Inside Urban Green

H2O Portion Control » Watering Houseplants in Recycled Soda Bottle Sub-irrigated Planters (SIPs)

Cuisaid AccuWeigh ProDigital Kitchen Scale. Five of these will be given away in a free drawing at the BBG Houseplant SIP Workshop this coming Wednesday

Sub-irrigation is demonstrably the most accurate way of supplying water to houseplants. It does not rely on imprecise finger poking to test soil moisture.

Just try it and you will see for yourself. You do not have to take anyone's word for it.

One reason why sub-irrigation is more accurate than drench and drain watering of houseplants is the ability to provide a measured dose of water.

Growing in clear containers such as soda bottle SIPs adds to the accuracy of this method. You can see the status of the root system and soil moisture at all times. As we know, traditional drain hole pots are opaque (clay pots for example) and the status of the all-important root system is largely a mystery to the caretaker.

The most accurate, foolproof way to provide water to houseplants is to use portion control just as you would when controlling food calories. An inexpensive kitchen scale is all you need.

The scale method is simple and I will cover it in the BBG workshop Wednesday evening. I will also donate 5 Cuisaid AccuWeigh ProDigital Kitchen Scales to encourage dialogue from users.

We desparately need shared user experience. If our institutions refuse to provide it, we can use social media as a tool for educating ourselves.

The only obligation to enter the free drawing is to agree to share experience via Google+ on a Google Circle. We’re in the process of organizing this.

Houseplant Hydroculture at the BBG Workshop Also

Both Ficus bonsai style plants are growing in recycled containers. The one on the left is growing in potting mix, the one in the right in expanded clay pebbles.

In addition to learning how to grow plants in sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) with potting mix, we will also cover growing in expanded clay pebbles at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden SIP workshop on Wednesday.

Both methods are simple forms of hydroponics that do not require electricity and air pumps.

Can you identify the containers recycled into planters?

Both of these plants were propagated from cuttings bundled together. You can see the small cable tie on the hydroculture plant. The soil plant cuttings were wrapped with a small strip of duct tape. Eventually the cuttings will meld together into one trunk.

The only cost for these plants was the cost of the media. Everything else is free. For sure, the "drain hole people" do not like you knowing about this.

Spider Plants » Canaries in the Coal Mine

These Spider (Chlorophytum) starter plants will be planted in recycled soda bottle sub-irrigation planters (SIPs) at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden workshop sponsored by the GreenBridge program.

Each participant in the Houseplant Sub-irrigated Planter (SIP) workshop this coming Wednesday can make and take home a recycled soda bottle SIP with a Spider plant (Chlorophytum) growing in it. We will make the SIPs in class.

Why a Spider plant you may wonder. The Spider plant will prove that the main reason cited for drain holes in pots is simply not true in reality. Sadly, many who preach about the need for drain holes know better and are lying to serve their own self-interest.

Lying is a strong word but there is no point in using weasel words when the consuming public is intentionally deceived like this. It is reminiscent of the tobacco companies behavior. Know that I have been called "the enemy" by them right to my face and cursed at for publishing this blog.

The bogus claim for drain holes is that you need to flush soluble salts from the soil. The typical symptom of excess soluble salts is browning of the leaf tips (called tipping). While this can be a signficant factor in the greenhouse where they are pushing the growth of plants with loads of water and chemical fertilizer, it is a low rung problem for consumers.  

Spider plants happen to be very sensitive to soluble salts. I recommend growing them because they are much like the canaries that coal miners used to use to detect toxic gas such as carbon monoxide. If you grow one or more Spider plants in SIPs and you do not get brown tips, you will prove to yourself that you do not need pots with drain holes. 

I have grown many, many sub-irrigated Spider plants both in Southern California and now here in Brooklyn. I have never had a problem with tip burn.

The bottom line is that you do not need pots with drain holes and that sub-irrigation is a vastly superior method of growing plants in containers.

Come to the workshop and learn some more houseplant secrets, including who is lying and why they are spreading bad information. You will also learn how to grow a wide variety of high quality sub-irrigated houseplants like these.

Prior Post: Don't Be A Drain Hole Dodo

Sub-irrigated Cactus Concealed in a Clay Pot

This cactus lives in a clay pot but it grows in a sub-irrigated planter (SIP aka erroneously as "self-watering") insert (note plastic rim). It was a 2" pot size plant a little over five years ago. It has spent most of its time on a windowsill here in my Brooklyn apartment and more recently on a light garden shelf. The can is a scale figure.

This cactus has been thriving in my Brooklyn apartment expect for one thing. It is a very healthy plant except for the brownish ring about half way up. It was caused by a gross operator error (by me). Contrary to what most people might think, it was not over-watering. Can you guess what caused it?

I'll bring this plant to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden SIP workshop next Wednesday and all will be revealed.

See prior photos of this cactus in this Flickr photo set.

