Common Earwig
Last night, I went to look at the potting tray about 1am. I found a small earwig nibbling the last remaining swiss chard just below the leaf. The earwig ran off and today that seedling looks like the others.
According to Wikipedia, earwigs look for dampness during dry weather, and their diet includes tender shoots and seedlings.
Our potting mixture is too deeply colored to get a pH reading from a regular garden soil test kit, so we bought a pH meter – actually a Moist/Light/pH meter.
The extremely low germination rate and sickly behavior of seedlings made us suspect the soil pH. So we tested the pH meter.
Testing tap water, the meter reads pH 6.7 with an inch immersed and pH 5.2 with four inches immersed. Our regular garden soil test kit yields a pH of 7 for our tap water.
We were unable to attain deep immersion in a compartmented potting tray, so we filled a jar with potting soil and added water. The meter read ph 5 with an inch immersed and initially pH 3 with four inches immersed. After a few minutes the four-inch reading dropped to pH 4.5. There may be pH changes as the various components of the potting mixture react with the water.
We removed potting mixture from several cells of the potting tray and arranged it so as to be able to test at various immersions. At one inch the meter read pH 6.2 and at four inches the meter read 5.2.
Testing tonic water, the meter read pH 5 with an inch immersed and pH 3.5 with four inches immersed. The pH changes steadily as immersion increases. Clearly the pH meter has insufficient impedance. We tried dissolving various quantities of table salt in the tonic water but there was little change in the readings.
We tried testing the tonic water with our regular garden soil test kit. The pink solution and buff precipitate don’t match any standard reading so we don’t know precisely how acid the tonic water is.
I wish I could tell you the brand name of our Moist/Light/pH meter but all it says is “Made in China”. It is green and has two probes. And the pH function is garbage.
An unceremonious name indeed for a succulent, economical dish. This one has an afterlife. Use the leftover meat in a beef pie, or slice it for sandwiches.
Brown the meat on all sides, using a liberal amount of cooking oil. After the meat is brown, pour off the excess oil and add the consommé, lemon juice, spices, and, if you wish, the garlic. Cook, covered, for two hours in a 325-degree oven. Now add the onions, if you are going to, and the carrots. (The vegetables may be placed on top of the meat or directly in the broth– they do not have to be covered by the liquid.) Continue to cook, covered, for an additional hour.
Remove the dish from the oven, pour off the broth, and leave the meat and vegetables covered while you make a luscious gravy from the broth.
*or two cubes of beef bouillon + 1 1/4 cups water
Two blocks beyond our house lies a road with the apt name “Old Highway,” a remnant of an earlier route between Mariposa and Yosemite. Mike and I took an afternoon walk of two and one-half miles on Monday, part of it along Old Highway, past the Sheriff’s Office and up a hill of moderate height. We saw a fine gopher snake moving in a seamless flow, on the road and then up a steep bank. We heard wild turkeys calling, from the brush to the west. And we saw innumerable lush and healthy stands of poison oak, the plant that is the bane of foresters and miners everywhere. The walk seemed like the perfect distance. The heat and the grade made it sufficiently challenging, for me at any rate. And the natural wonders– the way the snake seemed to pour itself across the road and up the bank– and the bird sounds, and even the poison oak, gave us much to reflect upon as we made our way.
Swiss chard and radish shoots appear
Two of the “moist paper towel” radishes planted yesterday have developed nice shoots with small green leaves or cotyledons just at the surface of the potting soil.
Additionally, there are growths from one other “moist paper towel” radish and also two of the “jar of water” radishes but these growths appear to be confused roots (radicles) rather than shoots. It was not possible to properly orient the germinated seeds during planting but I had expected the radicles to be more sensitive to gravity (geotropic). Perhaps I soaked them too long (24 hours) before planting.
After 24 hours, 7 of 10 radish seed in a jar of water and 8 of 10 on a folded damp paper towel in an inflated ziploc had germinated. Those in the jar of water germinated about six hours ahead of the others. All 20 have now been planted in potting soil.
The seed coats of those which had been in the jar of water were much more delicate than the seed coats of the others. A couple of the seed coats from the jar of water fell off during planting.
French Breakfast
Expected germination: 5-7 days
Expected harvest: 23 days
10 seeds.
Started 05/20 in a jar of water, indoors in the dark, with temperatures in the 70’s.
05/21: After 24 hours, 7 of 10 had germinated. All 10 planted in potting tray.
2 survived the earwig attack, and were re-potted with the 2 survivors of Radishes #2.
06/14 Planted out in Mariposa vegetable patch but unlikely to survive.
Harvest: None
French Breakfast
Expected germination: 5-7 days
Expected harvest: 23 days
10 seeds.
Started 05/20 on folded moist paper towel in inflated ziploc, indoors in the dark, with temperatures in the 70’s.
05/21: After 24 hours, 8 of 10 had germinated. All 10 planted in potting tray.
2 survived the earwig attack, and were re-potted with the 2 survivors of Radishes #3.
06/14 Planted out in Mariposa vegetable patch but unlikely to survive.
Harvest: None
Thus far the only seedlings to appear have been the Swiss Chard, with 10 out of 18 (56%). Time for some germination tests.
One test has ten radish seeds on a folded moist paper towel in an inflated ziploc bag, indoors in the dark, with temperatures in the 70’s. The seeds are not covered by the paper towel so we can see them. Upon germination they will be planted in moist potting soil.
The second test has ten radish seeds in a jar of water, indoors in the dark, with temperatures in the 70’s. After 24 hours of soaking they will be planted in moist potting soil.
Recent Comments