What's Growing in the Garden

Mike Hill

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Here's my latest crop, was walking through Target a while back and saw these kits on the discount shelf. Still cost 10 bucks, not sure if there is 10 bucks worth of mushrooms there, but it was kind of neat to watch them grow, took about 8 days to get to this point, harvested them last night and put some on a pizza. They are oyster mushrooms. Might try it again, I see there are all kinds of kits on line...
View attachment 212023
I would think you would get more than one crop.

There are other ways to get your mushroom growing fix on. The spores can be bought on other strata - innoculated wood plugs being one popular option. Might look up what growing media is best of good for oysters.
 

barry richardson

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I would think you would get more than one crop.

There are other ways to get your mushroom growing fix on. The spores can be bought on other strata - innoculated wood plugs being one popular option. Might look up what growing media is best of good for oysters.
thanks for the tip Mike, Yea it suggest turning the brick of substrate around and growing some on the other side, which is what I'm doing now, I'm finding lots of info on line on mushroom growing...
 

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A while back, Jerry set me some saguaro and fishhook pincushion cactus seeds. Finally got them seeded on Saturday, and happy to report that the first couple saguaro have sprouted. Didn't think they'd be this quick to gerinate, but I guess cacti are genetically programmed to get going quickly when conditions are favorable.

The fishhook haven't germinated yet, but I can see the radicle pushing out the seed coat so they won't be far behind.

IMG_4401.JPG
 

Nubsnstubs

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A while back, Jerry set me some saguaro and fishhook pincushion cactus seeds. Finally got them seeded on Saturday, and happy to report that the first couple saguaro have sprouted. Didn't think they'd be this quick to gerinate, but I guess cacti are genetically programmed to get going quickly when conditions are favorable.

The fishhook haven't germinated yet, but I can see the radicle pushing out the seed coat so they won't be far behind.

View attachment 212310
Is this picture a Fishhook or Saguaro? Can't wait to see more pictures as they grow. In about 2 weeks, they should all have a thorn or two sticking out of the center with two leaf things on either side of it. It's amazing to see the roots like that.
How many seeds did you put on the ground? ....... Jerry (in Tucson)
 

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Is this picture a Fishhook or Saguaro? Can't wait to see more pictures as they grow. In about 2 weeks, they should all have a thorn or two sticking out of the center with two leaf things on either side of it. It's amazing to see the roots like that.
How many seeds did you put on the ground? ....... Jerry (in Tucson)
That picture is the saguaro. No emerged roots on the fishhook as of last night.

I didn't count the seeds I planted, just took a small pinch and spread them around the 4" pot - maybe 20-30 seeds. As fast as these germinated, I'd guess the germination percentage is pretty high.

I'll definitely take more pictures as these grow.

Just for scale, that little seedling is no more than 1/16" tall. The tiny roots you see are pretty typical looking (no matter the type of seed) when you germinate tiny seeds on the surface of soil.
 
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trc65

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More pictures of the saguaro seedlings. No emergence yet on the fishhook cacti.

Two days after germination (emergence) and some drastic changes.

First though a picture showing more detail of the tiny seedlings emerging. Center frame shows how a seedling emerges right out of the seed coat which is still hanging on top.

saguaro1.jpeg

When I first looked at the pot tonight (I was out of town last night), I expected to see a whole bunch of green. While there was a little bit of green, here is what jumped out at me. In only two days they have changed from skinny green seedlings to fat pinkish little plants that are ~ 1/8" tall and wide.

saguaro2.jpeg

Here is a closeup of one seedling and you can see some of the texture as well as the micro nub of the growing point right at the center.

saguaro3.jpeg

May not take daily pictures, but I'm sure fascinated by their growth in only a couple of days.
 
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Sprung

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Tim, that's neat to watch that grow like that. I think my oldest boy would especially love watching something like that - This year he was very interested in tracking how the seeds we started progressed, both what we started indoors (and that I foolishly killed) and what we put in the ground.
 

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Matt if you would like some saguaro seeds, pm me your address and I'll send some up to you. Jerry sent me quite a lot of seed, and I'd be happy to pass some on.

In spite of the fact that most schools use beans or peas to show students seed germination and structure, there is something magical watching these tiny seeds developing.

These were incredibly easy. I got some cactus potting mix, wetted it, sprinkled some seed on top, spritzed them with water and covered with clear plastic. Somewhere around 70° under florescent lights. Two to three days to germ.

In the wild, I've read it can take ten years to reach one inch in height, and 70 years to first flower, so I'll never see mine flower, but I'd guess under cultivation growth rate would be higher. Might not keep your son's attention after the first few weeks, but might be something that he could keep for a lifetime, with a little help from Mom and Dad for a few years. :wink:.

