Raybo's EarthTainer "Farm" for 2016 - April 15

[rnewste]

Got my Taxes done yesterday, so I have time now to play around in the tomato patch today. Here is my layout for 2016:



Got most of the tomatoes in about a month ago and in spite of the cool rainy Spring here, they are developing fine:



The MarNar F6 plants are doing quite well:



Planted Brandy Boy again this Season:



Momotaro (left) and Momotaro Fight (right):



The pair of Bloody Butcher are in full bloom:



And the Carmello are looking great:



Clear skies are forecast for the next 10 days, or longer so plant growth should begin to really take off this week:



Cukes were started in a Burpee XL SWC in March and were transplanted into EarthBoxes yesterday - Sweeter Yet (left) Sweet Success (right):



Peppers (Bianca, Cal Wonder, Early Thickset) went in a few days ago:



So, off to a good Season so far.....

Raybo

[dfollett]

Impressive, Raybo - as always.

[rnewste]

dfollet,

I am using the daily snapshot summary from the rooftop solar panel system as an indicator of relative lumens the plants will harvest each day:



Today peaked at 25.7 KWh which is the highest reading so far in 2016. It will be interesting to track this correlation over the course of the growing Season.

Raybo

[Gerardo]

That sure is a nice measurement to have, and to be able to correlate it to beautiful bright green growth the next day should be fun.

Perusing the layout, I can't help but imagine loads of bright orbs and long cukes. Everything is looking awesome.

[Deborah]

You're back! Great! And as always, everything's looking good!

[Worth1]

Same as last year no pictures and layout of the wet bar.

Worth

[Barb_FL]

Looks great and so neat.

Does 8 cucumbers in the EB work well? I've been doing 2 cucumbers together in the center and giving it 3 c of Tomato Tone.

What is Vigiro that you add to the mix? and do you put a cover / plastic mulch on the cucumber's and pepper's EB's?

[rnewste]

Barb,

I had good success last year with 8 cukes per EarthBox, with good pruning.

Vigiro is a 7-8-7 fertilizer.

I do not use the EarthBox "shower-cap" moisture barrier. Instead I place a home-made barrier (trash bag) down about one inch from the top of the EarthBox - then cover it with Microbark to hold it in place. That way, the Gurney's cage system can be attached between the metal stand and the lip of the EarthBox to function as a trellis to support the cukes growing upward.



Raybo

[peebee]

Your plants are looking great Raybo. Am I remembering correctly, did you grow Odoriko last year, and if so, how did it compare to Momotaro? I am growing both this year to do a side-by-side test as I'd read that Odoriko is similar to Momo, just bigger.

[luigiwu]

Raybo, how do you reuse your potting mix from year to year?
Or do you always start fresh?

[Barb_FL]

Raybo - Thanks for the info: I've been growing monster Cuke plants for awhile now, not knowing they could be pruned.

You must be inundated with cucumbers.

I love the Micro Bark look too; I've never seen Micro Bark sold.

---
What is Momotaro Fight?

[matereater]

Lookin good (as always) Raybo !!

[dfollett]

Originally Posted by rnewste

Today peaked at 25.7 KWh which is the highest reading so far in 2016. It will be interesting to track this correlation over the course of the growing Season.

Raybo

Raybo,

Has the solar system lived up to your expectations? Also, do you see the output fall off much as the ambient temperature gets hotter?

Originally Posted by rnewste

I am using the daily snapshot summary from the rooftop solar panel system as an indicator of relative lumens the plants will harvest each day:

In what way are you using that information?

[rnewste]

peebee,

I purchased Odoriko seeds from Kitazawa over the Winter but forgot where I put the envelope when starting seeds. So I used my Momotaro seeds, plus the pack of Takii Momotaro Fight seeds you sent me last year. I will get the Odoriko seeds in the rotation for the 2017 seedling starts.

luigiwu,

I reuse approximately 75% of the old potting mix and add 25% new mix each Season - seems to be a reasonable (cost effective) approach.

dfollett,

The solar system has exceeded my expectations since it was installed last July. With LED bulbs, group showers and other energy conservation efforts, our daily energy consumption has been reduced down to about 14 KWh per day this time of year (when no air conditioning running). Later in the Summer it will spike up, but for the next few months I should be watching the power meter run backwards:



If my projections are accurate, our annual electricity bill should total about $50. for the year:



Regarding ambient temperature variation, I have not had enough time yet to see anything significant.

Regarding usage of the lumens information, it is merely a data point to indicate if I should be applying additional top watering, shade cloth covering, etc. Fun stuff!

Raybo

[amideutch]

Raybo, looking good as always. When you got it down to a science the results are not that surprising.

Ami