#also isn't fert like

[sumi-sprite]

scrunching my face real hard rn

[turtlesandfrogs]

A basic starter project if you want to start growing your own food but have no money & no experience, assuming you like green onions.

Supplies needed: Dead potted plant from free pile/dumpster/friend or family member, used food container, green onion ends.

Steps:

1. Remove lid from container, it's now your plant pot's saucer

2. Either poke holes very carefully and slowly (not ideal) or slice the corners off with scissors (better)

3. Remove soil from the dead plant's pot, put in container. This one was super heavy in perlite (the white stuff, helps with drainage), so I mixed in another pot that had more organic matter (brown stuff, mostly helps retain moisture, sometimes provides nutrients). Water until water comes out the bottom, then let drain in sink until until it's done. Put pot on lid:

4. Stick the green onions in, deep enough that they can stand up on their own, or until the white part is covered:

5. Stick in window, water when dry, and wait:

Why not just stick them in water?

Because they make the water really smelly.

Just change the water often, then it won't stink.

I will forget, and then it will stink. Plus, I prefer growing in soil.

Why do you prefer soil?

Thanks for asking! I started because growing them in water didn't work well for me. But on top of that, if you regrow in water, eventually their growth will peter out. This is because in addition to water and carbon dioxide, plants need other nutrients. These are stored in the bulbs of green onions, but they will be depleted by growth if the plant can't replace them. Potting soil often has leftover nutrients, and if you've got compost you can also mix that in.

Why not just put fertilizer in the water?

Two reasons. First off, that's a great way to grow algea, unless you make sure the water isn't getting light. Secondly, most cheap, widely available fertilizers are meant to be used for plants that are in soil, so they're not complete (they're missing iron and maybe some other things? It's been a while since i looked it up). So eventually, if you use water and normal ferts, the plant will stop growing. If you have access to hydroponic ferts, those would work, but you also have enough money that you're not the target audience for this post.

I don't trust the potting soil from random plants.

Completely understandable, and probably smart too. In that case, you have a couple other options if you want soil for free. First off, you could look for dead vegetable or other edible plants in pots, and know that those will not have been treated with something that makes them inedible to humans. You can also look for free bags of partially used potting soil in your local buy-nothing/free stuff groups/craigslist/nextdoor/mutual aid groups.

What if I have some money for soil?

Then you can look for potting soil, or make your own (plenty of recipes online for this)

Help! There are tiny flies that look like fruit flies!

Those are probably fungus gnats, and there's plenty of ways to get rid of them. My two favorites are watering a bit less and adding half an inch of sand to the top, making your plants an unsuitable habitat, or getting a mosquito dunk and keeping it in your watering can. Mosquito dunks have Bt, a type of bacteria that kills mosquitos, fungus gnats, and other related insects. There are other types of Bt that go after other types of insect, such as cabbage moths. It's considered an organic treatment.

What about other pests?

I've literally never seen them get other pests indoors.

How much light do they need?

As much as you can give them, probably. If you have a window that gets midday sun, use that. Or a grow light. If they don't get enough light, they'll be floppy and pale, still edible, but not as flavorful.

When can I harvest?

When it wouldn't look silly to harvest them. I generally wait until they're at least a foot tall (30cm). I'll post an update when I do.

Why didn't you just use the dead plant's pot, dumbass?

A) it didn't have a saucer to protect the surface underneath, B) this is a concept post, and often plant pots are too wide to fit in window sills, and C) I didn't like the pot.

Won't it just grow into a bulb?

Nope, green onions are actually usually a different type than bulbing onions. Usually. And they're perennial! I've never had one try forming a bulb, but you can just eat them if yours do.

Can I ask you another question?

Yep! I'll add it to the update.

[hella-free-space]

So! I have some anubias plants, but they are planted in sand. I know that that isn't the best substrate for them, if my research isn't anything to go by. But I read somewhere about little pill like packets of fertilizer? What are those, where can I order them (cheaply, I'm a poor college student after all), and will the fertilizer hurt my fish or their invertebrate tankmates?

anubias plants grow really slowly and should not be fully planted (regardless of substrate). the rhizome (the fat horizontal root structure) should be left above the substrate :) you can tie anubias to plants or wood as well~ (this tank was full of my anubias! i’ve had them since the beginning. they’re such troopers!)

