#got some extra eggshell calcium

[glassshine]

How are your shrimp doing :O

badly :(

they're disappearing without any trace but I'd say they're probably not being eaten

so there's about 15 shrimp left in this 20l tank

if anyone's got ideas where theyre disappearing, why they're dying and constantly having abortions then please do tell

[ahamkara-apologist]

finally got the chance to draw so I kinda went ham with drawing up a headcanon sheet for the Eliksni, in which I blatantly disregarded the canon skintones and just had fun (i don't really enjoy how pink they are in canon personally- I think they should have more natural colour variation)

Some notes:

-The freckles on Eramis and Variks are just freckles, they're not due to age. As for the alarming amount of minor scratches scarred into Eramis's neck and, to an extent, Misraaks- those are marks from hatchling claws! They're traditionally considered marks of beauty and wisdom in Eliksni society. Eramis has many to mirror her many litters, while Misraaks only has a couple from Eido

-I drew everyone but Taniks bald because I drew Taniks first and then realized later that it kinda obscured my hcs for their individual head shapes, so their setae is on the bottom. Setae is someting that only fully sexually mature adults develop, and is much closer in texture to a horse's mane than human hair. It also runs all the way down the back of their neck, much like a mane, and in some cases (like Taniks) has barbs or hooks along its strands so that ornaments can be woven into it, which is inspiration that I took from decorator crabs

-Eramis's facial scars were given to her by a Guardian at Twilight Gap, and are deep enough that they cut into her nasal cavity. Luckily, it's right near the nostrils anyways so she isn't impacted too bad, but she does have to be careful about keeping it clear of debris. Deep in her eye sockets, she's also had some electrodes installed that link to sensors in her helmet and give her little buzzes/shocks whenever something passes in front of it to help compensate for being half-blind, but it's a pretty crude device that doesn't work all that well on small objects

-Each Eliksni's ethnicity is written below their names, which is why Eido has a question mark. She's a mixed kid- try to guess which Houses her parents might have been from ::3

-The horns/shoulder spines were extra spikes of mineralized chitin that were common on adults in Riis, and were traits that were lost during the Drift. They often were calcium/mineral stores used to show age and fitness, but since resources in Sol are scarce, they no longer grow during molts. Riisborn Eliksni still have horn nubs, but that's about it

-As for the sexual dimorphism thing: that's more just me musing about how slight it would be with my hcs about their reproduction (which involves females laying fertilized eggs into a specialized broodpouch in the male, who then builds on their yolk supply and gives them the calcium needed to form eggshells, and thus needs to be bigger). When given actual Eliksni with a natural range of bodily variation, it would be near-impossible to distinguish them

[thelampisaflashlight]

Because I'm decompressing from work, here's some random chicken information, because why not?

-Chickens can eat a variety of foods, and will, in fact, eat their own eggs from time to time.

Actually, some farmers will feed their chickens eggs AND the eggshells to give them back some calcium/protein.

-Chicken feed comes in a couple of form factors, but most birds will either eat layer pellet/crumble or starter/grower feed.

Grower feed is typically fed to young birds or chickens intended for meat purposes, and it mostly comes in crumble form.

It's also sometimes used to help sustain mixed flocks (such as those containing other birds, such as ducks) or as a non-medicated started for chicks being raised on an organic diet. (Additional note that you shouldn't feed medicated starter to ducklings, because it can be very bad for them/make them ill unless it is specifically made for them.)

Whereas layer feeds are given to adult birds who have already started laying, and usually has added calcium for their eggs.

-Chicks start eating grit at about two weeks old, grit being small stones to help aid in their digestion, sometimes supplemented with probiotics.

-Chicks need to be kept in a brooder (a tub or other container) under a heat lamp until they reach about four weeks old, because they don't have their adult feathers and can't maintain warmth very well.

-There's more than a thousand chicken breeds in the world, but you're probably only going to have, at most, a couple hundred available to you; Chickens have different temperaments, levels of "hardiness", broodiness, and egg laying amounts, so it's important to do research ahead of time before getting them.

-Chickens are social animals and need friends to thrive, while a single chicken can lead a perfectly content life, they tend to do better with a friend.

-Chickens are domestic birds, so they cannot survive out in the wild long term; Chickens, especially chicks purchased around holidays, are often released under the false belief that they're being "set free" or will be okay.

They can and will die, and I don't like to sugarcoat it or beat around the bush in regards to it, because it is legitimately a problem.

And lastly, a bonus duck note of a similar vein;

-If you get a duck as a pet, if you believe you might not be able to care for them after they get bigger, do your research ahead of time and find a sanctuary that will take them or post locally to find them a new home; DO NOT drop them off at a random feed store because your college aged daughter got bored of them and shirked her responsibilities onto you and make it the employees responsibility to take care of three extra ducks.

There are rescues and organizations that will take them for free.

That one is more specific because, whoo boy, that happened, I think 1-2yrs ago?

So my ass was stuck caring for three extra animals that were NOT happy to be there, because they were outside of their home for the first time in their entire lives... and also our ducks were bullying them.

Well, one was.

In the defense of Mrs. Quack, it was her house.

[sunset-a-story]

I have been wanting to get an isopod enclosure for a while now! What is yours like, if I might ask?

Hi, friend! Absolutely! This is my micro-enclosure with a pen for scale. Once they're set up, they're super easy to care for. You don't see them a lot but they're there.

It currently houses three adult isopods, some babies I haven't been able to count, and springtails. Adding a cut for folks who don't want to see crawly critters.

I caught the isopods and springtails from my yard because I didn't want to deal with trying to keep tropical isopods warm enough in our winters. Plus, they didn't cost me anything.

