional-potatoes

And a paragraph quoted from that article:

The chemical that is found on 76% of all conventional potatoes is chlorpropham, an herbicide that is used to stop the growth of weeds and to inhibit potato sprouting.

Which brings me to yet an other thought regarding reliance on grocery store food products: If all these chemicals are on/in our food, and root crops are often used to clear toxins from the soil (thus the toxins end up in those lovely bags of carrots and spuds)... I'm aware that a lot of folks claim that they can't eat any veggies from the nightshade family. Then, there's the whole gluten issue. I'm wondering if rather than being intolerant of the particular vegetable family or gluten, perhaps our bodies are simply not tolerant of the chemical soup that we've been fed for the last 2 - 3 generations.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

First venture making Bio-Char tonight. It went so well that I will surely be doing it again. 1/2 hour to burn a huge pile of raspberry canes and roots. Then, pulled some soil from sides of trench over the char to put out the fire. It will be interesting to see if the raspberries planted in this area grow better than the ones w/o biochar.

Next plan is to lay plastic to solarize the area where the 2 raspberry beds will be. Then, amend with compost before planting.

 

[Hinotori]

That's probably the explanation of why my zucchini is doing so well this year. I made a 4x6' bed and dumped a wheelbarrow load of coop litter in it and one of garden dirt. The zucchini has been growing like crazy. View attachment 11572 View attachment 11573 View attachment 11574

Mom put down 8 inches of aged horse manure then planted zucchini and tomatoes in it one year. The plants were taller than me. She wanted me to bring down enough chicken litter to replicate that. I don't have that many large fowl chickens. She got six 40 pound bags of dry chicken litter last time and it wasn't enough for her.

 

[Hinotori]

I've been looking for the book, but it's probably been over a decade. It talked about fresh wood chips being used in the garden and the nitrogen issue. Decaying items will release nitrogen later on. It recommended just adding some high nitrogen fertilizer like chicken litter when first tilled in.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Here's a fun video about air layering. Should work on many woody specimens.

Here's an other one: using Aloe Vera as a rooting hormone

And for those of you who have ducks, or are contemplating getting ducks to help with your gardening:

 

[Lazy Gardener]

And, here's an other one: worthy of a watch for crops that can be over wintered to produce early spring harvest. This guy is in Zone 8. (I think that's what I heard him say):

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I have NEVER had luck with the powdered rooting hormone. If anything, I do better with plain water than I do with rooting hormone. Last season, I bought some salt peter. I think that was helpful for starting SEEDS of pepper and eggplant. Basically, any of the hard coated seeds are supposed to have better germination with salt peter. (Potassium nitrate)

Yes, I've heard of using willow for rooting hormone. I believe that would work.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

There are videos out there of people sticking cuttings of rose and similar woody stems in a potato to root them. And cinnamon is supposed to be a natural rooting aid. I think that success or failure is more likely attributed to the timing of the cuttings, the maturity of the branch/stem that was used, and the environment in which the cutting was placed. (moisture and type of medium, light intensity, and humidity around the cutting.) Get all that right, and avoid bacterial, fungal or viral infection, and success should be good.

My husband's grandfather could root anything. He would bring roses in from the garden, and even those would take root.