September update

With the month almost gone I thought I would give you an up date on some of the plantings.

Purple carrots experiment

Well this is an interesting one remember I had 2 different medium mixes  one with half river sand and half Per lite /Vermiculite mix the other half river sand and half potting mix,

Well as you can see the Per lite mix is well ahead of the soil one that's them in the top of the picture no deaths in the transplant and definitely stronger.

My Black Russian Tomato

This Tomato is looking very good so fare the test will be the fruit.

Hybrid Cucumber

Remember my little seedling that I started in a rock wool cube, well take a look at it now!

with ever flower a female flower you can see its covered in fruit this plant is unbelievable

This is Rossy and her mate who always help me in the garden

Not only do I enjoy working with this incredible growing system but I am able to share on a daily bases with other friends that appreciate this planet how lucky am I.

Bossy Boots rules over all even the bigger sulphur crested cockatoos

Mr Brown second in comand never squaks just sits and waits for food
most unusual for a sulpher crested, mote the brown front.

zucchini's producing very heavily and that's a spray on them not mildew

Ice berg lettuce experiment

This lettuce experiment should have been using the green Mignonette so I could compare growing time with my normal system but I picked up the wrong plants by mistake and did not notice until I had planted then so anyway decided to leave as is and see what happens.

Rhubarb

I am offen asked about growing Rhubarb and as I have mentioned before this is not the best climate, but never the less this is whats happening in my 12 inch single hydrotray. I have it on the ground and under my growing bench to keep it as cool as possible.

My Favorite Pink Pearl covered in Tomatoes as usual, sorry about the photo.

Rock melon in tub.

Sweet potato in tub of rcycled medium

I have used a couple of cheap plastic tubs for these but I should be using the single 12" but at $5 bucks at the reject shop with a few holes in them they are good value I will feed by hand when I mix each time.

Preparing for a Queensland Summer

From one extreme to another, this week every day in the mid 20s so its time to think about making sure I protect my garden from getting cooked before they get to the pot.

I thought I would carry out a test on what's happening to the supply tank temperature to start with so at midday I tested the tank surface and the contents of both a covered tank and an uncovered tank here are the stats.

Tank surface 35 degrees

Air temperature 23 degrees

uncovered Tank contents 24 degrees

Covered Tank contents 19 degrees

That's a difference of 5 degrees which is critical for the growing of some plants. As you know if the water temperature gets to high some plant tend to bolt and go to seed so this is important to me.
It was also interesting to note that the temperature in the Hydro trays and window box was about the same as the tank contents.

Surface temperature 35 degrees

With and withoutThermal cover I have used a 2.5 R rated Air Cell product.

                                      HYDRO TANK 

                               THERMAL BLANKET

A  GROWER GROUP member at Toogom making use of the same material on his tank.

Now my next thing to do was roll up my clear tarp on my Half Tunnel and replace with a white 50% horticulture cloth, this stuff is brilliant. Please avoid using the coloured cloths if you can, if you go back to an earlier blog regarding lighting you will see the results of using the wrong thing. Not everybody stocks this white cloth so email me and I can direct you.

50% white. It is woven so as to split the light to enhance the correct light for plants

The light inside is great and the Temperature has dropped by 10% immediately

KEEP COOL MAN.

Another New experiment

Just to prove how incredibly versatile this System is I am carrying out another experiment for you to follow.
This time I am using the MK2 12" Single Hydro Tray (injection Moulded)  This is a little different to the normal 12" Lighter in weight and a simpler design.

MK2 12" Single Hydro tray

What I want to do is duplicate what I spotted in a picture of lettuce growing on a rooftop in Malaysia I had notice that there was multiple plantings in a pot so here is my version.

Now I had a choice of using any medium from Per lite Mix to Potting mix but as I said to show you just how incredible this system is I am using no medium.

My lid to suspend the cups

I used an old plastic pot tray and cut 3 holes in it to take the drink cups, I used a bamboo stick wired to suspend the lid.

disposable drink cups 

hole drilled into the bottom of the drink cups, If I was to do this on a larger scale I would use a punch to make the holes it would be neater

Cups suspended in place

I am using Ice berg Lettuce tis time by mistake not sure how it will go.

I wash the roots clean and placed one in each cup for this experiment. If I had another Hydro tray I would have planted one straight from the punnet and left the soil on to compare. Why I did this was I want to see how it looks when I harvest I should be able to lift straight out and take to the kitchen.

Next Morning and looking good

WE will follow with interest.

A powerful message

I was sent this video from a man who cares about this planet as much as I do
and I want to share it with you.

