GreaterWorld.org

[ZachreyBB]

Hi Everyone,

I planted a bunch of stuff earlier in December 2006 and got some interesting results.

I planted multiple varieties of lettuce, beets, chard, turnips, onions, corn, peas, brocolli, tomatoes, tomatillos, basil, cilantro, radishes and spinach.

The dismal failures are:

onions, turnips, cilantro, lettuce, basil, and most brocollis

But I'm not writing them off yet, except the onions, probably.

The winners:

Beets, mangels, chard, tomatoes, corn, and Raab Broccoli (transplanted from a flat I got from Seeds of Change, Thanks Emily!!!), buttercrunch lettuce,

So so plants:

peas, spinach, tomatillo


Discussion and future projects:

My observations suggest that the soil level needs to be increased so that window sill shadow is minimized. The south side of the GW planters had weak, spindly plants while the north side of the planters had stronger, faster growth (more direct light to the short seedlings at germination, warmer soil from trombe wall effect of northern GW planter boundary wall).

Since the GW level was always at or near overflow, the soil surface was moist and evaporative cooling and thermal conduction to the cold greywater below keeps the soil temperature in the low to mid 60s even with the sun blasting on it all day.

Another experiment worth trying is to isolate sections of the planter from the GW with EPDM basins. These sections will have to be top watered since they will be isolated from the GW below. This will give the soil the opportunity to get hotter and to dry out when needed. Perhaps a piece of 1' or 2' rigid foam panel underneath will help the soil warm up better.

To get the seedlings going faster, try starting them in flats and trasplanting them into the GW planter. The Raab Broccoli transplants from S.O.C. are doing fantastic.

[herbj]

Wow, Zachrey, you've done quite a bit of gardening! I'm working on getting the next round of planting completed down here in Florida, so we'll see how that experiment goes.

I'm curious, how is your greywater system configured?

[ZachreyBB]

Hi Peak Engineer,

It's been a lot of fun, so far!

The big winners from the December planting are Mangels, Beets, Lettuce, Chard and Tomatoes and the Raab Brocolli transplants.

We've been picking individual leaves off the lettuce plants every other day or so and using them for yummy sandwiches! The tomatoes are blossoming in the office here and should be setting some fruit in the next couple of weeks. There is a volunteer tomato in the kitchen that is all the way up to the top of the window, with the help of a crude trellis, and has already produced three tennis ball sized tomatoes that Nicole says taste great! It looks like we are going to have a LOT of tomatoes to pick in the next week or two. I don't know what variety it is but we're definitely saving the seeds from this one.

The lettuce looked like they were doomed to failure but really turned themselves around with the longer daylength! We got really lousy germination, but the few that did survive (two plants of some kind of deer tongue or romaine, two plants of buttercrunch and what looks like one plant of Rouge d'Hiver)


Plants that are still alive are corn, peas (though they seem like they are going to take off soon), turnips, basil, spinach and tomatillo.

The corn was doing fine but then it started tasseling out and doing strange things (corn kernels on tassels, hollow corn husks, and generally confused plants). I think the day length was too short for them and they started doing wierd things.

The tomatillo plant is still alive but it is getting crowded out now by the fast growing tomatoes and the one survivng spinach plant is getting crowded out by the brocolli.

The main issues now are downy mildew, spider mites and aphids. I may have to order spider mite predators soon. Stehorus punctillus is a promising species (related to the common ladybug but much smaller) that LOVES to eat spider mites. They're kind of pricey but there is a chance they can establish a colony in our planters!

We'll see how it goes!

Cheers,
Zac
_________________
Zachrey Helmberger
2 Star Lane
Greater World Earthship subdivision
Tres Piedras, NM 87577
+36.51 -105.75
zachrey at taosnet dot com

[zachrey]

The presence of plants pests indicates poor plant/soil health. I don't think greywater alone will produce healthy food bearing plants: they need some kind of green or animal manure for optimum nutrition.

A green manure addition in the form of six inches of mulch to cover the topsoil will suppress evaporation, moderate day/night soil temperature swing and provide habitat for insects, fungus and bacteria.

Their life cycle activity will generate both nutrition and a heated root environment conducive to healthy plant growth.

When no one is looking, try peeing in the shower. The plants will smile; their bitter taste will disappear.

[ZachreyBB]

Hi Herb,

Well I must admit, I never tried peeing in the shower or other water appliance. I guess I was afraid it would make the greywater smell awful with all the nitrogen.

Worth a try, though! I'll let you know if I dare to.

Zac

[zachrey]

Hello Zac,

From what I understand, the original earthship internal planter concept used blackwater since the treatment system is designed to process it but the local authorities nixed having blackwater sitting in the house. It is still the same system but greywater is fed into it instead.

My own experience is there is no odor. The bacteria and plants quickly process the nitrogen.

Herb