KennethT
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Posts posted by KennethT
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zip lock bags work well... anything to keep the humidity in, really...
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It doesn't hurt to have one of those cheap $7 temp/humidity readers you find on Amazon - if you have kids, it's a "fun" project to check humidity and if it's too dry, mist away! Also, in the tent, a cheap way to raise humidity is to hang wet towels from the ceiling or even better, blow a fan on them.
Most LED grow lights produce no UV, unless they say that they are supposed to make UV. Not only that, but an 80W LED isn't that bright - I have a 200W one in the middle of my living room hanging from the ceiling shining down on my lime tree... only one person (who everyone thinks is hypersensitive) ever remarked about it - she said "arrgghh... it's burning my retinas!", but really, it's not THAT bright... now the monster I have in my grow tent is another story! It's a 550W beast that puts out almost 1400 umol/m2/s!!!! (translation, it's really really bright).
Sometimes people will use special grow glasses when using the magenta colored LED lights - the purpose of which is to try to normalize the color which makes inspection (looking for pests, nutrient deficiency, etc) easier... but not needed for normal pruning, trimming harvest, etc unless you're bothered by it.
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Plastic wrap is ok - anything that keeps in the moisture... otherwise, when it's so dry out, the surface dries out pretty quickly - so it just makes it so you don't have to spray 5x a day. A lot of pro growers germinate their seeds in a humidor - many times, a rolling cart with shelves that can be sealed and humidity/temp controlled.
I've typically read that you want 90-100% humidity prior to germination, then once sprouted, I think 70% RH is good so they don't get too much shock - the problem is that seedlings don't have a root system to deal with lots of transpiration which is needed with low humidity, so in order to not stress teh plant out, a higher humidity mitigates the need for lots of transpiration.
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@TicTac Nice... Do your seedling trays have a humidity dome? If not, maybe consider a humidifier for your tent as it can be really dry right now - my tent had a RH of about 30%, which is horrible for just about everything except for ripening, ahem, certain flowers, so I have a humidifier attached to an Arduino and RH sensor to keep humidity about 70% while starting my seeds... Once everything gets going, I'll dial the humidity down to 50-60%...
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A nice light dinner tonight.... Laab salmon sashimi, served with sticky rice
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I belong to a few FB gardening groups (mostly hydro but many grow outdoors), and many people put a heavy pole on each side of the row and string a wire between them. Then you tie a string from the base of each plant to the horizontal string and train the tomato plants up. You can secure the plants with a tomato clip, or just wrap the string around the plant at each truss. Google greenhouse tomato farming - that's how the pros usually do it.
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Do they come a particular region? I wonder if they come from Yunnan, somewhere else or all over...
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@liuzhou Do they have fresh morels in China or are they dried (or imported)?
ETA: please disregard this... I just saw your other post!
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I would assume it would. Plus, commercial rates differ from residential.
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We have a Eurocave - we must have gotten it at least 10 years ago... still works perfectly. Ours holds like 240 bottles - and we have the version with a solid door - we actually paid a bit extra to get it clad with hardwood - after it came in, I stained it and oiled it so it looks like an armoire in the middle of our living room. And it's super quiet - you never hear it.
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39 minutes ago, TicTac said:
Everyone has their own foibles ...
Me; I loathe yogurt and even more so, cottage cheese.
Oddly enough, I love a good raita.
I also loathe yogurt, but like raita... but that comes from my parents having take medicine (like an antibiotic) crushed up in a spoonful of yogurt... and just looking at cottage cheese makes me a little sick to my stomach!
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I'll echo those thoughts - I appreciate the time spent in posting this!!! Thank you!
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5 hours ago, haresfur said:
I've been looking into Arduino recently. A person I know programmed all his father's garden beds with moisture sensors and irrigation control valves.
They're very convenient. Many years ago, you'd have to spend $1000 to get an industrial controller... now you can have most of the functionality for $20, and it's much easier to program than the industrial stuff.
Using sensors and controllers can save a lot of money and water over time - many people needlessly water based on a clock schedule.
I was reading an article about new high tech farming techniques (for outdoor farms, not indoor). Many farms now used enhanced GPS and sensors to be able to robotically drive tractors and deliver fertilizer only where needed. A lot of fertilizer is wasted by mistakenly spraying the same area repeatedly as the tractor makes its rounds, and some areas don't get any at all. The new system winds up using a lot less fertilizer and has a much more even application for healthier crops.
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5 hours ago, haresfur said:
My curry leaf tree. I have to keep it in the car port during winter. It was a nicer shape until an apprentice dropped his ladder on it when he was servicing my evaporative cooler. Luckily he didn't break any pots or I would have left the kid up there.