I've got two cork barks for hides, some live moss in the back, amethyst ('cause pretty), a hydration station of sphagnum moss on the right, and a little living room set, obvs.

Main upkeep is keeping them moist but not wet. Isopods' gills need to be moist to breathe but they can't be too wet or they can drown. I'm fairly conservative with water on the left side but keep a hydration station of very damp-to-wet moss that gives them a place they can choose to go when they need to rehydrate.

Every day I give the hydration station a good couple sprays of water and then lightly spray the rest of the enclosure. Every other day they get a pinch of Iso Chow on their coffee table. (Chow is gone by morning.) That's it.

Here are my lil guys! Lookit the tiny babies! They're so smol!

The three tiny things in the yellow circle are isopod babies. (I'm still so excited they had babies!) That white speck in the blue circle is a springtail. They're basically the cleanup crew so they make sure no mold grows and break down the isopod waste.

Honestly, the hardest part of the whole thing was catching the springtails. You can order these online but I don't have cash to spare and I only needed so few for my micro-enclosure so, instead, I invested like 2 hours with a headlamp poking at the dirt in my woodpile with a spoon.

Choices were made.

These are all my supplies. It'll take me years and years to run out.

I mixed some ground up sphagnum moss into the creature soil for extra moisture. The Iso Chow is not a requirement as they'll eat the cork bark but they do need calcium supplemented for their shells. You can add crushed eggshell that's been boiled instead but I didn't want to deal with that so I got this feed.

Creature soil

Sphagnum moss

Cork bark

Iso Chow

Sterilized leaves

-

That's basically it. I am by no means an expert here. I just watched a bunch of YouTube videos and talked to some herpetologists on the phone.

I hope that was helpful!

[gallusrostromegalus]

If you ever want to do a "Top 10 home gardening tomato cultivars" segment, I'm here for it. (My folks mostly plant Early Girls, but they have a ridiculously short growing season up there. I grow Sweet 100s, because they taste good enough and I gave up on growing anything other than cherries due to bastard squirrels who like to take exactly one bite out of larger tomatoes.)

OH

IT IS NOW TIME TO INFO DUMP

CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED

Ok so the actual thing with tomatoes is there are- checks google- about 10,000 tomato cultivars out there and every single one of them is different, so you should tailor your tomato breeds to what you actually want to do with them.  10K is a lot a breeds to break down, but fortunately, there are ways to Do That:

1. Determinate vs. Indeterminate 

Determinate tomatoes grow to a genetically predetermined size and start fruiting.  Pros: Tends to have a short time between planting and fruiting, don’t get bigger than a certain size if you only have so much space. Cons: Once they’re done fruiting, that’s it. you really only get the one crop out of them.  Also tend to have sad, watered-down flavor.

Indeterminate tomatoes grow as big as the space will let them, and start fruting when they get around to it. Pros: Maximum Plant for minimum investment, which can be like 10x as big as a determinate plant. Will KEEP fruiting until it gets too cold, so if you can get it in a pot you can move inside you could potentially still be harvesting tomatoes after thanksgiving like my MIL was this year.  If you live somewhere warm like SoCal or AZ, you could keep it alive all year. Cons: MUCH longer time between planting and fruiting.  Indeterminate tomates Get there when they get there. Also may be more prone to disease and pests than the more-modified determinate plants.

There are determinate and indeterminate tomatoes in all 5 of the Greater Tomato Archetypes.  Speaking of:

2. The 5 Tomato Archetypes

I’m so good at segues! 

So tomatoes come in 5 basic types, each which is generally better for something culinary than the others.  You CAN substitute different types of tomato but your food generally doesn’t come out as good.

1. Cherry: Cherry tomatoes produce fruits that are about the size of cherries.  Some people put Grape and Saladette tomatoes in here but they are WRONG, both of those belong in the “Round/All-Purpose” group because Cherry tomatoes specifically have thinner skins, more soluable pectin, and more dissolved glutemates, which means they cook VERY differently.  Cherry tomatoes also produce a shitload of fruits at a time and might be some of the heaviest producers.  Tend to be more heat-tolerant. Good For:  Fresh tomato sauces (i.e. takes less than 20 minutes to make), salads, snacking on directly off the vine like you are a small tarsier discovering a hidden bounty of fruit.

Top reccomendations are: -Indigo Cherry or Dwarf Black Krim if you can find it. I always reccomend dark-pigmented tomatoes as I find they have better flavor, pest resistence and UV tolerance. Taste fruity but not over-sweet and Very Tomato-y.  -Sweet 100/Super-Sweet 100/Sweet Millions: All varietals of the same mass-producing Cherry Tomato. Makes absolute buckets of Tomatoes, sweeter and more fruity than the Indigo cherry, good disease resistence and long growing season.

2. Paste: Paste tomatoes are thin-skinned, meaty and soft tomatoes that... well, they make good tomato paste, the basis for all long-cooking tomato sauces and recipies. They tend to be kind of Oblong and sometimes grow in fun extras like lil tomato “dicks” or weird cthulian shapes, but this doesn’t effect the flavor or nutrition There’s a shitload of great varietals in this category, I’ve yet to hear of a Bad Paste Tomato, just Less Excellent ones.   Good For: Long-cooking Tomato-based dishes like: Bolognese, chili, ketchup, BBQ etc.  Also can and freeze well.

Top Reccomendations are: -Amish Paste: MEATY, and well-suited for growing in a variety of conditions.  Paste is smooth and velvety.  Good for Chili, BBQ and Bolognese. -Opalka tomato: Russian Tomato, little more on the acidic side, grows well in places prone to surprise late frosts.  Paste isn’t as smooth but very thick. makes great ketchup. -San Marzano: THE tomato for making Marinara Sauce (also does good bolognese). Sweeter and lighter, with a slightly runnier paste that clings well to pasta. cans and freezes excellently, does well in places with HOT summers.

