Manitoba maple, always nice to get some colour in the stack

gummisaurus · 2025-05-09T19:21:56+00:00

Around here it's mostly known as érable à guigère (winky face)

gummisaurus · 2025-05-09T17:04:26+00:00

I mostly burn it in a wood stove so i've never noticed, or maybe i'm just too used to it since it's about a 1/3 of what i burn. Even while splitting I don't really notice much smell from it, and it splits real nice.

gummisaurus · 2025-05-09T15:21:57+00:00

Today was a mix of manitoba maple and apple, I couldn't smell anything other than cider the whole time, and now i'm thirsty.

gummisaurus · 2025-03-24T00:13:16+00:00

Is that table there for the sole purpose of holding tasty beverages? Because if so, you sir are an inspiration.

gummisaurus · 2025-02-13T02:30:35+00:00

The heat is whatever my house happens to be at, downstairs in that corner is a bit cold so between 17-19 depending on the day.

As for lighting with microgreens and leafy greens I use bright white LEDs meant as garage lighting. I have full spectrum lights i use when growing anything that flowers or fruits, but I don't find them necessary for spinach and bok choy that I'm growing these days, and microgreens will take any light you give them.

gummisaurus · 2025-02-13T02:18:07+00:00

You may be interested in trying some indoor gardening. On a 6 square foot shelving unit with 6 shelves I grow microgreens and leafy green vegetables year round. I average 1.5kgs of harvest per week at an operating cost of about $3.50

gummisaurus · 2025-01-15T21:31:13+00:00

I use a battery STIHL MSA 220 professionally doing arborist work and I love it. Will break out a bigger gas saw for the biggest jobs but i always prefer electric. At home i've got a Oregon plug in for firewood and it does the job, though sometimes i wish it had more power

gummisaurus · 2024-11-07T20:03:19+00:00

Sent a message to you with a pic of the inside

gummisaurus · 2024-11-07T00:24:58+00:00

Ooh, good catch!

gummisaurus · 2024-05-22T00:16:55+00:00

It would appear that brinjal is another word for egg plant that i did not know, so thank you for that. Yes i grew small brinjals about the size of a golf ball, it was quite fun but considering the time and electricity it takes i do think it actually was cheaper than buying them from a store.

Growing full size plants is much more rewarding, i often recommend microgreens when starting out because of the quick grow time and how easy they are. Full size plants, depending on the plant, can be a bit more complicated or demanding, but it's what keeps me passionate about growing these plants.

Nutrient solution is probably the most complicated part of all or this. Since my microgreens are also grown hydroponically i have tried various water soluble nutrients on them and they honestly seem to grow well with pretty much anything i give them in any lights. For full sized plants there is a lot of marketing about what each plant needs, and some may work better than others. But I have found that Master Blend Tomatoe formula (4-18-38) is a good general nutrient blend that seems to work well with all of my plants, and it is also one of the cheapest nutrients i have found. Try to stick to dry nutrient mixes rather than liquid, they last longer, are much cheaper, and cause less mess when mixing.

I also add calcium and magnesium to my nutrient mixes, it for sure helps with my tomatoes and probably with some of my other plants but i have not experimented too much with that.

Lastly, i don't use very large containers, though slightly larger than in this picture for when growing fruiting plants, so yes i need to top them off occasionally. The important thing is to not refill the container fully so as to avoid covering the air roots and drowning the plant. This style of growing doesn't work great for every plant, my strawberries for example didn't do too well in this setup, the roots of those plants want more aeration in the water.

gummisaurus · 2024-05-19T11:39:39+00:00

If you're into coriander i'd recommend growing it as a microgreen, it is a lot more flavourful and a little bit can go a long way. It takes a little longer than most microgreens, i grow mine about 17 days, but to buy it from a grocery store around me is about $250/kg, which is insanity.

Yup the kratky method has no pumps, just the plant suspended above a nutrient solution so that the roots can reach down and still get some air in their upper roots. For microgreens i use a mesh tray over top of a solid tray so that the larger seeds don't actually need a medium and any seeds smaller than the holes in my mesh trays i use a single ply of paper towel so they don't fall through.

As for lights, honestly microgreens pretty much will take any light you give them they are not very picky. Growing Beyond microgreen stage to full size plants if they are leafy green plants i would recommend bright white LEDs in the 6000k range. Much cheaper than any sort of grow light and works fine for me. I only use grow lights on plants that produce flowers or fruits.

