Jerk Pests and Their Jerk Hunger
I have seen the enemy… and it likes watermelons. And onions.
Okay, I haven’t necessarily seen the enemy, but I did spot a squirrel, a crow, and a robin all making advances on my garden as I stepped into the back yard to see how my little green beauties were doing.
I checked the garden this morning as I left the house. I noticed an unnatural cylindrical hole in the ground and didn’t have to look far to see what came out of it.
One of my 4″ Charleston watermelon starts had been yanked out, pod and all. Whatever took it must have been a small creature because there were no signs of digging; it dragged the pod only a couple of feet before eating the rest of my precious plant. We don’t have many squirrels in our yard, but we have a lot of crows who love the crawly treats in the garden dirt.
Sprouts
It’s official: At least one of every type of plant has broken the surface, including the two season old watermelon variety and the cantaloupe. The lettuce sprouts have grown too tall for their growing box lid and some of the soy beans are touching their ceiling.
Hydroponics
I just purchased a some fancy hydroponics fertilizer from a local sun shop. The strawberry buds have begun to bloom and the leaves are looking very healthy. I am considering expanding the hydroponics rig when all of the other plants have been moved out into the garden. I’d move the fogger into a central canister and fabricate a small forced air system to pump the fog through two or more growing trays in parallel.
Hydroponics
Today I needed a little pick-me-up so I decided to treat myself to a creative project. When I proposed the idea of making a hydroponics rig some time ago, Emily thought it would be a good idea. Tonight I went out and built that rig:
Sprouts
It pays to read.
The back of each seed package indicates the number of days each plant should take to sprout. The lettuce varieties indicated 1-3 weeks to sprout; among the longest of any of the seeds I’ve planted. The fact that they germinated in possible record time and that they may soon be too big to keep the lid on their growing tray has put all of the other seeds to shame.
Seeds
The Butterhead lettuce is growing like weeds. 17 out of the 18 cells have growth, the tallest of which are approaching an inch. Over half of the Bon Vivant lettuce has sprouted.
Meanwhile, in the 50-pod trays, there is still little sign of life. A soy bean that I left on the dirt surface as an experiment is beginning to sprout. I imagine these larger seeds will take some time to catch up with the tiny lettuce seed. Still, I’d expect to see some action in one of the 100 pods growing tomatoes by now…
Less than 48 hours after planting, four of the eighteen butterhead lettuce starts have begun to sprout. These seeds were planted in the 36-cell starter kit that uses a different kind of medium than the rest.
The 36-cell tray uses a small cylinder of “dirt” with no mesh covering. When broken up, it filled the tray segments just like normal dirt. The 50-cell trays use the mesh-covered “coins” that grow in height to about 1″ when wet.
I might have spotted mold growing in one of the 50-cell tray pellets. I’ve removed it and will continue to keep a close eye on their progress. I wonder if it would be beneficial to grow without the tray lids on at this point…
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