Baby its cold outside...

Welcome back to another episode of Lost In The Farmer’s Market where the winter doldrums may have slowed things down but we’re still making progress towards the next big thing. This week we have some interesting news in the form of a winter project that may surprise some of you out there. In agriculture we have two primary camps the Organic/GMO-Free group and the Conventional group and to that end there is a variety of products out there for both. It is not my intention to turn this article into a form of ‘us versus them’ diatribe, but rather to talk about the next logical step in the means to prove that those of us in the non-GMO/Organic crowd can do exactly the same thing as the conventional folks minus the petrochemicals and so on.

So for my winter project I set out to build a cloning system with the objective that it be as effective as a compact model that can be purchased through a commercial source. The two examples I evaluated as the basis for what I built can be found at the following two links.

http://www.wormsway.com/en/SSSC312

http://generalhydroponics.com/site/index.php/products/systems/eco_grower1/

The price increment on these models would be prohibitive for the home grower and since one might typically use a thin solution of plant hormones to encourage root growth well the organic label is then in question. Plant hormones used to promote rooting have to be extracted from a plant chemically, purified then suspended in a solution of some sort, or flat synthesized in a lab somewhere. The powdered rooting hormone found at every garden center is basically a thin rooting hormone held in pure talcum powder, whereas the commercial grade rooting hormones are in liquid suspension. I should mention here that a standard jar of powdered rooting hormone cannot be used with ‘wet’ propagation methods and costs around $6.00 for a small jar with a few ounces of powder that may last a home grower a few years. When you get into the liquid rooting hormones such as Dip ‘n Grow, two ounces can cost up to $15.00, and the procedure for use is very precise. 

To get around this, we at LITFM constructed a Hydro-cloning system from components that one could buy off the shelf at a garden center, supermarket and pet store. As you can see in the below picture our cloner is built out of a 1 gallon plastic food grade container with lid, a 44 Gallon per hour air pump, a coil of flexible air diffuser tubing, 3’ of 3/16^th fish tank airline tubing and, six net pots and six neoprene plugs.  In terms of tools I only needed a small sharp knife and a wax pencil. Estimated construction time was about 30 minutes

All the parts you need, total cost is about $30.00.

The first step was to shape the air diffuser coil in the bottom of the reservoir, you would want it to follow the outer edge, and coil evenly inward to spread the diffusion effect so the water in the reservoir has no stagnant spots. I chose the flexible one because it can take the shape of any container and be adjusted on the fly if needed. A large circular air stone could also do the same job.

It looks like there’s too much air diffuser but the thing wont bubble over so it works.

The next step is to cut the hole in the lid for your airline to go through so you can position it to your liking. I did not completely cut it out initially so while I did step three it wasn’t in the way.

Yes, this food grade container was a leftover from a holiday party…you can guess what was in it.

Using one of the 2” net pots I used the wax pencil to mark where I cut holes in the lid so the net pots could be placed through the lid to dip into the reservoir.

Theoretically the net pots could be any size you want, I chose 2” for space-saving purposes.

As you can see the cutting is done in this case with a small pocket knife, but a razor or exacto knife would work equally well. Just remember to take your time and be safe while doing this.

This was the slow part of the project.

Presto! The perfect seating for the 2” net pots.

Cutting out the holes for the net pots means cutting inside the marked line so the pots sit on top of the lid and do not fall in.

It is compact enough to sit on a dining room table and quietly do its job.

You can see all six net pots seated properly, and next the little flap near the airline is cut and this completes the body of the Hydro-cloning system. This is a simple little system that produces six clones at a time and cannot have its water go stagnant. The container is food-grade so there will be no worry of the plastic leaching anything into the water, and the best part is that even if out in the lab its mosquito proof because of the diffuser.

Um, for note folks this is NOT a Skittles commercial!

The last step was to insert the Neoprene cutting holders, with trimmed cuttings in them and to turn the system on. The air pump buzzes but is barely noticeable the gentle bubble of the diffuser putting tiny air bubbles through the water in the reservoir is more noticeable. I might add at this stage I added a gallon of distilled water (personal preference on this part) and well you can see the final product in the next image.

Yup here’s what it looks like in operation.

The first trial plant is a Heart Leaf Philodendron - Philodendron scandens which by philodendron standards is slower to root in water but far more tolerant of abuse then your regular philodendron. The thing is I know no matter what it will root and having grown and sold this species before the time frame for it.  The plan is to run five trials with the system using an increasingly difficult set of cuttings. You can bet the results will be right here when available.