3. Beef: Beef tomatoes are BIG motherfuckers that kind of take a long time to grow but are very rewarding.  Beef tomatoes are firm, have a very solid meat and are best eaten raw, typically sliced onto a sandwich or seared under a broiler for a NZ Mousetrap. Not only are the fruits big but so are the Plants, so they take a long time to reach maturity and the fruit takes FOREVER to ripen but if you like a sandwich, they can’t be beat.  Also they look hella impressive on instagram. They also tend to be more prone to Blossom End Rot (which is just a calcium deficiency- just make sure to fertilize with some eggshells and don’t over-water them), and despite the size, don’t tolerate cold well. Good for: Slicing on sandwiches, eating raw like you’re biting into the still-beating heart of your nemesis and enjoying that sweet, sweet revenge, searing quickly under a broiler or putting on a Kabob.

Top Reccomendations Are: -Brandywine: Hefty, great fresh tomato flavor, and PINK.  -Big Zac: Goddamn Massive Tomato. A Real Heckin’ Chonker. meatier flavor and lots of firm flesh with few seeds. -Beefmaster: One problem with Beef tomatoes is that a lot of them are heirloom varietals that aren’t as widely available. Of the ones that are easy to get your hands on, Beefmaster is the best, but it lacks the flavor punch of Brandywine or Big Zac, but it’s not a BAD tomato.

4. Round/Early/All-Purpose: The Workhorse of Tomatoes, the Round Tomato does it all- sauces, salsa, sandwiches, salads, and snacks.  But it doesn’t do them quite as well as the other, more specialized tomatoes.  Also, some of these tomatoes have been Over-Worked and bred to fruit early and transport well, at the expense of it’s Flavor.  I’M TALKING ABOUT YOU, EARLY GIRL AND BETTER BOY, YOU FLAVORLESS TENNIS BALLS, YOU INSULTS TO THE MIGHTY HOUSE OF NIGHTSHADES. Love yourself, don’t get Early Girl or Better Boy. If your season is too short for anything but the earliest of tomatoes, it may be better to grow Something Else than put all that effort in for Disappointment. That said, there are many types of Round/All-Purpose tomatoes that haven’t been overbred into corporate blandness, and I can reccomend them in good concisence if you’re not totally sure what you want to do with your tomatoes: Good For: Indecisive people, people just learning how to grow plants, using one plant for a variety of purposes, people who are not yet prepared to enter the world of Tomato Opinions. Top reccomendations are: -If you really must have an early-fruiting tomato, the Wayahead is an heirloom that people swear comes in early with good size, flavor and firm structure.  I have not personally tied this varietal but people I trust like it. -Black Krim: GOD-TIER TOMATO. It’s got it all- flavor, high yields, firm structure, pest and disease resistence, fucking purple stripes. Cans Well, Freezes well, seeds well and breeds true. Fuck yes. Other tomatoes fucking WISH they had what this Hot Bitch has. -Invincible is a damn-hard-to-kill tomato that isn’t very large but fruits reliably and preforms well all around.  it also ripens 3 fruits at a time so you’re not constantly overburdened with Tomato.  Probably my top pick for beginners that need an Emotional Support Crop.

5. Fun: This is not, strictly speaking, a traditional type of tomato, but I feel like it’s an important category for people who want to do something different or really enjoy all Tomatoes have to offer. Good For: Trying new things, taunting the garden gods with my hubris, showing off at the garden FB group, discovering new flavors of plant.

Top Reccomendations: -Mr. Stripey:  it has a goofy name, it’s yellow-and-pink striped, and it smells and tastes almost exactly like pineapple, but it doesn’t try to digest you back.  I love it. -Japanese Truffle: Dark Brown tomato that looks like someone tried to make ferro rochers at home and bungled it, and has a LONG maturation time, BUT it’s got a chocolately flavor and even at maturity has green insides which give it this. Lightness?  it’s hard to describe but it’s a fascinating flavor. The plant also is more branched and elegant than most tomatoes. Very different, very cool. -I have not personally tried Cherokee Purple but I have heard good things about it. We’ll see how it does in the garden this year. -Tomatillos and Ground Cherries:  Not actually tomatoes, but closely related. Neat herbaceous sort of flavor, like thyme but to the left.  Also comes in a fun Organic wrapping paper. -Ketchup ‘n’ Fries: a Sweet 100 tomato top grafted onto Kennebec Potato rootstock, so it grows both tomato AND potato!  Grafting was invented prbably about a week after the concept of agriculture was, and consists of taking two or more closely related plants and taping a cutting of oone into a hole in the other until the plants heal together.  Like that one gorilla-dude from Umbrella academy, but without the angst.  You can get them pre-made or attempt to make them at home if you’re feeling adventurous and are OK with potentially killing a bunch of starts while you learn.

Good Luck and Happy Gardening!

[missfinefeather]

pablo360able

wait, would “Res” or “Requiescat” be funnier

GhastlyGhifin

Well, translated in latin, Res in Medias would be "Thing in the Middle", roughly.

pablo360able

clowns to the left of me

jokers to the right, and I'm

stuck in medias res with you

GhastlyGhifin

also, I wish I could get my rear bodily functions  to say stuff like "The Principal Isn't Cool"

Erotic Fresco Maker

Wait, yours can't do it ?

pablo360able

you've just got to practice every day

like any fart form

Erotic Fresco Maker

are they too respectful of your principal for that ?

pablo360able

just because you can't do it right away doesn't mean you should throw in the bowel

GhastlyGhifin

I mean, I don't have a principal anymore, per se, but I guess "Dean" will be easier to fart-pronounce anyway

pablo360able

so we're just ignoring the gladiatorial death match at the zoo huh

GhastlyGhifin

Deans, Deans, they're good for a start, the more you meet, the more you fart.