BTW, a 20x or 30x hand lens allows you to see details that just aren't visible to the naked eye. That last picture is a good approximation of what you can see with a hand lens. I took the picture at 3456x2592 resolution (9 mega pixels), then zoomed in and cropped it.
 

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Tim - thank you for the offer! I'll send you a PM with my address. My son will especially enjoy it. (Ok, we will too!) We even have some of the right potting mix on hand - my wife uses it in the couple pots of succulents she has in the house.
 

Mike Hill

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Man, It would be fun to have a saguaro growing, but, did the research - too wet, too cloudy and too cold here (as I suspected) and would be relegated to a houseplant in the winter especially! And houseplants have been banned by the female type of the house.
 
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Nubsnstubs

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@Sprung

Matt if you would like some saguaro seeds, pm me your address and I'll send some up to you. Jerry sent me quite a lot of seed, and I'd be happy to pass some on.

In spite of the fact that most schools use beans or peas to show students seed germination and structure, there is something magical watching these tiny seeds developing.

These were incredibly easy. I got some cactus potting mix, wetted it, sprinkled some seed on top, spritzed them with water and covered with clear plastic. Somewhere around 70° under florescent lights. Two to three days to germ.

In the wild, I've read it can take ten years to reach one inch in height, and 70 years to first flower, so I'll never see mine flower, but I'd guess under cultivation growth rate would be higher. Might not keep your son's attention after the first few weeks, but might be something that he could keep for a lifetime, with a little help from Mom and Dad for a few years. :wink:.

BTW, a 20x or 30x hand lens allows you to see details that just aren't visible to the naked eye. That last picture is a good approximation of what you can see with a hand lens. I took the picture at 3456x2592 resolution (9 mega pixels), then zoomed in and cropped it.
Tim, if you send any out, make sure there is some type of packing so the seeds don't get crushed at the post office when it goes through the sorting machines..... That's what happened to the Q O N seeds I got from a friend that I was going to send to you....... Jerry (in Tucson)
 

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More pictures of the saguaro seedlings. No emergence yet on the fishhook cacti.

Two days after germination (emergence) and some drastic changes.

First though a picture showing more detail of the tiny seedlings emerging. Center frame shows how a seedling emerges right out of the seed coat which is still hanging on top.

View attachment 212383

When I first looked at the pot tonight (I was out of town last night), I expected to see a whole bunch of green. While there was a little bit of green, here is what jumped out at me. In only two days they have changed from skinny green seedlings to fat pinkish little plants that are ~ 1/8" tall and wide.

View attachment 212384

Here is a closeup of one seedling and you can see some of the texture as well as the micro nub of the growing point right at the center.

View attachment 212385

May not take daily pictures, but I'm sure fascinated by their growth in only a couple of days.
Tim, if I'm right, in a couple more days, there should be a thorn appearing. Maybe a week at the most. Can't really remember, but they'll show. Those roots are about the color of my hair and arranged a little better.
I think these seeds are a couple years old.. I'm told they can lay around for many years and still be good with the right temperature and water. .......... Thanks for posting these pictures. I never bothered taking any when I planted mine back in '08...........Jerry (in Tucson)
 

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Man, It would be fun to have a saguaro growing, but, did the research - too wet, too cloudy and too cold here (as I suspected) and would be relegated to a houseplant in the winter especially! And houseplants have been banned by the female type of the house.
They get a bit prickly as houseplants anyway. I have handled an 8 foot cactus or two as houseplants. They do NOT reside at my house by the way!
 

Mike Hill

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Since Lil Mikey was a member of the chimerical TARS- Texas Aggies Redneck Society - he was accustomed to pulling out cactus thorns from parts of his body - some parts were hard to get to and he had to ask for help 1625842828752.png
 
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trc65

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Today the first fishhook pincushion cactus germinated. A bit different from the saguaro, these emerged as tiny green spheres. About 1mm in diameter, can't really see much detail. Five to six days for germ on these with a higher temp of 82°.

fishhook pincushion 1.jpeg

Here is a picture of the seed from the two different cacti. The saguaro is the larger seed on the left.
cactus seed.jpeg
 

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Not in our garden, but today we went to a local orchard and picked cherries. 10 quarts of Montmorency Tart and 1 quart of Golden Sweet. I really like the golden sweet - not as sweet as the typical black sweet cherry, but good cherry flavor.

CH1.jpg

The Montmorency tarts - most of them got put into containers and put in the freezer. When I have time, they'll come out and get canned - pie filling and jam. But what was left, that I didn't need for canning, get made into Cherry Bounce. This year I'm doing rum, brandy, and bourbon.

CH2.jpg

By the end of the month the Balaton variety should be ready. I've not had Balatons yet, but I'm told they're kinda a halfway point between tart and sweet cherries. We'll pick some of those when they're ripe and do some pie filling and jam with those as well, along with some more bounce. We didn't make near enough bounce last year - it goes quick when you start sharing it!
 
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