My Terlingua

Friday, May 3, 2013

I made it back.

Well the place in Terlingua was still there,my 4-wheeler and generator started right up after setting with gas in them, that Sea Foam is some good stuff for using in gas.
I learned how to take a picture of the moon out there. I've tried for the longest time trying to get a picture of it but they always came out washed out. That moon came up and I started taking pictures of it and they were washed out and in this old fried brain of mine a light went off and I thought if the damn picture is washed out, you need to set the camera up to take a darker image of that damn moon and I did and presto I got a good picture of the moon. I'm a slow learner on some things.

Moon Over Terlingua

I did something out in the desert I really didn't think I would ever do, I put carpet in a dang boat out there for a friend of mine. I should of had a contest to see if anyone could have guessed it. The next day he came over to my place and put gravel over my roads and dressed up all my trails for me. I thought that was a hell of a deal. I worked around an hour at his place and he spends all day at mine.

I think I might have had a Mountain Lion hanging around what I call Yucca Flats on my place. There is an area that he used to take his dumps in if you know what I mean, big piles of poop, its old poop so I guess he moved on,I hope.

I weight 220 lbs and this puts me to shame.

I did do some work on Yucca Flats, I trimmed up a couple of Mesquite's and moved some brush out of the way, its ready for someone to come camping on now. I almost moved my trailer down there after getting it all cleaned up but decided it would be way to much trouble to move so I'll leave it for camping.

Those Javelina came out in force to the feeder. I had to go out at night to tell them to quit fighting so I could sleep, they told me to shut up and get more corn.

The sunrise and sunsets were really pretty as usual out there.

Sun Rise

Sun Set

About all I did was work out there I wanted to stop off and see John Wells of the "Field Lab" and David of "Terlingua or Bust" while I was there but never made it. There is going to be a big party out there June 1st and I'm really going to try and make it. If I do I'll make a point to see John and David then.

The wife called me one night while I was out in Terlingua and told me that the green tote of tomatoes was out of water. How could that be I added water to them just before I left. She adds 5 gallons of water to them and after I came home a couple of days later I had to add 5 more gallons of water to them and today I added 5 more gallons of water to them. That's 15 gallons of water in almost 3 weeks. I grab my scissors and start cutting limbs of those tomatoes and trim about half of the non bearing limbs off that sucker, now I'll see if that stops so much water use. It has blooms and tomatoes all over it so it won't be much longer before I start picking tomatoes. I think at last count in all three containers that are growing tomatoes we have around 40 something tomatoes already on the vines with a ton of blooms still coming on.

This is after trimming it doesn't look like I trimmed it but I did I can see into it now. You can see my lettuce in that other tote.

This is one of my clones. I just cut the limb off the the plant and stuck it in one of my buckets with running water on it and it took off.

My 5 gallon bucket tomato is doing OK I opened it up so much showing people the root system
I broke off the main stem. It had a small sucker growing below where it broke off so I just left
it to grow and I have almost broke it off but its loaded with tomatoes so I'll leave it alone.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Won't be long now

I should have some tomato's before long almost every plant has tomato's on it

The tomato's in that green tote have gone slap ass crazy. They are huge,I trimmed them up some the other day and it looks like they have grown 6 inches. There are blooms in all that mess of limbs so they should be putting out tomato's before long.

I checked the water temp a couple of days ago and it was 78 degrees in the buckets with the hot weather coming on I need to keep checking the temp and make sure its not over 86 degrees in there or I'll start having some problems. I brought a empty 5 gallon hydroponic bucket into the house and will put a plant in it to grow through the hottest part of the summer. My wife loves me for bringing that damn bucket as she called it in the house I thought since we use the kitchen for cooking that a tomato plant would look great in there. She wouldn't have far to walk to pick fresh produce and after all who else do you know that has a tomato plant growing in their kitchen. We will be one up on the neighbors. You see I'm a country boy from Texas and she is a city girl from "cough" California. I don't let her forget where her roots are from and that we do things different down here and she ain't to old to learn the right way to do things. As she walks away I hear her saying something under her breath that sounded something like damn red neck hillbilly.

