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pinwillie

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Everything posted by pinwillie

  1. A word of caution, I'm doing this from memory some things may not be exactly be right, so you should fully research the following, before attempting. Good soil conditions include: top soil, small stones, clay, sand, and organic matter. Which the experts call Loam. I also heard it said at one point in time that if you have lots of worms in your soil, you have pretty happy soil No matter what your soil conditions are you should add organic matter, over a period of time this alone will improve your soil. Organic Matter: If you have it enough of it, mix in a 2 inch layer of compost A couple other ways to add organic matter. When you cut your grass, gather your clippings and use them to linethe area in between your rows, this does 2 things, cuts weed growrth between your rows, less time weeding, and holds water in longer. less waterings.... In the fall when you rake your leaves dump 1 to 2 inches all over garden area. I grind them up with the mower first. then mix it in and let set till spring. Don't pull the plants out either till them in also. Important note: Limit the amount of oak leaves you add, they are very acidic!!!! As these items break down, they will add much needed Nitrogen and organic matter to your soil. A little more on Nitrogen later. You can add a number of soil amendments to your clay to turn it into a loam. sand for drainage, mix in some top soil, and peat moss. Amendments added this year will do little good till the following year, they need time to break down, time is your friend here, and your rival!!! Something else you can add, to aid in drainage, unless you already have some, you could also add Pea Stone. I wish I could remember what percentages of each is needed. As the Seasons pass you should start to see your conditions change. Your work has just begun though.... What if after doing all this, something still just doesn't seem right, your soil may still be lacking something, to determine this, you need a soil test.... You can take a soil sample in to be tested, or you can go to your local outdoor garden supply store and purchase a soil tester. All they or you are gonna test is NPK and the PH of your Soil. N stands for Nitrogen, P stands for Phosphorus, K stands for Potassium, these are the three main Nutrients all plants need to grow and produce. Nitrogen(N) helps with leaf growth and chlorophyll. Phosphorus(P) aids in fruit, flower, and root growth and development. Potassium(K) helps with stem and root growth. These are what they call macro nutrients. there is a multitude of micro nutrients. When you find out what you are lacking in you can add the appropriate amendment to adjust, be warned most amendments are long acting. one other test you are gonna need to run is a PH test, to determine the acidity of your soil, PH of 7 is considered neutral, above is more alkaline, below is acidic. Most plants do best with slightly acidic conditions, say a PH of 6.5 to 6. The test kit I used a few years ago, tested all, NPK and PH. Another way of thinking about it is....you know them numbers on the bag of fertilizer, that you may or may not know what they mean. N P K for example: 10-10-5 10% nitrogen 10% phosphorus 5% potassium
  2. There are many systems out there you can buy for the home hobby people. If you don't have a Hydroponic store near you, look online. The Hydro Shop in my area, is owned by a master gardener. it helps when you are having problems. You can also find plans on the Internet to build your own home system. they work just as good as the ones you can buy in the store, alot more work involved in the beginning. Gathering the supplies and tools needed, then building the system.I have 2 store bought ones, and one I built. No difference in production... I've seen many different size Greenhouse's for sale on the Internet. I have a neighbor down the street, that built his own, with 2X4's and heavy gauge plastic. He takes it down in the winter and puts it back up in the Spring. I've never been in it, to see how its put together, so it can be set up and taken down quickly though. You can add ingredients to your nute water, to enhance flavor. More than anything else in the beginning you'll need luck. When I started out doing this 5-6 years ago. one crop would be great, nice flavor and texture. next grow do everything the same, and after pulling the first few Tomatoes/Peppers off the plant they were nasty tasting, cut it down and start over again!!!! I know the feeling, because I've lost count on how many I've killed, trying to figure out when to try this. I will go see the guys at my local Hydro Shop and ask them what can be done, I have to go up there anyways..... Hydroponics could be its own sub forum. Growing Hydroponiclly is a near perfect environment for growing plants.You are less likely to be invaded by Pests, have better disease control, no weeds to compete for the nutes!!! Hydroponics is nothing more than growing with water, and some kind of substrate, to give the plants roots something to attach to, it does help with supporting the plant, but you also, even with a fan, need to support the plant itself. they sell a clip you can attach a string to, then you just need somewhere above to attach the other end. As the plant grows, just wrap it around the string. Water alone is not enough, there is a whole array of nutrients to choose from. Nutes are mixed into the water. They range from chemically derived to organically derived, a combination of the two. There is an array of additives to add also, from growth stimulates, flowering stimulates, flavor enhancing compounds. They to are sold as chemically derived and organically derived, or a combination of the two. Nutes and additives can be either in concentrated liquid form, or concentrated powder form. Most of the nutes I use are in the liquid form. I do use one that is in powder form. This a gross overview of hydroponics. Hydroponics is nothing more than a big MAD scientist experiment. One nice aspect of hydroponics is when you do your water change, you can take that water and use it in your outside growing beds. Mainly you have to find what works for you!!! If you decide to do an Internet Search on hydroponics, be for warned, you will have to wade through all kinds of sites on hydro, lets just say they deal with something of an illegal aspect, of the hobby!!!! This really does not even began to cover it. I find it relaxing to go into my grow room and tend to my plants. Hope this helps, if not I can try to clear something up for ya, but i'm no expert!!
