Water spots on your plant leaves? Clogged mist heads? Fertilizers don't seem to go far as you think they should? Let's talk calcium carbonate!
I spent some time today cleaning out my Fre-Flo water conditioner and I wanted to share a bit about irrigation water and fertilizer utilization in #garden and #nursery situations.
This device here takes the calcium ions in our water and carbonate ions in the water and combines them back together into a form of calcium carbonate crystals called vaterite, which is like talc powder when dried.
Since the ions are combined into the crystal and remain crystalized in the water, they won't bond with other ions in the water or soil.
This helps prevent a few things for us in the garden:
- the calcium and carbonate ions from bonding with other fertilizers, helping to lessen the amount of fertilizers needed and improving the efficiency of microbes in the soil getting needed nutrients to plants
- helps us from getting water spots on our plant leaves in the nursery and clogging irrigation parts with minerals. The vaterite will wash off in the rain rather than form crystals on the plant surfaces.
Incidentally we're using this to treat all the water in our house/farm since it's in-line with the line from the well. So this helps with clogged shower heads and sinks and water spots as well as making soap go farther.
Inside this device is a core which is coated with a catalyst to combine the calcium and carbonate ions into crystals. The rough surface helps add turbidity to the water to ensure the ions come in contact with the catalyst:
The core fits into a pipe which goes in-line with your water line, so it doesn't impeded the flow of water:
This gets cleaned out 2-3x per year with some CLR (Calcium-Lime-Rust) solvent just to clean up the catalyst. There are no filters or consumables other than the CLR cleaner.
Here is the website for the company describing the science behind it:
https://freflowater.com/the-science-of-fre-flo
I learned about the effects of calcium carbonate salts especially with respect to soil science (fertilizers) from John Kempf via Matt Powers Regenerative Soil Science course. Here's an article on the interaction of hard water specifically calcium carbonate in agriculture:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-chemistry-of-bumper-crops-excerpt/
#plantstr #gardening #permaculture #grownostr
Are you using any KNF/JDAM preps?
I wanted to share some techniques and success I found with bare root trees, specifically shipping for your #nursery or #garden.
I had dug up this catalpa tree for my mother-in-law a few months ago when she visited.
In order to pack it for her to take home, I had soaked some shredded cardboard in Terraganix EM-1 microorganisms. The EM-1 has some lactic acid bacteria, brewer's yeast, and purple non-sulfur bacteria in addition to other microbes. I mixed it 50-50 with some blackstrap molasses to activate it.
I then packed the roots in the cardboard, and left the top of the tree out of the bag.
This is a few months later; she hasn't had a chance to plant it yet, but the tree is doing pretty well in this cardboard-soaked-in-EM-1 mix:
Here's a closeup of the bag. Looks like the cardboard is starting to break down in here.
Not ideal that the tree isn't in the ground yet, but if you need to preserve some plants until you have time to plant them, this works pretty well for me.
I can share some other resources on Effective Microorganisms (EM) if you're interested.
The other thing cool about EM-1 was discovered after the Fukashima nuclear plant accident. At a nursery in Japan, they were testing the crops after the fallout to make sure that there were not radioactive elements present in the food.
One of the fruit nurseries does a soil drench and foliar application of EM-1 to build up the biology in the soil and on the leaves.
They found that the fruit from this nursery had very little or no contamination from the radioactive elements.
My understanding is the EM-1 helps establish good fungal and bacterial presence in the soil and on the leaves which forms a sort of protection from the radioactive elements. Instead of taking in the raw element as ions, the fungi is preventing the plant from taking them in as the plants are relying on the fungi to provide them with what nutrients they need, and not just taking them from the soil.
#grownostr #permaculture #gardening #plantstr
Yes you can save it.
This is what I'd do:
First take some weight off by cutting off some of the branches that are putting the most stress on the tree.
Then I'd pull the wound close togetherwith a ratchet strap up a little bit on the 2 main branches.
Then wrap the wound together to get a tight fit with another strap, tight as you can.
Both of these straps will stay on at least until next spring if not longer. You want that wound to heal good. If anything leave the upper strap on longer so it can heal longer and release it slowly over a few months so the new growth learns to take the weight next year.
In the spring prune the larger branches back so there is not so much weight out so far. Knock some of the fruit off too as it is healing so it isn't so heavy.
It's a good looking tree! You have a good start to shaping it.
Yes.... I buy wholesale, pot them up and sell. I get the blueberries from Hartmann in Michigan.
https://hartmannsplantcompany.com/wholesale/shop/
I got them for $2.90 each, with shipping it came to $3.92 each from Michigan to New York. 6 boxes of plants total. I got the 1 liter 6-12 inch size. They come in 4 inch peat pots and I pot up to trade 1's.
The smallest ones were 8 inches... some were 18"!
I do prune the larger ones for the customers too as I pot them.
You have to order 100 plants minimum to shop their wholesale site.
Blueberries are GONE! Time to get some more in! Next year I'll get 200 at a time.
