Today's harvest

[larry_stewart]

Looks great, Larry! Any problems yet with bugs inside?

There were a handful of aphids on the stem and some of the outer leafs. All were dead, so Im guessing they got them prior to bringing them inside. I dont remember treating them with anything , and the plants did go through a few cold spells before being brought inside. No signs of any other insects wrapped up in the leaves, including cabbage worms, which I almost always have issues with, which is why I dont really grow cabbages anymore. And one year I bitt into a broccoli that was infested with aphids. I am now paranoid everytime I bite into a broccoli, and haven't grown that since either.

I've had problems in thee past with Fungus gnats coming from the soil on plants that I've brought inside, but this year so far, so good.

My grapefruit treat and coffee plant have ( or I should say had) a few white , spongy , what seams to look like egg sacks of some kind oo insect which I have physically removed. That was a week or two ago and see no evidence that anything has hatched prior.

On my coffee plant, a resident spider with web intact made his ( or her) way in with the plant. I left it alone hoping it would help me out a bit with theee bugs.

My curry plant usually loses a loot of leaves when I bring it inside for the winter, nearly dying each year. This set up has prevented that.

This set up seems to be doing well so far. If things make it through the winter I may consider totally transferring that room into a plant room for good, investing in more lights and much better organized. It was a last minute idea, wasn't sure how my wife was going to take it , that I was taking over another room in the house with one of my hobbies, but she is thrilled cause usually every window is bombarded with plants during the winter. At least this confines it just to one room, which really isn't in the main house and mostly unused. Not sure if Ill ever get the greenhouse I've always wanted ( more cause of space and location limits), but this is would be the next best thing. Give me something too do during the winter months.

Getting back to my answer, those listed above were the only insect issues I know of. Ill keep you posted if anything gets out of hand. Hope not.

One last note, which I thought was kinda funny. a few years ago, I had a loot of small sprouting potatoes from previous harvest that I didnt know what to do with so I just tossed them in the compost pile. last year, I had potatoes popping up in just about every raised bed as a result. I dug up my olive tree, which is very small and I wrapped up the previous year, like I do my figs, to over winter and it survived. It was one of the chosen few that made it into my new plant room experiment and sure enough, I got a potato growing out of its pot. I know I should weed it out , but the other part of m is curious to see if it will develop. Even if it does, im sure the potatoes would be small and poor quality.

 

[pepperhead212]

Today I trimmed that single parsley plant I have in hydroponics, as it was growing into the lights! It was supposed to be a smaller variety, but it seems that every flat leaf variety I have grown has been a huge one. I might have to switch back to the slightly curly leaf variety, which keeps under control better.
Parsley harvest from one hydroponic plant - 1-10-21. I only cut the stalks sticking up to the lights! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[larry_stewart]

Today I trimmed that single parsley plant I have in hydroponics, as it was growing into the lights! It was supposed to be a smaller variety, but it seems that every flat leaf variety I have grown has been a huge one. I might have to switch back to the slightly curly leaf variety, which keeps under control better.
Parsley harvest from one hydroponic plant - 1-10-21. I only cut the stalks sticking up to the lights! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

That Parsley is so big, I thought it was Celery

 

[Kathleen]

How much space does your set up take inside?

 

[pepperhead212]

Kathleen, My hydroponics setup is two storage tubs, one 27 gal, and one 12 gal, sitting under four 4' bulbs - a T55, two T8s, and a newer LED. They are in my basement, on a pvc shelf, just over 4' long, and about 18" wide, though the tubs are wider. I get a lot of production from just single plants of most things, though with lettuce, I have to succession plant. With many things I can't use them fast enough, but I still have to trim them! Here is a photo today - you can see the mint and epazote need trimmed big time.
Hydroponics, 1-11 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[larry_stewart]

what's the distance of the lights to the plants ?

 

[pepperhead212]

what's the distance of the lights to the plants ?

The distance from the base of the plants is about 12" from the left tub, about 14" to the right. As soon as they reach the lights, I trim them. The varieties I grow are usually small ones, meant for container gardening, but they don't always grow that way. And some don't really have small varieties, I'm finding out with the flat leaf parsley!