So there you have it another wintery episode of LITFM. This early post comes on the heels of our second frozen precipitation event of the year which means more delays in production schedule. It sort of figures that I get a LITFM project done on time and it snows which may prevent next week’s topic. Either way check us out next week for more wintery mayhem. Don’t forget the Fayetteville City Market is still going on Saturdays between 9:00am and 1:00pm in downtown Fayetteville on 325 Franklin Street.

Thank you for reading!

In Winter's Grasp

 As always in February there is some sort of winter precipitation event and this year we got to the third week before we got hit. These pansies will recover, but while partially encased in ice they serve as a metaphor for that sort of crazy impatience gardeners get in longing for the spring.

Some azaleas were not so fortunate just a few feet away, encased in ice I cannot count on this area not being damaged.

In a repeat of last yer icicles form a neat trim on the gutter of the rear of the house.

The white pines are used to being treated harshly by old man winter, you could say they relish it as though it were a sick pleasure.

Figs were encased also and only the spring will determine if they survive this brief encounter.

Looking like some crystalline spider, or a mass of strange coaxial cables this muscadine grape stands out as a delicately frozen ice sculpture.

I wonder, will this juvenile long leaf pine survive being frozen solid and  flattened to the ground due to the weight of the ice that suffocates it?

What is this? I don't even!

As much as the white pine can scoff at winter's abuse someone had to take the retaliation, here one pine has shed a large number of branches on one facing, a tragedy of sorts.

The heavenly bamboo did alright.

That's all for this week, LITFM will be back next week with a serious indoor project in progress that all of you out there might be very interested in. Check back soon!

Delayed part II

Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmer’s Market. As promised this week has a double post and this post is the second of the two. If you checked out our last post you would know that the double post is due to the semester starting and for at least the first week my schedule being thrown into pure chaos.With that said we promised you a look at the test garden labs and what we are doing to keep the local food train rolling all winter long.

The crops for sale and the most delicate plants are protected with a plastic sheet and grow under a fluorescent grow lamp to compensate for any lost lumen hours..

So this is the 'wind proof' area, it's purpose is to shelter the more delicate plants, while allowing them them the maximum amount of lumen hours so their growth is not stunted. As I always say, it is the drying effect of wind that causes the worst frost damage.

It's worse then that he's dead jim!

This is what I call an effective crop loss. All of these Japanese Red Giant Mustard plants were outside when the temperature dropped to 14 degrees for that one night about two weeks ago, and most of them are still alive. Unfortunately I cant bring them inside due to limited space so I brought in just a limited few and all of the lettuce and radicchio.

The radicchio seems oblivious to having been frozen or frost while the lettuce looks like hell but is recovering.

Much to my surprise on that 14 degree night all of the radicchio and lettuce froze solid, but the radicchio thawed and kept on as though nothing happened while the lettuce lost most of it's leaves and got a nasty aphid infestation. So I fertilized all of these guys last week, cut off all the dead stuff and used insecticidal soap to hose down the lettuce and just yesterday when I took this picture they seem to be recovering (lettuce) just fine.

These Red Giant Mustard plants were untouched by the cold and were brought in.

To the left of the plastic tarp in the earlier section you have two of the three intact red giant mustard plants. The third was left outside due to a fire ant infestation. In front of the Mustard plants is a semi-hardy type of ice plant and a Cuban oregano. In the two pots to the right are a pair of Collard plants.

Below the plastic bench are two more pots!

These two pots once contained Red Giant Mustard Plants but the cold killed the prior occupants and so I replanted with two surplus Savoy Cabbage Plants. This of this as a means to have a later harvest, they are positioned under the grow lamp to give them a bit of a boost. But finally we have the last picture, of the one plant that scoffed at the cold and refers to the winter as a "Frigid Wuss!"

Oh snap! Winter got called out by the Pansies!

Wow....winter, you got punked by a bunch of pansies, if that was me I'd be too humiliated to go on and would let spring take over.  That right there is super cold, but true. That is right folks despite the name pansies are tough little cold season annuals and can withstand being completely frozen plus they are edible, the flowers can go into salad. So yes your garden can keep going cold or no and this brings us to the end of a fill-in episode of Lost in the Farmer's Market. Considering the snowy eather we are soon to have in certain parts of the east coast please everyone think rationally and if you are in a area about to be hit; please drive safely. 

Thank you for reading and remember, I am at the Fayetteville City Market barring wet weather on Saturdays between 9:00 am - 1:00pm which is located at 325 Franklin Street in downtown Fayetteville in the front parking lot of the Fayetteville Transportation Museum.

A slight delay!

