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Post by Tucson Grower on Apr 28, 2023 10:49:58 GMT -6
Tucson,
I'm glad you got the seedlings straightened out. Sounds like George's guess must have been very close... Ever since this experience with chlorosis of young seedlings I've changed how I sow pre-germinated seed into cell-pacs. I half-fill the cells with media put a pinch of balanced organic fert., including some bloodmeal, for iron. A dash of inoculant powder, gently place the pre-sprouted seed, cover with media then gently spray with water until thoroughly moist.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on May 7, 2023 18:17:48 GMT -6
Heavy Hitter Okra is germinated and in the ground! 2019 Seed direct from harvester, 100% germination.
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Post by Tucson Grower on May 9, 2023 5:18:00 GMT -6
In my F1 hybrid production area I have ~28 heavy hitter seedlings. Some are coming on quite strong. Already about 6 inches tall and crowned with clusters of rapidly growing flower buds. In my conditions the upper surfaces of most leaf petioles of heavy hitter are red. A strong contrast is sea island red, where almost every part of the plants are either red or suffused with red; even without my color-coded plastic labels, it should be no problem to discern which is which.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 9, 2023 20:29:28 GMT -6
I had a couple hundred Heavy Hitter seeds pre-germinating in a Ziplock bag yesterday, so I could plant them today. I had a busy day yesterday, driving a 262 mile round trip to Red Oak, Oklahoma to pick up a pickup truck that my son purchased online. Somehow, I misplaced the seeds I was planning to plant this morning.
Wouldn't you know it, I found them just as the sun was going down. Since it's supposed to rain for days on end, starting tonight, I took a flashlight and planted them in the dark.
All the seeds I planted in April were eaten by crows. There are muddy crow tracks all over my plastic where they've walked up and down my rows, pulling up every seedling they could find.
Hopefully, this weekend, I'll be able to take a crow call out there and make the crows a little less plentiful. It sure is frustrating when the whole world is greening up with plants, but the only ones they are interested in eating are the ones growing in my garden.
I guess that was a good call that I decided to plant tonight, I hear rain hitting the roof as I write this. Good thing it's raining, because I didn't water my seeds in. That was a tough call to make, but I thought there was a good chance they might get ponded out of the ground later if I watered them in before the rains fell.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on May 9, 2023 20:34:18 GMT -6
I’m so glad you found them and put them in this evening. I was crawling around outside with a flashlight, but only to batten the hatches and pick up the scythe and stone. It’s storming gently and will make the seedlings pop.
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Post by Tucson Grower on May 10, 2023 20:36:08 GMT -6
I'm describing my first ever planting of okra - directly into the ground, here at our place in Picture Rocks, Tucson, AZ. My first ever success with HH.
It consists of a double staggered row of 14 plants each, alternating HH - SIR. Many of them are doing well; the largest plants are 4 - 6 inches tall, many have flower buds forming at their nodes, all the way to the ground. Those with buds also have the appearance of a crown of buds, growing smaller as you go higher up the plant, like a tiny crown of buds - a few are even beginning branches. The base of the stems on these strongest specimens are the diameter of a medium size cigar. This morning I had my first okra blossom, it was on one of the SIR plants, though I expect the HH plants won't be far behind.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 11, 2023 14:19:12 GMT -6
Wow! Tucson, sounds like you are about a week or less away from your first tender pods of the season! Congratulations on that!
I've yet to have a single survivor here from the crows who keep themselves busy picking my seedlings before they ever have a chance to lose their seed leaves.
Keep up the good work.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 12, 2023 20:35:41 GMT -6
I've been busy today, trying out different types of hole cutters on my 12 rows of Plasticulture. By dusk, I had approximately 1,980 holes punched and ready to be planted. That ought to make the job of planting a whole lot easier now. It takes so much time to cut a single hole in the plastic before I plant each seed that I normally only get about 200 seeds planted per session before my knees and my back are worn out.
Now, that all the holes are pre-punched, planting ought to go a lot faster. I might not get too much done tomorrow though, from the way my shoulders are already aching from punching so many holes in one afternoon.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on May 12, 2023 23:53:14 GMT -6
I’d do FAhr if they would let me. Propane with an extension so you don’t need to lean over. I’ve seen folks burn holes with a cup like gadget on the tip. I know it’s more $$ to burn (pun intended) but something that is multi purpose is worthy in my book. Bun bun cages, chicken coop, weed seedlings, et al
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 13, 2023 12:52:16 GMT -6
I made a cutter from a piece of 3/8" rebar with a triangle spade welded to the end of it at first. The rebar is about 3' feet long with a wooden handle driven over the shank to grip it by. It looks sort of like a branding iron, except it's pointed like an arrowhead and sharpened with a file in order to cut the plastic.