Nefronis

So we're just gonna ignore Dad grinding eggshells and then filling the bowl with them with milk?

pablo360able

has Minda eaten that yet?

Erotic Fresco Maker

That's about my skill level when it comes to cooking so yes

GhastlyGhifin

What, you don't make breakfast with a mortar and pestle?

Nefronis

I sure don't eat Eggshells like it's cereal

Solarn

Maybe you should.

Lots of calcium there, will make your bones real strong.

Erotic Fresco Maker

it's good for you

Nefronis

I'd ask 'What do I do with the eggs' but apparently you just throw those away

GhastlyGhifin

I mean it seemed to work well for that one fire demon from Castle in the Sky...

wait, was it Castle in the Sky or a different Miazaki film?

Solarn

Wasn't the one with the fire demon Howl's Moving Castle?

GhastlyGhifin

Ah, okay

MissSpectralFeather

Oooh, chat is active this morning! : O

Solarn

It's late afternoon for me.

Erotic Fresco Maker

Same

Nefronis

Everyone's ready for Paranatural

Solarn

Also, Paranatural is one of my favourite comics, so I'm paying extra attention.

Erotic Fresco Maker

also I finally have some downtimes from classes/administrative bullshit

[morbidsmenagerie]

Hi! Can you tell me more about your purinosis set up and diet? Just getting started with them and getting my first clutches. Also... P. emperator was my first scorpion and I adored them! I had eight. Best thing ever was seeing these CHONKY scorpions carrying around roaches or chrickets and munching them like sub sammiches. ^v^

Honestly I was 100% in that "pandinus and heterometrus are boring" crowd starting out, but once I got mine I definitely take it back. There is something cooler about seeing a larger scorpion and getting to see the details up close, and he has an amazing feeding response so far.

As for pruinosis, theyre one of the easiest isopods to culture. They arent picky about substrate, but obviously something without pesticides and a lot of organic matter works. I personally use topsoil, but you can use peat moss, cocofiber, or something else like that. Substrate should be half moist and half dry, but again they aren't picky about moisture or ventilation. Right now mine are in an almost entirely bone dry enclosure with a permanent wet corner. They need a lot of dead leaves and softened, rotting wood. This is their primary food source, though they are more protien seeking than most other pods and love extra treats. They swarm dried insects, krill, dried whole fish, frozen/thawed pinkie mice, bones, snakeskin, fish food, and pretty much whatever else you can think to put in there. It's really fun watching them eat, but for smaller colonies you should stick to small amounts of dried foods to prevent mold. They should also always have access to some sort of calcium source, cuttlebone is the most common but you can also use eggshells, bone, limestone, ect. Hope this helps!

[lyricbail2]

Helping you With Your Organic Yard? Consider These Tips!

Gardening is basically about developing and it doesn't make a difference if you're trying to be able to grow a new tree or maybe a head involving member of the lettuce family. You're still some sort of novel reader if you're growing plant life. If you garden with all in addition to want some tips on how anyone will go through successfully organically, make certain you read the content below and use these types of gardening tips. Design your garden so that your harvest is staggered over just as long a year since possible. Use cold-tolerant root crops and greens from the fall, for example, and want to pick and preserve early on strawberries in July. By doing this, you will have got the space and time in your life to store everything you raise. Picking out bulbs. Most light bulbs are sold during their heavy period of time. Buy them as early as possible prior to they start to make roots. Just about all spring blooming bulbs will begin to grow beginnings by way of early fall, and by way of sowing them early on, you will make certain that many people have time to establish their selves. Bulbs will degrade in case kept out regarding the ground too much time. Have a tendency buy any light that is soft or maybe mushy, or appears to turn out to be diseased. If you would like plant carnations, before you buy just about any variety, ask yourself what features you would including from your roses. Various varieties have different traits, for instance fragrance, heartiness, plus dimensions, to name a good few. The features that you want the most from the rose bush will affect your decision of what selection to plant.