Made just shy of $400 so far today in about 3 hours. Most people spent $75 or so. A couple people were driving in from an hour away.
Also got compliments on the plants, info sheets, knowledge and organization.
#nursery #permaculture #plantstr #business #grownostr
I have 8 people coming at one time tomorrow.... should be fun!
In the spirit of keeping you all up to date with what I'm working on in the #permaculture #nursery, I wanted to switch it up a bit and talk business, specifically, advertisements: What the ads look like and what they are doing.
My goal was to sell some plants with berries on them, to show that they will give you berries this year.
The next ad (Early Summer rather than Late Spring) will hopefully have ripe berries!
Here is my ad:
Plant Your Berry Garden Now: Final Spring Sale on Blueberry, Blackberry, Strawberry, and Raspberry Plants!
Don't miss out another year! Come now and get some plants so you can enjoy fresh, home-grown berries from your backyard in just a few weeks.
These blueberry, blackberry, strawberry, and raspberry plants need to be in the ground in the next couple of weeks. Act fast so you can choose from our selection of plants with berries ready for this year!
I checked the big box stores, and berry plants this year are $15 each. Honestly, they don’t look too hot.
Why pay that when you can get ours for just $10 each, or even better, 3 for $25? The exception is strawberries, which are cheaper: 6 plants for $10.
Invest in your garden this year and enjoy the rewards for years to come! These berry plants will pay for themselves with delicious, fresh berries in just a year or two. Plus, they're easier to care for than most vegetables and come back year after year, making them a perfect addition to any garden.
And if you have a problem with any of our plants in the next year, just bring them back and get a new plant.
We have different varieties of each plant to keep you in berries from mid-June until frost.
Arrange a time to come by and pick out your plants today… limited stock available. We’re open by appointment in Scottsville, NY. Please DM or text me for more information!
I'm trying to use the 4U's framework for copywriting.
(From ChatGPT): The 4U's of copywriting are a framework used to create compelling and effective marketing copy. They are:
Urgency: This creates a sense of urgency that motivates the audience to act quickly. Phrases like "limited time offer" or "while supplies last" are common examples. (i.e. Plants need to go in the ground in the next few weeks)
Uniqueness: This highlights what makes your product, service, or offer different and better than the competition. It emphasizes the unique selling points that set you apart. (Cheap plants - $10)
Ultra-Specificity: This involves being very specific about the benefits, features, and outcomes of your product or service. Clear and detailed information helps build trust and credibility. (Specific about our pricing)
Usefulness: This focuses on how the product or service will be useful to the audience, solving their problems or fulfilling their needs. It highlights the practical benefits and advantages. (Plants will pay for themselves in a few years).
I posted the ad to Nextdoor, Craigslist, and Facebook.
Facebook got by far the most number of replies (and the most number of questions) Most people are interested in 1-3 plants.
Craigslist has always had fewer customers, but less "handholding" and they tend to get a lot of plants. They are looking for a deal.
Nextdoor is like a mini-facebook: Not a lot of plants wanted, questions, but closer neighbors it seems.
Hope this helps! Any critique/comments welcome: Would you buy plants with this ad?
#grownostr #plantstr #gardening #propagation #nursery #marketing #business
Nursery reboot update... getting my mist beds set up again to take cuttings.
They are about 6 inches deep filled with concrete sand. 3' wide by 24' long.
I can fit about 4500 -5000 cuttings in here.
After it is cleaned out, I'll set up the intermittent mist system, which is made from 4 misting heads, a propagation water controller, and a water valve I can control from the controller.
The controller will turn on about 15 seconds every 10 - 12 minutes to mist the cuttings.
The cuttings are cut with multiple lead nodes. The bottom leaves are stripped off and only the top left on, and those are trimmed as well. They are then dipped in rooting hormone and put in the sand. The mist keeps them from drying out until they root.
#plantstr #gardening #propagation #nursery #grownostr
I saw this #bee swarm today so I put it in a hive.
I haven't had bees for 15 years and never captured a swarm before. They were mostly peaceful.
For other bee keepers... I have no idea what I'm doing so this is what I did:
Cut the swarms branch into a 27 gallon bin. My wife filmed me. She said "this is so I have something to show them at the hospital".
Put the branch and bees into a hive.
2 deep supers... didn't have foundation so there are just frames in them. I figure the bees know what to do.
Then a medium super in top with no frames... the bees were on a branch so I dumped the branch into the medium on top. Should I fish that branch out in a few days?
Anyway... nice surprise ending to the day!
#beestr #beekeeping #grownostr
Yep! Goods from Pennsylvania. I grew up on those!
I've not heard of that. I had not described pruning them but every year you are supposed to prune off the floricanes.
That said... I don't do that, the wind and snow will knock the dead canes down after a few additional years. I'm kinda lazy that way. Some of mine have been in 15 years now with no pruning.
If I ran into that situation your parents ran into I'd mow them to the ground to rejuvenate them.
