Pennyroyal crowding itself out of the upper filter

I was looking back through my posts and updating post tags and saw the picture of the biofilter I took at the beginning of what we are laughingly calling summer.  What a difference.  Next summer I’ll see if I can find a yellow canna to add to the mix.  The orange and red are lovely, but yellow would rock.

I’m still battling aphids in the plant wall, but I am making headway.  Instead of seeing a dozen, I’m seeing an occasional very lethargic speck of green with legs.

Jill at JMH Water Gardens gave me a recipe for a fish safe aphid spray that seems to be working really well.  The fish are alive and the aphids aren’t.  I see that as being the measure of success.  Oh, did I mention it’s cheap to make out of common stuff?  Yeah, that too.  Blend oil into a beaten egg white, store in the fridge.

Jill’s recipe says 1 cup of oil to 1 tbsp of egg white.  I confess to not being that precise.  Store in the fridge, mix a bit with water in a spray bottle and spray.  I did say I wasn’t that precise, didn’t I?  Her instructions say 2½ tsp of the egg/oil mix to 1 cup of water.  I don’t need that much at a time so I mix a little over a teaspoon to ½ cup of water.  Spray as needed.  It doesn’t keep so dump what you don’t use right away and mix new each time you need it.

I’ve gotten four meals of lettuce out of my growbed so far.  I don’t have a lot of lettuce in the bed . . . I should have a lot more.  I’m supplementing with store bought lettuce.

I found a place to get hydroton in Olympia.  It was max expensive, $40 a bag when the going rate is closer to $28.  I bought two bags.  That should be enough to fill both growbeds with a bit left over.

I pulled the gravel out of the wall gutter and replaced it with hydroton.  I also trimmed the heck out of a bunch of plants in the grow wall to allow some slower growing things a little bit of daylight.  I put some of the trimmings in the gutter along with a couple of sprouting grapefruit seeds.

The orchid in the wall is not doing well.  I don’t know if it will recover or not.  Time will tell.  I should have moved it ages ago.

I long ago faced my addiction to plants and decided it was not a bad thing.

Wall in profile with ricinifolia Immense on display.

I was forced to shuffle plants around in the plant wall.  Terry couldn’t feed his fish without having to fight through the ricinifolia Immense, and the plant was happily increasing in size.  The largest leaf is over 18″ long on a 2′ long stalk.  As the leaves matured the situation was going to get much worse, so decisions had to be made.

To reconfigure the wall I pulled a areca palm on the left side of the wall and increased the opening and installed one of the begonias.  Then I cut another opening in a blank spot and installed the other, removing the majority of the large leaves at the base of the plants.

Orchid is the stick at the very right of the wall half-way up, the Immense begonia is on the left and the new philodendron is center right.

I pulled the orchid and put it in a new spot against the right side of the wall next to the window and put a split leaf philodendron in the spot where the largest begonia was removed.  This fills in the spot and gets the orchid out to where it’s not so crowded.

I was amazed when I pulled the ricinifolia Immense how little root it had added since being installed in the wall.  It had not much more root than when I put it in the wall, but the leaves were getting . . . well . . . IMMENSE.

Now Wadly can get to his tank to feed his fish without  having to do it by braille.

I went out to water a couple mornings ago to discover what I had thought were seeds on the water lily pads weren’t.  Everything in the pond was covered with hundreds of aphids.  Ugh.  I guess I need to wear my glasses when I check things out.  Wadly missed it too but he’s been working long hours for National.

I hosed the aphids off the leaves, swished the lone water lily in the water until the aphids were washed off and overfilled the pond washing the floating aphids off onto the ground.  There are benefits to an above ground pond.

The second wash off  was yesterday.  I’ll keep an eye on this.  Jill at JMH sent me a recipe for a fish safe aphid killer.  It is my sincere hope I don’t need it.

Current state of the wall

With the surrounding plants pulled away to sweep and clean, it’s time to take a picture.  Yes, the Hawaiian begonia really is that big.  The leaf showing fully to the camera is 17″ long.  The stem it is on is 23″ long.  The largest leaf is over 18″ long.  It is immense.  Click the picture for more detail.