To have unwanted pests out of your backyard without needing chemicals, try growing and maintaining onions at your garden's borders. The scent connected with the onion will do the job as a all natural repellent and will keep many creatures from disturbing your plants. As an extra bonus, this allows you to regularly have fresh onions to use in the cooking. A vintage wagon can easily help save time period such as well as your spine. Instead of consistently possessing to retrieve your garden tools as you work your way around your garden, commandeer an previous child's wagon. An old truck works as well being a garden cart, and can certainly often be obtained free of charge or maybe very cheaply in case you have it used. Provide your plants the ideal volume of water to enhance growth and plant health. Different varieties of vegetation call for varying amounts of water therefore you cannot waters your entire back garden at the same rate. As an alternative, determine how typically each type of herb needs drinking water and how much prior to planning your watering program. New backyard gardeners should keep things simple. Is a tendency connected with new gardeners is to help place a garden the fact that is present way very big and end up receiving the giant mess in the particular lawn. Keep that simple and small to start, in addition to work up from there. Some sort of small garden will result in a more positive expertise and it is less work for a new novel reader. Look at using weed-control fabric with your garden. Weeds cause a new significant amount of work to get any gardener. Whilst the towel is not the most eye-catching option, it does its task. If an individual place strips of this materials in between often the rows of outside the house, the idea will keep out the majority of the weeds. Save your eggshells to use as a garden soil additive. Crushed eggshells add all-important calcium to the garden, in addition to working typically the shells throughout also helps keep the soil oxygenated. A new barrier made of smashed eggshells and put in an engagement ring around your own plants could also safeguard them from snail and slugs. Their gentle bodies are cut together with scraped simply by the jagged eggshells, generating them avoid those parts of the garden. To guide your flowers grow quicker, pre-heat this soil within your garden before you start planting. Most plants appreciate warm soil, and this will permit them to develop immediately. Among the easiest ways to be able to preheat the soil will be to cover this using black plastic, for instance junk bags or a tarp. Collect your dirt to get a soil analysis to find the nutrients your soil needs. You can get this screened at a local university's culture department, generally for a good fee. Typically the fee will be well worth it commonly because then you may know what nutritional value your current dirt needs to own some sort of garden that is successful. To have cats, bees, and other critters out of your garden, use moth balls. Moth projectiles may not smell pleasant to be able to us, nevertheless they notice worse to most wildlife, and they'll effortlessly terrify them away. Simply spread a good few moth tennis balls at the perimeters of your garden. Moth paintballs can be obtained quite inexpensively from drug shops and $ stores. To be able to make a garden finished do not forget factors of interest. Section away and divide a significant property into several distinct areas through the use of points of interest such as benches, waters features, and garden art. It will boost an presently wholesome setting and which makes it the backyard room of the home. Experiment using color pairings. Pink together with yellow work very well jointly, and can be made use of to generate either some sort of warm or maybe cool influence. For a cozy influence, use more orange flowers than purple, however, making use of mostly purple plants can give you a amazing, soothing influence. A combination of extra tall purple delphiniums or penstemon, and reduced growing green achillea offers a spectacular display screen. As soon as kneeling to do your own personal gardening you need for you to make sure that an individual safeguard your knees through rocks plus sticks that may be on this ground. Kneeling down on a rock could potentially cause really serious injury to your cap. Getting a high cushion is a simple and easy technique to help protect the joints and increase your overall comfort while growing plants. Start off your organic garden along with a good strategic plan. This assists you know precisely where each herb will go in your garden to help you maximize the several hours you will need to garden every single day. As part involving your program, take remarks on what vegetation anyone will use to exchange unsuccsefflull crops such since spinach and lettuce. Best Lawn Fertilizers For Spring It's always good if you possibly can include some tips to help you in whichever most likely trying to do. Nonetheless you do not would like to use just almost any tips. Make sure a person use these kinds of organic-specific gardening tips rather than garden-based guidelines. Organic is its unique special category and you will need to have info like exactly what you've read above to grow naturally.

[edenfalling]

Gardening update, part 1: peppers!

I am just going to skip last week entirely. Please forgive me.

Anyway, as you can see all the peppers are doing fine! B5 continues to recover nicely from its brutal munching, and while E6 remains much smaller than its compatriots, I think the thorough application of fungicide got rid of whatever was stunting its growth. (Hint: I am pretty sure it was fusarium wilt, which is what nearly did in the Lazarus pepper last year.) C6 and D1 are likewise recovering from their near brush with drowning while I was on vacation in the last week of June, and I have added a bunch of extra soil to their planter to help shore them up.

Meanwhile the Lazarus pepper's tiny fruit has become slightly less tiny! As of yesterday, it was about the size of my distal thumb joint rather than just my thumbnail. Progress!

I applied some MiracleGro to all the plants last week, and on Monday I added a new batch of crushed eggshells to their soil, which should hopefully break down and supply calcium over the next couple months.

[rodentmancy]

My last tomato plant kicked it, too long a vine with nno leaves. So I got this new kiddo, supposed to be bred for container growth too, and I upgraded the container. The old pot had not been enough root room, so here's hoping this is good! Mixed in some powdered eggshells for some extra calcium. #tomato #apartmentgardening

[blockheadbrands]

Dear Danko: Expert Grow Advice

Danny Danko of High Times Reports:

High Times’ cultivation specialist Danny Danko answers all your burning questions about being the best grower you can be. But first, some quick tips from the expert himself:

Remove male plants from your garden before they’re able to open up their flowers and release pollen.

Plants continue to stretch for several weeks after flowering is induced, so factor in extra vertical space.

Keep hot ballasts out of your growing space to reduce heat buildup.

Subject: Falling Branches From: Doctor Octopot

I have what some might call a high-class problem. I grow my plants in 5-gallon buckets and vegetate them out for 6 weeks before I start flowering. By the time I’m ready to harvest, the plants are over 4 feet tall with multiple branches. The only problem is that many of the branches sag and droop from the weight of the buds. What is the best way to keep them closer to the lights?

Dear Doctor,

The easiest way to ensure your colas stay upright is to use a simple trellis system. I prefer this to using individual stakes because it’s less work and more forgiving. Use strong string or rope to create an interlocking mat the size of your canopy with holes between the ropes approximately 6 inches by 6 inches. Safely secure it above your plants during the vegetative stage and let the branches grow up into it, taking care to guide branches into unpopulated holes. Eventually, this trellis system will keep all of your branches pointing upward toward your lights, and you won’t have to worry about sagging colas that don’t receive enough lumens to reach their full potential.

Bud rot quickly reduces cannabis flowers to garbage/ Danny Danko

Subject: Bud Rot From: Sticky

I’ve been growing outdoors successfully for several years, but I’ve recently run into a serious problem. After an unusually wet late summer/early fall, my flowers seem to be developing some sort of mold. Parts of the colas suddenly start to appear brown, and then the brown part seems to spread throughout the buds very quickly. I’ve been cutting out the effected parts, but now I’m losing close to half of my harvest to this plague. Is there anything I can do to try to prevent this in the future, and also, is it safe to smoke the unaffected buds?