It’s “Houseplant” Week!

The postponed houseplant workshop at Brooklyn Botanic Garden is on for next Wednesday, December 5 from 6 to 8 p.m.

The workshop features the use of sub-irrigated planters (SIPs), the most foolproof way to maintain plants indoors. Everyone will take home a recycled soda bottle SIP with a starter plant. There are a few seats left but you better hurry. Register here.

To support the event, I will post houseplant information between now and the workshop.

First, the term houseplant. In my view, it is an old-fashioned term. I’ll use it because it is in such widespread use. Think about some of the uses of the word such as “dumb as a houseplant”. Indoor or interior plant is more modern.

I draw the line, however, at “self-watering”. It is bad English and makes no horticultural sense. Only animals with a brain have the ability to start and stop drinking. Plants do not have this ability. The term self-watering instead of sub-irrigation leads all too often to over watering and plant death. 

SIP Workshop at Brooklyn Botanic Garden Postponed Due to Storm Conditions

The SIP workshop planned for this evening has been postponed due to the nor'easter. Stay tuned for a new date. 

SIP Workshop at Brooklyn Botanic Garden This Wednesday Evening

Learn how to grow a bonsai style Ficus tree like this one. It's growing in a ceramic rice bowl with no drain hole. Imagine that! 

A Spider Plant growing happily in a recycled Coke bottle SIP. Sub-irrigation is really a form of simple hydroponics. See the water roots? 

There is still space for the sub-irrigated planter (SIP) workshop at Brooklyn Botanic Garden on Wednesday evening. It is sponsored by the BBG GreenBridge program and it's free. Also, everyone will take home a plant in a soda bottle SIP. 

Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Wednesday November 7, 2012 from 6pm to 8 pm

Enroll here.  

Somerville » A City That Leads on Lead and Urban Agriculture

Somerville is evidently the first city in Massachusetts to pass an Urban Agriculture Ordinance. It establishes formal guidelines for urban farming and gardening, the keeping of chickens and bees, and other policies governing the growth and sale of agricultural products in an urban setting.

This is not a laissez-faire, "free ride" program that bows to a small group of urban gardening activists. It is a program that meets the fresh food growing interests of all Somerville residents and imposes some sensible citizen responsibilities.

For example, residents can now sell their crops, including at farm stands, but to do so, they must have their soil tested each year for lead and other contaminants, and post the results.

I don't know if they have filled the position yet but Sommerville has also advertised for a Lead Program Coordinator.

This being Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, it was good to read this news. Young children and recent immigrants should be a lot safer in Sommerville.

If you don't know about Somerville, it is just two miles north of Boston and is the most densely populated (75,754, 2010 census) municipality in Massacusetts.

Somerville is an eclectic mix of blue-collar families, young professionals, college students and recent immigrants from countries as diverse as El Salvador, Haiti, and Brazil. There are more than 50 spoken languages in Somerville schools. With a large immigrant population, Somerville celebrates its diversity through numerous ceremonies celebrating cultural traditions and holidays.

Read more about Somerville's Urban Agriculture Ordinance here.

I learned about Somerville's progressive ordinance in this article from Boston.com

via www.boston.com

The urban agriculture initiative is itself linked to Shape Up Somerville, a nine-year-old effort to promote healthy lifestyles in the city with a focus on ending childhood obesity.

Somerville resident Khrysti Smyth (left), known as "The Chickeness of Somerville," teaches her "Urban Chicken Keeping 101" class to City Hall employees and members of the team working on the urban agriculture ordinance. Pictured with her is her Chicken, Fleur, and summer intern Emily Monea of Harvard's Kennedy School.

Unlike eggs found in NYC community gardens recently, my guess is that the eggs from chickens raised by students of "The Chickeness of Somerville" are lead-free.

Today is the First Day of National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (10/21-10/27)

Today is the first day of National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week. Last year I found perhaps one or two mentions of it here in New York City. I do not remember one New York urban gardening or food related organization that bothered to mention it and stress the need for toxic metals soil testing before growing food in the ground.

Coincidently, it was just a couple of weeks ago that the NY Times published a troubling article about lead found in the eggs of NY City raised chickens. I wonder where the lead came from. Let me think.

Maybe this year will be different and the urban gardening and local foodie activists will act in a conscionable way. Oh well. Let’s not worry too much; lead poisoning only affects small children (irreversibly) and mostly poor people.

Why waste our hard earned money on public service announcements and the need for toxic metals soil testing before growing food in city soil. So what if our prized organic backyard food has lead or arsenic in it.

via www.cdc.gov

A Digital Age Menu

Even during my blogging time-out my research went on. I have tons of stuff to post...most of it requiring writing and editing. Stay tuned.

This one from my inbox, however,  is self-explanatory. How cool is this menu and ordering system? I'd love to try it.

via www.youtube.com