Revision as of 17:34, 19 September 2017

Active experiments.

Seed to Seed

This is harder than it sounds -- better to start practicing today. For instance, did you know you can only save seeds from one plant in the brassica family -- which is a huge family (broccoli, arugula, mustard, cauliflower, kale, turnip, radish) -- without worrying about them cross-pollinating and becoming some weird variety? So it really takes planning around multiple seasons to ensure you have continuity in your seed stock and production.

As a result, I consider getting every plant I can get my hands on, from seed germinated to seed saved, just to gain that experience. It's fun, and none are insanely hard, but they are worth practicing!

Checklist

Following are those from which I've managed to save seed. Feel free to ask me any questions!

Brassicas

The hard part is simply waiting long enough for the seed packs to dry! I also had to keep aphids away. After that, it was trivial to open the pods and save the seeds:

Specific success this year with:

• Mustard
• Arugula
• Radish

Nightshade

• Potato, went from small cut with eye, to a cluster of smaller tubers
• Tomato, from seed to gorgeous tomatoes :)

Leguminous

Very straightforward: leave the pods on the plants longer than you would if you were harvesting. We want them to dry out a bit more.

• Peas, Beans (Garbanzos, Lentils, ...)

Sunflower

These were terrifically easy to grow to seed -- outside in the California sun! I did hear reports from other folks who said their summers were dark and their sunflowers suffered. Sunflower may NOT be the most resilient crp to grow in a period of rapidly changing climate.

See Sunflower as well.

• Outside: Managed to save many seeds from a single sunflower; great ratio. Still would be hard to power a constant supply of trays of microgreens, but not impossible.
• Inside: My indoor sunflowers had thin stalks, the flowers did not grow larger than a silver dollar, and ultimately they fell over and languished. I did not do a great job at tracking the flower with a light, but on first blush, these seem difficult to grow indoors (or at least, require some effort).

Anyone have different experiences here?

Generating oil from sunflowers -- any experiences here?

Protein

It's particularly important to be able to generate enough protein for our bodies to continue rebuilding themselves. Here are some efforts at doing so, particularly within a small footprint (energetic, spatial, or otherwise):

Moringa Oleifera

This "superfood" tropical tree is prolific under the right conditions, and grows highly nutritious shoots with good protein content. See Moringa for more on its nutrition.

• Indoor: growth was spectacular until August, when it stopped, leaves became spotted.
• Outdoor: seeds might start, but wouldn't grow more than a few inches given that my back yard only gets 3-4 hours sun.
• Dwarf variety: did not do well at all; perhaps started too late in season

2017 Results

Outdoor (N. California): Growth Indoor: Decent growth for 3 months (June-Sep); either cooler temperatures stemmed growth, or they filled their containers

Crickets

See the Crickets page for more on why this experiment is ongoing: suffice to say, it's a requires relatively low-energy inputs, and rapidly produces decent protein with some good, nutritious healthy fats.

Log

• 9/10/2017 First experiment begun. Things went well, until their home was invaded by ants, who ruthlessly destroyed the crickets. Lesson: keep crickets secure from invaders.

Spirulina

See Spirulina for more information on why this merits growing. The nutrition and protein per watt from this algae is impressive.

Log

• 40-gallon tank: produced well for 6 months; seems to be thinning now.
  • Lights: 2x 45W Kingbo LED
  • Heat: 1x 200W pro heater @ 88'F

• 30-gallon tank: produced well for 6 month
  • Lights: 2x 45W Kingbo LED
  • Heat: 1x 150W pro heater @ 88'F

Next Experiment

After preparing new media in both tanks, run one with power (heat + lights) and one without (just access to sunshine next to a window, if possible). Compare production. This will be helpful to plan capacity given different levels of available energy resources.