Diggin for a livin' ! on Earth Day !

A "Before" shot of the garden... On April 22' 2007, which was Earth Day !

This year I have five beds to till, inocculate, plant and then love and eat from ... ! One more than last year !

Sunflowers, Phlox, Honeysuckle - Get a head start !

The first nutrients I used this year were to feed the background of beneficial microbes that were gearing up in the soil.

In addition to the Iguana Juice, I sprayed the soil with fulvic acid and vitamins from B52 and Grandma Enggy's F1.

The sunflowers (left of the F1 bottle) were just above the soil, and, as you can see, some spring perennials got a good shot of nutrients too ! I hope we're frost free too, now ...

Iguana Juice - my choice for a one-part organic-based fertilizer

I decided to try this product to reduce my labour for foliar feeding and fertilizing. Iguana Juice is a complete fertilizer, with many biostimulants added. It's not too nasty-smelling for having fish-emulsion in it, plus it has an exotic compost-tea type make up, I read here;

https://www.advancednutrients.com/advancepedia/product.php?productID=32&catID=23

It feeds through my hose-sprayer well, and it saves me handling three bottles (Grow, Micro and Bloom) each time I want to fertilize fully. I can always resort to spot-use of Grow, Micro or Bloom. I've only just primed my vegetable beds with it, along with my sprouting sunflowers.

Empress Trees move slowly at First !

... But apparently they are the fastest growing trees in the world...

Here is a close up of the same bud as shown below, on April 17 2007. This is all that's happened in three weeks...

Grapes too ! Back with huge potential !

On April 22 2007 my grape plant was looking like it was awake too, finally !

Last year I got about 200 pounds of grapes from my medium sized grape plant. It was luxuriously fed the same fertilizers and biostimulants from Advanced Nutrients, and this start looks awesome !

Just two weeks of Growth and...!

Here's the Golden Hops on April 17, in her new 2007 Spring colours, looking 'sharp' ..!

This is the normal colour, so I wonder if it takes warm temperature as well to make it go green again, as it did last July; not just my using Advanced Nutrients and fulvic acid twice a week..?

I started to read about plants and silicates, and was considering adding this stuff to my feeding regimen:

https://www.advancednutrients.com/advancepedia/product.php?productID=3&catID=23

It's liquid potassium silicate, and you just need to use a few drops per litre every time you fertigate the soil.

This hops plant is covered in glassy-sharp cystolith hairs that are perfect for gripping things when climbing, and act like razors to insects ! These sharp hairs are made of silicates and carbonates. Some types of plants are called "silica accumulators" since when they are fed SiO2 like in Advanced Nutrients' Barricade, they pack-on up to 10% more dry weight, all in silicates !

I was going to pre-treat all my soil beds with a generous spray of Barricade, before planting, thinking that if I just packed some into the soil, it would last a while before needing to supplement the roots again with SiO2. Advanced Nutrients does not recommend foliar feeding with SiO2.

Return of The Golden Hops !

On April 1, here is the extent of the growth on my Golden Hops.

Notice that it's 'golden' coloured again. Last season it had been so well nourished by my foliar feeding with Advanced Nutrients' Grow, Micro and Bloom along with Collosal Bud Blast, B52, Voodoo Juice, Piranha and Tarantula, that it became almost all green ! The cone crop was huge too, so if I keep that up, this year will be even better ! !.

And here it is; spiny stemmed, 'golden' leaved and purple, back with a vengance, ready to take it out on the grape plant, growing around it. The grape is still dromant at the time of this photo.

March 25 2007 It's Spring Again !

My Empress Trees are starting to grow; look at that tiny nub go !

Tis' The Season !

On Nov. 27 2006 we had a huge snow fall !

Funny to see the pepper, potato and tomato gardens like this; snowed over and dormant.

Washed the Loot !

Here is the final result, On Nov 19 we had harvested and washed all remaining potatoes.