Everything is filling in nicely.  I’ll use this time to put one more plant in the wall and clean up dead foliage.

When the new house is up (years in the future) I’ll have a plant wall whose system spans two rooms.  I’ll put the aquarium in the tv room where it can shine.  The plant wall will be on the other side of the wall in the living room where it can get lots of natural light and act as an art piece on the wall.

Ricinifolia 'Immense'

It turns out the big begonia in my wall is Ricinifolia Immense, a rhizomatous variety.

I got a start for my ricinifolia Immense from a friend over 20 years ago.  I’ve propagated it, given friends starts, passed my plant on to someone else and just lately got a start back.  This plant LOVES being in the plant wall.  The growth is more lush than when it was potted.  The leaves are bigger, the stalks are longer.  The largest leaf on this new start is 17″ long and over 13″ wide.  The stem is a full 2 feet long.  This new start hasn’t bloomed yet.  I don’t expect to see a bloom stalk until this fall.

And I’ll be really glad when the weak chlorotic leaves age and fall off . . .

El Pleco

We have one plecostomus in our tank.  Click on the pic for El Pleco in all his spotted glory.

Chlorotic leaves

It’s important to note the plants in the wall aren’t going to get everything they need from the fish.  From this I’m going to extrapolate that the fish aren’t getting everything they need from the fish food.

If you look at the two leaves in the picture, you’ll see one is chlorotic (showing insufficient chlorophyll from deficiencies in nutrition aka splotchy color).  The leaf on the right, the chlorotic one, is the older leaf.  The leaf on the left is healthy with a much more even distribution of chlorophyll.  The leaf on the left is new, appearing after I sprayed the wall with worm casting tea.

So I extrapolate . . . if the plants are getting incomplete nutrition from the fish, the fish are getting incomplete nutrition from the food they are eating.

I got the glass for LouAnn’s aquarium a couple days ago but didn’t get around to peeling the paper away until today.  It looks good.  The edges were really sharp so I used a foam sanding block to knock down the abrupt edges.

I need to make a frame for the bottom, so I’ll stop in at Home Depot and see what kind of corner molding I can find.  If I can’t find corner molding I can make a frame by cutting down some larger dimension lumber.  I’d like to use hard wood, if I can find something I like within my budget.  I used to have an iron wood 6×6 but I think Dan (brother) saw it and got wood envy.  Maybe I can find some maple . . .

Cucumber and lettuce seedlings

Our weather has been really miserable this year.  Everyone’s gardens are in sad shape.  We just haven’t had warm enough weather for plants to grow.  We’re weeks behind on strawberries, blueberries and raspberries.  It’s the middle of July and I’m just now getting local farm raspberries.  I’m still picking salmon berries!  In July!  <gasp>

The tomato seedlings I planted out in May got hammered flat by hail.  This year has been such a gardening bust I have lost most of my enthusiasm for trying to raise anything to eat.  Pretty sad.

Last week I threw a variety of seeds into the grow bed.  I’ll know what they are as they mature.  Until then I’ll take joy in the fact that something’s growing . . .

Next year I’ll be ahead of the game.  I’ll have my grow beds well started inside my sun porch until it’s warm enough to move them out.  I’ll have hydroton in the beds instead of gravel which will allow me to move them with growy bits intact.  That’s the plan, anyway.

Added height and color dimension adds interest.

I picked up water plants for Wadly’s “pond” today. I happily spent every penny in my pocket! Jill Hartman at JMH Greenhouse and Water Garden was wonderful to work with as we picked through her stock, determining what would work and what would be questionable. I’ve got two hardy plants and two that will have to come in for the winter. I also got pennyroyal and fairy moss!

When winter gets close I’ll run over and refresh my knowledge on what will hold in the pond and what has to go indoors.

Wadly planted the big potted stuff in rock filled wire baskets.  I put the pennyroyal and one of the reeds in the particulate filter.  Everything else went in the bog filter.

I still have more to do, but this will hold for a bit.  I’m happy!

