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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Has anyone eaten Elephant Yam (Amorphophallus konjac?)
« on: June 01, 2020, 04:26:22 AM »
Picked up a plant yesterday. Is it basically the same as sweet potato?
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Was at Whole Foods today wrestling with the other pre-Thanksgiving shoppers. These caught my eye as I walked by the fruit section. No wonder people don't buy more exotic fruit. Some unsuspecting person is going to pay premium Whole Foods money for a disgusting never-to-ripen fruit.
Table saw and a lot of patience/care. Lined the printing up with the fence and then marked the other side based off that (I forget exactly but it wasn’t too crazy with two people).
I am very happy with them but wouldn’t do them again if starting from scratch. I would try 100mm pipe to keep them lighter or just box up square posts. Where are you located?
Those look great. I'm assuming you use stormwater pipe to cast them...but how does this work, and how do you get the post out once it has set?Or do you just cast each hemisphere them join them together, somehow?
Yeah 150mm pipe cut lengthways and hoseclamped/taped together during casting. They are way overkill. I made a video but it sucks, I am getting better at that haha.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3GNTeLxD8rg
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rO9NELjNBuc
These are the best vertical supports I've seen so far. Wish I could purchase those forms in the US. Their rebar on the top supports looks to be mass produced also. It's not so easy to reproduce for the home gardener. But I will probably try. My neighbors and I are pretty handy, we will try and copy them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7REsQWNG9U&t=20s&app=desktop
What I have seen that is very economical and functional are concrete posts. I’ve seen this in CR and Mexico and I think I’ve seen the same in photos from Israel. A field of cement posts at about 2m spacing. The plants grow up and hang down off the posts. There’s no horizontal structure.
Peter
I agree concrete posts are an excellent solution. They are cheap if you have the manufacturing down and will last forever.
I have considered this. However, I think cement and the other requisite materials are considerably more inexpensive in the states and elsewhere than in Australia. The numbers aren't there for me...it's actually cheaper for me to buy a hardwood post and give it a few coats of 2 part epoxy resin than to make a concrete post. It's a bit of a bummer because otherwise I'd definitely be doing it, I have seen them grown in stacked tires before but this doesn't make sense to me, because you'd have no access at the base of the plants to apply fertilizers etc.
Im leaning towards concrete posts for future supports even though I already have lots of cattle panels and fencing material that could be used.
I see no need for fencing what you need is strong vertical support for heavy plants. Chain link fencing doesn't hold anything up it must be held by horizontal piping.
In Taiwan they have gone to trellis in a linear form. The plants are spaced closer along the row than post culture but probably need more pruning work, maybe between every crop cycle where you might get several crops on a post culture before hard pruning. Post culture gives you four plants/post, so 680 posts/acre x 4=2720 plants/acre . Linear trellis gives you four plants every 8 feet or so along a row, so do the math to figure how many plants per area.
What really matters is support for the heavy weight especially if you have strong santa ana wind/typhoon/hurricane to worry about. Posts are pretty resistant but some of Gray Davis' trellises collapsed which looks like a nightmare needing to start over.
Taiwan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT6NPpVq8bM
Look at the support at 1:45
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u3E2xKzVb0&feature=youtu.be
You can use mesh fencing but its going to be more of a mess to keep pruned neatly. I think the idea with all of the commercial supports is to get the plant to drape over the top and hang down. With fencing dont you end up with the top vines hanging over the bottom vines and making a mess?
Do you have photos of yours?
I trained mine to go on arbor instead. Save money on shade clothes. Right now, they are reach the top corner of each abor. Can't wait to see all the blooms covering the entire arbor in the next few year.
Theres lots of commercial DF farms growing in rows like a vineyard. Look up gray martin on youtube to see how his DF farm here in california is setup. Theres also farms in asia using similar supports.
Yes and in Aus $ durian of various types is around 8 to 12/kg in January to about April. Mangosteens are 7 to 12/kg and lansium are less frequent and around 10/kg. They are a bit pricey for most people.
