Anyone into gardening/growing your own food?

[Mr. Snuffleupagus]

Looks good man! Those ladybugs are pricey but nice. Hope you have a nice yield!

[sgreger1]

Looks good man! Those ladybugs are pricey but nice. Hope you have a nice yield!

Nah man it's like $7 for 1,500 ladybugs out here at my local nursery, and this is at the end of the season where everyone is buying them, they are sold out everywhere but this one little place I know of. Super cheap, I put em in the fridge for a few hours so they think it's winter and start hybernating (i.e. quit ****ing moving everywhere), then spray them with a half water, half soda mix in a spray bottle so that their wings get sticky and they can't fly for a day or two, then placed them right underneath my plants at dusk since they aren't very active at night. The idea is that they will make me some babies and call it home base and stick around. But if they all fly off, than it means I have a healthy ecosystem that is taking care of pests by itself so no big deal.

I am not sure if I have spider mites or not, I can't see them, but they are usually invisible too. I can see something may be eating my plants, causing spots, and I see little webs, but the webs may be from this little garden spider I let live in there since he eats all the flying shit.

[PipenSnus]

Interesting thread. I live in a tiny urban apartment, so I can't really do any gardening, hydro or soil. However, I just joined a local Community Supported Agriculture program. For a modest subscription, I get a box of fresh produce from local farms every week. Most items are grown organically, or at least chemical-free, and the pickup point is only a block away from my office. So I'm eating higher-quality, healthier food, and supporting local small farms at the same time. This week I got a head each of romaine lettuce and bok choy, a big bag of spinach, some baby green garlic, and a box of strawberries. Yum!

[sgreger1]

Interesting thread. I live in a tiny urban apartment, so I can't really do any gardening, hydro or soil. However, I just joined a local Community Supported Agriculture program. For a modest subscription, I get a box of fresh produce from local farms every week. Most items are grown organically, or at least chemical-free, and the pickup point is only a block away from my office. So I'm eating higher-quality, healthier food, and supporting local small farms at the same time. This week I got a head each of romaine lettuce and bok choy, a big bag of spinach, some baby green garlic, and a box of strawberries. Yum!

Thats really cool, how much does it cost? That sounds like a great program. I am trying to grow mine as organically as possible. I am using ladybugs and predatory mites (and soon maybe some praying manti) in order to control the bad bugs with beneficial ones. Hopefully that works, so far so good. ****ing ladybugs get into my house though. i don't know how. And they love light, so they keep getting trapped in my chandelier.

[sgreger1]

Ladybugs are mating like crazy!

[PipenSnus]

Thats really cool, how much does it cost? That sounds like a great program.

$18 a week. I think it's going up to $19 or $20 next month. Reasonable, if you've checked the price of organic produce in the grocery store. I've noticed that it gets balanced out by lower totals when I go to the grocery for non-produce items. The quality of the produce is excellent, too.

One nice thing about the local CSA, which a lot of other programs don't have, is that you can add on supplemental items like freshly baked bread, locally made cheeses, fresh pasta, and even grass-fed, chemical free meat to your weekly order, simply by going to their web site. You can also put your order on hold for a week or two, if you're going on vacation or something like that. Yep, I think it's a great program.

Sorry to hear about the ladybugs infesting your home. However, they are great natural pest controllers, and in many cultures, they are considered good luck charms. Hopefully, the benefits will outweigh the aggravations.

[sgreger1]

$18 a week. I think it's going up to $19 or $20 next month. Reasonable, if you've checked the price of organic produce in the grocery store. I've noticed that it gets balanced out by lower totals when I go to the grocery for non-produce items. The quality of the produce is excellent, too.

One nice thing about the local CSA, which a lot of other programs don't have, is that you can add on supplemental items like freshly baked bread, locally made cheeses, fresh pasta, and even grass-fed, chemical free meat to your weekly order, simply by going to their web site. You can also put your order on hold for a week or two, if you're going on vacation or something like that. Yep, I think it's a great program.

Sorry to hear about the ladybugs infesting your home. However, they are great natural pest controllers, and in many cultures, they are considered good luck charms. Hopefully, the benefits will outweigh the aggravations.

I love the ladybugs around, and they have done a good job of keeping the plants healthy and eating the bugs. I have a sac of praying 300 mantis nymphs that is about to pop this week, those are gonna clear house and eat everything hopefully (including the ladybugs probably lololol). The other day I was talking about pollination and my wife is like "I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU GO BUY A FCKING BEE HIVE OR SOMETHING..." lol


The CSA thing sounds awesome, I would do that if we had it here. We have a farmers market across the street every Thursday though so we usually just go over there. I am actually considering trying a more vegan style diet since I really need to get control of my health, and I am hoping I can eat more vegetables this year by getting into gardening and stuff. Hopefully I can pull it off lol.

[sgreger1]

My next project is going to be building a DWC hydro setup in a6x6 foot area just as is shown here:












I think I can make the whole thing for $300, minus the fancy wood etc.

[sgreger1]

Garden's doing good on week 5. All is well, insects are under control, no major problems yet. My flowers on the tomatoes keep dying and falling off but it may be because it's too cold for them to fruit right now. I have to build a net trelis for my cucumber plant to climb on since it's starting to get big now.

[squeezyjohn]

I'm very jealous of your climate! It's been a freezing cold start to May here in the UK - everything is staying really small or dying if it's planted out ... and the snails have eaten half of my tobacco seedlings :-(

[truthwolf1]

Does Cali get multiple blooms during the summer? or is it the same here in the Northern climate that plants get really big and then after the summer solstice which is end of June they start to bud???

[sgreger1]

Does Cali get multiple blooms during the summer? or is it the same here in the Northern climate that plants get really big and then after the summer solstice which is end of June they start to bud???

This is my first year gardening so I am about to find out. My understanding is multiple blooms. Mine have had flowers for weeks, but they just eventually shrivel up and fall off. Not sure if a polination problem, a nutrient problem, or just not the right weather yet. The lady at the gardening center says it's normal for them not to bloom yet as its still sort of cool here, 60's-70's. Tomatos prefer to live in hell, hot days and hot nights, so in an other month I should be seein some fruit hopefully.

[sgreger1]

I'm very jealous of your climate! It's been a freezing cold start to May here in the UK - everything is staying really small or dying if it's planted out ... and the snails have eaten half of my tobacco seedlings :-(

Hey how hard is it to grow tobacco anyways? I may throw some in next time around.

[sgreger1]

Also, I am about to start germinating some basil seeds in rockwool cubes and had some questions.
1) Should I just put 3 seeds in there, then wet the cubes until they are mois and let them sit in my little covered container until they sprout?
2) Do I need to soak them first?
3) At what point are they ready to transpant into my hydroponic system?
4)Are people feeding them nutrients, tap water, or RO water, PH adjusted water (If so, what PH)? I have an RO filter, should I use RO water that is PH corrected to 6.0? Should I add a drop or two of nutrient to the water first?

[voodooman]

glad to see things going well. for the seeds; no need to pre-soak. i'd give them light nutrients. transplant when roots start to come out of the rockwool.
i like that spiral pvc tube design you posted. don't think it would technically be considered dwc, (deep water culture) but rather more similar to ebb and flow. i may have to try that myself if i get ambitious.

edit: also, basil likes it hot like the tomatoes. so keep 'em warm.