My cloning is doing pretty well, I have 2 plants in dirt now and will switch them over to hydroponics when they get a better root system on them.

I'm, trying a few different ways of cloning these things. The one above I just stuck in my hydroponic bucket with water running over it and in a week it had roots. I trimmed some more tomato plants a few days ago and just put them in a cup of water to see what they will do,I'll let you know how that works out.

I have a covered seed starter that I'm using for a cloning chamber. I have some different plant cuttings in there and hoping that they will root. One is a Limon tree and another is a Dewberry vine. We used to have Dewberry vines all over our place when I was a kid and now you can't find one growing in the wild around here anywhere. My 2nd cousin found one somewhere and gave it to me.I used to come home with my hands and my ole month purple from picking and eating those dang berry's.
The ole boy's at the hydroponic place tells me that if I have any problems cloning anything to bring them a cutting and they would try cloning it for me. These people are great, you don't find businesses like them anymore.

I'm heading out Terlingua way come Saturday so I'll have something else to talk about other than this hydroponic stuff.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

More Hydroponics

Well I had me a little accident with my tomato in a 5 gallon bucket. I lifted that lid off that bucket so many times showing people how it worked that I broke one big limb off that dang tomato but all was not lost, I've been studying up on cloning and am trying my luck on cloning a few limbs off of that plant.

I caught me around 600 gallons of rain water from our last rain and I thought I would get my new bucket system up and running with some of that rain water.

I filled those buckets up first and checked the PH in each bucket and all looked good, that rain water came out with great PH readings so I filled up that tote and then I added the fertilizer and fired it up.

I thought I'd let it run overnight before I put anything in it. The next day I went out and checked the PH just for grins and I'm glad I did. The more in the yellow to orange the PH reading is the lower the PH is and when I checked mine it was blood red. What in the hell happened here? I grab my bottle of base for raising the PH and put some in my system,now it doesn't take a whole lot of this stuff to raise the PH of the water. I put some in the water and retested it and it did not change one little bit "what the hell" I pore some more in the water and nothing the PH is still blood red. I'm getting a little pissed off now and pore what is left in the bottle in that system. I check it again and it has come up some but not near enough and I'm out of the Base for raising the PH so off I go to the Hydroponic place and it is closed on Sundays so I stop at Pet Smart and get me a bottle of stuff that will raise the PH. I get home and start with that bottle of Base and $9.00 later and a empty bottle my PH is still to low now I'm pissed, something is not right with my system.

This is what I use to raise the PH and this to lower it

I was told when I first started this Hydroponic stuff that rain water was the best water to use in a Hydroponic system, the lying bastards. Well it is great for Hydroponics but you do have to add something to it. It seems that rain water is missing a few trace minerals and the fertilizer will not bond to rainwater. They forgot to tell me that so that was throwing my system out of wack so I buy this stuff.

I follow the directions and in no time my PH was great. So if you are going to use rain water you might want to get some of this stuff or you will go broke trying to get your PH just right after you add the fertilizer.

My damn tote with the tomato's in it has just about outgrown that damn tote,I had to put some pieces of granite on the Net Pots to hold them down so they wouldn't fall over in the tote. The stems on these plants are huge so I don't think they will break from getting top heavy but they will tip over in the tote, I just need something to hold them in the tote. If the rocks don't work I will try some twist ties and tie them into that dang tote.

April 7th

April 2nd

March 15th

All of my tomato's have blooms and some tomato's already. I think I might cut back on the fertilizer. I put a pepper in that new bucket system and its already trying to bloom. I'll be pinching the blooms off because its way to small for peppers now.

