Tristan Vitali

Pearl Sutton wrote:

Mike Barkley wrote:... when you think see a bunch of tiny ants roaming around on your kitchen counter. Only to realize that they are turnip seeds. Bag had a hole in it.

A variant on that I have done is when you sneak carefully to the counter, and beat a watermelon seed to death with a flyswatter.

Some bright white melon seeds fell behind the chicken scraps container on the counter - had a nice moment of panic when I thought we had a maggot infestation!

Those melon seeds are from the second year in starting the "central maine short wet season on cold heavy clay" landrace. Only gagged a little before I realized what they were  

The next "you know you're a permie when" connected to this little event is that I realized we're perennializing the beds so much I wont have enough open space / sun for these melons in a couple more years. It's definitely time to start planning more hugles (melons LOVE south slopes of hugles, btw!)

Matt Todd wrote:Looks like you're asking about lavender specifically. I grew about 3 dozen plants from seed last year with NO stratification! In my studying before, I found a lot of growers saying it was not necessary for lavender and indeed it was not for me.

I filled 6 pack cells with sterilized 1:1:1 Sand, perlite, coir soil mix. Sterilized because lavender seedlings are very mold sensitive. 70-80 degrees with light 16 hrs/day. They sprouted in about 7 days. Keep moist for about one month after sprouting (until roots are established). Pot up at 6 or more leaves.

Agreed that they don't (always) require it, but it sure does help with germination. Just a week to a month for lavender helps in a big way. About to start some sempervivum (hens and chicks) which are similar...they don't (always) require it, but it helps. A lot of seeds are like that, and when they don't necessarily require it, that's when planting in a flat and putting in a cool shady place before spring has fully sprung usually works best. Otherwise, best to plant either in the ground in mid-fall or start your flat late fall / early winter so you can control the stratification process.

... again, for those of us on low power, off grid systems (400w panels with a 400AH battery bank here at 45*N and generally cloudy winters!)  If you've got a grid connection and a fridge with the space, that probably works just as well if not better for most things

Riona Abhainn wrote:Some of this depends on your grow zone too, in some places its still winter.

Very true and that definitely has an impact. In the other half of the world, it's still summer!

Generally speaking, keeping the seeds between 32 and 45 degrees fahrenheit (zero to roughly 7 celsius) will do the trick. Many probably have basements or garages that maintain a low enough temperature leading well into the spring due to cold cement and the like, so that's also an option for some if the outdoor temps are going to be too warm in the short term. A 90 day stratification might be a bit much this time of the year, even up here in the tundra, but depending on sunshine and ambient temps, a 30 or 45 day stratification further down south might work out in a cold corner of the garage. Offgrid people that don't have magical modern conveniences would just have to pray for gloomy weather

Pearl Sutton wrote:...when you attempt to deny your inherent redneckiness by claiming this is an artistic photo, staged just for the effect that I wanted to photograph, yeah, that's it!!

Ok, maybe I'm a permie and I'm taking advantage of the warm weather to wash my flannel sheets....  :D  And drying them on the cattle panel arch arbor that grows beans and squash...
Function stacking! Solar energy!! Artwork! That's it!!

or maybe it's just laundry.

:D

That, my dear, is called stacking functions :D

Nothing more permie than what you do!

Funny this came up in the dailyish - just brought my flat of highbush cranberry seeds out for their final round of cold strat  I'm offgrid with no refrigerator to use for such things, so I have to rely on mother nature to do it for me. I often plant things I know will be very vigorous direct in the ground in the fall, but that's certainly not going to work for everything.

They were seeded into a bit of garden soil, which had been heavily amended with duck pond "muck" earlier in the year before growing hungry cabbage and brussels sprouts. This was in a cheapo plastic bin from wally world I picked up about 12 years ago now for just this purpose (side note - the trays have had it the last few years and are cracking into pieces...they don't like the UV in sunlight at all! Good investment, but bad material to have breaking to pieces every time you touch it!)

Because highbush cranberry seed has a double dormancy, it's extra tricky. The cranberry was put in the tray october or november sometime and left outdoors in a cool, shady spot for their first round. The tray was then brought in and kept on the RMH bench from Jan 1st to now, watered occasionally as the 80 to 100 degrees F of bottom heat tends to dry out my plants pretty quick. Not it's back outside buried under a pile of snow in a "warm" area so it doesn't freeze up solid right away. When the "warm" area gets too warm, I'll move it to a shady, cool area on the north side of the "shed wrap" to finish the cold stratification. If necessary due to a good solid warm up in the weather coming, I'll pile snow and ice over the tray then put a light colored tarp over it so it can get what cold it needs

I also brought in other cold strats just a couple days ago from the winter cold. Black walnuts, gentian, hazelnuts, elecampane and several other things. Actually lost track of what I planted in the fall. Same process though - seed tray filled with mild garden soil seeded and placed in a cool area for the fall and winter, then "brought in" to warm up. By "brought in", I'm actually bringing them into a half-hoop "hoop house" type sunroom I have attached. I even have a garden bed in the sunroom I keep planted with usually green onions, brassicas and parsley - nothing better than harvesting fresh broccoli florets in your t-shirt while it's still dropping to near zero outside at night in february.