I peeled and sliced the Yukon Gold and froze them. Now I eat blue mashed potatoes many times weekly !

Note the remnant hot peppers that endured the frosts, and the totally spent tomato garden in teh background.

Crops of Worms and Blue Russian Potatoes.

Here is the range of sizes of potatoes we found. In excavating this crop There were 100's of monster worms we tossed over into the tomato bed. Not all potatoes were huge, but many were heavier than one pound in weight ! Notice the Monster worm my son is showing against the size of the potato.

I wasn't expecting the worm crop, what a Bonus ! But I'm happy with the Blue Russian Yield !

Worms are picky eaters !

Here is a shot showing the stratified layers of soil and the area in which all the huge earthworms were congregating. The worms all preferred the rotting stem tissue of the potato plants that was just below the (original ) soil line. There were dozens in that patch of soil where you can see them, in here !

Monster Earthworms and Monster Blue Potatoes !

Here is a photo from the same harvest, about 1/4 the way through the excavation of the heavily buried crop.

We found dozens of worms as long as the one my son is handling; stretching to 6inches or longer !

A pattern had become apparent; worms as big my finger, monster worms, were always having a feast, living at the base of the plants. Right beneath the old soil-line.

The Purple Poundage !

Look at this potato's colour ! Amazing ! ... And the yield was high ! over 40 pounds of awesome coloured potatoes from a 5 pound bag of seed potatoes. !

This bed was in the sunniest part of the yard; it got the best of everything. I foliarly fed this crop regularly and used all of Advanced Nutrients' beneficial microbes on it.

While I still had some microbes, I was always liberal with my dial-a-spray loaded up with a solution of symbiotes, hosing all foliage in the garden with the beneficial microbes in Piranha, Tarantula and Voodoo Juice.

I was mostly itrigued by the Trichoderma species in Piranha; I was reading here;
http://www.advancednutrients.com/advancepedia/product.php?productID=44&catID=18

apparently these species of mycorrhizal fungi will grow into plant tissue in a "controlled infection" and thereby protect the root tissue from other fungal invasions. So I just sprayed the foliage too.

It seems ironic; which ever nutrient solution I was using, I was foliar feeding a root crop !

The Blue Russian Potato Crop !

This is a 'before' photo taken Nov. 19 2006 ... of 'before all the hard work' of starting to dig out the Russian Blue Potatoes began.

In late August, I had put 10 wheel barrow loads of composted manure, 3 wheelbarrows of sandy soil and 7 expanded coir-bricks onto the lanky shoot growth of the potato plants. I dumped alot of soil ontop of the potato crop, and now it all had to be excavated..!

This extra soil was to build up the bed for next year's crops and to see if this would encourage more potatoes to grow from the buried shoots. It did not make any more potatoes, but at the original depth, loads of potatoes were found, see above in the next photos.

How Green Makes Gold !

Here's a Flashback to August 8 2006; the same area shown below being harvested was amazingly green 11 weeks earlier! What a joy to see this again after having harvested all the great food from the same spot !

Look at this foliar feeding frenzy ! And since this photo was from early August, there were 6 weeks of lush green growth still to 'put ontop' of this crop of green seen here.

Colossal Bud Blast and B52 are amazingly potent products. This green lushness made about 50 pounds of Yukon Gold appear underground ! I am a sworn believer in applying nutrients foliarly, and a convert to Advanced Nutrients' line of products for this.

I found information about Colossal Bud Blast here: http://www.advancednutrients.com/advancepedia/product.php?productID=16&catID=3


In my garden shown here in early August, there was more than twice the folaige you see here by the end of August ! There was more than than twice this festoon of foliage to foliarly feed 2 or 3 times a week ! That's 12 - 18 foliar feedings still to go ! I was obsessed with using my dial-a-spray, but for good reason !

I took a few more photos of this area all season, trying to capture the stupefyingly green lushness that resulted when I foliarly fed with these two products. But I'll save them for later .... we have still to finish harvesting potatoes !

