| Questions about gardening? Ask QMR!
Q: I've noticed webs and small creatures crawling on my indoor plants. I've heard of spider mites, and these sound like them. What can I do?
A: Seems like spider mites are the biggest problem pest for many indoor plants. Prevention is best, and there are several products that have proved useful for indoor garden pests. If you're seeing webs, you don't have a few bugs, you have an infestation. You probably have also noticed "stipling" on your leaves, small yellow spots where the mites have been feeding on your plants. In a severe case, plants can be killed, and mites can often slow growth as the plant is sapped of vital juices. First thing on your list of things to do is run to the nearest indoor gardening shop and by a pyrethrum bomb. Made from naturally occurring pesticides drawn from other plants, these bombs will whack all the living mites in your room. Most are designed to span about 3,000 square feet, more than enough for most rooms. Rumor has it that the mites will immediately start purging eggs when they first sense pyrethrum in the air, and in three to four days, these eggs will hatch. Now you need to apply an organic bug inhibitor like Azamax or Azatrol. Highly concentrted, both are OMRI listed (organic). These concentrates can be added to a reservoir, and sprayed directly on foliage. Nearly all such sprays are phototoxic to plants, so apply just before you turn off your lights. Use these sprays to discourage mites through the lifetime of your plant. Finally, you can help keep mites in check by allowing your room to cool down for a few hours each day. Mites thrive in hot and dry environments, so cool temps and high humidity can keep them down. Combined with Azamax or Azatrol, this environmental control is very effective. Interesting note... people who have problems with powdery mildew rarely have mites and visa versa. That's because PM thrives in cool, damp environs, so be careful not to overdo the chilling effect.
Q: I've heard that hydroton is reusable if it's properly cleaned. How do you clean it?
A: Remember that hydroton- expanded clay aggregate - is absorbent. While you can use a bleach solution to clean it, you stand the chance of having residue from the bleach affect your plants later. Your best bet is to use Ona Bleech, a two part cleaner that is designed for hydroponics uses, is non-toxic and doesn't harm plants, nor dry out your hands. These clay pellets are really quite inexpensive, and we prefer to not reuse them in hydroponics. Instead, we use the pellets for mulch in our soil garden and start out fresh to keep pests from transferring to our new hydro projects.
Q: Can I use blood meal and bat guano in a hydroponic system?
A: Yes, but you'll need to prepare a "compost tea" to keep the solids in these organic amendments from clogging up your pump, tubing and medium, etc. Instead of adding the amendments to your nutrient solution, try using a tea bag made from a coffee filter or other permeable fabric and leech liquid from the bag. Add the resulting tea. A better question would be "should I add blood meal and bat guano..." and the answer is probably not. If you are using a complete nutrient solution like Flora Series, all your plant's needs will be met. Amendments like blood, bone and fish meals or bat guano are best used in soil. Odors and bacterial development might cause more trouble than the benefit of these amendments in hydroponics.
Q: Will the Sunsystem HPS 150 light work during vegetative stage growth?
A: Short answer, yes. Long answer, you should add some flourescents to help out. We had to try out this economically priced light when it came available through our wholesale supplier. The HPS 150 is the answer to all those of us who don't want to use complicated component systems, hard wiring fixtures, and then pay extra for things that really should come with a light. Like the lamp. This light is 150 watt high pressure sodium, lamp included, that plugs into a conventional 120 watt outlet, and has a handy rocker switch on the housing. It doesn't heat up excessively as long as there is some ventilation. HPS lighting is best liked for flowering stages of plant life. Our experiment showed that dense busy growth resulted when only the HPS system was used. Nothing wrong with that, but if you want a little more leg on your plants, something that can help with flowering and fruiting spacing, you can always add some fluorescent lighting.
Q: What size net cups should I use for growing bell peppers?
A: Trick question? Much depends on your hydroponic system you are planning to use. For example, if you are planning a drip system, you can get by with a 6-inch bucket lid net pot that fits on the lid of a bucket. But if you are planning to use an aeroponic system, you can easily grow several plants in 3- to 3.75-inch net cups. There are a couple considerations... one, how much space does the plant's roots need. In Aeroponics, the roots are constantly soaked with nutrient rich droplets or vapor, so the growing medium is relatively unimportant. However, in an ebb and flow system, the medium needs to hold some moisture for the plants between wet cycles. In a drip system, same principle applies, but you can increase the length of time the pumps run. Less time means more medium, more time, less medium. Bigger net cup, more medium... smaller net cup, less medium.
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Quail Mountain Ranch Blog
April 10, 2010
By Bud Neville
On self-reliance
The other night, I was trying to convince my 10-year-old son that I could teach him much of true survival. You know, that kind of survival that is based on self-reliance. Build a shelter, forage for food, purify water.
"Yeah right. But that doesn't help me with my pikimin game," he said vacantly, while working some video game controls with thumbs and fingers.
In fact, all of my three kids knew the basics of wilderness survival by the time they were five years old. But aside from using a downed log and leaf mold for insulation in an impromtu shelter, or rigging a snare or fish trap, there's much more about survival than just existing for a few days without groceries or modern conveniences.
These days, surival can still be about quenching thirst, sating hunger and staying warm, but instead of making due for a couple days until your rescued, we are more concerned about existing and providing for our families after being displaced from our homes, jobs and without money to purchase food. These days, it's not about emergency survival, but survival in a tough economy when you are competing with more and more people losing their homes and jobs every day.
For those of us lucky enough to keep our homes, becoming more productive is vital. Gardening year round is a great way to help insulate yourself from high grocery bills and poor quality store-bought foods and medicines. Foraging- going afield in search of high quality wild foods- is another option. Fishing can be a fine sport. For a hungry family, a trout dinner might not be in the budget through a restaurant, but for the one who can catch them himself, fish dinners are cheap.
Hunting might not be for everyone, but wild game can't be purchased legally at any price, and is the healthiest protein available.
As civilizations progressed, humans evolved from hunter-gatherers to agrarian societies. Instead of moving when game became scarce, they settled on productive land regions and started growing crops and keeping livestock and poultry.
There are few survival projects as simple and productive as the laying hen. With garden scraps and the occasional purchase of feed, a chicken can provide dozens of meals per month. If you don't think I'm talking from first hand experience, here's some of the "hen fruit" entries that have been on our menu the past couple years: scrambled eggs, omelette, fried eggs, egg salad, hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs in rice, fried egg sandwich, egg salad sandwich, pickled eggs... not to mention all the recipes that are enhanced with an egg or two.
Raising a hog, a meat goat, a dairy goat, meat chickens-- not projects everyone knows about-- is the gist of survival these days. And it all boils down to productivity, and providing quality nutrition for less. Sure it's work; I'm reminded of two things. One, a favorite quote from a western novel: There's no one more desperate than a man who wants to work, but can't find a job. The other is daily thanks that I give to have a 7-day per week job that no one can fire me from. What's another hour or two per day building a system of self reliance that, should things change for me, will enable me to continue to feed and provide for my family?
See, it's all about self-reliance. When you don't need to depend on others for shelter, food and water, you will find a confidence that surpasses fears of job loss, homelessness and the possible collapse of society as we know it. Point is, better to be prepared and hope for the best, then bank on the government's handouts.
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Comments? Send to conrad@quailmountainranch.net
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