I use fresh manure because it contains more nitrogen than hardened manure but verry important its that i dilute it a lot.Dryed manure lacks nitrogen and i think it even draws nitrogen from soil to decompose.Its like composting straws,they rot verry slow until you add a rich nitrogen source.I use straw mulch and it doesnt rot until i add fertiliser rich in N.
Today, Sterculius himself ( the roman God of manure) visited my orchard.The big walnuts like the fresh cow manure diluted 50/50 with water.They got like 2 litters each and immediatly after ,half a bucket of water on the manure.The growth is almost a meter in just 3 weeks.
The thread is about using live sphagnum moss cover instead of mulch wich its dead matter.I didnt mix them with the soil.
Sphagnum peat moss is readily available, I've never seen coco coir for sale in any retail outlet I've visited.
It's worth finding. If you've not tried in, I strongly recommend you do. You will simply never go back. Get the really fine stuff that has about the same consistency as coffee grounds. Usually it comes pressed in to dry bricks, and you just add water. It's the best soil additive for water retention, drainage and root development I've found. Added to your mix at around 1/4 it's amazing. The chunky, bark-like stuff is an excellent top dressing mulch. On top of that it's the best seed germinating medium I've tried too.
Guarantee you guys in the states have it. I use stuff like this:
https://aussieenvironmental.com.au/product/coir-peat-coco-mulch-5kg-brick-3pack/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIteysyKDE4gIVwTUrCh2x0QZBEAQYASABEgKz8PD_BwE
They sell it at my local nursery and on amazon. It is good stuff but its pretty expensive.
literally $9USD per 5kg brick. Add water and you've got 2 1/5 cubic feet of the stuff.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-5kg-Bricks-11-LBS-Coconut-Coir-Soil-Amendment-Growing-Medium-Hydroponics/372658545312?hash=item56c42e22a0:g:q0kAAOSwkERcG5Rx
Yeah 9$ plus 20$ shipping for 11lbs of "dirt" is not cheap. I grow a ton of stuff, 2cu feet is not a lot of soil.
Its about 14$ for a block at the local store.
But I agree with you that the stuff is awesome. I do use it in a lot of my potting mixes.
Sphagnum peat moss is readily available, I've never seen coco coir for sale in any retail outlet I've visited.
It's worth finding. If you've not tried in, I strongly recommend you do. You will simply never go back. Get the really fine stuff that has about the same consistency as coffee grounds. Usually it comes pressed in to dry bricks, and you just add water. It's the best soil additive for water retention, drainage and root development I've found. Added to your mix at around 1/4 it's amazing. The chunky, bark-like stuff is an excellent top dressing mulch. On top of that it's the best seed germinating medium I've tried too.
Guarantee you guys in the states have it. I use stuff like this:
https://aussieenvironmental.com.au/product/coir-peat-coco-mulch-5kg-brick-3pack/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIteysyKDE4gIVwTUrCh2x0QZBEAQYASABEgKz8PD_BwE
They sell it at my local nursery and on amazon. It is good stuff but its pretty expensive.
Sphagnum peat moss is readily available, I've never seen coco coir for sale in any retail outlet I've visited.
There are two main reasons for not using sphagnum moss; firstly, harvesting it is very ecologically deleterious and bad for the environment generally, and secondly it tends to act as a very good medium for growing nasty fungal infections. It also doesn't hold water as well as coconut fiber. nor last as long as this. Most major nurseries here in Australia have switched to coconut at this stage. It's basically better in every way, and it's cheaper.Coconut choir its not better because it has much higher ph than that of moss and the moss contains substances that kill pathogens and fungi.Its sterile and was even used to wrap soldiers wounds.Its true thats not eco friendly to harvest the moss but somme people can get it from cut logs for fire wood that are covered in moss and otther places like i did from somme concrete slabs.Dont collect it from the woods .