Almost never plant a garden before June here. Pretty happy with this lil garden. Radishes, potatoes, onions, lettuce, and kale are all up and a volunteer cilantro plant. Gonna plant squash in my old no till bed right in my driveway. Got a quarter of the big Ruth Stout garden planted yesterday too. 40lbs of seed potatoes are in. RD
In my opinion “organic” requires the microbial and insect life that’s in organic soil, so no way does hydroponics make the grade. We’ve had tasteless “organic” hydroponically grown tomatoes for years and now they’re selling greens that I won’t buy either. It’s just another ploy by the chemical companies to control the food supply. I don’t buy it and I push back every chance I get. They want us sick and dependent upon them and most people are...
Whatd you get a pear tree with different varieties grafted on there Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Hey organic gardeners!! wondering if someone could explain to me what’s going on here. My cantaloupe’s in the same hoop house are really happy and doing good. the watermelons look like this and I’m stumped... Only two things I can think is that maybe it can get to hot, or there’s a weed I’ve been dealing with for the last two years. Maybe it’s choking things out in this bed but not the other? many help is greatly appreciated. I planted 10 watermelons and these are my last 4. Don’t know if something is attacking them or what. They’ve worked every year up to this point. thanks for any help GCO!!
I can agree with you about the tomatoes or other vegetables that require fertilizer. It’s a pretty hot topic these days in the industry and I hear ya loud and clear. Now, if I’m growing micro greens with nothing but: Seeds Water Light I just don’t see any issues with this. If this is an issue that may take away my organic card, I probably have even more problems. No more SST. No more germinating seeds in paper towels or a glass of water. Even the malted barley guys will be in trouble since the seeds weren’t germinated in soil. My chicken feed is ruined now too. Or the other option is the combination of seed, water, light is a beautiful thing. My ears are open as to how this trio defies organic growing. Until then I’ll keep them in my organic arsenal. RD
Don't want to kick you in the teeth, but I woke up to almost 80 degree temps in the Mid-Atlantic! Gardening is full on! ☮️
The reason I asked is because in one of the job descriptions of this local micro green company that does hyrdo, mentioned one of the things this guy did was monitor nutrient levels. Now if you only need light, water, and seed, why is someone monitoring nutrient levels? Or maybe they are trying to push their greens to its limit? Idk. Beats the hell out of me. Also soil microgreens, according to Curtis stone, are superior in flavor and yields. I've been in contact with my contacts and their contacts and their contacts contacts lol. I'm slowly about to get in the business and prioritize that over my outdoor garden. I know way to many people in the restaurant industry in a major US city to not go for it. Hell my cousin owns a restaurant. Going to hit the ground running on a trial basis and see how it goes. My whole shop will be turned in to a microgreen setup before to long. Im tired of working for the man and getting taken advantage of. Like my parents, I'm taking matters into my own hands and making shit happen
Heck yeah man! I actually considered doing the same thing. My wife lived in Las Vegas and I really thought that between micro greens and worms I could make a run at it. I’m sure glad I didn’t do that! The restaurant industry there is annihilated. My wife has also been a manager at high end restaurants her whole life. From what she hears upscale restaurants will take the hardest hit from all this. People still need to eat but I don’t think this will be your market in the short term. Most microgreens take between 5-15 days. Tons of good Youtube vids from people in the business. Some of the water only guys use a jute mat to hold the seeds. How awesome is that? You could tear down and clean everything and be back in biz inside two weeks. Would love to hear how it goes for you. Best of luck on this! RD
First midnight snack from the garden. To be served w Ranch! Some sunflowers that I gotta find a home for.
Fortunately for my part of the states we haven't been hit to terribly hard by the virus and things shutting down. Restaurants here never totally shut down for more than a week. Your standard restaurants that is. Not sure about the high end restaurants in the heart of the city. Our chili's and restaurants like that have been doing takeout basically the whole stint of the virus. Now they're back to dine in. I feel like flats with holes would be recommended with soil grown greens? That's seems to be what I've gathered but there seems to be a lot of different opinions. I am ordering 5 flats for a trial run. Im going to reach out to some people I've gotten referred to and see if they're interested in some samples and what greens are most popular for them. If I can find about $20-30k of business I will start the grind. Good thing is I'm centered 1 hr between one of the biggest cities in my state and another top 10 biggest cities in the state which is nice. An hour east and a hour west I can handle to reach two big cities. I also would like to incorporate the outdoor garden produce as well if any of the micro green users have interest in fresh produce as well like a full service local provider. My brother in law is in law enforcement and im wanting to have something that me, wife, sis, and brother in law can run. Right now my sister and 3 nieces are 2 hours away at my parents for their safety because my b in law has made plenty arrest over the years and people know where they live. I don't want my family living with that concern of security. I have full support from my wife and parents. Wife especially as she is tired of the corporate world which helps me feel at ease with all the time I'm spending researching and finding the market.
FWIW... I’ve got a flat of micros going in my veg closet right now. Two inches of roots organic seems to be treating them pretty well!
The hoopper addiction is REAL! Here’s the second of three, need some end panels on it for sure. The wind picked up again yesterday and made that thing a wind tunnel!
That's beautiful my friend! I think most bagged soil like roots, sunshine #2 I believe, happy frog, should suffice. Also read where they do well in pure compost. So may be able to use some bought soil then start recycling it into the compost pile and pulling from the bottom of the compost pile. I believe I read where the 1" flats are better for soil. That may strictly be from a business standpoint vs personal use but I believe watching one of Curtis stones videos where he was saying that. Do you have holes in your flats for soil? I feel holes with soil would be better to not over water especially being available to water when needed.
To be perfectly honest very, very, few of us are growing indoors with soil. We are using soilless mixes. Sand, silt, clay and a small percentage of organic matter is truly soil. Here’s a quote from Penn State. “Before the mid-1900's, soil-based potting media was commonly used; however, in recent years, peat-based soilless mixes have become more popular.” Homemade Potting Media Most soilless mixes wether bagged or homemade are loosely based on the 1977 Cornell Peat-lite mix. To say we are soil growers is a misnomer that has perpetuated for a long time. Honestly it just sounds better and I use the term in my marketing knowing full well I’m not a soil grower. RD @mainah No offense taken with the big red X’s. You’ve been here a long time and I know you can do better than this. Turn those thoughts into words, I’d love to hear what you have to say.
So in other words true organic gardening is only obtainable outdoors in the earth with essentially water and organic matter being your only inputs. I guess you could bring native soil and all the organic matter you need to an indoor garden but it doesn't seem practical. In other words if i fill a raised bed with native soil, compost, organic matter, this is classified as organic growing
Nope. Shit now I’m gonna get another red X or two! Lol. Just because you are using a soilless mix doesn’t mean it’s not organic. Just because you are growing in soil doesn’t mean you are organic. Remember when Jerry posted “No chemical fertilizers or pesticides ever”? This rule can be maintained or broken with either medium. It’s a fun topic to hear others perspectives on if you ask me. RD
I don’t support the addition of hydroponic to organic standard because it doesn’t support organic microbial life like soil and some soil less mixes do. Any growing system that force feeds nutrients from a bottle is not really organic imho either, so don’t take it personal. To me organic means it’s part of the web of life.
With all due respect mainah, I've got a question regarding that statement. Doesn't all microbial life need water to thrive. Like the whole, was there life on Mars thing. Don't get me wrong. I also grow all organic. I dislike all the greenhouse grown and so called organic grow garbage the grocery stores offer. I think we all agree the USDA organic grown label means absolutely nothing. I also agree, grown without soil is not organic in my mind.