Ficus religiosa - The seeds I planted outside are a dud. Nothing
happening there. It's my own ignorant fault, I just didn't know how to
plant them. However, the first inside batch are now sprouting pretty
damned well. Rough count: about 50. Second batch appears to have begun
to sprout. Still too early to tell, my eyes just aren't what they used
to be. Last winter, I picked up a grow light from Walmart on clearance
for $5. I've set the sproutlings under this light. I plan to transfer
these little guys into individual little cells. I picked up a 72 cell
greenhouse seed start kit with peat pellets for about $8 from Home Depot. The kit includes a plastic lid to keep humidity up. I decided to move the sproutlings into individual cells. Update: Here's what the sprouts looked like before I began transferring:
Before I began, I made sure to soak the peat pellets in warm water. This caused them to expand quickly. They held a surprising amount of water. To make the transfer easier I poked a small hole in each pollet. To avoid disturbing sproutlings, I used a toothpick and a kitchen knife to transfer each into it's own cell.
No easy feat for these old eyes. I used the toothpick to tease them out of their container. The knife was used to separate out any sproutlings that were too close. I took great care to get each sproutling into the center of each pellet.
Turns out I under counted. I had well over 72 sproutlings. I left the remaining sproutlings alone and covered them up. Second shot of the sproutlings in pellets:
I added as much water as the tray could hold and covered them up.
No other updates on the other seeds. The cuttings are still mostly dead, but some appear to be taking. My neagari project and rhodie project continues to show good growth. I'm not holding much hope on the air layer project, but I'm leaving it alone.
It
was raining when I came home Tuesday. I was sitting outside after dinner
enjoying the rain. Aaron came outside and we talked bullshit. Just two
dorks, hanging out and talking nonsense. He managed to scrounge a stack
of pallets, maybe about 6. He was looking forward to the projects he
could make with pallets. I told him his grandma wants a bench like the
one he made me. We talked about ways to improve the pallet bench. If he
gets good at it he might be able to sell a couple for a profit.
It
seems funny to think about winter in midsummer, but summers are short
up here. Winter will be upon us before we know it. Bernadette pointed
out I will have an issue this winter: Indoor space for my tropicals.
Last winter, I had every window in the kitchen occupied by scheffleras
and her bonsai. I will not have room for the money trees and ficus
religiosa. The cat leaves me few options for plants. I might ask Aaron
to build me a 'bookshelf' for my winter trees. If he can't or won't do
it, I can always buy one on the cheap. This is actually a good idea. I
should be able to install a few lights to a bookshelf for growing. Plus,
I can start my 2 gallon fishbowl terrarium.
I did a bit of research. Seattle Pottery Supply offers a kiln firing service. They also do raku firings. It's a little expensive. But it's an option. So I decided to take up pottery again. Turns out my clay is still okay. I was able to whip out a few Zoidbergs, octopots and even a chicken foot.
Yes, these are bonsai pot names. I plan to do a few pots then go out to SPS about once a month. The plan is to drop off and pick up while I'm there. That's all for now.
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