Tangled and lush understory

As the plants in the wall grow and mature, the understory becomes denser.  In daylight (this picture was taken in the dark using just the flash for illumination) there are small sections of the felt visible at the very top and bottom of the wall.  In the body of the wall you have to dig in behind the protruding leaves to see any of the structural felt.

In the center of the picture is a dieffenbachia leaf that has grown in size to be much larger than anything the parent plant produced.

I love the colors and textures in the wall.

Shiny leaves but no blossoms

I have a piece of hoya in the wall and the leaves look beautiful, shiny and healthy, but it hasn’t produced new growth nor has it blossomed.  The parent plant has some new growth and also hasn’t blossomed.

I bought this plant for the variegated leaf not knowing what kind of blossom it would have.  It’s disheartening to think I may never know . . .

Hairy begonia stems

As a Hawaiian begonia stem matures, it develops hairs along the stem.  The hairs are an indicator of plant health and established root structure.  Take a minute to click on the image to see the hairs in all their glory.

The spots on some of the leaves are left-overs from the worm casting tea.

Above the hairy stem is the new orchid blossom shoot.  Look how much it’s grown.

This picture was taken at night with all the lights off.  I used a flashlight to line up the camera.  The camera’s flash does a great job of lighting up the wall’s landscape.

Flush mechanism as flood tank fills

Though hard to see in this photo, there is a black hose attached to a white plastic elbow which allows water to flow into the counter-weight bottle when the water in the flood tank reaches sufficient height.

I made this change because the previous setup was too sensitive.  This is less of a surgical solution and more of a “hit it with a hammer” fix.  It works really well.

I haven’t gotten the second grow bed tray installed.  I’ll get there . . .

Closeup of mature wall

Patrick Blanc’s work is the inspiration for my plant wall.  In a search for new vertical garden stuff, I ran across this closeup of one of his projects.

I found this fascinating.  Watch the leaves move over the course of three days.

Almost full sized

The Hawaiian Begonia’s biggest leaf is almost the max size it will get.  This leaf is about the right length but isn’t quite the full width yet.

One of the really good organic solutions for six legged pests is worm casting tea.  I make a really small amount, but if you need to treat a bigger area, it’s easy to make more.  Thanks to Ray on the Barrelponics Yahoo group for the instruction.

You’ll need a small airstone and a air pump.  My aquarium air pump has two ports so I plug into the spare for making worm casting tea.

I’m giving the instructions for a quart, as that’s the amount I can make and use up before it’s not any good any more.  It needs to be used within (if memory serves) a couple days.

For a quart, use filtered water, add 1.25 ounces of worm castings, drop the airstone in the bottom and let it bubble away for 12-24 hours.

Strain it and spray it where you need it taking care to get the under side of the leaves as well as the stems and tops.

Here’s the bonus bit.  It’s perfectly safe for plant walls and aquaponic systems.  Can’t beat that!

The leaf isn't fully formed but it's showing great promise.

At least one of the wood fern planted in the left side of the wall is doing really well.  The potted plants that sit in front of the wall block me from doing a close inspection so I have to wait until something pokes out into view or pull the pots away from the wall.  The pots weigh over 100 lbs apiece and I’m not yet curious enough to go to the effort of moving all three.  It won’t be long before the avocado goes out side for the summer.  Maybe then I’ll pull the pots away and take a good look.

The bright green spikey bits above the wood fern is the rain forest flowering cactus from Honduras/Nicaragua . . . heliocereus.  The plant is growing really fast . . . over 36″ of new growth just in that section of the plant since it went in the wall.  That’s a lot of growth.

The dumb canes (light green leaves) are also doing really well.  Both plants show good growth.

The dieffenbachia cuttings are also doing well.  The parrot’s beak croaked.  It wasn’t getting enough light.  I’ll start another lower in the wall where it won’t be blocked.  The jade plant is still growing, strangely enough.

Aphids on the Aphid Trap - smell-good fly paper for aphids.

Orchid blossom stalk is growing apace.

The Hawaiian begonia is starting to pop out of the wall.

It’s almost June, just another day or two to go.  The weather outside sucks.  It’s cold and rainy and only fit for foul weather fowl.  I’ve got stuff I need to do out there, but let’s face it, I’m a weather weeny.