Diggin' For Yukon Gold !

Lucky Me ! On Nov. 19 I had a helper again !

We discovered an interseting thing; the potato crop was spectacular in the first half of the bed where the sun shone longer each day, but only 'fair' in the rest of the bed. Here my son is digging up the shady section.

In the wetter soil which appeared in the shadow of the fence, the crop yielded only about half of the potatoes as the 'sunny' section. The first half of the bed we harvested in early October (shown below) had about twice the yield.

Before The Frost !

This was Oct. 4 2006; the first potato harvest was done when the plants were spent. I had Help !

The powdery Mildew had set in everywhere in mypumpkins by the first week of October, but the fruit had ripened perfectly. We had a total of 11 pumpkins from 4 plants, not too many but plenty for Halloween !.

The yellow tomatoes in the background were still holding onto green fruit !

After The Frost !

This picture was taken Oct. 30 2006 ! The day before Halloween and the day after the first killing frost !

All that's left to harvest is underground; I procrastinated for weeks before starting to dig.

I've left potatoes in the ground all winter or until the soil freezes, but this year I had keen helpers ! We dug up some on Oct 4, the rest on Nov 19 (next photo).

The Day's Harvest!

Here's the results of the harvest-before-the-first-frost !

All that's left now are the potatoes !

Picked a Peck !

There !.. the frost won't get at these !

Count the Jalapenos !

If you click on the photo and enlarge to full size, you can see the pepper crop that's in there. There are reams of shiny fruit ! I had to prop up all the pepper plants ages ago, but this is it; it all comes down now !

I got a total of about 40 pounds of Jalapenos !

I have not used up all my nutrients, however all my beneficial microbes were used up halfway through this first season I used Advanced Nutrients products.

Posing Peppers and Pumpkins

A Harvest set up; a freshly cut banana pepper plant posing in the sun.

Not a bad yield either, and this plant had not over-ripened. I procrastinated on harvesting the peppers until the frost season. Just the potatoes remain after this crop.

The Hot Ones !

These are fantastically hot ! But I picked all the red ones before the first frost that night. The foliage covers over how dense the fruit-set is; there are peppers all over !

Except for 'over-ripe' fruit, there was no pestilence of any kind on all three pepper varieties; no bugs, no molds.

All my peppers were foliarly fed with the nutrient products I showed below, but I also used foliar sprays of all the Advanced Nutrients microbial products (Voodoo Juice, Piranha, Tarantula). My foliar feeding methods always had generous run-off, but I hosed the nutrients onto them covering their foliage first.

I wonder if microbes living in higher numbers in the above-ground plant tissues (stems, leaves, fruit and flowers) affects ripening..? Would they lengthen the ripening period of shorten it..? I will have 2 crops of hot peppers to pick, the first one is shown here on Oct. 29, 2006.

Hyper Ripe Banana Peppers

These ought to have been picked weeks ago; there were some with splits and soft-rot.

Swollen nodes again ! An exaggerated caricature of growth in such pumped plants !

Splitting Open A Node

Inside a swelling the growth was layered. I could not tell much more without a microscope.

No pigments other than some green, and I wonder if the puffy tissue is infected by symbiotic microbes..?

These ones are the ones I'm guessing might have made it into the roots, and flowed up the stem, lodging here to grow:

http://www.advancednutrients.com/advancepedia/product.php?productID=63&catID=18

Super Swollen Nodes !

Time to dissect open one of these swollen nodes !

Here again is what had grown at the branch-points on my pepper crop; big, bulbous swellings that became pigmented. These swellings continued to increase in size all year.

Both my banana and jalapeno peppers had this kind of growth, and itstarted after I applied Piranha and Tarantula, the two beneficial microbe products made by Advanced Nutrients.

The Ripened Colours

All season long this dark-purple pigmentation has been developing more and more in the upper nodes of the plants, and eventually into the fruit.

