Gardening: (2016– )

[heidih]

Ooh - bobbleheaded owl makes sense - had not seen. Those stationary one are a joke. I've seen seagulls and crows land on them and....

[dcarch]

On 6/23/2018 at 8:56 PM, KennethT said:

My wife took a photo of me making some alterations to the space strawberry garden...  I added some more controls to the humidifier/dehumidifier system.

 

I don't see strawberries. ☺️

 

dcarch

Edited June 27, 2018 by dcarch (log)

[KennethT]

I've been picking the flowers until the roots were a little more established and until we get back from vacation. There have been a lot of flowers! Lots of them lurking in the foliage.

[dcarch]

I have seen massive automated greenhouses in many countries.

I saw a couple of weeks ago  a camera with AI capability for $270.

We all know facial recognition software is very common.

 

I can see you establish a massive greenhouse with robotic pickers equipped with AI cameras which are programmed with object recognition software to pick only ripe strawberries of standard sizes.

 

dcarch

 

 

[KennethT]

17 minutes ago, dcarch said:

I have seen massive automated greenhouses in many countries.

I saw a couple of weeks ago  a camera with AI capability for $270.

We all know facial recognition software is very common.

 

I can see you establish a massive greenhouse with robotic pickers equipped with AI cameras which are programmed with object recognition software to pick only ripe strawberries of standard sizes.

 

dcarch

 

 

You're reading my mind!! Although I believe the cameras could be trained to spot a ripe berry, I think the actual robotic harvesting would be a challenge due to its fragility. Most grippers aren't that gentle. Plus we'd still need people for doing other maintenance like pruning older leaves, pollinating (I dont know if I'd have the volume for a hive of honeybees) etc

[dcarch]

17 minutes ago, KennethT said:

You're reading my mind!! Although I believe the cameras could be trained to spot a ripe berry, I think the actual robotic harvesting would be a challenge due to its fragility. Most grippers aren't that gentle. Plus we'd still need people for doing other maintenance like pruning older leaves, pollinating (I dont know if I'd have the volume for a hive of honeybees) etc

 

I am fascinated watching videos of automated machines doing all kinds of delicate food preps. To develop a robotic arm delicate enough to pick strawberries should not be a problem, I feel.

 

I made a battery operated pollinator to pollinate tomato blossoms in my garden. Not enough bee activities in my area. Easy for a AI camera to see blossoms and a robotic pollinator to make strawberries.

dcarch

 

[KennethT]

25 minutes ago, dcarch said:

 

I am fascinated watching videos of automated machines doing all kinds of delicate food preps. To develop a robotic arm delicate enough to pick strawberries should not be a problem, I feel.

 

I made a battery operated pollinator to pollinate tomato blossoms in my garden. Not enough bee activities in my area. Easy for a AI camera to see blossoms and a robotic pollinator to make strawberries.

dcarch

 

Maybe for typical strawberries. The ones I'm growing are particularly delicate- and I'll be picking them super ripe for same day or next day delivery. 

 

Pollinators are easy - I've used an old electric toothbrush on a tomato plant with great results. It's still slow though... I have a theory for a different kind of pollinator that's much faster but it needs some testing first.

[heidih]

I get a trade magazine that has had articles about the drones & robotics that have been tested and refined for some time. Hello northern European innovators - quite fascinating. 

[Shelby]

Been picking a few cucumbers a day and maybe one zucchini a day and like 5 cherry tomatoes.  Today is the first time this year I felt like I actually had a "haul".

 

Finally have enough cucumbers to start a crock of pickles (if I can get my butt in the car in this horrid heat and get to the Asian market to buy some dill).  One okra was ready to be plucked.  AND our first potatoes!!!!  

 

 

I need help on the potato front--  everyone tells me, and I've read that you wait until the plants are dead to dig the potatoes.  These potatoes that I am showing were literally popping out of the ground.  

 

Here's a picture of the potato patch.  Should I go ahead and dig?  Are they ready even though the plants aren't dead?  You can't see in the above pic, but there were some marble sized taters, too.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

16 hours ago, KennethT said:

You're reading my mind!! Although I believe the cameras could be trained to spot a ripe berry, I think the actual robotic harvesting would be a challenge due to its fragility. Most grippers aren't that gentle. Plus we'd still need people for doing other maintenance like pruning older leaves, pollinating (I dont know if I'd have the volume for a hive of honeybees) etc

 

Back in the 1990's when I was working in photonics we sold cameras to a university group who were developing a robotic strawberry picker that would harvest strawberries at night.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

This morning (and yes it was morning if just barely) when I looked out I seemed to be missing berries.  Unless it's my imagination.  We had thunderstorms overnight and one is supposed to reapply Bird Stop after rain.  I feel a bit chagrinned.  Maybe the early bird gets the blueberry after all.

 

Though I still haven't spotted any birds on my balcony since I started using Bird Stop.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Well, that did not last long.  I sprayed at noon.  Hour later we had a cloudburst here.  Followed by birds.  Birds.  I hate them.  They have hit my harvest hard.  Is it too much to ask that they might share?  I wish Bird Stop did not so readily wash off.

 

[dcarch]

Speaking of strawberries, my electric slug control (posted above) has been 100% effective.

 

But problem now is having to eat strawberries for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and snacks in between. 

 

Give me a break!!! Please!