Welcome back to a slightly delayed episode of Lost in the Farmer’s Market. As some of you might know, the semester started so rapidly that the posting of this episode is almost two weeks late. With that said expect a double post, as this week’s post will be coming sometime this weekend, and then all will be up to date. Now in regards to the topic at hand, this week’s topic is about the compiled information for the 2014 growing year. In reviewing and organizing the data I was able to immediately tell it was a tough year by more than one criterion. For instance there are no recorded harvests in January, February or March. But then we knew it was a bad winter and it is noted on record that I had an 80% crop loss of all crops planted in the ground. Potted crops struggled and were brought into the lab repeatedly and well 2015 seem to be more of the same. So the first record of note for 2014 is for the most productive plants by total weight of harvest.

Top 5 Most Productive – 2014, by weight

11.      Fig, White Ischia, 4 pounds, 11 ½  ounces.

22.      Fig, Brown Turkey, 2 pounds, 5 ½ ounces.

33.      Blueberries, Rabbiteye, 2 pounds, ¼ ounces.

44.      Tomato, Cherokee Purple, 1 pound, 7 ¾ ounces.

55.      Mustard, Japanese Red Giant, 1 pound, 6 ounces.

2013’s winning top producer, the red giant mustard had a bad year but somehow held onto a top five productivity spot by weight. However the unusually wet weather seems to have been a great help to blueberry and fig crops. Interestingly the Cherokee purple tomatoes despite being smaller than normal out produced all other types (22 varieties grown in 2014) by weight. It seems 2014 was made of surprising twists and turns as far as crop productivity was concerned. However one must also consider the numerical amounts of fruit produced.

Top 5 Most Productive – 2014, by Quantity

11.      Blueberries, Rabbiteye - 375 Berries.

22.      Ground Cherry, Cossack Pineapple - 181 ground cherries.

33.      Tomato, Mexico Midget – 169 tomatoes.

44.      Fig, White Ischia – 85 Figs.

55.      Fig, Celeste – 67 Figs.

I am sure that Red Giant Mustard would have made the quantity-based top five easily however counting how many leaves you pick is a bit much to keep track of. I can safely assume there were more leaves picked than blueberries simply because of the sheer amount of leaves it tends to take to have a pound of greens for cooking. Either way, the blueberries won the confirmed quantity count followed by the ground cherries and last year’s tomato quantity favorite Mexico Midget. White Ischia figs make up the fourth spot while celeste figs lacking the weight of the brown turkey figs take up the fifth spot for quantity. But of course, these two charts only tell part of the story.

Most Successful Non-Perennials – 2014 (by quantity)

11.      Tomato, Mexico Midget – 169 tomatoes.

22.      Ground cherries, Cossack Pineapple – 181 ground cherries.

33.      Tomato, Brown Berry – 48 tomatoes.

44.      Tomato, Blueberries – 43 tomatoes.

55.      Pepper, Yellow Devil’s Tongue – 32 peppers.

So now it’s starting to show the real demographics of success, we now know what did best, produced the most and now the final aspect of this survey of our records is something LITFM has never posted for public scrutiny before. At the Farmer’s Market every week your purchases were recorded and noted, and the following indicates what you preferred the most and thus will be returning in 2015.

Best Sellers – 2015

11.      Aloe

22.      Assorted Basil

33.      Lavender

44.      Artemesia

55.      (Tie) Rosemary, Red Giant Mustard and Stonehead Cabbage.

66.      Irish Eyes Rudbeckia

77.      Golden Rudbeckia

88.      Parris Island Cos Lettuce

99.      (Tie) Rouge D’hiver Lettuce & Sage

110.  Sweet Banana Peppers.

I have to admit, the interesting thing about the above record is how well all of you out there responded to the offering of Aloes of assorted types, and that of this entire list half of it is comprised o of new offerings for 2014. I might add your response to my offerings of fruiting shrubs was also very encouraging, who knew the Chicago Hardy Figs and Dwarf Pomegranates would be gone within a week of their initial offering?  I can assure you that 2015 will have some real surprising additions and a number of your requests have been taken into consideration for this year. With any luck the remainder of January and all of February will not be nearly as bad weather wise so far we’ve already had our first real deep killing freeze with that weather about a week ago where temperatures hit 14 degrees with wind chill. Honestly the test gardens still have damages from that and I am currently trying some new and inventive means to keep the crops alive as February is typically when we have been getting additional freezes and snow.  However know that things will keep rolling here and in the next installment you get to see some of what I am doing to keep the crops alive.  

In the meanwhile this Sunday is the Sustainable Neighbors Yearly Seed Swap event. The event is happening on Sunday January the 25^th at 2:00pm at the Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex. Also, I am still at the Fayetteville Farmers Market on Saturdays between 9:00am and 1:00pm however due to the bad weather this weekend I might not attend, hopefully the weather will cooperate next weekend. 

P.S. Stay tuned however this weekend's normal update is coming soon.