sand actually isn’t too bad to use as planting substrate and i’ve actually switched over to sand from fluorite black! :O i plant mostly swords and hygro and both seem to do well! i have one tank that’s still fluorite black, though (no sense in wasting perfectly good substrate), and that also seems to grow my swords just as well~ my anubias are tied to driftwood, though, and only their anchoring roots have grown into the sand.you dont need ferts for lower-light, lower-maintenance plants like anubias but they also dont hurt :) liquid ferts shouldn’t hurt fish or inverts...tho i have wondered about the copper content of some ferts because inverts can be sensitive to copper and i’m not sure if there’s a list of safe or unsafe ferts out there -- does anybody know what ferts are safe or if there are even any ‘bad’ or ‘invert-toxic’ ferts??in terms of ferts that i like, easy green from aquarium coop (i rly want to try it, i haven’t yet, but i’ve heard nothing but good things so far) and i also use seachem’s stuff :pfor other plants like amazon swords (which are root feeders. anubias feed mainly from the water column and i dont think they’d benefit much from root tabs), the osmocote root tabs are great! you can buy them on amazon/ebay or make them yourself. u can find some videos on youtube about osmocote root tabs and which osmocote product to use and where to get the gel caps n stuff~ they’re a diy thing mostly and although you can buy root tabs in stores like petco from seachem, they’re waaaaaaay overpriced imo e.e i’m also not sure whether these root tabs pose any threat to any inverts or not...tl;dr anubias dont really need root tabs, can be planted in sand but leave the rhizome uncovered, sand is actually pretty okay to plant in, u can buy root tabs on amazon and ebay or make them yourself, seachem and easy green seem to be good liquid ferts.

if anyone knows of any ferts (root tabs, liquid ferts, etc.) that are poisonous to inverts?

[littleapocalypsekitten]

This is a beautiful answer. Assuming that the person who went off on everybody isn't a troll and is sincere, I think this is exactly what is going on. (They will not see this. I've got them / fert blocked because I am in NO mood to be called a stupid bitch Nazi cunt, which seems to be all they are on). I took a look at their blog and they seem to enjoy a science-oriented Youtube channel that I also enjoy, and I have run into Transhumanism-arguments before. As I said on my other reply to this thread, I enjoy writing stories featuring it. I have the robot-consciousnesses-body-surfing version and it exists only for the rich / an artificial upper-class in my world, because I'm certain that it's how it will be if it happens. As also said on my other reply, I recently lost a loved one. A very close adult nephew / best friend. It's been hard. It was a sudden death - some outstanding health problems, but he wasn't even 40. In between planning the memorial-gathering for family and friends, it's been hard and I am familiar with how the emotions go wonky. I've been having bouts of unbridled rage, for instance, but not taking it out on internet strangers (instead, I've been threatening God. I was relieved when my psych doc told me that this was normal). We all get weird when faced directly with mortality, so, yes, I do wonder if Fitzory/fert/whomever has lost someone recently or has had a scary brush with death. I have compassion for them if their emotions are out of whack because of that (but still have them blocked because with my emotions out of whack, I will definitely react to their abrasiveness by saying things I'll regret). What is at heart is a failure to understand. What OP was talking about was making a joke about cosmetics and the beauty industry that asks us to conform to a standard that not all of us onery old cusses want to conform to. Fitz takes it in a completely other direction (science stuff) and it collapses their whole world. They need to step back, take a breath. Being anti-aging and anti-death as a philosophy really does not work with wanting people to die. (A fight or flight instinct? Sure, but it doesn't sell their philosophy). If they're going into it with this attitude, it's pretty much a kind of non-religious Calvinism, isn't it? They reserve the right to pick and chose who will make it to their future deathless utopia ("heaven") while everyone whom they do not like, all the way down to people who "gasp!" disagreed with them! on the Internet!" gets cast into oblivion. Part of the reason why these guys have never "sold" transhumanism to me. Yes, I'd like the elders in my family to get reverse-aged and get their mobility back and their health problems cured. No, I don't want to lose anyone else. Living to 300 years or more with good health like the High Elves in Skyrim would be pretty awesome. However, forever? I'd take a Heaven I'm not sure exists, or even oblivion unless these guys eventually learn how to bring back literal dust and ashes (the family cremated my nephew, we are planning a scattering in a natural setting in his childhood home state later this year). If the option happens and others want to live forever, fine, but I am likely to opt out. Too many people I miss. Even if I'm wrong about the spiritual notions I like to keep, even oblivion seems better. I think the scientific miracles that fert is hoping for are unlikely in any of our livetimes. I hope fert can make fert's peace. (And STOP wishing early death on those of us who may not want to live forever, but definitely want to live longer).

scrunching my face real hard rn