Cloning Tomatoes

Just a quick video on how I clone my tomato plants.  Only one plant was grown from seed in the greenhouse and everything else has been cloned.

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Building the Aquaponic Geodesic Dome Greenhouse in TWO Minutes!

This is a time-lapse video of the complete construction project for the geodesic dome. There are 1555 images taken over the last 1.5 years.  What you cant see is all the work thats done preparing the pieces in the shop or any of the construction work done inside.   Overall, Im overjoyed on how well everything came out!

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The Titan Arum or Corpse Flower

The US Botanical Gardens Titan Arum on July 21, 2013

The Titan Arum is called the Corpse Flower because of its intensely pungent scent when it blooms, which it does for a single day once after several years. For over a week weve been watching for the Titan Arum at the US Botanical Garden to bloom. Then Sunday happened and in the press of family stuff we forgot to check.

Apparently the Titan Arum did its stinky Corpse Flower thing Sunday night. By Monday morning the stench was gone, leaving only a humongous flower (still pretty danged impressive). Folks at my household hope to view the amazing bloom Tuesday morning, assuming it survives the night.

From the description currently up at the US Botanical Garden website:

The titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), also known as the corpse flower or stinky plant, is blooming at the United States Botanic Garden Conservatory! Once fully open, it may remain in bloom for 24 to 48 hours, and then it will collapse quickly.

The magic of the titan arum comes from its great size - it is reputed to have the largest known unbranched inflorescence in the plant kingdom. Referred to as the corpse flower or stinky plant, its putrid smell is most potent during peak bloom at night into the early morning. The odor is often compared to the stench of rotting flesh. The inflorescence also generates heat, which allows the stench to travel further. This combination of heat and smell efficiently attracts pollinators, such as dung and carrion beetles, from across long distances.

The titan arum does not have an annual blooming cycle. The time between flowering is unpredictable, which can span from a few years to a few decades. The plant requires very special conditions, including warm day and night temperatures and high humidity, making Botanic Gardens well suited to support this strange plant outside of its natural range.

This plant is native to the tropical rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia, and was first discovered in 1878. Public viewing of this unique plant has occurred a limited number of times in the United States. The U.S. Botanic Garden last displayed a blooming titan arum in 2007.

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Aquaponics on 60 Minutes in Australia

I was pleased to see that 60 Minutes in Australia did a piece on Aquaponics this Sunday. I always love seeing footage of Murrays farm, and it was cool to see the segment about the roof-top farm in Brooklyn.

On the other hand, I was a bit less enthused about the idea of growing plants in high rises using high-tech LEDs. If the business case supports it, thats great. But I dont think were there yet.

I was pleased the other day to re-read a 2005 article by Dr. Wilson Lennard, where he discussed his findings that aquaponics is almost always more productive than chemical-based hydroponics. Beyond that, deep water culture and media-based growing systems are 20% more productive than the nutrient film technique so often used in hydroponics. This is important because so many of the farm-in-a-highrise schemes are based on hydroponics, and presume ample use of electricity to achieve adequate growing conditions.

I think the secret is to start small - at the level of individual families and communities. Grand schemes that require hundreds of thousands of dollars (or even millions) in up-front investment must first be found attractive by venture capitalists. Even then, the big money involved in such endeavors can tempt the weak and immoral among us, as sad experience has demonstrated.

Still, its fun to see these topics being aired on major TV shows, rather than simply on gardening channels.

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