 

[larry_stewart]

Do you grow anything indoors that requires you to pollinate? or all just herbs and leafy stuff? My 2 Meyer Lemon trees are flowering like crazy. They're supposed to be self pollinating but the only lemons I ever got were the ones that were on the plants when I bought them. This is the first time they are both flowering at the same time, so im pollinating and cross pollinating the two trees hoping for success. Only citrus I ever got that didnt come with the plant, was the loon Kaffir Lime tree I had. Guess it is self pollinating , cross pollinated with a Meyer lemon or just a miracle. That tree has since moved soon to greener pastures ( it died ).

 

[pepperhead212]

I don't plant (or bring) any flowering plants indoors, or at least ones that I want to flower! It's all herbs and greens. I remember when researching meyers lemons (I'm still considering getting a dwarf plant, to grow in a pot) I found out that they are self pollinating, but that they need to be hand pollinated, when indoors.

Strange thing - those kaffir lime trees I grow have never flowered! The original two I got from a farm in CA, and they were about 8" tall, and actually grafted onto some rootstock, I guess for farmers in FL and CA, like they do with most citrus. I eventually sold one, about 9 years old, then immediately started air-layering mine, and it worked in 7 months (I wanted a back-up, in case the old one died, though now I know, they are hard to kill). Yet I never got a single flower on any of them. No problem, really, since the leaves are the main flavor - the fruits zest is used, but not the juice, at least for cooking.

 

[larry_stewart]

(I wanted a back-up, in case the old one died, though now I know, they are hard to kill).

Leave it to me

I was surprised myself that it flowered, and then fruited ( actually several fruits). I think that took al the energy out of the plant, as it croaked soon after.

My Meyer lemons, standing maybe 1 .5 to 2 feet high have literally hundreds of flowers.

Last year I got 2 Cold hardy Yuzu Citrus plants ( hardy to 15F. I take them inside (in the garage)for the cold months anyway, as I dont want to challenge their hardiness. I got fruit out of them too. I think my Meyer lemons are just trying to make me look bad..

If they dont fruit this year, out of all the hand pollinating and simultaneous flowering, I may let them go the way of the kaffir lime. They are just taking up space for other plants id like to have indoors.

On a happier note, my Coffee plant flowered and I have about a dozen fruits ( 4 already ripening, see pic from a few weeks ago, fruit are a deep red now). Not sure how much coffee I can make out of 12 beans ( maybe a shot glass worth). But still cool to me.

 

[pepperhead212]

Larry, How large are the pots your lemon plants are in, and how long since you re-potted them? I'm thinking that maybe they are rootbound - this, or some other stress producer would be something that would cause the excessive flowering, like you are describing.

 

[blissful]

"On a happier note, my Coffee plant flowered and I have about a dozen fruits ( 4 already ripening, see pic from a few weeks ago, fruit are a deep red now). Not sure how much coffee I can make out of 12 beans ( maybe a shot glass worth). But still cool to me."
Do you have a cat? I was thinking Kopi Luwac.

 

[larry_stewart]

Do you have a cat? I was thinking Kopi Luwac.

I have ( or I should say had) 11 cats ( now only 7, been a bad 2 years). and thanks to the movie " The Bucket List", I'm aware of Kopi Luwac, and no thanks

Not to mention, I don't even like coffee so I can't imagine that changing my mind

 

[larry_stewart]

Larry, How large are the pots your lemon plants are in, and how long since you re-potted them?

As far as the pots for my Meyer Lemons, they are Just shy of 5 gallons. Its been awhile ( few years) since I've transplanted . They usually are outside from late April to Octoberish ( could vary one way or the other depending on the temps. They always doo their transition in the garage and used to go in front of a window, but my windows are not ideal so this year inside in my make-shift inside, artificial light, humidity controlled ' plant room. Usually they lose a significant amount of leaves during the inside transition. This year, one plant lost a bunch of leaves and some of the leaves turned yellowish. It has now stabilized and is looking healthy. the other plant lost no leaves and looks healthy. No insects that I can see, although the pepper plant that I overwintered last year, and am overwintering again, does have some insects on the leaves which I think I finally got under control. The pepper plant is now flowering. Last winter I got 3 peppers during the winter while it was inside, then once moved outside, took awhile to kick in, but produced a significant amount of peppers late in the season ( not sure of exact variety, but its those orange sweet mini snacking peppers).

