Zuny's Grow log 2017

[Zuny]

This is my grow log for 2017. I will document when the bud brake happens for each of my fig varieties and when the fruit is ripe.

Fertilization Schedule for 5 gallon pots :

April
1 cup tree tone 6-3-2
1/4 cup ironite 1-0-1
1 cup of lime

June
1 cup Garden tone 3-4-4

July
1/4 cup ironite 1-0-1

October
1 cup lime

Liquid feed with: epsom salt, Alaska fish fertilizer and Jacks 20-20-20 when needed



I gave an early start to a few late ripening varieties. Coll de dama Ciutat, Battaglia and Galicia Negra in my kitchen infront of my glass door. Figo preto, strawberry Verte and Black Madeira are under grow light. I was only gonna wake up a couple but I said what the heck just go for it.😊. The early start started in the first week of January . The figs in my Kitchen are in an area that gets about 5hr of sun a day. In January we didn't have much sun mostly cloudy weather so it took the figs in my kitchen about an entire month to brake dormancy. The figs under grow lights grew better.

[Zuny]

Febuary 1st.

[Dave]

you will be picking figs in no time

[Zuny]

Thanks Dave I sure hope so.

[fattyfigs]

I wish I started than..lol

[BrooklynMatty]

Looks great Zuny!

I am envious that you are keeping some plants growing early and may get fruit sooner, but i am also worried for you as i know its a PAIN in the butt to keep them awake so early (i did last year for a few).

Your fertilizer schedule seems pretty on par with mine, need to double check my ironite quantity though. Keep up the awesome work

[Zuny]

Thank you. I was hoping to get them in the greenhouse next month but the roof on my greenhouse came down I need a new plan.

[GregMartin]

Thanks Zuny....you've got me looking forward to Spring. It's already February...will be here before we know it! Good idea, I might start waking up a few of my late ones early now too.

[Zuny]

I am very excited that spring is only 7 weeks away. That is when I will start shuffling my trees.

I just have to keep an eye on my 1 yr old son who likes to tug on my plants.

[GregMartin]

I have to check to see which late ripening plants are not too large and not too far back in my storage room. The large ones worry me about doing this because they'll be easier to move without a lot of fresh growth. I might set up a small temporary greenhouse over some once things warm up a bit rather than put them in my sun room...fun stuff to think about when it's winter world outside. Has it been warm in NY this winter? Has been here in Maine compared to normal. I'm planning on an early spring for sure after looking at the Arctic temperature trend this year (not a lot of cold up there).

Really looking forward to the shuffle as I need to get some cuttings out to people and they're hard to get to when stacked up in a filled up room. 7 weeks away sounds really good!

[Zuny]

Yes, It has been a very mild winter here. I have not gotten that much snow. The lowest it got was 0 degrees Fahrenheit at night for 1 night. I hope that it means spring won't be far but I also hope we don't get tricked like last year. Spring came early and then we had one snow fall in late april. Which killed the peach and cherry blossoms on my trees and I had to protect some other plants.

[ako1974]

I gave an early start to a few late ripening varieties. Coll de dama Ciutat, Battaglia and Galicia Negra in my kitchen infront of my glass door. Figo preto, strawberry Verte and Black Madeira are under grow light. I was only gonna wake up a couple but I said what the heck just go for it.😊. The early start started in the first week of January . The figs in my Kitchen are in an area that gets about 5hr of sun a day. In January we didn't have much sun mostly cloudy weather so it took the figs in my kitchen about an entire month to brake dormancy. The figs under grow lights grew better.

Hi Zuny - so you took them out before any buds breaking, right? Or were they starting?

[Zuny]

I took them out before before any bud brake.

[Zuny]

I was looking at my fig cuttings and I found the Dark Portuguese cutting that I started rooting back in November 2nd has figglets on it.

[BrooklynMatty]

Take the figgies off

Let it Grow...Let it Grow....cant hold it back anymore!

[Zuny]

Haha, it hurts but I will take them off and let it grow.

[Zuny]

About 16 inches of snow outside but the trees look good. I am going to start using Maxigrow on these. Untill april when my fertilization schedule begins.

[Zuny]

The fico preto is still under grow lights and has not grown much. I will us Maxigrow on it as well.

[Zuny]

I started working on a new greenhouse to relace my other one that had a pvc roof. I am using 2x4s on the roof and corigated polycarbonate . The new measurements for the greenhouse are 10x8ft.

[Zuny]

Black Madeira is starting to show signs of figlets. On the picture below you can see the fig bud and leaf bud.

CDD Ciutat also has buds forming on every node but not sure if its figs or leafbuds.

[Zuny]

Battaglia indoors. February 1st to March 13. Definitely a great grower.

[eboone]

Looks good!
my biggest complaint about my home is a lack of appropriate windows for indoor plants.

[Zuny]

Thank you eboone. I just hope once they are outside the squirrel don't get the figs before me lol.