I hope I answered some of your questions on this stuff. I'm still learning but I'm real happy with the results. If you don't have a Hydroponic or Aquaponic business in your area you can buy all of the above stuff off of Amazon.

One other thing,once your plants are ready to start blooming you need to switch over to a Blooming fertilizer. I use this stuff.

Before I used this my blooms were falling off the plants now they are staying on the plant and forming tomato's.

I also read that if you put red Christmas balls out around the tomato's that the birds will not peck holes in the tomato's, they peck on the red balls and by the time your tomato's start turning red the birds figure that all they will get is a headache trying to peck the tomato. If I could just find something to keep the squirrels away I would be a happy camper. I tried putting a fake owl out there and the squirrels made friends with it. I tried rubber snakes and that didn't bother them, I even put mouse traps at the base of the plants and that didn't stop them.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

A little more on this ponics stuff

I guess by now your probably getting tired of this stuff but its all I've done lately.

I started this just to see how these systems worked. My goal is setting something up out in Terlingua when we move out there and the one thing I know is that heat will be a killer on the fish and the plants because of water temp so the only way a Aquaponic system would work out there is you need to have one big ass water tank to keep the water at a reasonable temp or I have been thinking that burying the system with the fish in it under ground with just the top above ground and covered and shaded so the ground can keep your temperature down and the grow beds above ground should work. I really don't know I need to get out there and do a little experimenting with different setups. Evaporation shouldn't be a problem, there are different grow pots that the top seals the whole pot except the stem of the plant so I could make a sealed system out of the grow bed with a piece of Plexiglas with the holes cut out for the pots to set in covering the whole grow bed so I wouldn't have a lot of evaporation.

I built another 18 gallon tote for my strawberry's and other plants. They were not growing in with the tomato's. The tomato's had them covered up and no sun was reaching them. This system is the cheapest to do. All you need is this 18 gallon tote from Walmart for $5.00, 11 Net Pots at around .50 cents apiece, and a air pump for around $10.00 with a air stone and your in business.
You don't need to have 11 pots, you can put 2 big pots or how ever many you want it doesn't matter.

I just built this Hydroponic system and have it up and running.

It's a 18 gallon tote with a pump in it to pump water up to the 5 gallon buckets and then drain back down into the tote.

I did get my 330 gallon IBC's that I'm going to make a Aquaponic system with. I still need one more but the guy could only haul two at a time. They look brand new and have had a mixture of 80% water and 20% salt in them. They were one time used IBC's. I have no idea what that mixture was used for.

I have them set up to catch rain water so I will have the water to get the Aquaponic system up and running. I will have one fish tank feeding 3 grow beds when its all over with.
We received a inch and a half of rain last night. I caught 330 gallons off the first storm that came through and noticed that the rain water was almost muddy looking so I dumped that 330 gallons and caught about 300 gallons on the next rain system that came through and its a lot cleaner looking water than that first batch.
One thing I did find nice about hydroponics is when you are forecast to get large hail you and another person can carry your garden inside out of the hail and carry it back out after its over, instead of having it beat all to hell.

It won't be long now before I have my first batch of tomato's. I have blooms coming on every plant now. The tomato's in that dang 18 gallon tote has just went crazy.

6 days ago

Yesterday

I hear thunder outside so maybe I will get that IBC filled up now.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Hydroponics

This hydroponic stuff is really fun,in fact I just ordered (2) 330 gallon totes delivered from an ole boy here in Austin. He sells these once used food grade totes for $125.00 a piece. I think that's a heck of a deal. I need to catch me some rain water. I found out that all the crap they put in our drinking water does not work well with hydroponics.
Here is the tote that I first started with and used tap water in it thinking that the ole guy at the hydroponic place was just pulling my leg on our tap water. This picture was taken March 15th.

As you can see after a week they still look just like the day I planted them. Well really they look a little worse than when I started them. We had a little rain come through and I put a few buckets out to catch me some rain water. I caught about 50 gallons in about an hour of a steady drizzle then I drained the tap water out of that tote and refilled it with rain water. Here is a picture I just took of them this morning.