I cut a couple of hundred holes with that, then switched over to a length of 1-1/2" PVC that I cut at about a 60° angle and sharpened to a point with a half-round file. That worked wonderfully, but soon became plugged with dirt making it quite a bit heavier to operate. Once it became plugged, it was no longer possible to just push it slowly through the plastic, so I changed techniques and began thrusting it through the plastic instead. With a little practice, I was able to punch 180 holes in less than 3 minutes. It reminded me of a large sewing machine needle, as I was able to punch and retract, just as fast as I was able to walk along on the rough, muddy ground, but it was kind of tough on the shoulders and upper arms after a few hundred holes. (Sometimes, gardening is not an old man's game).
That would be a great method if I was punching holes for tomato transplants, because it left about a 3" inch deep hole each time, but I was only needing a shallow divot for direct sowing of okra seeds. So, I eventually went back to using the arrow-shaped spade that I made.
The proto-type of the rebar and spade punch was first made of an aluminum hunting arrow with four razor blades soldered to a screw on field tip, but the occasional rock made quick work of dispatching the solder joints on that tool. I've still got in the back of my head, the idea of using a ski pole, employing a die grinder to create slots for making a sturdier attachment point of the razor blades, but have yet to build one.
If I could think of a way to keep the 1-1/2" inch PVC from plugging with mud, I liked that method best, as it left a clean, round hole in the plastic, rather than a tattered flap that might cause problems later when the seed leaves emerge.
For years, I've been trying to think of a way to make a hole punch that runs off a battery attached to a coil of wire to burn through the plastic like Frosty described, but due to the weight of the battery and the placement of an on/off switch, and the fact that often times the wind is blowing 30 mph, cooling off the coil on an already too cool day, while I'm trying to cut holes has made that one hard to accomplish. (I need to keep working on that idea). Yesterday, I just wanted to get the holes punched before the rains came and didn't spend much time on engineering.
I've seen people rig a propane bottle with a hose to melt a hole through the plastic. That looked intriguing, but again, high winds and fire don't mix well.
I've also thought I might use an old high wheel cultivator someday and affix a few cutters to it, so I could push that by the handles down the rows, cutting holes as I walked along.
I've seen videos of people who attached PVC cutters to an old tire and rolled that down the rows, but that idea was slow and cumbersome. The whole point was not to wear out my back while punching holes. Bending over to roll an old tire all day doesn't sound like much of a back saver to me.
I guarantee, if someone invented an economical and labor-saving method of doing that, there would be a market for it, as punching holes in the plastic is probably half the work required for planting.
This tool looked promising, but not for $160.00 www.amazon.com/Transparent-agriculture-plastic-vegetables-diameter/dp/B089S2RCH8?th=1
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Post by FrostyTurnip on May 13, 2023 19:09:50 GMT -6
Roger that, on the FAHr. For the price of that gadget, you could pay the local cnc machinist to stamp one out for ya. Have ‘em weld it. And done.
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Post by hedgeapple on May 13, 2023 23:00:13 GMT -6
HH is soaking. Tomorrow they go in. ✔️
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 14, 2023 20:14:20 GMT -6
Hedgeapple,
That is awesome! They ought to enjoy this weather we've been having lately.
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Post by hedgeapple on May 15, 2023 5:37:43 GMT -6
Hedgeapple,
That is awesome! They ought to enjoy this weather we've been having lately. My HH seed is in the ground and I hope it does well. The weather here has been optimal. My high tech variety tracker for this year:
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 15, 2023 14:21:13 GMT -6
Hedgeapple,
Love that high-tech variety tracker! It reminds me of the old punch cards they had back in the '60s.
As a rule I never plant on Sundays, but I planted in ankle-deep mud yesterday because they said it was going to rain this morning. Guess what? No rain this morning, so I went to town to buy feed and had them load it in the back of the truck. Well, I guess that's all the sky was waiting for. I almost made it all the way home before it started raining so hard that I couldn't see the road ahead of me. (Woodeye must have been limbering up his rain dancing shoes).
Now, I have my paper feed sacks standing along the wall in the barn with a fan blowing on them, hoping they'll dry out rather than mildew.
I'll have to remember that next time we need rain, that worked better that Frosty's new white tennis shoes.
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