Showing posts with label seed starting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seed starting. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Perlite & Vermiculite
On Tuesday this week we talked a bit about perlite and vermiculite in seed starting mixes but I wasn't entirely sure what these materials were made of. So . . .
Perlite, according to Wikipedia: "Perlite is an amorphous volcanic glass that has a relatively high water content, typically formed by the hydration of obsidian. It occurs naturally and has the unusual property of greatly expanding when heated sufficiently. It is an industrial mineral and a commercial product useful for its light weight after processing." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perlite
And Vermiculite: "Vermiculite is a hydrous, silicate mineral that is classified as a phyllosilicate and that expands greatly when heated. Exfoliation occurs when the mineral is heated sufficiently, and the effect is routinely produced in commercial furnaces. Vermiculite is formed by weathering or hydrothermal alteration of biotite or phlogopite.[1]Large commercial vermiculite mines currently exist in Russia, South Africa, China, and Brazil." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermiculite
Also on Tuesday we started some experiments with different seed-starting conditions so that you can get a visual sense of what a healthy (and unhealthy) transplant looks like. We used two different planting mediums Metro Mix 300 from Sun Gro horticulture and Seed Starter 101 from Morgan Composting.
Metro Mix ingredients: "Vermiculite, bark, Canadian Sphagnum peat moss, coarse perlite, bark ash, starter nutrient charge (with Gypsum) and slow release nitrogen and dolomitic limestone." (I think I told you that this was a nutrient-less mix, but as I look at the ingredients, I see that I was wrong in this. It does have that "starter" nutrient charge.) http://sungro.com/products_displayProduct.php?product_id=104&brand_id=17
Morgan's Seed Starter 101 "contains products like worm castings, meat and Bone Meal, Feather Meal, and paramagnetic rock." http://www.dairydoo.com/Morgan_Composting/For_Greenhouses.html
We planted four tomato plants in each of three 4-chambered plastic pots with two chambers filled with Seed Starter 101 and the other two with Metro Mix 300. We put one pot under a grow light, one in a sunny (well it will be if the sun ever comes out) window, and the other in a shady area of the porch. We'll water them and see what happens!
Perlite, according to Wikipedia: "Perlite is an amorphous volcanic glass that has a relatively high water content, typically formed by the hydration of obsidian. It occurs naturally and has the unusual property of greatly expanding when heated sufficiently. It is an industrial mineral and a commercial product useful for its light weight after processing." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perlite
And Vermiculite: "Vermiculite is a hydrous, silicate mineral that is classified as a phyllosilicate and that expands greatly when heated. Exfoliation occurs when the mineral is heated sufficiently, and the effect is routinely produced in commercial furnaces. Vermiculite is formed by weathering or hydrothermal alteration of biotite or phlogopite.[1]Large commercial vermiculite mines currently exist in Russia, South Africa, China, and Brazil." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermiculite
Also on Tuesday we started some experiments with different seed-starting conditions so that you can get a visual sense of what a healthy (and unhealthy) transplant looks like. We used two different planting mediums Metro Mix 300 from Sun Gro horticulture and Seed Starter 101 from Morgan Composting.
Metro Mix ingredients: "Vermiculite, bark, Canadian Sphagnum peat moss, coarse perlite, bark ash, starter nutrient charge (with Gypsum) and slow release nitrogen and dolomitic limestone." (I think I told you that this was a nutrient-less mix, but as I look at the ingredients, I see that I was wrong in this. It does have that "starter" nutrient charge.) http://sungro.com/products_displayProduct.php?product_id=104&brand_id=17
Morgan's Seed Starter 101 "contains products like worm castings, meat and Bone Meal, Feather Meal, and paramagnetic rock." http://www.dairydoo.com/Morgan_Composting/For_Greenhouses.html
We planted four tomato plants in each of three 4-chambered plastic pots with two chambers filled with Seed Starter 101 and the other two with Metro Mix 300. We put one pot under a grow light, one in a sunny (well it will be if the sun ever comes out) window, and the other in a shady area of the porch. We'll water them and see what happens!
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
What to Plant? Crop & Varietal Selection
We ended up talking a quite a bit this week about how we select the crops and plant varieties to grow each year for our CSA members. We also touched on issues of genetically modified, hybrid, and organic seed production. So I thought I'd share with you a blog post I wrote last year on the farm blog regarding these issues. In it, I give some basic information about the difference between hybridization and genetic modification in seed production: Wonderful Seeds.
A few of you were also wondering how our crop list has changed from year to year. You can view last year's crop list on the Wonderful Seeds blog post I referenced above. And I'll paste our 2013 crop list at the end of this email. But in short, in 2012 we planned 31 different crops and 70 different varieties of plants within those crop categories. In 2013 we've planned 37 different crops and 108 different varieties.
I also want to recommend this video of a TED talk by Winona LaDuke entitled Seeds of Our Ancestors, Seeds of Life. In it, she talks about the relationship that her Anishinaabekwe people have with certain food plants that have sustained them for generations and how they've fought the attempts to genetically engineer and patent these crops, as well as why climate change makes it more important than ever that we preserve and encourage genetic diversity among food crops. It's a really good talk and just under 17 minutes--it's worth your time.
What LaDuke says about the relationship between certain plants and her people may sound a bit esoteric, but it absolutely rings true to my experience. When you work with plants year after year, spending your life energy nurturing them and helping them flourish so that they can in turn feed you and sustain your life, you develop an intimacy with them, an affection, maybe even love. You get to know what they like, what they don't like, and certain varieties become your favorites, become plants that you can't imagine going through a summer without. They become your relatives.
I have long-standing relationships with many of the varieties listed below, but others are new ones that I hope to begin developing friendships with during the coming year.
2013 Crop & Plant Variety List
Arugula: Standard Arugula, Astro
Basil: Genovese Compact Improved
Beans, Green Snap: Provider, Fortex
Beans, Yellow Snap: Pencil Pod Wax
Beets, Red: Red Ace F1
Beets, Golden: Touchstone Gold
Braising Mix: Johnny's Braising Mix
Broccoli: DiCicco, Green Magic F1, Piracicaba
Brussels Sprouts: Roodnerf, Gustus F1
Cabbage, Green: Gonzales F1
Cabbage, Red: Ruby Perfection F1
Radish: Mokum F1, Nantes Fancy
Chard: Ford Hook Giant, Peppermint Chard, Red Rubarb Chard
Cilantro: Calypso
Cucumber: Marketmore 76, Green Finger
Dill: Dill
Edamame: Butterbeans
Eggplant: Orient Express F1, Rosa Bianca
Garlic: Music, Persian Star, Thai Purple, Silverskin, Inchelium Red
Kale: Beedy's Camden, Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch, Lacinato, Sutherland, Madeley
Kohlrabi: Early White Vienna
Leeks: King Richard
Lettuce, Head: Winter Density, Forellenschluss, Jericho
Lettuce, Salad Mix: High Mowing's Gourmet Mix
Melons: Delicious 51, Hannah's Choice F1
Mustard Greens: Red Mustard
Onions, Red: Red Burgundy
Onions, White: White Sweet Spanish Jumbo, Candy F1
Pac Choi: Mei Qing Choi F1, Shanghai Green Pac Choy
Peas, Snap: Sugar Ann
Peas, Snow: Oregon Giant
Peppers, Anaheim: Numex Joe E Parker
Peppers, Jalapeno: El Jefe Jalapeno
Peppers, Sweet Bell: King of the North, Jupiter, Golden California Wonder
Peppers, Sweet Italian: Stocky Red Roaster, Marconi Red
Potatoes: Kennebec, Russet Burbank, German Butterball, Dark Red Norland, Yukon Gold
Pumpkins: Charisma F1, Jack O' Lantern, Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin
Radish: Cherry Belle, Pink Beauty, White Beauty
Scallions: Nabechan F1, Deep Purple
Spinach: Tyee F1
Squash, Spaghetti: Spaghetti
Summer Squash, Patty Pan: Y-Star, Sunburst
Summer Squash, Yellow: Saffron
Summer Squash, Zucchini: Black Beauty, Golden Zucchini
Sweet Corn: Bodacious RM F1
Tomatoes, Cherry/Plums: Cherry Roma, Mountain Magic F1, Chocolate Cherry, Esterina F1, Juliet F1, Hagan Little Yellow, Sungella, Gobstopper
Tomatoes, Slicing: German Johnson, Golden Sunray, Amish Paste, Prudence Purple, Cosmonaut Volkov, Defiant PHR F1, Ruby Gold, Big Rainbow, Boxcar Willie, Bobcat, New Girl
Tomatoes, Specialty: Green Zebra, Black Prince
Turnips: Hakurei F1, Purple Top White Globe
Winter Squash: Delicata JS, Sweet Dumpling, Waltham Butternut
A few of you were also wondering how our crop list has changed from year to year. You can view last year's crop list on the Wonderful Seeds blog post I referenced above. And I'll paste our 2013 crop list at the end of this email. But in short, in 2012 we planned 31 different crops and 70 different varieties of plants within those crop categories. In 2013 we've planned 37 different crops and 108 different varieties.