 

[Kathleen]

Wow! Very impressive! Sadly, plants in pots rarely grow for me. I can stick them in dirt outside and they will thrive, but never in a pot in the house (except when I start seeds with a grow light.)

I'm in envy!

 

[bbqcoder]

I kicked off the 2021 growing season by starting my onions and leeks last week. Last year, I started early February and got fat toothpick sized seedlings. This year, I’m starting them earlier and will supplement them with grow lights if it’s too cold to put them outside.

 

[larry_stewart]

I kicked off the 2021 growing season by starting my onions and leeks last week. Last year, I started early February and got fat toothpick sized seedlings. This year, I’m starting them earlier and will supplement them with grow lights if it’s too cold to put them outside.

I've been planning a lot for next year. More than usual. Ordered just about everything I need to order as far as seeds and plants ( including onions and leeks).

I did start some things last week using the Winter sow method. First time doing it, so it is an experiment. Really nothing to loose than a bag of potting soil and an hour of my time. Onions were one of the seeds I did it with first time starting onions from seed, but only this one variety as I dont want to put all my eggs in one basket).

My compost tumbler has been filling up quite a bit, but not active until it gets warmer.

Still getting tons of catalogues. Im always looking fro unique things that I dont have room to grow, but I squeeze them in anyway and they dont usually do well, and negatively affect the adjacent plants that are too crowded as a result. But I never learn

I vaguely remember you using a bulb fertilizer for your onions . At what point do you used it ?

 

[blissful]

Bbqcoder, we used to grow the onions in flats in the house in a southern window. They aren't temperature sensitive after they germinate, so we put them in a raised garden with a cover frame for the last month, in their flats. The best ones, I'd put a dilute fertilizer on them in the last two months and they did get a little bigger than toothpick sized seedlings.


Larry, you are winter sowing! That's great, we found it very successful, last year 70 milk jugs and we had about a 95% success rate. After the snow and frost is gone, we'd check them for water every couple weeks, to make sure they weren't drying out. Most of the moisture stays in the jugs, just evaporating out the top (no cap).

Our basement is now staging the jugs and dirt. They'll come upstairs in boxes for water and seeds, labels and tape, then outside into the snow.

 

[larry_stewart]

Larry, you are winter sowing! That's great, we found it very successful, last year 70 milk jugs and we had about a 95% success rate. After the snow and frost is gone, we'd check them for water every couple weeks, to make sure they weren't drying out. Most of the moisture stays in the jugs, just evaporating out the top (no cap).

Our basement is now staging the jugs and dirt. They'll come upstairs in boxes for water and seeds, labels and tape, then outside into the snow.

Thanks to you for introducing me this method in a previous post
Its my first year , so I didnt go overboard, just have 8 jugs. If things go well, I'll increase the amount of jugs.

I just checked my notes from last year , and I got my lettuce, arugula and radishes outside in mid march ( 2 months away), so the countdown has already begun!!

This is the first year that I have a really solid game plan ( based on previous successes and failures) so I dont have to do as much last minute guessing as I have in the past ( which is part of he fun and challenge of gardening), bu tIm a planner so this makes me feel more comfortable and prepared ( assuming Mother Nature doesn't throw us a curve ball and send me scrambling to rethink my planning )

 

[blissful]

Last year we also started a spiral notebook, mapping out each of the gardens (often mapping them, changing plans, ripping them out, mapping them again), then followed up with what we dehydrated or canned to get a sense of volume vegetable/plant. It helps for rotating our tomatoes/peppers/potatoes/garlic, across the 3 larger gardens. The smaller lettuce/kale garden, gets real organized in spring (it's already planted from fall and in a cover frame), then we harvest until it's done, replant usually something new, a different lettuce or kale. It never has a consistent plan.


I'm happy for you. I hope it is wildly successful for you.