2012_USDA_Plant_Hardiness_Zone_Map_(USA).jpg (JPEG Image, 10800 × 7200 pixels) - Scaled (11%) Propagate Fig Trees: How To and Why - Daddykirbs Farm. Let me first say that I’m not the Fig Tree expert. My neighbor has been a Master Gardener for a very long time. He has planted thousands of plants. He has a bit of knowledge to share and I’m ready to learn. On his property there are several varieties of Figs. When I offered that I wanted to start some Figs, my neighbor graciously allowed me to take some cuttings. He also shared how he used to propagate them when he worked at the Botanical Gardens. My method will be a little different. For planters I choose the yellow Kitty Litter buckets. Check out this video of my process of how to propagate fig trees. We start with a Fig branch with a few leaves on the end.
Notice all those little bumps? The Kitty Litter bucket has 8 holes drilled for drainage. An old towels is torn and used to cover the drain holes to keep the sand from pouring out. Lay the towel over the drain holes and cover with sand to hold them in place. The Fig tree branch is placed in the sand and covered. There’s one! How to build My 50 Dollar Greenhouse. First off – you really can build this thing very cheaply, but to do so you have to recycle, freecycle, and scrounge. If you just go out and buy new everything it will probably cost over $200 – still not bad all in all.This Article is featured in Jan 2010 issue of Birds and Blooms Magazine! Want to find out if this thing works before you read all this? Read 6 months in the Greenhouse first.Want to see what happens when a few inches of wet snow accumulates on this? Collapse! Building the Greenhouse Doors is addressed in a separate article – isn’t this enough for one weekend?
My $50 Greenhouse Welcome Stumbleupon Gardeners! Materials list Construction Steps Hind Sight – What I would do differently The planning is over and construction on my hoop house greenhouse has begun. After some research I’ve decided to build the structure of the hoop house out of 20 ft. joints of three quarter inch PVC plumbing pipe. If your Greenhouse is too Flat it will collapse!
How to Build the $50 Hoop House Thusly. Farmers Abandoning GMO Seeds and the Reason Will Surprise You. Off the Grid News by Daniel Jennings A growing number of farmers are abandoning genetically modified seeds, but it’s not because they are ideologically opposed to the industry. Simply put, they say non-GMO crops are more productive and profitable.
Modern Farmer magazine discovered that there is a movement among farmers abandoning genetically modified organisms (GMO) because of simple economics. “We get the same or better yields, and we save money up front,” crop consultant and farmer Aaron Bloom said of non-GMO seeds. Bloom has been experimenting with non-GMO seeds for five years and he has discovered that non-GMO is more profitable. The re-converts to non-GMO seeds are not hippies but conservative Midwestern farmers who are making a business decision, Modern Farmer discovered. “Five years ago the [GMO seeds] worked,” said farmer Christ Huegerich, who along with his father planted GMO seeds. Farmers can get paid more for conventional corn than GMO corn. Why Non-GMO Seeds Are More Profitable.
Build a $300 underground greenhouse for year-round gardening (Video) Image: Neo-farms Growers in colder climates often utilize various approaches to extend the growing season or to give their crops a boost, whether it's coldframes, hoop houses or greenhouses. Greenhouses are usually glazed structures, but are typically expensive to construct and heat throughout the winter. A much more affordable and effective alternative to glass greenhouses is the walipini (an Aymara Indian word for a "place of warmth"), also known as an underground or pit greenhouse.
First developed over 20 years ago for the cold mountainous regions of South America, this method allows growers to maintain a productive garden year-round, even in the coldest of climates. Here's a video tour of a walipini that even incorporates a bit of interior space for goats: How a Walipini works and how to build one Image: Benson Institute It's a pretty intriguing set-up that combines the principles of passive solar heating with earth-sheltered building.
Image: SilverThunder. Propagating Hardwood Cuttings. One of the easiest propagation techniques is propagating using hardwood cuttings. Since these cuttings don’t have leaves, there isn’t the initial requirement to provide a high humidity environment to stop the cuttings drying out before they root. I’ve discussed the basic theory of how plants can be propagated from cuttings in the article “Propagating Herbaceous Plants from Cuttings”, so I’ll go straight into practical instructions here. Hardwood cuttings are even simpler to prepare than herbaceous cuttings, as we use cuttings from dormant deciduous trees and woody plants, and this technique is very useful for propagating fruit trees such as figs, pomegranates, mulberries and quince. Some plums can grow well from hardwood cuttings too, while other’s don’t do so well, it depends on the variety. This technique is also used for propagating vines such as grapes and kiwi fruit, and the currant family – blackcurrants, redcurrants, golden currants and gooseberries.
The steps are as follows: