Lynne's AG Activities

[scarfguy]

QUESTION???

When you remove a plant from an active garden, do you try to remove as much of the roots as you can? Don't the roots that are left simply rot and pollute the water with undesirable waste?

[lynnee]

Jun 30, 2022 16:48:48 GMT -5 scarfguy said:

QUESTION???

When you remove a plant from an active garden, do you try to remove as much of the roots as you can? Don't the roots that are left simply rot and pollute the water with undesirable waste?

I used to worry about that, but it doesn't seem to be a problem. When I remove a plant, I pull out as many roots as will come with the pod.

In this instance, I cut the roots where the two plants' roots had grown together in front. Then I pulled out all the remaining roots that were attached to the pod holding the plant that was coming out.

The roots left in are only a few that were entangled in front. I could have trimmed the remaining plant's roots more, but it hasn't been necessary in the past. Roots don't break down all that quickly in either water or soil.

[Shawn]

I love it Lynne.  I am going to look at my "sick" plant today and if still sick will be removing. I think I am going to plant the Mocha Swirl.


scarfguy, I usually just also pull out the plant after separating roots (or not).  Especially if you are tossing.  If you wanted to save it then I do the same but carefully.  es you will lose some root  but when careful you can do so without too much damage.

[lynnee]

The Green Zebra seedlings that went outdoors to an Earth Box are doing great. They are about 18" high now--maybe a little taller. All four plants have some blossoms starting near the tops of the vines. No wonder it was so hard to grow these indoors, when the blossoms start so high up!

The Earth Box is working really well. I haven't had to do anything other than add water to the reservoir every few days. This is especially gratifying, given that there have been wild swings in daytime temperatures in the last few weeks.

[Shawn]

Beautiful tomato plants

[lynnee]

At 30 days, the new lettuce garden is prospering! The pods, left front to right front, are Arugula, Romaine, Salad Greens, and Marvel of Four Seasons. It's a first, getting the MoFS going so well.  AG nutes only.

[Shawn]

They look fabulous

[lynnee]

Mocha Swirl Pepper is now at 154 days. It's been neglected, so I pruned it way back this morning.  Probably I took off as much as is still left on the plant--lower leaves nor receiving light, and top branches that were producing multiple close-together branches because they were so close to the light.

It had a lot of peppers on it! I think that the leaves are naturally variegated.

[Shawn]

WOW, you sure did get a lot of pepper!  Yum

[lynnee]

Never thought that I'd be able to replace retail cherry tomato purchases, even for a week. This is today's harvest from three tomato plants, and all of them still have a lot of big green tomatoes developing. That's my 12" giant mixing bowl; some of the tomatoes are an inch in diameter..

[Shawn]

Looks Yum

[lynnee]

The outdoor Green Zebra tomatoes are a disappointment. They are growing well in the EarthBox, but they're producing lots of leaves and relatively few tomatoes. (I've taken a LOT of stems and leaves off these four plants.)

The tomatoes that have set are ripening very, very slowly. Also, the plant stems have mildew, although it has improved since I pruned to improve air circulation. The box should probably be moved to the sunnier side of the patio, but that's a project in itself because the whole thing, although wheeled, is awkward and heavy.

This project makes me appreciate the big Farm Aerogardens all the more! You have to learn how to control the vines on indeterminate tomatoes if you grow them in a Farm, but you have more control of the nutrients (and can add more of the ones that support fruiting).

[Shawn]

That is a monster lynnee.  It does have pretty tomatoes.

[lynnee]

Today I terminated the Mocha Swirl pepper at 195 days. It had lots of blooms and foliage, but wasn’t setting fruit. It also had leaf curl and needed pruning to improve air circulation.

Tomorrow I’ll pickle the peppers; I have enough for at least one mason jar. I’ll start another after the Sweet Heats are done.

[lynnee]

Today I pruned three tomato plants that had grown lovely, healthy-looking canopies. Surprisingly, there were 36 ripe or harvestable tomatoes hidden inside those canopies!

It took me about 2 hours to prune the plants and install a second trellis level on each AG. On the left are Burpee Veranda Reds, and on the right is an AG Red Heirloom.



All three plants have been producing well. They have few blooms right now, largely because I neglected the pruning. They were maintaining leaves rather than producing blooms! Some of the blooms got lost in the pruning/trellissing operation, too.

[Shawn]

Still going after all this time.  Wonderful

[lynnee]

Here are my pretty little Park Seed Red Velvet tomatoes.

[scarfguy]

Good lookin' little guys!

[lynnee]

Our local weather has turned to Fall/Winter, so the outdoor Green Zebra vines (see above) are done. Today (10/27/22) I took them out of the EarthBox so they could go into the green waste bin for tomorrow's pickup.

The four vines produced more tomatoes than the single AG vine, but they took a lot of planting mix, fertilizer, and (especially) water. Water is a consideration because we've had so little rain this year.

I think that I'll grow these in the AG from now on. Probably I can improve production if I limit the plant to a single vine. That has worked really well with the Mini Munch cucumber!

[lynnee]

The weather turned cold here, quite suddenly, and I turned on the heat. Yesterday I realized that the ceiling furnace vent was still open in the room where most of my AGs are.

The AG Heirloom Red had a lot of canopy leaves that were dried out to the point of crumbling. I’ve never seen this before. The Red Velvet was starting to dry out on top.

The Heirloom Red is 330 days old, so may be near the end of its natural life. However, it sure didn’t help it to get heat from the furnace, even though it was across the room from the vent!