Dear Sticky,

Bud rot is a serious issue and certainly not one to take lightly. There are a few things you can do to mitigate or avoid the problem. One is to grow in a greenhouse or hoop house so that rainwater can’t accumulate within your colas. Shake off any branches that have visible wetness on them as well, even within the enclosures, because high humidity can cause liquid to build up and this is where mold thrives. If you insist on growing outdoors, cover the plants temporarily before any rainstorms and in the mornings when dew can accumulate.

You’re right to cut out any moldy or rotten parts you can see in order to keep it from spreading, but the fungus that causes rot isn’t always visible, and it can spread even after you’ve seemingly removed the affected pieces.

As for smoking moldy buds, I would never recommend it, particularly for people using medical marijuana due to compromised immune systems. Airborne fungus particles that settle in your lungs aren’t part of a safe smoking experience. Like I mentioned before, the buds don’t have to be visibly affected by bud rot to still have spores on them, so you are smoking them at your own risk.

Subject: Snail’s Pace From: A.rod

I’m only a grower for personal medical use, but my problem is that since it’s been raining like crazy where I live, all these damn snails and roly-polies are eating my plants alive! What’s the best solution?

Dear A.rod,

Snails can be a serious problem, especially for young plants. Signs of their damage are the mucous trails they leave behind and holes in leaves of plants. It’s a good idea to spread some diatomaceous earth around the plants to discourage snails and slugs.

One of the best ways to keep them from harming your plants is to maintain a dry top layer of soil by watering from below, but it doesn’t sound like that’s possible in your growing situation. Another great and safe remedy is to sink a cup of beer into your soil, leaving the rim of the cup at the soil level. Slugs can’t resist the yeasty concoction and will drop right into the cup and drown.

I try not to recommend slug- and snail-killing products such as Deadline (Sluggo is the safer alternative if you have pets), but I would be remiss not to mention them as a nuclear option. Spray a thin line of it about a foot or so in diameter around the base of your young shoots in the evening and then every 3 to 4 weeks after that.

Roly-polies (also known as pill bugs or potato bugs—scientific name: Armadillidium vulgare) mostly eat dead and decaying plant material, but they’ve been known to eat the roots and stems of living plants as well, albeit rarely. They prefer damp areas but are fairly harmless to your plants.

Take clones from plants in their vegetative stage/ Dope Foto courtesy of Remedy

Subject: Flowering Clones From: Big D Papa

I have a question about some clones I got from a friend when they were all about 6-12 inches tall and already budding. I don’t know how this happened because they were outside, but I want to know if this is going to affect the overall yield. Should I toss them and start over, or is there hope for them to survive and then thrive later down the road?

Dear BDP,

I’ve seen this problem arise plenty of times. People forget to clone their plants during the vegetative stage and then think they can get away with cloning them when they are flowering. The problem is that the flowering clones must then revert back into the vegetative stage, and this process takes time and can also result in shocking plants into strange behaviors.

I strongly suggest taking clones only from vegetating plants. This way, you won’t have to re-veg the plants and you’ll avoid issues such as the plants turning into hermaphrodites or mutating in other ways due to stress. Sometimes, leaves will come out twisted or with only one or two blades. All of this means that you’ll be wasting time instead of strengthening the plants for their eventual flowering stage.

The reason this happened outside is likely because the plants weren’t receiving more than 12 hours of light per day. If you supplement their light regimen to 18 hours or so per day, you will avoid having them prematurely flower until you want them to do so.

Subject: Side Lighting From: Panacea420

l have a question about something I’ve been struggling with: What would be a better option, supplementing my closet grow with some side lighting or removing the lower branches from my plants? I’m not a big fan of removing anything other than suckers and big fan leaves that suppress light penetration. I would like to add LED bars on every side to give the lower branches more light. What are your thoughts?

Dear Panacea420,

I highly recommend adding side lighting over removing lower branches. This will increase your yield significantly at a fairly low cost with minimal heat added. If you choose not to add side lighting, then removing some of the lower branches will send more energy into the upper branches, but lighting the lower ones is a better option in my opinion.

Subject: Compost Builder From: Aleks K.

I’m very interested in making my own compost and finding a good natural fertilizer for my first grow. I want to be as natural as possible, and I’m hoping that my plants might benefit from calcium produced from eggshells, potassium from bananas, etc. Am I on the right track? Should I try this?

Dear Aleks,

Composting is a great way to reuse kitchen scraps and yard waste while also providing mild nutrients to your plants. You can purchase a composting bin or make your own compost pile very easily. The important thing to remember is the proper ratio of carbon to nitrogen (or browns to greens) for the composting process to occur. Most organic gardeners recommend about 30 to 1 (not by volume, but by chemical composition) of carbon to nitrogen to get the pile to heat up and decay properly.

Examples of carbons (or browns) are dead leaves, straw or hay, while nitrogens (or greens) consist of grass clippings, food scraps (excluding meat and oily scraps), coffee grounds and seaweed (rinsed of salt). Build your pile starting with a base of carbons and then add nitrogens in between layers of more carbons.

Once built, your pile should start heating up, and you’ll be amazed at the microbial activity and may even see steam rising up from your pile. Turn it every couple of days or so with a pitchfork to mix and you’ll see finished compost in a few months depending on how active your pile gets.

You can then use the cured compost as a mulch on top of your existing soil around the base of your plants, or you can brew it into compost tea using a simple 5-gallon bucket. Place the compost inside a bag that will allow water to permeate into it without letting the compost out. Pantyhose or a burlap sack work nicely. Oxygenate your solution for 24 hours to activate and accelerate the growth of microbes, and then pour the tea directly onto your plants or use it as a foliar feed.

