Inside Urban Green

Six Month Old Ficus Produces a New Tree

Only 6 months old from rooted cuttings.

The Ficus benjamina above was propagated from a small bundle of cuttings. They were rooted in a sub-irrigated (aka "self-watering) planter (SIP) made from a repurposed soda (pop) bottle only six months ago.

I pruned it today and concealed the soda bottle SIP inside a ceramic cachepot from IKEA as shown below.

The cuttings will be propagated the same way and produce yet another tree. So the cycle continues. There are now seventy trees in the collection and counting.

Only 6 months old from rooted cuttings

Ficus Trees Multiplied

As you can probably tell, these Ficus trees are not on the floor of a greenhouse. Look below after the jump.

There are now more than 50 of them growing in the CuGreen plant lab. It is rather amazing to know that these desktop trees were propagated from four small bags of cuttings starting about a year and a half ago. Read the back story here.

There is no special equipment here. The light gardens are Inter-Metro type storage racks from Costco and the artificial lighting is supplied from inexpensive shop lights (4’) using ordinary 40-watt fluorescent tubes. The racks are located in east facing windows so they also receive natural light during the day.

The planters are made from recycled pop/soda bottles. To encourage rooting they are covered with clear plastic deli containers to start. It typically takes 3-4 weeks to root the cuttings and the deli containers are then removed.

These seven Sansevieria plants were propagated using the same system. Who knows how many new plants will be propagated from these plants over the next year or so. I will post the progress.

Barbecue Chicken Container Seed Propagator

Here is yet another repurposing (recycling) opportunity that will help you grow your own fresh vegetables and keep some more plastic out of the waste stream. Thanks to the economic slump, all reports indicate that vegetable seed sales are booming this spring. Here is a way to start them. 

You may recognize this seed starter's former life as a barbecue chicken container. Costco sells them by the thousands. Who knows how many. It pained me to trash them until I saw a post on Apartment Therapy. 

The white seed tray is repurposed (recycled) from Chinese take-out. The wicks are made of polyester batting material (see aquapads). 

It’s very easy to poke holes with a hot metal skewer and slots with a hot knife. That's all there is to it. Insert the wicking strips and you're good to go. 

I will post the progress of the seeds in these propagators. Stay tuned.  

New Trees from the "Survivors"

The Ficus benjamina trees in the top photo were propagated from cuttings this past April. They are 3 more of the "survivors". 

I pruned some branches from these trees as shown in the bottom photo. These cuttings will make two new trees in less than a month. That is the time it will take to root them in pop bottle planters with hoods (propagators) as shown here. 

I will post photos showing new growth on the pruned trees as well as the progress of the 2 new trees, the progeny of the "survivors". 

Cut a Bottle, Plant a Bottle

At the risk of beating this subject to death, I’m going to talk again about what a great product repurposed pop bottle planters are. It’s obviously an unintended use, but they certainly are more valuable to you and society at large than the liquid they contained…that’s for sure! 

Repurposed pop bottle planters may not be a complete solution to our plastic bottle problem but they certainly are a solution for maintaining and propagating tabletop container plants.

A clear sub-irrigation (aka self-watering) planter is a much better way to maintain desktop size house plants, propagate them and grow vegetable plant starts. They work as good or better than any available at retail and they’re free as in F_R_E_E! 

Try them. Here's how to make them. You and your plants will be smiling and so will the green goddess looking down on all of us. 

 

Incidentally, if you'd like to build a greenhouse with them too, that's fine (see Inhabitat) but you don't need one to do what I did here. Look here too. 

 

Via: Inhabitat

Hail the Survivors!

Forgive me for a bit of melodrama but I think of these little Ficus trees as analogous to phoenix birds arising from the ashes. 

They are the progeny of the beautiful tabletop trees that defoliated in storage after a harrowing cross county odyssey last year. I’ll not go into the long story of what happened except to say that it was due to human negligence, not plant care methodology. 

What you see here are small Ficus trees that were propagated from cuttings starting about 5 months ago. Propagating and growing these plants has been a truly amazing experience in context of several decades of growing and maintaining Ficus benjamina plants. 

These little trees were propagated from cuttings in repurposed pop bottle planters with humidity hoods. In my view, you cannot buy a better planter and propagating system for home use. Please note also that these trees were grown on racks by east facing windows with supplementary fluorescent lighting here in my Brooklyn apartment. 

I’m in the process of photographing each tree with its i.d. number. I will post updates monthly to show their progress in becoming “bonsai style” tabletop trees. 

To be continued. There is a lot more to say about this project. Come on back! 

Seeing Clearly

Click on the photo to see how to make them.

After growing indoor plants in clear containers for many years, I wouldn’t even think of maintaining one in an opaque grow pot. Behind the scenes, all of them live in some kind of clear plastic container.

I remove the plant from its opaque grow pot and repot into clear plastic so that I can easily inspect the most important part of the plant, the soil and root system. Opaque plastic grow pots prevent this. The most important area of the plant is hidden from your view?  