The plant wall is doing well.  Terry added two more head-and-tail-light tetras yesterday and a fancy red tailed guppy today.  Having the wall keep the aquarium clean allows him to spend his energies admiring his fish instead of cleaning up after them.  He had a bit of a panic last night thinking he had a dead fish.  It turned out to be a leaf washed into the tank from the wall.

In the wall, the Aphid Chaser is chasing aphids and the Aphid Trap is enticing aphids.  The Aphid Chaser truly does chase the aphids off the wall.  From observation I’m going to say the aphids move down to get away from the Aphid Chaser.  At the bottom is my lettuce and tomato seedling and having the aphids end up there is not an ideal outcome.  To counter this I’ve added an aphid trap sheet to the outside edge of the trough and the aphids are traveling right past my seedlings to become stuck to the aphid trap.  This I consider an ideal solution.

I added a baby spider to the wall today.  Every little bit helps.

I’ve taken a couple other pictures to illustrate what’s happening in the wall.

The new blossom stalk on the orchid is continuing to grow.  This really pleases me.  I don’t know how long it takes to produce blossoms but I bet I’m going to get some.

Usually when plants are added to the wall there’s a period during which nothing happens.  The plants don’t grow, they don’t wilt but they don’t do anything else either.  Then all of a sudden the plant is producing flowers and/or new growth.

With the orchid this wasn’t the case.  It started growing and is working to produce blossoms.  It already had the right roots for this type of planting.  It’s happy, I’m happy . . . what more could we want?

The Hawaiian begonia has finally settled in and is beginning to produce the big leaves I remember from the parent plant.  The biggest leaf so far is on a 10″ long stalk and is about half the size it will be when the root structure fully adapts.  Mature leaves are about the size of a normal dinner plate on a ~12″ stalk.  Once the begonia’s roots develop enough to support it, I expect the plant to start producing blossom stalks (30″ long with tiny pink petals down the length of the stalk).

I love the textures, colors and shades in the plant wall.  The eclectic variety of plants produces something that warms my heart and soothes my soul.

Lettuce seedlings in the wall gutter

I took the largest of the tomato seedlings from the wall gutter and planted them in the growbed outside.  Then it hailed and we had a spate of cold wet windy weather.  The wet part isn’t an issue, but the cold and hail and wind . . . toast.  <sigh>  I lost half the seedlings I planted out and the last two look like they’re on their last leg.  If we get a spate of warm weather they might pull through.  If they don’t I’ll put the 4 tomato plants still growing in the gutter in their place . . . when they get significantly bigger AND the weather improves.  I have sun shade cloth buffering them just a bit, but a big sheet of plastic would have been better.

I’m adding another growbed to my outside tank.  I like the new setup so well I’m going to max out the grow potential of the fish tank.  I have to inventory my bulkhead fittings.  I need two uniseals the same size for connecting another 5 gallon tank to the existing 5 gallon dump tank.  Adding another tank and bed will change the dump time from ~15 minutes to ~30 minutes.

I threw about a dozen lettuce seeds into the plant wall gutter.  By they time they’re ready to transplant out I should have the new growbed up and running . . . and warmer weather. <fingers crossed>

Gloxinia, Cape Primrose, Begonia and Waffle Plant all showing blossoms

Just a snapshot to show you what’s blooming.

I’ve added the Lightbox Plus plugin so you can now see the image (click to enlarge) without additional navigation.

This is the cobbled together frame. Three legs are pressure treated, one is cedar. Frame set into the ground (~4" holes) with mortar tray in place Flush tank in place, flush drain in place Tank side of the bed showing loop siphon and fill tubing The drain as the flood tank flushes

Wadly and I got all the bits put together and I’ve taken pics to share.

This system is designed to be built out of 55 gallon barrels (see the barrelponics group on yahoo) but I’m having a hard time finding clean free barrels in my area.  Instead, I opted for the $4.96 option . . . a mortar mixing tray from Home Depot.  The gas to go to where I can get 55 gallon drums is more than the cost of the tray.  Add to that the cost of purchasing barrels (current best price is $15 ea.) and I’m way ahead.