Send your cannabis-cultivation questions to deardanko@hightimes.com.

Originally published in the June, 2019 issue of High Times magazine. Subscribe right here.

TO READ MORE OF THIS ARTICLE ON HIGH TIMES, CLICK HERE.

https://hightimes.com/grow/dear-danko-expert-grow-advice-2/

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Very best Plants For A Drought Tolerable Garden

Whether you wish to have a backyard because you need a hobby, because you would like to try growing your own personal food, or because a person think it is relaxing to own a little plot associated with nature all to yourself, there are ways to be able to make your back garden more successful. Here are quite a few easy tricks for becoming a new great gardener. If you are intending on getting into horticulture, be sure to order the right tools and equipment essential to do all typically the assignments. This will assist assure that you accomplish definitely not end up ruining your garden by utilizing unbalanced tools and spending a lot of time and even energy with regard to naught. Work with a mixture of apple cider vinegar, rubbing alcohol, and liquid to get rid regarding salt deposits. Should you be getting a issue of sodium buildup on your clay pots, mix equal components white colored apple cider vinegar, rubbing alcoholic beverage plus water in a good spray bottle of wine. Spray in the deposits and they will wash away with ease. Be sure to let the pots dried thoroughly prior to use. Just before starting a good garden, this is important that you have a good plan. Without one particular, your own garden may not arrive out the way you want it to. Some things to help plan out include in which to position the garden throughout your yard, what you would like to be able to grow, and whether to get started from seed or plant life. It is best for you to aerate and dry your own personal plants daily. Extra water creates the desirable surroundings for illness in addition to bloodsuckers. A common parasite in order to plants is fungi. Disease can be controlled along with poison sprays, but this is significant to deal with your region while using bottle of spray, before you see virtually any issues. Save your eggshells for a soil preservative. semena cookies add substantially needed calcium supplements to the garden, and working often the shells in likewise can help keep the soil aerated. A barrier made connected with depressed eggshells and located in an engagement ring around your current plants also can protect them all from snails and even slugs. Their delicate body shapes are usually cut and nicked by means of the jagged eggshells, which makes them avoid those sections regarding your garden. Old pantyhose make useful garden tools. Future time you feel yourself reaching with regard to some twine in your lawn, consider using an previous couple of pantyhose rather. Pantyhose are usually flexible, but sturdy; and their soft feel is going to not affect plant comes by trimming into these people. The elastic nature as well gives your own plants place to increase without strangulation. If you reside in this metropolis, you can even now obtain the benefits regarding organic farming through container gardening. Herbs especially can prosper in indoor planting pots, as long as they may be large enough. Container horticulture might be easier than patio horticulture when going natural and organic, as there is less risk of coverage to be able to insect pests or maybe weeds. Be sure that anyone have earthworms within your garden soil. Earthworms are crucial to good organic growing plants, due to the fact they carbonate the dirt. Also, the by-products regarding earthworm digestion of food are truly excellent plant food. Worms motivate soil bacteria that will provide required nutrients for you to your plants when rivalling with harmful bugs, cutting down the need for chemical not eco-friendly pesticides and fertilizers. A good great word of advice when beginning an natural and organic gardening will be to add lime green to your seed-starter mix. It is done to reduce the particular acidity on your peat moss. As well much acidity may damage it. You should aim for you to add around 1/4 tea spoons of lime in every single single gal. of the seed-starter mix. Calculate just how much water your vegetation truly need. Thinner crops generally need more normal water; these people include larger surface area area with less capacity to store normal water. Plants with large, solid waxy leaves are often even more suited for water-starved situations. Over-watering may also cause problems together with the plant scheduled to microbial development about their roots. Praise the parts of your yard just where grass will not raise. Do not be discouraged. Perform not try to regrow glass there. Go in advance and take this kind of prospect to change your ground covers a more normal choice. Hunt for something that is low-maintenance, and set anyplace grass is battling for you to thrive. When starting up your own personal organic garden, don't neglect to seed companion plants. Partner plant life are like very helpful neighbors. They can improve the soil and retain pests off from your various other plants. By way of planting all of them together, you are able to avoid this use of harmful pesticides or herbicides or artificial fertilizer merchandise. Raise garlic that can be natural. Take single garlic safety gloves and plant these individuals inside moist but drained earth at the start out of spring or maybe tumble. The cloves should be selected and planted four inches in addition to 1 another and about a single to two ins heavy, with their ends directed up. Green garlic locations, which can be slice while expanding, can substitute nicely with regard to scallions or even chives. As soon as the tops regarding the light bulbs get started switching brown, they are looking forward to harvesting. Dry the bulbs in the sun within order to harden their own skin. The garlic needs to be stored out of immediate sunlight in a very cool, dry out place. Combination your soil with a top quality, organic and natural compost. With fragment, your own personal soil turns into an improved good quality, attaining structure, feel, plus even aeration. You can furthermore find that typically the water capacity raises, which in turn is going to develop better plants with even bigger plus healthier blooms, plus much healthier root programs. You don't need for you to obtain all new vegetation to have a successful organic garden. Try applying plant life that are within the landscape. These can sometimes be native towards the location, or they can end up being imported from regions of which got similar local climate ailments plus soil. They need less normal water, less attention, and they will not really die in the wintertime. There are the variety of ways to seed a natural garden. If an individual like symmetry, raise a formal garden. These are more effective about a focal stage such as a water fountain, example of beauty tree, sculpture, or perhaps plant group. If you comply with the above suggestions, your crops will get more content and so can you. It doesn't matter whether or not you're a house garden enthusiast along with a tiny textbox garden or an dedicated community gardener who wants to be able to supply a household with what a person increase. The particular tips like these can help make sure you get to your gardening goals faster rather than later.