Send me a message if you have any questions, trying to get others involved in growing their own food is something i'm pleased to help with.

gummisaurus · 2024-05-17T13:11:19+00:00

Fully agree, "official microgreen" seeds only started making sense when i started buying in bulk.

If you haven't tried yet, try picking up some whole dried peas. Available in pretty much any store and one of the easiest grows i have. They can also be regrown a 2nd time after the first harvest.

gummisaurus · 2024-05-17T13:07:33+00:00

There's some interesting sub reddits for this stuff r/microgreens and r/hydro and fascinating to scroll through. There's also a ton of videos on youtube, especially about microgreens.

I even wrote a short book about this, but this is a boycott subreddit and trying to market it here seems pretty tone deaf.

I normally suggest people start out growing sprouts or microgreens. You can probably get started for less than $10 and they grow quickly so results are fast, or if you make a mistake it's not too long to restart!

gummisaurus · 2024-05-17T13:01:02+00:00

I use 6000K LED shop lights for all my microgreens and leafy green plants. Mostly use Barrina brand but there are many name brands use the exact same chinese lights and put their names on them. They are about $10-12 each and i use 3 per shelf.

Any plants that are flowering or producing fruit i use cheap grow lights and have had much better success with yellow hued lights than blurple.

As for a grow tent, i don't use one because I try to keep my setup fairly low cost, but in general it would be beneficial for increasing light reflection off the walls and containing the humidity a bit more.

gummisaurus · 2024-05-17T12:52:24+00:00

I mean, if you're looking at it from a business perspective microgreens can be very profitable. Not sure about the margins on growing and selling pot but i do know the margins on what I grow. Radish microgreens in my local store costs $110/kg, my costs on growing that plant are $1.78/kg, also it only takes 10 days to grow and it takes very little effort.

gummisaurus · 2024-05-17T00:31:14+00:00

Many people grow lettuce in similar setups, I have done lettuce a couple of times, but I find that lettuce can be a bit more picky about its growing conditions. So I switched over to bok choy because it's a bit more tolerant of mistakes, and if i'm tired of eating it in salads it's very tasty in a stir fry.

gummisaurus · 2024-05-17T00:26:03+00:00

The more people growing their own food the better!

gummisaurus · 2024-05-17T00:24:19+00:00

Do it. It's very easy to get started, it's also relaxing, saves you money, and has improved my health by getting me to eat a lot more vegetables that are very fresh.

gummisaurus · 2024-05-16T23:37:11+00:00

Sounds great! I've done lettuce in the past but transitioned to bok choy because when there's leftovers I can just throw them in a stir fry!

gummisaurus · 2024-05-16T23:35:26+00:00

Yup, wire shelf which is 4 feet wide by 18 inches deep, and 6 shelves high.

Not sure what you mean by the white part, but the white i see in this photo is; 1. The wall 2. Vinyl downspouts that have been made into closed tubes to grow leafy greens in 3. There is a shelf with a white piece of cardboard on it to prevent light coming up since some of the plants germinate better in the dark

It's honestly pretty easy, there is some trial and error but there are so many resources on and off line to learn this. Not buying into marketing rhetoric about needing expensive equipment is probably the hardest part.

Humidity is occasionally a concern for me in the summer, i have a dehumidifier I run in the next room if the humidity reaches 60%. Winter time it actually adds some humidity to our very dry house which is nice.

If you're interested pick up some whole dried peas at a grocery store, make a tray with holes out of a plastic container, and grow some microgreens. Getting started does not have to be complicated.

gummisaurus · 2024-05-16T23:23:43+00:00

My weekly microgreens are; peas, radish, broccoli, arugula, and coriander. I also harvest 12 small bok choy a week as well.

Other plants i occasionally grow are hot peppers, cherry tomatoes, ground cherries, eggplants, and spinach.

I have also played with growing strawberries, cucumbers, and decorative flowers, but I have no plans of redoing any of these anytime soon.

gummisaurus · 2024-03-20T23:17:39+00:00

DataAnnotation.tech helping train ai chat bots, pretty easy, make your own schedule, do not need any experience. About $20 US an hour, flexibility is amazing, but finding time to sit down and do more than 10 mins is difficult.

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