Another side note - some stratification I've done right in the sunroom garden. I accidentally didn't get my pots seeded with apple out in time and many started sprouting. Gets cold enough down at the shadier end near the plastic that they got what they needed for chilling to sprout.

That's my weird way of doing stratification, which just goes to show you need not be a scientist to get it to work. Nature doesn't require fancy paper towels, plastic bags, special sand or any of the other stuff. Cold is cold - with my methods up here in maine, you just have to avoid going so cold it doesn't count anymore

Matt McSpadden wrote:

Mike Feddersen wrote:Are you located somewhere near the tri-state area of West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky? We live south of Huntington WV and east of Louisa Kentucky. I drive for Walmart out of Washington Courthouse Ohio and would bring you one, or more! Lol

I'm nowhere near there, but I thank you for the offer I live in Maine, so while I appreciate the offer... I will probably try to find one a little closer to home.

Do you find that breed smart and trainable along with sociable?

Sad to say it Matt, but trips for good animals from up around here is sometimes just necessary. I know there are breeders here and there are the occasional mixed breed puppies that accidentally happen, but this state is very dry for animals. What you do find is usually expensive to an outrageously level AND you have to sit on a wait list (or get "lucky" on a facebook post).

Literally all the critters I have now are from out of state or hatched/birthed on-farm.

Turkeys, ducks, geese, chickens all have to be ordered in by mail to be affordable. I had bought some muscovy from a woman down near Portland about 10 years ago now, but her prices made that a one time thing never to be repeated.

Penny, our great pyrenees / anatolian shepherd mix, encountered an inattentive driver a few years back. She was from Missouri and had originally flown in via BGR. Guarding our birds now are Remy, a karakachan mix flown in from georgia and Missy, a maremma mix driven up from tennessee (both are 1/4 each pyrenees and anatolian shepherd).

Even my cats - I drove them home from a florida shelter after years of trying to find one in state without getting a credit card to pay for it. One was pregnant and we were able to give away kittens to loving homes without charging people a grand or more, which was extremely rewarding

Take my advice and don't restrict yourself to what's currently available here in Maine. Demand and prices are very high, supply is always low and breed variety (not to mention selection) is very poor. I hope to see that change as we get more and more homesteaders and small farms, but we're still a long way from where it is in the heartland.

Timothy Norton wrote:Great question Tristan,

My understanding (which I could be wrong, I'm new to learning about these onions as well) is that potato onions are a variation of multiplier onions. Potato onions have the ability to sometimes produce seed while also producing multiple bulbs.

Example of Multiplier Onions
1. Potato Onions (Yellow, Green Mountain)
2. Shallots

I consider Egyptian Walking Onions to be a top setting onion but I have heard arguments that they are multiplier onions in themselves. I think the term is loose enough that it catches a lot of things under it umbrella but can be used interchangeably with the official names depending on the context of the conversation.

Thanks Timothy - that makes good sense. Whatever I've got definitely multiplies well and follows all the logic seen throughout the thread (large bulbs planted yield numerous smaller bulbs / smaller ones planted yields one or two larger), plus they seem to have a fondness for fluffed, nitrogen rich soil (and love a heavy mulch of rotting hay). I've seen upwards of 10 smaller bulbs off a single large multiplier bulb planted in the fall - always so rewarding

Also going to try doing a bleach water dip mentioned in the podcast in the coming years, just to see if I get a difference. We've mostly lost a strain of siberian garlic that was producing massive heads to disease - even in dry soil on dry years, the wrappers are sometimes completely rotted off before the scape coils. Very sad to see!

r ranson wrote:Can you test it now?

Our local super hero pressed some buttons.

No problem - testing a post with the name Timothy to ensure the "I", "M" and "O" get through when used within a word. Also attaching successful test of the actual abbreviation being caught :)

r ranson wrote:not as simple a fix as I hoped.  

I've sent out a call to someone who knows how to fix it.  I don't know his time zone so it might be a while for him to see it.  

Thanks for reporting it.  

No worries - first time I've encountered it and, being a "coder" myself, knew it needed reporting. For every one person that reports, who knows how many hundreds saw it and went "Stupid Site! I didn't want to post anyway! Meh!" (then clicks away to facespace or whatever the kids are using these days)

screenshot of the issue attached