  3. What kind of grow light are you using? There are many different kinds, sounds to me like your using Floro's, if they were the 40 watt stick type. They do not generate enough heat to burn your seedlings. You can practically put it right on top of them, When I was useing them. I'd put them about 1" above the seedlings, with a fan, to help strengthen the stems. I now use 200 watt Compact floro's with a fan, and they need to be about 6" above the seedlings, to prevent burning. This problem is called freeze off, they can't break out, and the new seedling dies. The only way I know to fix this problem is to remove the seed shell, if the plant looks like it's gonna freeze off. You have to be very careful removing the seed cap when doing this. I use two toothpicks to accomplish this, and yes I've killed many Pepper and Tomato plants, learning how to do this right. I add this part only to serve as another Idea, in the gardening arena. Have you ever tried to grow Hydroponicly? I grow Tomatoes and Peppers most of the year with HID lighting, and what I've done in the past is to, Take cuttings from the Tomato or Pepper plant and clone them, Put them outside, and when it is time to bring them in take more cuttings, and keep right on growing the same plant. I've kept 1 tomato plant for 2 years, just taking cuttings. Tomato's believe it or not clone rather easily, Peppers are a little more difficult to clone, but it can be done. I'm not gonna lie to ya here. Indoor Gardening is an expensive hobby to get started in. The hydroponic chambers are rather cheap, or you can build one. The lights are the expensive part, a used 400 watt High Pressure Sodium Light is about $350 US, and about 25 bucks a month to run. Well worth it when you can eat fresh homegrown tasty Tomatoes and Peppers, when its blowing snow outside!!!!
  4. As for Virgina Tech, Columbine, and whatever massacre you can site, it could have been solved quite quickly and easily, if one other person, other than the Gunmen themselves, would have had a Gun. They could have ended it quite quickly! My personal anti-anti-gunner motto is "An armed society, is a polite society!!!!!!!" Your not gonna Rob, Rape, Etc, if your chances of getting shot is good..... Gun control Laws do NOT need to be strengthened, they are already strong enough! First and foremost, the laws that are already on the books need to be enforced, before any new ones are enacted! Changing The Second Amendment........ummmm NO!!!!!!!!! Not in my lifetime!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even if they were to mange to do this, Guns would still be available on the Blackmarket. This holds true even now, because if you get turned down, for the purchase of a gun through proper channels, you can always buy one on the Blackmarket. Most 8th Graders in Chicago, can tell you which corner to go to, to buy a gun! Heck, If you know the right people you can buy, even banned guns on the Blackmarket,!!! This is going on now!! What would it be like if the Government were to outlaw guns???? Don't even get me started on this statement, this would take this way off topic!!!!!!Little fact most people don't know, and won't find out in any Public School right now. One of the things Hitler did after rising to Power, in Germany, before WWII was, to take guns out of the hands of the people!!! What if???? You can take my gun when you pry it from my cold dead fingers!!!
  5. Thank you both, that did the trick. thanks again!!
  6. I was just wondering if there was a away to lookup a specific member, and get a list of their posts.
  7. I noticed one thing about this topic no body mentioned the Tattoo Artist. It doesn't matter who does the drawing, or if its flash art off the wall of the studio. The person putting the tattoo on your skin is the most important thing to consider, if you want a tattoo.Yes you can have it removed, but a Tattoo is for the rest of your life!!! I personally would consider the Artist more than the actual art itself. Don't misunderstand me you also need to consider the art to.Ask your friends who already have tattoo's that you like who did them, Then go talk to them, most won't get offended, because if they have any grasp of reality, they'll understand and help you out, as much as they can. Ask to see some of his/her work actually done on people. This can be difficult, because most of the Tattooist I know are cash only. Sometimes you get lucky and find repeat customers in the Parlor. Most people like to show off their Tats.Appearance concerns can be addressed, bye the placement of your Tattoo's. I personally will have no Body Art, below my elbows, so I can still wear a short sleeve shirt to work or to see the Teacher at School, etc!!!I have no piercings, so can't comment on this. I only have a few Tats myself.Also a word of caution should be expressed here.TATTOOS ARE ADDICTIVE!!!!!
  8. I like to play Tribal wars, its war game, build up your village, join a tribe, take your neighbors village from them, the version I play is English only, but they have some language specific versions out there. you'll have to search for them to find one of them though. The English only version is at https://www.tribalwars.net/ They have 6 game worlds, pick one or all. All tribes have a forum for communication, most tribes require forum participation, and are very strict about this!!!! Check it out and see what you think.
  9. here's the link with attachment i wanted to d/l http://forums.xisto.com/topic/46694-complete-guide-to-seo-for-joomlamambo/
  10. I hope this is the right place for this. I tried searching a couple of different ways, but didn't find anything.I guess this would be for an admin, but if anybody knows the answer....I saw an e-book I wanted to download from the forum, everytime I try to, I get a board message telling me something about I don't have access for this. What do I have to do to be able to download attachments from the forums?
  11. thusinh04I would like to read the attachment you have posted, but I can't download it from the forum. Do you know where else I can get a copy of this e-book. I am working on a joomla powered site, this would be a great asset to me.thanks
  12. Hello all, I actually became a member a couple of days ago. I have been just lurking around, trying to get a feel for the place before making my first post.I live and work in Michigan. I am 41 years old. I want to learn how to build a website from scratch. I took a couple Programming courses in College, never pursued it though, now that I'm older I wish I would have!!!My interests include Computers and Programming, Games both on and off the computer, Genealogy (the search of where I come from) and many other things!!! I have an Idea for a Genealogy site unlike any other I've found on the web to date!!!This post is usually the most difficult for me, because I really don't like talking about myself that much.I found alot of areas here that I have an interest in, so I'm hoping to learn something and pass along some of the knowledge that I have to other people as well.
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