 

dcarch

 

[heidih]

1 hour ago, dcarch said:

Speaking of strawberries, my electric slug control (posted above) has been 100% effective.

 

But problem now is having to eat strawberries for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and snacks in between. 

 

Give me a break!!! Please!

 

dcarch

 

 

Oh yes we are just crying for you!  Hello freezer jam

[JoNorvelleWalker]

So far I have sprayed three times today.  I sat at my table as I watched a bird fly down and steal a berry.  Shamelessly.  I was eating an omelet at the time which almost made me feel a little better.

 

[Toliver]

2 hours ago, dcarch said:

Speaking of strawberries, my electric slug control (posted above) has been 100% effective.

 

But problem now is having to eat strawberries for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and snacks in between. 

 

Give me a break!!! Please!

dcarch

Rough Life.  

#FirstWorldProblem

[Toliver]

7 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

So far I have sprayed three times today.  I sat at my table as I watched a bird fly down and steal a berry.  Shamelessly.  I was eating an omelet at the time which almost made me feel a little better.

 

Any chance some sort of netting would prevent the feathered fiends from eating your berries?

[kayb]

8 hours ago, Shelby said:

Been picking a few cucumbers a day and maybe one zucchini a day and like 5 cherry tomatoes.  Today is the first time this year I felt like I actually had a "haul".

 

Finally have enough cucumbers to start a crock of pickles (if I can get my butt in the car in this horrid heat and get to the Asian market to buy some dill).  One okra was ready to be plucked.  AND our first potatoes!!!!  

 

I need help on the potato front--  everyone tells me, and I've read that you wait until the plants are dead to dig the potatoes.  These potatoes that I am showing were literally popping out of the ground.  

 

Here's a picture of the potato patch.  Should I go ahead and dig?  Are they ready even though the plants aren't dead?  You can't see in the above pic, but there were some marble sized taters, too.

We grew potatoes when I was a kid; I have not done them myself. I seem to remember Daddy digging them up from the side of the plant, with a pitchfork, which left the vines in place to continue bearing. I am certain we did not wait until the vines were dead.

 

 

[Shelby]

2 minutes ago, kayb said:

We grew potatoes when I was a kid; I have not done them myself. I seem to remember Daddy digging them up from the side of the plant, with a pitchfork, which left the vines in place to continue bearing. I am certain we did not wait until the vines were dead.

 

 

Thank you!

 

I think we will be rising before dawn and digging some taters in the morning  

[kayb]

On 9/12/2016 at 4:32 PM, Shelby said:

Boy they are pretty.   I still see a tinge of red....ok ok pink...in there.

Phew!  I feel better.  As a tomato-less person I was having palpitations over you tossing them lol. 

 

FWIW...I have been told you can can green tomatoes for later frying. You slice them, layer them in a jar, cover with a salt and water brine, and process. Then they have to sit very still on the counter until, apparently, the tomatoes recover some sort of structural integrity. Allegedly you can then take out,  and then bread and fry them.

 

I have not tried this.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

53 minutes ago, Toliver said:

Any chance some sort of netting would prevent the feathered fiends from eating your berries?

 

Funny you should ask!  I've tried berry netting in the past with very poor results.  Managed to trap a bird in with the berries.  Managed to trap myself.

 

But I just came in from wrapping several branches (those with a few remaining berries) in frost protection cloth.  I then soaked the cloth and myself in methyl 2 aminobenzoate.

 

I consoled myself with a small handful of strawberries.

 

[joiei]

7 hours ago, dcarch said:

Speaking of strawberries, my electric slug control (posted above) has been 100% effective.

 

But problem now is having to eat strawberries for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and snacks in between. 

 

Give me a break!!! Please!

 

dcarch

 

My heart goes out for your problem.  

[haresfur]

15 hours ago, Shelby said:

 

I need help on the potato front--  everyone tells me, and I've read that you wait until the plants are dead to dig the potatoes.  These potatoes that I am showing were literally popping out of the ground.  

 

Here's a picture of the potato patch.  Should I go ahead and dig?  Are they ready even though the plants aren't dead?  You can't see in the above pic, but there were some marble sized taters, too.

 

 

 

Keep piling dirt on top of them. The stems will send out new roots and if you are lucky you get more potatoes. I grew some in a ring of tires and kept adding tires on top, with some success. Found some potatoes when I was putting in raised beds over the spot so I think I'll try again.

[Shelby]

7 hours ago, haresfur said:

 

Keep piling dirt on top of them. The stems will send out new roots and if you are lucky you get more potatoes. I grew some in a ring of tires and kept adding tires on top, with some success. Found some potatoes when I was putting in raised beds over the spot so I think I'll try again.

I will for sure remember to do this next year.  It's so hot here now that I felt like if I left them in the ground any longer, they would rot.  So we got up at 5 this morning and dug 'em all up

 

I had a lot of fun.  Like an Easter egg hunt.

 

[kayb]

 

Attack of the cucumbers has begun. (There are 3-4 zucchini and a single yellow squash in there, but it's mostly cucumbers.

 

My Romas are starting to ripen, and develop blossom end rot. Must get them some Epsom salts.

 

 

The SunGold cherry tomatoes are producing apace, as are the Cubanelles and jalapenos.

 

 

L8ma beans in a couple of weeks, I hope.