Additional for me, current employees:
NY State: 251,700 (From St. Louis Fed data)
County: 4,600 employees
Town: 56 employees
School District: 160 employees
What else am I forgetting? Contractors at each level are not counted.
Also, how many retirees are being supported at each level by taxes?
A little bit on the growth and fruiting habit of red raspberries and #propagation in the plant #nursery...
Here we see a raspberry plant I have for sale. It's variety is Prelude and its first fruits will ripen in 3-4 weeks. This plant retails for $10.
If you look closely you will see 2 kinds of canes: The 2 older looking, taller, darker canes, and then a small plant that looks like it's sprouting from the base.
Those canes are from last year are called the "floricanes", and will bear this year's fruit. It's forming now, here's a zoomed in picture.
The canes from this year are the "primocanes". They will grow this year and will become floricanes next year. Here is a different angle so you can see the primocane forming at the base:
The plant spreads underground and will pop up new primocanes further and further from the parent plant. Some of my patches now are 20' long and thick with plants produced by only 3 parent plants. after about 4 or 5 years.
To propagate this type of raspberry, in the spring, I will dig up the plant around the floricanes coming into their second year and pot them up. The root base from that plant will then send out roots which will sprout into primocanes and continue the plant.
You may also see "bare root" raspberries, those are plants that have been dug up as I describe and sold prior to the plant putting on any growth. They are cheaper, but, as some of my customers have mentioned, when you get them, they "look like sticks" and so are not as attractive for retail customers.
#grownostr #gardening #permaculture #fruit #plantstr
Irrigation is very important when you have plants in containers in a #nursery. Even on a cool day, winds can really cause the pots and the plants to lose moisture. It's amazing how they can go from a soaking rain one day, where you're worried about too much moisture, and then in a few days without watering they are wilting.
I use Senniger mini-wobblers for irrigation, the beige nozzles I'm using put out 0.84 gallons per minute at the 25 PSI I run them at.
There is a 25 PSI pressure reducer in-line to reduce our house water pressure which tends to be around 40 PSI off our well.
I have the irrigation come on each morning for 90 minutes. I have a timer running off of our spigot at the house that controls the watering.
If I were to water just the plants I have now by hand it would take me at least 20 minutes, so the automation is a time saver as well.
I've found that with a hose and hand watering you just can't get the same deep watering as you can with a light overhead watering over the course of an hour. With hand watering, the water seems to just run through the pots whereas a light rain-like watering over the course of 90 minutes daily will really help the plants stay hydrated.
I have the wobblers up 5' in the air on 3/4" PVC water line risers. The PVC lasts about 3 years out in the sun before needing replacement.
You can really see how they wobble back and forth and spin when they are in action!
#plantstr #garden #propagation #permaculture
Time for weeding, fertilizing and top dressing the plants in the #nursery.
Pulled the small weeds before they become big, fertilize with 1 tsp of Osmocote 14-14-14 slow release fertilizer, and top dress with a generous amount of worm castings.
It's like a forest of raspberries!
The long term plan is to get completely away from the commercial fertilizer by fertilizing with compost tea, but I'm not there yet.
The more I interact with people, the more I realize what I'd consider common knowledge, is not common. Specifically worm castings, I sold some blackberries yesterday and mentioned that I had just top dressed them with worm castings, and the customer had never heard of using worm castings as a fertilizer, or even what they were.
Other things to teach is the seasonality of fruits, and that different varieties of the same fruit produce at different times. For instance, I have 4 different varieties of red raspberries that, when planted out, should produce most of the summer up to the frost. But people don't know that so you have to mention it.
Final thing to mention is this little garden scooter that I got a few months ago from AM Leonard. This thing is a back saver and puts you right where you need to be at eye level with the plants.
#permaculture #gardening #wormcastings #propagation
Is that an ebb and flow system for propagation?
That is an awesome idea!
We've visited a couple of sales this spring to sell plants for our #nursery and I wanted to share some of the mechanics that go in to that.
We have a landscape trailer, 10.5' long by 5' wide. I can fit about 180 to 200 plants in trade 1 gallon pots onto that trailer.
After we load, and this is KEY, I cover the plants up with a shade cloth tarp to prevent the wind from ripping all the leaves off while we are driving.
At the event, we've either set up the plants on low tables or on the ground. I have information sheets with me (DM me and I'll send you the PDFs!) as well as setting up a sign with our offerings.
My goal the more I do this is to create a more exciting and inviting booth. As I look at the pictures of our set up booth, I can see we need more color (as in flowering plants) as well as more abundance and variety of leaf shapes, plants, etc. So we are going to branch out a bit into things like lilacs, daylillies, hydrangea, etc.
#permaculture #gardening #propagation #grownostr
I went to a friend's house yesterday and wanted to share the power of simple natural fertilizers and soil amendments like #biochar and #wormcastings.
He's growing #garlic in his #garden, it went in about a month late for this part of the country.
I brought over some worm castings and biochar mixed 50/50. We added a spoonful to the planting holes and raked it in after planting.
Here it is in late May:
#grownostr #permaculture #gardening