Now that is a big difference in 11 days don't you think? These plants look great. So good I'm gonna have to move the strawberry's out into another container, you can't even see them anymore.

The other plants are doing well also. You can dang near see them growing. I'm starting to like this hydroponic stuff. Here are the plants in the 5 gallon buckets from 11 days ago and now.

11 days ago Today

11 days ago Today

Now for the plant I'm growing in a pot with dirt. It don't look to good,it kind of looks like a chicken without feathers.

The potting soil I'm using with this Tomato is the same stuff I used last year trying to grow those hot ass peppers that never turned out. So I would not recommend the Miracle Grow potting soil that claims it fertilizes for 3 months. It might fertilize the dirt but it does not do crap for the plants. I'm glad I only used this one plant in it this year.

My next little project is to hook up around (6) 5 gallon buckets that all drain into a bigger tote and hook up a pump that will pump water to all the buckets and keep recirculating back into the tote I'll let you know on how that works out.

Dizzy, here is the plant food I use.

Friday, March 15, 2013

I CAN BREATH

A week ago Wed. I tried to cough and thought I was gonna die, I couldn't get any air I was gasping for air, choking to death, so it was off to my regular Doc to see way I couldn't breath anymore. I went in and the first thing he wanted to do was get a chest X-Ray. That's why I hadn't gone to him sooner because I knew that was what he was going to do. You see I smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day for years and I quit when I had that first heart attack last July so I figured that my lack of air had something to do with my smoking and figured I didn't have long to live. My lungs probably looked like a fire had burned in there for 60 years. So I get the X-Ray done and he says "I'm going to compare this X-ray with the one we did a couple of years ago." I'm thinking,shit he found something so it's time to hit the liquor store when I leave here. I haven't had a drink in 20 years but I was fixing to tie one on after this. He starts to compare this one to that one and pointing out things and with each thing he points out I'm thinking this is the one, he gets to the dark round thing up at the top of my lungs and its the last damn thing he has to point out, I'm starting to get a little uneasy feeling going on and he says to me every thing looks normal here so its not your lungs they look good nothing has changed. I wanted to slap the ever loving crap out of that man. Why couldn't he had just told me that to start with instead of pointing out all this crap out on the x-ray and me waiting for him to drop the bomb on me with every thing he points to.

After my head quits swimming we talk and he thinks that when I got sick back in Nov. of last year I still have some congestion that never went away down there so he puts me on a steroid inhaler to get rid of it. I now have about 3/4 of my breathing back so its working and I feel great again, thank God.

Well my hydroponic systems are doing pretty good.I've come to the conclusion that the 5 gallon bucket system is the way to go for me. The 18 gallon tote with 11 pots is doing OK but the growth is slow the tomato's are just now starting to grow in it. Its taking longer for the root system to get started than the 5 gallon buckets did by a long shot. The buckets have a drip system on them that drips around the plant as well as the plant being submerged in water with an aerator hooked up to give the water oxygen. The tote only has an aerator hooked up to give the water oxygen so there is a difference.

These plants are about 20 inches tall, when planted a couple weeks ago they were about 3 inches tall.

These plants already are trying to bloom but I keep pinching the blooms off so the plants will get bigger.

This is the roots in the 5 gallon bucket plant This hydro phonic stuff just amazes me.I don't see how a plant can grow without dirt and being in water all the time. The little brown balls are made of clay, they hold the plant up and absorb water.

These plants in the tote are about the same size as when I planted them a couple weeks ago.

They have finally gotten some roots showing in the water and starting to grow so maybe they will take off now. I have a lot to learn about this stuff.

The wife tried planting some squash seeds out in the garden and the damn squirrels were out there the next day digging the seeds up. Anybody want some squirrel stew?