I also want to recommend this video of a TED talk by Winona LaDuke entitled Seeds of Our Ancestors, Seeds of Life. In it, she talks about the relationship that her Anishinaabekwe people have with certain food plants that have sustained them for generations and how they've fought the attempts to genetically engineer and patent these crops, as well as why climate change makes it more important than ever that we preserve and encourage genetic diversity among food crops. It's a really good talk and just under 17 minutes--it's worth your time.
What LaDuke says about the relationship between certain plants and her people may sound a bit esoteric, but it absolutely rings true to my experience. When you work with plants year after year, spending your life energy nurturing them and helping them flourish so that they can in turn feed you and sustain your life, you develop an intimacy with them, an affection, maybe even love. You get to know what they like, what they don't like, and certain varieties become your favorites, become plants that you can't imagine going through a summer without. They become your relatives.
I have long-standing relationships with many of the varieties listed below, but others are new ones that I hope to begin developing friendships with during the coming year.
2013 Crop & Plant Variety List
Arugula: Standard Arugula, Astro
Basil: Genovese Compact Improved
Beans, Green Snap: Provider, Fortex
Beans, Yellow Snap: Pencil Pod Wax
Beets, Red: Red Ace F1
Beets, Golden: Touchstone Gold
Braising Mix: Johnny's Braising Mix
Broccoli: DiCicco, Green Magic F1, Piracicaba
Brussels Sprouts: Roodnerf, Gustus F1
Cabbage, Green: Gonzales F1
Cabbage, Red: Ruby Perfection F1
Radish: Mokum F1, Nantes Fancy
Chard: Ford Hook Giant, Peppermint Chard, Red Rubarb Chard
Cilantro: Calypso
Cucumber: Marketmore 76, Green Finger
Dill: Dill
Edamame: Butterbeans
Eggplant: Orient Express F1, Rosa Bianca
Garlic: Music, Persian Star, Thai Purple, Silverskin, Inchelium Red
Kale: Beedy's Camden, Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch, Lacinato, Sutherland, Madeley
Kohlrabi: Early White Vienna
Leeks: King Richard
Lettuce, Head: Winter Density, Forellenschluss, Jericho
Lettuce, Salad Mix: High Mowing's Gourmet Mix
Melons: Delicious 51, Hannah's Choice F1
Mustard Greens: Red Mustard
Onions, Red: Red Burgundy
Onions, White: White Sweet Spanish Jumbo, Candy F1
Pac Choi: Mei Qing Choi F1, Shanghai Green Pac Choy
Peas, Snap: Sugar Ann
Peas, Snow: Oregon Giant
Peppers, Anaheim: Numex Joe E Parker
Peppers, Jalapeno: El Jefe Jalapeno
Peppers, Sweet Bell: King of the North, Jupiter, Golden California Wonder
Peppers, Sweet Italian: Stocky Red Roaster, Marconi Red
Potatoes: Kennebec, Russet Burbank, German Butterball, Dark Red Norland, Yukon Gold
Pumpkins: Charisma F1, Jack O' Lantern, Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin
Radish: Cherry Belle, Pink Beauty, White Beauty
Scallions: Nabechan F1, Deep Purple
Spinach: Tyee F1
Squash, Spaghetti: Spaghetti
Summer Squash, Patty Pan: Y-Star, Sunburst
Summer Squash, Yellow: Saffron
Summer Squash, Zucchini: Black Beauty, Golden Zucchini
Sweet Corn: Bodacious RM F1
Tomatoes, Cherry/Plums: Cherry Roma, Mountain Magic F1, Chocolate Cherry, Esterina F1, Juliet F1, Hagan Little Yellow, Sungella, Gobstopper
Tomatoes, Slicing: German Johnson, Golden Sunray, Amish Paste, Prudence Purple, Cosmonaut Volkov, Defiant PHR F1, Ruby Gold, Big Rainbow, Boxcar Willie, Bobcat, New Girl
Tomatoes, Specialty: Green Zebra, Black Prince
Turnips: Hakurei F1, Purple Top White Globe
Winter Squash: Delicata JS, Sweet Dumpling, Waltham Butternut
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