Growers use opaque pots to prevent algae from growing in the greenhouse under relatively high light (2-3000 foot-candles) and humidity. Typical interior light in a building, however, is more typically in the range of 25 to 200 foot-candles with low humidity.

Algae is not a problem with clear containers if you install them inside a decorative cachepot. It makes plant care much easier and it looks much better than a plastic grow pot sitting in a saucer. If some algae does grow, you can easily eliminate it with a diluted solution of hydrogen peroxide. Hydroponics growers use it on a regular basis.

Three Month Old Ficus Tree

This Ficus benjamina (Weeping Fig) with Ficus pumila (Creeping Fig) growing at the base was propagated from cuttings about 3 months ago. It’s now growing in a 3-liter recycled (repurposed) pop/soda bottle planter. The media is a mixture of 50-50 coir and expanded clay pebbles. Find step-by-step instructions for making recycled pop bottle planters here.

I read that growers in the Netherlands are testing the coir, expanded clay pebble mix. That’s good enough for me. I'll test it and see if there are any consumer benefits.

Cuttings are rooted (100% coir) in pop bottle propagators (shelf on left). This takes less than a month. The propagating hoods are removed and the plants are potted up in a 50-50 coir and Fafard potting soil mixture (shelf on the right). Plants on the right end of the shelf are growing in expanded clay pebbles.

Ask yourself why the cooperative extension program educators (and other gardening sites) are not teaching pop bottle recycling and these methods across the country. What they teach instead is analogous to finger painting, it’s that primitive.

Anyone can do what you see here. Use the same methods for decorative or edible plants. For example, various kinds of peppers are growing on the fire escape through the window (photo on the left - enlarged). The plants were started in pop bottle planters. I noticed today that there are a number of tiny peppers on the plants. Photos to come.

No Science and Little Art

June 8, 2008 - new leaves are a growing! - See an updated photo of the repurposed pop bottle planter.

This tiny Polka Dot plant was a handout at the World Science Festival Street Fair today. One of our botanical institutions was giving them out to demonstrate their kids gardening program. I don't see any science here, only imprecise "art". 

The little plant was installed in an overly heavy compost, certainly not a good media for an indoor plant. When I removed it from this soil, I noticed a fungus gnat (Sciarid fly), a sure sign of soil that is too moist.Their larvae thrive in soil like this.

Following is the text of the "plant care sheet" included with the plant. The method of planting along with the vague, unscientific care sheet leads me to predict that few of these plants will survive. I don't see that as a good way to introduce kids to gardening.

Plant Care Sheet Hypoestes "Polka Dot Plant"

Polka dot plants come in white, red, or pink, and are native to Madagascar. Polka dot plant makes a nice houseplant. Don't place in direct sunlight. Low light will help prevent spots from fading. This plant likes humidity, and you can pinch younger stems to help keep it full and bushy.

When you get home, put your plant on your windowsill with a saucer underneath it. Keep soil moist but don't overwater. If you put your finger in the soil and it feels dry, it's time to water your plant. If the soil feels damp, your plant needs no water. Don't forget to check your plant every few days! Enjoy.

Children's Education

                                                                                                                                                

The plant is now installed in a pop bottle (sub-irrigation) planter. It's planted in a mix of coir and potting soil, The little plant will be cared for using scientific methods. It has an excellent chance for a healthy and robust future. I'll post updates in the future.

Vertical Farm

Okay, so it's not a real "vertical farm". Think of it as an embryonic vertical farm. We need to start some where other than the outdated clay pots and saucers inside many of our homes and offices. They were only modern in the time of the ancients.

This is one of the Inside Plants Science Mini-Labs that is now in my Brooklyn apartment. This is what should be (but isn't) in the science lab of every school in America. If it were, we would be a lot further along in science education. We would be a lot further along a path to more local food production. As it is, due to a lack of up-to-date information most of us are still crawling in a horticultural kindergarten.

What you’re looking at is an investment of under $100 for a 4’x6’ InterMetro style rolling rack (Costco) with 1” increment adjustable shelves. It currently has two shop lights with room for more. This one is chrome but you can find them in black and white powder coat finishes.

Do I hear objections to fluorescent lighting? If so, put the garden in your office, a spare room or a bedroom if it bothers you to have it in your living area. With a timer, it can come on at night when you’re asleep. Use a little creativity. The result will be well worth it.

I’ve gotten very used to this garden and would miss its presence. It provides a cheery view when the weather outside is winter bleak. I lived with ten of these racks in my home back in San Diego. They soon will be rolling into some Brooklyn school rooms helping to teach modern plant science.

Commercial light gardens of this type cost much more. Those from Gardener’s Supply and the National Gardening Association will likely cost you over $700 delivered. Neither of them does any more than what you see above. Incidentally, note that there are no drainage trays, saucers or catch pans. None are needed when using sub-irrigation.

The small Ficus trees growing in expanded clay pebbles were rescued from temporary storage in the middle school science lab. The recycled pop bottle planters and propagators produced the results you see here and here.