[josephkitchen0]

What Not to Feed Your Chickens so They Stay Healthy

Feeding your chickens a varied diet supplies them with plenty of nutrients for optimal health, can alleviate boredom and help with seasonal issues like heat and cold. But knowing what not to feed your chickens is as important as knowing what to feed them.

Let’s start with first things first. Chickens require clean water daily. And the best feed for chickens includes daily rations of a well-balanced feed formula from a reputable feed company. When you’re picking a chicken feed formula, you need to choose a formula based on the end-goal for the birds you’re raising. For instance, laying hens require more calcium in their diet to help them form strong eggshells. Roosters don’t really need the extra calcium, so they do well on an all-flock diet. Meat birds require a high protein diet and then a “finisher” feed as they get closer to their ideal slaughter size and weight.

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Today’s commercial feeds provide lots of choices including organic and formulations for how your chickens are raised, like free range vs. confined. Each company has slightly different names for its products, so it’s important to check the back of the bag for the product specifics. Most have helpful charts and graphics so you can make a well-informed choice to suit your needs.

Beyond commercial feed, many people choose to feed their birds table scraps. This is a great way to recycle your unused food and turn it into backyard eggs and meat. It can cut down on your feed bill. Plus, it’s fun for the birds and for the owners as they interact with their birds when they’re getting a treat and enjoy watching their excited antics.

Once people go beyond commercial feed, they often have questions and wonder about what not to feed your chickens.

It’s important to make sure that treats stay just that…treats. The rule of thumb is 90 percent of a chicken’s diet should consist of quality, well-balanced commercial feed. The remaining 10 percent can be filled with treats.

After you’ve got the quantity right, then the rule of thumb to remember is that if it’s good for you, it’s good for them. If the treat you’re considering passes those two tests, then it’s generally alright to give it to your birds. Although there are some exceptions to know when it comes to what not to feed your chickens.

What Not to Feed Your Chickens: General Guidelines

Some of the exceptions for what not to feed your chickens are obvious.

While alcohol and caffeine are coping substances for many people, chickens don’t need an extra boost of caffeine to get going in the morning and don’t need a toddy to relax before bed. So, save the caffeine and alcohol for human consumption only. This also goes for spent coffee grounds. Many people use them in their gardens for plant health. Remember, if your chickens have access to those same gardens, then they have access to caffeine.

Chocolate is another food to avoid feeding your chickens. Although, who would? Chocolate in my house doesn’t last long enough to make it to the chickens. Sometimes, it doesn’t even last long enough to make it to every human in the house either. But, if you’ve got extra around, don’t feed it to your birds. It contains Theobromine which is the compound that’s toxic to dogs and cats and thought to be toxic to chickens too.

Chickens are great recyclers of stale baked goods, overripe fruits, and veggies that are past their prime, but moldy foods top the list of what not to feed your chickens. You wouldn’t knowingly eat moldy foods and your chickens shouldn’t either.

It’s also important to think about the quality of the treats you’re giving your chickens. Make sure you’re not giving them foods that are sprayed with chemicals to prevent pests and diseases. Wash your produce before it goes to the chickens or make sure to buy organic only for your birds. Plus, don’t overdo it with salty, sweet or fried foods. They’re not good for us and they’re not good for your birds.

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  What Not to Feed Your Chickens: Specifics

Beyond the general guidelines for what not to feed your chickens, there are some specific foods to avoid. In the chicken-keeping world; though, you will find people that feed these foods to their birds and their birds experience no problems. There are sometimes hot debates surrounding these foods. If your chickens free range, even part-time, you’ll find they get pretty good at “testing” what’s in their environment and are adept at avoiding potentially toxic foods. Chickens that are kept indoors exclusively and not able to forage on their own don’t have that advantage and are more apt to eat whatever is put in their environment.

Avocado – Whether the flesh, peel or pit, avocados contain a chemical called persin. It is known to be toxic to birds.

Citrus – Some people say chickens are sensitive to citrus, others say they’re not. It is also said to interfere with calcium absorption. On a personal note, my chickens won’t touch citrus if it’s offered. They’re normally pretty good judges!

Dried Beans – Beans that have been dried contain hemaglutin which is toxic to chickens. Cooked or sprouted beans are fine.

Onions – Although yummy to humans, Onions contain thiosulphate which can be toxic to chickens in large amounts. If some are included in leftover dishes, that’s ok as long as they are not the main ingredient.

Potato Skins – White or green potato skins contain solanine which can be poisonous to your chickens. You can cook your potatoes and give them to your chickens. Note: Sweet potatoes are perfectly fine to give to your chickens.

Rhubarb – The leaves are toxic to humans and animals alike.

Fun Facts About What Not to Feed your Chickens

Lots of questions surround feeding milk to chickens. The short answer to whether milk is on the list of what not to feed your chickens is no. Chickens are not lactose intolerant, but too much milk can cause diarrhea. You can feed small amounts of milk or its forms such as cottage cheese, yogurt, buttermilk, and whey. Just don’t overdo it.

Garlic also stirs up lots of questions. Does it make chicken eggs taste bad? Interestingly, many people say they prefer the taste of eggs from chickens that are fed garlic. They are said to have a more mild taste.

Luckily, the list of what not to feed your chickens isn’t long and the foods are pretty easy to avoid. The list of what to feed chickens is much longer. So, next time you’ve got some leftovers, head out to the chicken coop, both you and your birds will benefit.

Are you careful about what not to feed your chickens? Some say they are and others say they aren’t. We’d love to hear your opinion in the comments below.

What Not to Feed Your Chickens so They Stay Healthy was originally posted by All About Chickens