                                                               it speaks for it's self.

Another good reason why you should be gardening with the Autopot system 

NO waist, NO run off, just caring for your health your future and the planet.

Purple Carrot experiment

I was talking to a gentleman at one of the markets who informed me he grew carrots in sand.
Now this intrigued me and on thinking about it I liked the idea as you should get good root development and less chance of deformity. So I have decided to carry out an experiment and will keep you posted re the results.
My test is to use one 10'' pot with 50% river sand and 50% Premium Potting Mix and the other one with 50% River sand with 50 % Perlite / Vermiculite mix. I have use seedlings so I can get good spacings and there is about 20 carrots to a pot.

Supposed to be very healthy

One with 50% Potting mix and one with 50% Perlite Mix

There is around 20 Carrots to each pot

The sand mix was great to work with, I like the feel of it and I can see me possibly adding sand to my mix for other plantings. I used a dibble to plant each seedling and tried to make the spacing even so each plant can expand to its maximum.  We will follow with interest.

How do I pot up ?

I get asked a lot on what medium should I use and how do I go about potting up for this system.


Now this is what I personally do you may have other ideas. As far as potting goes, first decide is it a shallow rooting plant and am I going to have it protected from the rain. If its shallow rooted then I am going to use the window box unit this gives me the best result. Think about it the system is a capillary action or bottom feed so if the roots can't get down to the main moisture supply then they are not going to do as well and I am into maximum growth giving me Fresh lush results.  I harvest Green Minuet lettuce in 3 to 4 week max. I prefer to use a premium potting mix in my window boxes as my medium, but this is how I go about it. 

Give the pots a good scrub I use a green pot scrubber to clean inside and out

Make sure you give the Root mats a good wetting and clean

I now add a few cm of 50/50 Perlite / Vermiculite

What I am doing here, is adding what I call a wick that makes sure there is good draw up of the nutrient and I am preventing the potting mix from compacting on the bottom of the pot which it can do, and another reason I like to use the potting mix is I get good retention of the nutrient and less Leching if out side so I have the best of both mediums. (I only use Perlite 50/50 for my Tomatoes if under cover)

Half filled and with a little slow release added

I now half fill the pot and add a few grains of slow release, it's just a general purpose one and quite cheep. Remember I want maximum growth so as the roots are on there way down to the supply I give them a boost so at no time is this plant undergoing any check that may cause it to weaken.

Compressing the medium

Fill the pot to the top,  now use your 2 thumbs working from the center pressing and compacting back to the outside of the pot and creating a cavity for the plant at the same time, the size of the hole will depend on the size of the seedling plug which I want to get as near as possible to the water line but at the same time not burying the plant when it goes in.

Use thumb and 2 fingers to insert the plant

After carefully removing the plant from the cell which should be moist but not to wet or it will break up as I am trying not to disturb the plant in the transition. I grip the plant with my thumb and 2 fingers and press downwards towards the base of the pot placing the root ball down at the food source, I do this quite firmly as I want my plant to be secure and with stand any wind or movement at the same time avoid planting to deep or getting soil over the crown. Now close in all around the plant add extra soil if you need to, I like my plants to sit up! it avoids the under leaves deteriorating when the plant gets more mature.

Planted up and on hold waiting for a window box 

Once they are all planted I will give them a good watering with a soft spray to get out all the air bubbles  making sure there is no soil stuck in the crown that could stunt the plant growth.

                                              AND THAT'S THAT

                                     the Autopot System will now take over

To give you a view of how the pot looks here is one tipped out.

A good example of how I pot up

Now as for my Tomatoes under cover I use the 50/50 mix in the 10" hydro tray, though I have my POT Tomato planted in Potting Mix, so I use both.

With the Per lite this is what I do!

Fill to required level

Remember to wet the root mat, then fill to what you think is about the right depth you will need so that the plant is sitting right. Carefully slid the plant out of its pot without removing any soil and gently place onto the Per lite Mix, now fill in all round, It is now important to give the pot a good wetting with either just water or if you have some Nutrient mix I will use that. I always get my stake or string organised at this point.

I use a thin bamboo garden stick with a cup hook screwed and glued into one end so I can hook onto my overhead support net.

Thought I would try the BLACK RUSSIAN

Look carefully at these 2 pictures the one above the medium level is over filled which is not necessary and can be prone to wind besides being a waist.

The below picture has the level adjusted and is more correct you would also be able to add a thermal foam cover if you needed to

Corrected Per lite level

                       And that's how easy it is with this system. NO tools required, NO digging, 

                                 THE WORLDS SIMPLEST GROWING SYSTEM