A Good Queensland Grow House

I have just had the chance to get a couple of photos of a grow house that an Autopot user has made for them self, the best part is they have applied all the basic things that make growing easy here in the Queensland climate. They have use the WHITE 50% Horticulture cloth ( NOT GREEN) which creates a great light but keeps that midday burn under control. One side has a clear plastic covering which is actually a tarp that you can buy, it is 4x3 meters and is very well priced this gives a bench area that is protected from the rain and is a little warmer for growing the Tomatoes all year round etc. The other side is open which allows good ventilation as well as pollination
The current planting are doing extremely well, the reason they moved to Hydro Gardening was because of continuous wet ground. under the benches are several pots of herbs etc which are feed manually when the gravity tank is refiled this makes sense keeping the good Hydrotrays for main crops.

This white cloth produces great light

Good ventilation

One side with the strong almost clear  plastic tarp.

A New Chalange

I thought I would grow a real live Orchid in My OKID Pot. Another brilliant invention from AUTOPOT SYSTEMS. I have been displaying this pot at my Mobile workshops empty so thought it would be more meaningful if people could see an Orchid thriving with their own eyes because some of the Orchid fans have some very set ideas and like everything with the Autopot system it bucks the normal thats why I love it so much. This briliant pot takes care of all the water and nutrient needs and may never need to be repotted for up to 10 years try telling that to an Orchid Buff. If you want to know more call me or check out Orchid growing in the Autopot web site www.autopot.com.au 

I have use a lovely Cymbidium already flowering. YES I repotted even though it was flowering and I had to trim back the rootball to make it fit and according to every thing on the net thats a NO NO.
I have used rockwool in the cavity of the inersleave as suggested in the instructions that come with all the Autopot products.

The pot holds 3lts of water released through the Smart Valve and I have included 3ml of Autopot high performance plant food in total. I will keep you posted on its progress.

Ginger and Autopot

You may remember a little time back I acquired a couple of pots of Thji Green Ginger from the Nursery they where busting out of there pot so I replanted into the 10in double Hydrotray System. Well as the have died of for the winter  I have lifted them to see what sort of results I have achieve to date.

Zingiber Officinale Thji Green Ginger

Ginger drying in the Sun.

I will replant in the spring but this time I will use a smaller pot, I feel they need to be keep slightly under pressure to multiply better. Only one way to find out.

June roundup

With the shortest day behind us the days can only get better for gardening here is a round up of a few new and old plantings.

Some of the 18 baskets on a school walkway starting to flower

New planting of green beans

Cascading Petunia in hanging  basket.

Rainbow spin age in widow box 

Cascading Petunia

New planting of broccoli

Roma Tomatoes

A Pot variety of Tomato

This is the dwarf pot tomato not so little

A cutting from the Roma Tomato

If you let the lateral that you normally pinch out grow to about 100cm then cut with a sharp blade dip in rooting hormone and make a hole with a dribble then plant, don't push it into the ground or you will damage the edge in this case I just used normal potting mix and watered from the top with Nutrient mix
I have just replanted into the Hydrotray as a replacement I have several other waiting to plant out.

A quick update.

With 3 sunny days in a row things are growing great.
Had 3 or 4 Kifla potatoes in the pantry that started to sprout so brought a floppy plastic tub drilled a few holes in it and put all my old potting mix that I had from a previous planting and popped in the spuds.
Each time I refill my Nutrient tanks I pour a little by hand on the potatoes and as you can see they are doing fine along with a few other new plantings which are connected to the Autopot system.

Kifla potatoes in tub.

Mixed Herbs in  Window box

                          Ivy Geranium's ready to burst into flower

                 Autumn sunlight bouncing of my Pink Pearl Tomatoes

A new addition to the garden

I thought I would celebrate the first day of winter by adding a fruit tree to my Autopot Hydro Garden.
I decided on a Dwarf Maderin and its planted in a single tray 12inch Hydro pot. I have about 10 mil of Per lite Mix on the bottom and I also added a little general slow release fertilizer just to support the roots on there way down to the supply base. I will keep you updated on its progress remember the 1st of June was plant day. This big 12 inch single hydrotray opens up a lot of great possibilities in growing Dwarf fruit trees in limited space areas or people that rent or plan to shift, very easy to take with you.

Mandarin

It is just hook up to my general supply line and not getting any special treatment.

Just for the record I have included what I use to feed my garden.

To reduce freight cost I buy Powered Nutrients and mix as follows 1 kg of A to 10 Lt's of water and the same with the 1Kg of B I now have 2x 10 liters of concentrate that will last me over six months at a normal rate of 5ml of A & B per liter of water in my tanks, in the hot weather I might run ever second refill on just straight water as it is mostly evaporation that is being used up and not nutrient.

A new mixed batch ready for usage.

And this is a sample of what you end up with.

Bok Choy

My Favourite Tomato's