Friday, March 1, 2013

From A Garden To Hydroponic's In One Day

I went to the Doc the other day and told him that I didn't have the air like I used to, seems like it started around the first of Dec. He tells me to exercise, so with this warm weather we have had I decided to put me a garden in this year and feed the squirrel's some tomato's this year and get some exercise like the Doc said, so I get my spade and start digging and after about 4 spades of dirt I was breathing like I had run a hundred miles I just ran smooth out of air, I took a little break and went back to digging again and same thing about 4 spades worth and I had to take a break, now this is starting to make me mad I ain't used to not being able to get out and work my butt off, so I tell myself if this is the way I am gonna have to live then it ain't really worth living, so I grab my spade and in about an hour and half and a lot of heavy breathing I have me a 11x16 garden dug up. I'm wore smooth out, I go in the house and set for a spell to see if I killed myself. I woke the next morning so I'm still kicking and decided I'm going out and till that garden up. I think it would had been a lot less work if I took each clod of dirt and chewed on it and spit it out instead of using the tiller I have. I have one of them tillers that fits on the shaft of your weed eater and that damn thing will work you to death, my back hurt, my legs hurt and I couldn't move after tilling that garden up. I knew I had better not go to sleep that night cause I ain't waking up after that little stunt but I woke up, sore as hell but still kicking maybe not kicking but moving a little.

Now this is where it gets crazy, I have A.D.D and my mind goes a hundred miles an hour and I get side tracked at times I come up with a hundred different ways to do something simple. The wife gave me one of them upside down planters that you put peppers in and the daughter gave my wife a tomato upside down planter. I get the wild hair to sink me a 4x4 in the corner of the garden and run a couple of 2x4's across it and hang them upside down planters on it like this.

After hanging them up I go on the Internet and see how well these upside down planters really work. I get on u-tube and sees a feller that has these things all over his back yard full of Maters and Peppers, so I think this might be the way to go instead of that dang garden. Well when I was on U-tube I also saw a video on a small Hydroponic system and I order me up some hydroponic stuff cause I'm going hydroponic now, to hell with that dang garden and them upside down planters, I'm going high tech. After ordering that stuff I see we have a hydroponic place here in Austin that sells all kinds of hydroponic supplies I hop in the truck and head over there because I can't wait for the orders I made on the Internet to get here if I can buy them right now. So I have a small system set up now and will probably have a bigger one before long or who knows what my ole mind has in store for me, it changes every day you know.

That bottom one will have a tomato in it tomorrow, its a little different set up, after its all said and done I will probably have some tomato's that cost around a hundred dollars a piece.

Now in that first and second picture up there you will see a little blue pool upside down. That's our dogs grave yard we only have one left out of a family of 4 and she is 15 years old and is allergic to grass certain times of the year. Now about a month ago she had a allergic reaction to the grass and was chewing on her butt till it bled. The doc told us to give her a half of a Benadryl, so I'm giving her a half of a Benadryl every so often and around the 4th day she ain't eating or drinking just laying around doing nothing I start to worry about her and the next day she can't hardly move I'm thinking this is not looking good I think she is about to die so I get out there and start digging a grave for her. It takes me awhile to dig that grave but I'm almost done and look up and here comes that dog barely walking but makes it out to me, she looks at that grave and looks over at me and heads back toward the house after about 5 minutes I look over to the house and can see her in the kitchen eating and getting a drink of water I don't guess she wanted die after seeing that hole I had dug, the next day she is like nothing ever happened just happy as hell, I'm thinking that grave must have scared her into living again.
It turns out that me and the wife damn near killed that poor ole dog by overdosing her on that Benadryl we didn't know the other one was giving her Benadryl, we where double dosing her and damn near killed her. So that is why that pool is upside down back there because I ain't about to fill that hole up after busting my butt digging it, besides I think that hole might have some type of healing power on that ole dog she sure got well after seeing it.