Wadly built the frame to support the mortar tray.  I think it’s clever.  All the wood is recycled bits and pieces assembled with torx screws.

I had originally planned for additional posts to hold up the dump tank until I got a clue <shaking head at self> and had Wadly cut me some 2×6 angled pieces to hold a 2×8 shelf.  I drilled a notch on one side of the shelf to accept the bottom of the toilet fill kit installed in the dump bucket.

The 5 gallon dump bucket is recycled and the  drain plumbing parts cost about $10.  I didn’t have any of the adapters and connectors for 1½” pipe though I did have some 2″ and a 2″ elbow all glued together which I used.  Everything is dry fitted so it can be disassembled and adjusted or cleaned.

All along the length of the drain pipe are skill saw cuts ¾” apart.  They are cut across the length of the pipe and go through 1/3 the thickness.  The next time I take it apart I’ll get pictures.  The end cap had six holes drilled in it.

When I build the next bed I will run one drain down the center and see how that works.  Or maybe use 1″ pipe instead of 1½”.

I have three tomato plans (SunGold, Beefsteak and yellow cherry) and 4 green pepper.  I will add red pepper as well when I can get some plants.

Wadly has cut a cover for the tank but the edges need routered and it needs waxed to keep the rain from soaking in.  It’s in the shop waiting for me to get out there and do the task.

Wadly and I got the new growbed up and running.  I am using the same Rubbermaid 100 gallon stock tank for the fish and bought a new (spent a whole $4.96) mortar mixing tray for the growbed.  It’s about 20″ x 30″ and about 7″ deep.  It doubles the grow area from the old bed.

I’ve got the dump tank (recycled 5 gallon bucket) set up and working, though a little more fine tuning will no doubt be required.  I’ve got to address the water into bed distribution line as the dump does two things that it shouldn’t, it spills water over the side of the bed from the rush of water and it digs a big hole in the gravel.  I need to moderate that and will pick up the parts today to make that happen.  Wadly and I jury-rigged what we’ve got.  It works but badly and I can’t fix it without a few more parts.

I also need to get a petcock valve for the tank side of the tee to regulate the flow to the dump tank.  For now I’ve bent the tubing and have a knee-high nylon (my favorite filter medium) around it to pinch the flow a bit.  That will work in the short term but in the long term I’d like to have a little finer control.

Wadly’s going to build a cover for the tank to keep the sun out and the algae growth (causes a big PH rise) down.   I had the tank covered with a piece of white tarp last year, but he’d like something with better eye appeal.

If you’re interested in a growbed of your own, visit the barrelponics yahoo group for like minded folk.

The combo of Aphid Chaser on the plant wall and Aphid and White Fly Trap 6′ away seems to be the ideal solution.  I have no more aphids visible on the wall.  I think this is an ideal solution.  It provides protection for the plants in the wall without impacting the fish in the aquarium.

The center leaf has doubled in size since the orchid was installed in the wall The bud on the stalk is developing.

I’ve been keeping a close eye on the orchid to see what it would do.  It’s crammed in in the midst of a lot of other stuff and only gets filtered light.  It seems to be quite happy, showing new leaf growth and new bud development on the flower stalk.

Wadly brought home Aphid Chaser yesterday.  I pinned two on the wall with stainless steel pins.  Aphid Chasers appear to be red foam, about the size of a half sucked away Life-Saver candy.

I moved the Aphid and White Fly trap to the far side of the sliding glass door, away from the plant wall.  When I get all the aphids out of the wall I’ll move one of the chasers to the garden window.  I don’t have any aphids there and I sure don’t want any.

Well, I think I have the answer.  I just need to see if I can find this product locally.  This looks like the whole answer.

Aphid Chaser

Aphid Chaser uses pheromones to “upsets the insect’s chemical ecology and breaks down communications in aphid colonies.  These nontoxic dispensers do not affect beneficial insects <snip>. They act to ward off most common aphid types

I picked up a package of aphid and white fly traps.  I will hang one of the Aphid Chasers on the wall and one of the aphid and white fly traps away from the wall and eliminate the problem without spraying.  I see this as being an elegant and ideal solution.