This is amazing.. now you have me wanting to grow a curry tree!!! How did you start yours? I've heard that you can root a branch pretty easily, but have never tried... How old is this one by now?
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2 minutes ago, TicTac said:
While I agree with you on most points here, especially yields and ability to control the environment - I have to disagree with you on the flavour topic.
There are certain flavours one cannot get without soil. Especially healthy (ideally, 'living') organic soil.
One a separate topic - I am curious as to suggestions of when I should start my seeds for our outdoor garden (first year doing so, we live in Southern Ontario)...
That's why I said "when done right"... many hydro growers optimize for yield, not for flavor. The biggest problem with greenhouse grown hydro crops is the genetics they use. The best heirloom tomatoes would have a relatively low yield in a greenhouse, and would be at high risk for mold, rot and pests. Greenhouse growers have much higher costs than field growers, so they need to have high yields to make it pay. I grew a Goose Creek heirloom tomato plant in my living room - it gave the best tomatoes that I (or anyone else who tried them) had ever tasted... but I lost usually half my crop to blossom end rot, which is not atypical for heirlooms grown indoors. Most greenhouses grow hybrids that compromise flavor for disease, salt and pest resistance.
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Is there a purpose to growing carniverous plants, more than just the fun or novelty of it? I know very little about them, other than the fact that they are carniverous, as the name implies. Do they get all of their nutrients from their digestion, or do they need some from roots as well?
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54 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:
I’ve tried something very similar but still not a go. Sad really, but there you have it....Mommy cooked the heart of BS’s and in those days children weren’t excused from the table until all food was consumed....I have the same hate on for pears. 😕
My parents tried to do that to me... I was prepared to sit all night, they were not.... hehehe
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Once you get the trick, it actually goes pretty fast. I can do enough for 2 people in about 5 min. or so.
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I used to be a renowned BS hater... then, years ago, I took a cooking class with David Bouley and one of the vegetables made was "roasted brussels sprouts leaves" - which is really "sauteed brussels sprouts leaves"... You core the sprout and separate all the leaves... then on high heat, saute with salt and pepper until the leaves wilt slightly and are a bit charred - the high heat gives them a sweetness and they're not vegetal at all. It's the only way I'll eat BS now.
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I haven't been to Keen's in a few years, but I used to go once a year or so. I loved their "mutton" chop, but I was never crazy about the steak there - every time my friends ordered it (they'd usually get the porterhouse for 3), I would try a piece - it was always perfectly cooked, but always seemed a little dry.
But their appetizers and sides are good, and it's not too loud if you sit in one of the smaller rooms upstairs.
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10 hours ago, DiggingDogFarm said:
I'm TOTALLY lost when it comes to hydroponics!
Yields and flavor are amazing when it's done right... it's not the cheapest (especially as a small home hobby gardener) and especially compared with plunking stuff in the ground, but for me, growing indoors, it's the best - I never worry about soil borne diseases or pests and I have much more control over the health and nutrition of my plants... and you get huge yields (so your cost per harvest weight comes down), mainly due to the plant having everything it needs whenever it needs it, the consistent growing environment and lots of oxygen for the roots.
If you're interested, there's tons of info on the web... some great, some not so good...
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Been doing some experimenting with some new equipment as I get ready to try some new crops....
Capacitive moisture sensor
Buried in some soaked and drained coco coir.
You would think that it would have an extremely high moisture content - but coir has an amazing air holding capacity... The moisture content is just over 30%.
ETA: Whoops!!!! I made a major math error in the coding of my controller which is providing those readouts.... Turns out that the humidity was more like 33% and the moisture was more like 82% - which is still good air holding capacity considering that it was completely saturated.
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@Norm Matthews Nice sandwich press!
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I Need Help Finding Specific Bagging Machinery
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
While I have no experience with professional pastry or food of any kind, I have a lot of experience running a labor intensive factory.
If equipment is too expensive, I'd start by trying to get the most out of your team.
First, break down your process into small chunks. Labels on bags can be one operation, adding silica another, product, sealing etc.
Then divide your staff so one person does one job at a time and batch your work so each step is very repetitive. That's part of the key - the repetitive motions will get refined over time and will go much faster.
The other issue is employee motivation. I find nothing motivates people doing boring repetitive work like money. We use an incentive system that is quite effective in getting the most out of our employees and keeps wasted time and motions to a minimum. Basically you create a realistic rate for each job. The rate should seem impossible to a new employee who is all thumbs, but an experienced, motivated worker can do 20% more than the rate. In addition to the base rate of pay, you pay extra for production that is faster than the rate, but the quality of the work can't suffer for it. But, if the worker does 5 hours worth of work (according to the rate) in say 4 hours, they would be paid for 4 hours + 1 hour production bonus.