You can't see any in this photo, but all my pepper plants were still trying to make flowers, even on the last day of the season.

Loaded with Fruit !

Here is a picture from October 29, 2006 showing what the jalapeno plants were bearing; absolutely loaded with peppers !

I decided to harvest this day since there was a frost warning for the next night.

Back to the Pepper Crop

My crop of peppers was also very bountiful ! And my harvest of jalapenos and banana peppers yielded way more than I could use.

Here's a picture from October 29 2006; the day before the first frost. My son can barely hold up the two plants he's holding; they are totally loaded with fruit !

I posed my line of Advanced Nutrients here to give a perspective on how much growth has happened since July. I posted a similar picture way back.

Next Year's Growth.

Yes; I'm obsessed with this tree !

On Nov. 18 2006 I took this close up of the main stem on my Empress Tree; it shows the details of the abscission layer where one of those elephant-ear-sized leaves was connected to the main stem/trunk. My finger points at this indentation.

Above the abscission layer you can see the tiny meristem; it has three 'bumps' inside the little raised 'chevron' shape. This will give rise to a huge new branch next spring.

All so Young ! !

On July 5 2006 I took this shot ! My kids with my 'baby' Empress Tree. Can you believe it grew to over 8 feet in 12 weeks ..?!

I had been using Advanced Nutrients Grow, Micro and Bloom for just one week at this point. I also started with the B52 and Colossal Bud Blast in mid July. By the end of July I had started to inocculate with Piranha, Tarantula and Voodoo Juice.


My kids grew too during the 12 weeks, but not thanks to foliar feeding !

The Signal to Grow !

Speaking of Lush Green ! This photo is also from late September 2006.

I had taken this photo under the canopy of my Empress Tree; I am holding the same pumpkin shoot my son was holding in the previous photo.

Notice the shape, the 'hook' in the end of the pumpkin plant's shoot...?

Still now, in the beginning of autumn, this pupmkin plant is signalling with it's 'downturned' growing tip, that it has all the intentions to keep growing; this must be some kind of geotropism, since the undisturbed shoot hangs the 'hook' down, towards the ground. And notice the fruit it's STILL setting !

When my other pumpkins, growing in another area, lost this 'hooked' growth in the tips of their shoots, they totally stopped growing. The shoot became 'straight', but still looked healthy. But growth ceased, and suddenly powdery mildew took over these plants.

A Reminder of The Lushness !

Here is another shot from Late September 2006.
I wanted to look at some lush green again, since the last two photos from November are so bleak !
All this area was foliarly fed with my set of Advanced Nutrients products. Compare this shot to the ones I posted in the beginning of the season !

The pumpkin shoot my son is holding started in the corner where the fences meet. From there it snaked around the perimeter of 3 sides of the garden before 'escaping' into the morning glory and running towards the empress tree.

The Last Leaf....!

Senescence ! ... Another shot from Nov 14 2006. After this one is gone, my Empress Tree is asleep until Spring.

This is such a lonely leaf... ! The last one grown, is the last one dropped !

I collected each leaf that fell; I had a stack of elephant-ears sized 'sheets' to lay on the compost pile! Like some kind of stack of laundry

... Funny how I am even feeling lonely 'for her', when I don't see her at all now. She used to dominate her zone and 'greet me', she'd becon me to feed her every day !

All That's Left !

To contrast ... before and after ... the frost.

Here she is again; my Empress Tree, with no leaves left, on Nov 18 2006 ! The kids obliged another pose...

So I can't wait to see her come back next year..!

The Advantage of Foliar Feeding !

Here is the comparison again: this Empress Tree was foliarly fed with my set of Advanced Nutrients products..!

This picture was taken in late September. Actually I hosed everything with regular foliar feedings, but the Empress Tree got it almost every day.

I used Grow, Micro, Bloom applying each separately. Then I used B52 and Colossal Bud Blast 1 - 2 times a week, as I applied these foliarly to the whole garden.

