Mushrooms, Hydroponics, Electric Guitar...oh my!

Winter has arrived...with all the force of the northern winds!

Brrrrrrrr....Last time I posted I was learning about growing mushrooms. It was an interesting run but proved to be much more work than I am interesting in doing to continue production. I may grow a few more batches here & there in the future. All in all, I harvested about 4 quarts worth (dry weight) of Oyster shrooms. The logs inoculated with Shittake have not produced anything....yet. They'll live outdoors for the winter.

Now I am learning about & setting up Hydroponics. :)

It's another one of those things that I have always been interesting in trying. I used the same space that I grew the mushrooms in to set up a home-made ebb & flow system. I bought to plastic tubs, a 10 gallon for the reservoir. Then a simple shallow tub for the part that floods. They cost me about $10 for the both of them. I picked up the drains from the local Brew n Grow & the tubing (the tubs too) from the local Menards.

I sowed some White Sage & some spinach Monday. The Sage is growing!! You can see the white of the new root in the photo of the rockwool cube.

I noticed a dandelion growing in one of my avocado pots from being outside all summer. Since I like to feed Zarnan (my Russian tortoise) dandelions, I carefully removed the plant (tap root & all) and placed it into a net pot that came with the starter hydroponic kit I bought Monday, then carefully filled in around the root with rockwool medium. This morning I found a bean plant growing in a another pot that had been outside all summer, so I removed that one as well, placing it in another net pot. The dandelion has been in the system for three days & shows signs of vigorous new growth. YAY!

I also bought a Venus Fly Trap over the summer. It lived outside in partial shade for the rest of the summer. When I brought it in I noticed that the traps were turning black then dropping off. I went to this wonderfully helpful VFT forum that gave me some very helpful tips & ideas to get the plant back on the road to normal growth. I re-potted it into some fresh peat-moss & the symptoms disappeared. When I visited my favorite local greenhouse I was sorely disappointed in the lack of knowledge shown by the lady that helped me about this amazing plant that they sell. She asked me if I had fertilized it & if I had not that I should. ???!!!!!???? You NEVER-EVER-NEVER feed VFT's commercial fertilizer as it KILLS THEM! Wow, what a disappointment. Even I knew that much! Needless to say my favorite greenhouse did not impress me that day.

I believe it is starting to go dormant now as the leaves are yellowing. This is normal.

I also inherited a bunch of plants from my next door neighbor, who passed away over the summer. She was a nice lady who had lived in this building since it was first built. She was 93. So I have a jungle in the living room! LOL I rather like the extra green in the apartment. They are thriving on the winter sun as it shines in most of the day during the winter (south facing).

Last but never the least of my activities at the moment...my red electric guitar.

So far I have learned a couple Blues tunes as well as Fire in the Sky...a classic of course. LMAO Another one of those things that I have always been interested in trying. I've had it for about 2 months now.

Until next time...

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