This Empress Tree also got root-fed; the 'left overs' that couldn't be siphoned out of the dial-a-spray reservoir thrown onto the soil at it's base. Voodoo Juice, Piranha and Tarantula too. So it got it good ! And you can tell !

Notice the pumpkin shoot in my son's hand ...! It has way-outgrown it's garden and reached a length of over 45 feet, and it is still setting friut !

An Empress Tree That Did Not Get Advanced Nutrients !

Here is a comparison: I took this photo on Oct 6 2006 of another Empress Tree that was planted exactly the same time as I planted mine. This tree recieved waterings but no Advanced Nutrients fertilizers. Compare this tree with the one I have shown below..!

My Empress Tree was smaller than this when I planted it, but now after I foliarly fed it all season with my selection of Advanced Nutrients products, mine is taller than 8 feet !

This tree is as old as the one I have shown below, but it never recieved any Advanced Nutrients fertilizers during all of 2006. Poor thing ! ... But it's hanging in there..!

This to me is a stunning example of just how potent regular foliar feeding can be; I foliarly fed my Empress Tree at least twice a week, but usually more frequently if it was sunny. My tree's leaves were 16 inches long and 12 inches wide ! These are 3-4 inches across !

After the First Frost !

Here we are on Oct 30 2006; just ten hours after the first frost.

The damage on my Empress Tree from the frost event covers 80% of the foliage. Lower leaves that did not have as much radiative heat loss and did not appear damaged.

It seemed as though having leaves above them 'protected' them from the frost, or perhaps the ground had a little residual heat, and protected the lower foliage.

By Nov. 7, almost all leaves had been dropped, and all that remains is a 8 foot stalk.

My Empress Tree Before The First Frost.

Here is a photo from Oct 4 2006 showing how HUGE my Empress Tree has grown. In April, this tree was less than half the height of my daughter!

Compare this photo to the next one showing the damage that appeared just 10 hours after the first frost of the year.

In March of 2006 it was a bare twig, just 20 inches tall. Now look at it ! I foliarly fed it all summer with all my Advanced Nutrients products, and it sure responded with massive growth !

However I also gave these fertilizers to the root-zone as well, so it got an all-around Advanced Nutrients menu all year !

Imagine what it will become next year if it reached > 8 feet this year !

Perfectly Ripe Grapes !

Here on Oct 29, 2006 is a picture of the grape crop I produced at it's ripest.

These are the two bunches I have been photographing all summer long.

Before this date I had picked off all but one last batch to juice. These last 20 pounds of grapes were the sweetest of all. The first frost of the season was the following night on Oct. 29.

Next year to see if it helps prevent the chlorosis I will foliarly feed later into September, and to finish off the fruit setting I'll also use Advanced Nutrients' Overdrive during the last month of ripening. I wonder if it's appropriate for foliar application as well?

Over-ripe Hops !

Here we are on Oct 29 2006. My Golden Hops plant has become over-ripened, and still has a totally seedless crop of cones.

Had I only known what to do with the abundant crop of cones !

For 8 years I have been growing this same plant, but this year regenreating it from a root stock I transplanted, it grew grew into something different. It was green not "golden' and it made the stinkiest buds and 'cones' ever ! Plus it grew into a monster, whereas last year it was a pipsqueak of a perennial vine.

I attribute the unbridaled growth of my hops plant, the 'overcoming' of its genetic predisposition to be 'golden' and be green, and the incredible stench of the flower-cones to my coordinated use of the Advanced Nutrients products I mentioned below.

I foliarly fed this hops with B52 and Colossal Bud Blast on alternating days all summer long, twice a week at least. I used the suite of beneficial microbes made by Advanced Nutrients each week until mid August. My base-nutrients were Advanced Nutrients 3-part Grow-Micro-Bloom.

Next Year .. just imagine what he root stock will come out with ! ... !