[BrooklynMatty]

Looking good Zuny, Isnt it great to see some green in this dreary weather

[Zuny]

Thank you Matt and yes it is. The snow outside is insane. We are almost at 2 ft of snow and it is still falling.

[Zuny]

I am worried. My trees have started to break dormancy in the garage and about 6 of them are budding. As soon as the snow melts I will be finishing the new greenhouse so that I may put them in it with a small heater.

[BrooklynMatty]

Welcome to the club, mine have been breaking bud for weeks now in garage. Horrible feeling!

Greenhouse Greenhouse Greenhouse!!!!

[Zuny]

Yea, I was very close to finishing it then bam snow. Lol The roof will not fall again. Greenhouse 2.0 is a lot stronger

[Zuny]

Finished the new greenhouse today and Have started my fertilization schedule. There is a slight change in my fertilization schedule instead of using tree tone I am gonna use plant tone with an NPK of 5-3-3.

[Fygmalion]

Great work, Zuny! That should work out very well for you!

[Zuny]

Thank you, i just have to figure out how to heat it.

[angelad]

I really like the way you did your greenhouse. Wish I was handy.

[Zuny]

Ironite vs Azomite


Thank you AscPete for all your help.

[AscPete]

You're welcome.

Thanks for sharing the updates and videos.
Give me some incentive to finish my "Lean-to" greenhouse.

[cjccmc]

Do people buy Ironite mainly to supplement iron? I recently saw pure iron pellets on store shelves, which I presume is near 100% iron vs. the 5% in Ironite. These pellets seem like a much better value (and need much less storage space) if all you're after is iron.

[cjccmc]

Thanks all for the inputs. I'm surprised that products that attempt to provide "complete" time released nutrients do not supply all in balance at the generally recommended proportions. So if I applied a 6 month product to container soil I would not have to think about interim additives that are needed, just reapply in 6 months. It still baffles me as to how anyone can know what amounts of what are needed when unless you are nearly an expert at diagnosing nutrient deficiency symptoms.

[don_sanders]

Osmocote plus is one that attempts to do that. You might get 3 months out of it per application during the growing season. I haven't personally used it but probably something that I would if I didn't try to be organic (mostly).

[cjccmc]

Osmocote Plus and MG-tfv provide similar levels of secondary and micros, except that Osm doesn't think plants need calcium :-)

[AscPete]

cjccmc ,

This chart shows the comparisons of Limestone, Ironite and Espoma Garden-tone as listed in the OP's Fertilization Schedule.



Limestone or Ironite in combination or used individually are much more cost-effective than Azomite alone, a 40 lb. bag of Dolemite Limestone costs less than $5.00. The info in the chart is from the Fertilizer Database in the YouTube video in Zuny Post # 14, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr39...ature=youtu.be

[Zuny]

That is an awesome chart AscPete.

[cjccmc]

That is a nice side by side comparison, thanks Pete. I was not able to find the full spreadsheet, is it available somewhere in pinned topics?

[AscPete]

Yes, in the Fertilizer / Feed Schedule link, https://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-h...-feed-schedule

The chart was in this post, https://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-h...257#post116257

[BrooklynMatty]

Finished the new greenhouse today and Have started my fertilization schedule. There is a slight change in my fertilization schedule instead of using tree tone I am gonna use plant tone with an NPK of 5-3-3.

Love the semi-buried greenhouse, bit scared of your little one climbing the ladder - i would be freaking if my daughter was doing that.

Now all you need is a GFCI outlook coming out of that shed or a Natural Gas line to heat it 10 months a year

[Zuny]

That was my 4 year old son. He is a climbing machine. I wouldn't let my 1 and 1/2 year old do that but my 4 year old is ok because I was there.

[Zuny]

Unfortunately my greenhouse far from my house and any electricity so I will have to hire someone to run an ectrical line from my house to the greenhouse. I am trying to figure the heating part out but running out of options.

[BrooklynMatty]

Let's chat offline. I have an awesome idea that I'm fiddling with for the fall for my greenhouse. Gotta keep it hush hush though

[AndyG]

Hey Zuny, digging your grow log. Thanks for sharing!

[Zuny]

Np and thank you, I hope it helps other people.

[Zuny]

I unwrapped my in ground fig trees and they all survived but had a lot of die back. I will come up with a better way to wrap them later this year.

On another note Figo Preto, Black Madeira, Battaglia and CDD Ciutat all are producing figs.

[Zuny]

My trees have all been moved to the green house. I will place a small heater in the greenhouse incase the temperature goes below 45.

[KyFigs]

Wow! You have a lot of young and midsize Fig trees. I see why the greenhouse was a priority. Looks great.

[Zuny]

Thank you, I went crazy with cuttings durring the winter so I have a have a lot of small plants. I am glad that I was able to finish the green house and move them out.

[Zuny]

Very excited, I tried grafting for the first time last month with the grafting tool and it looks like they are taking. I grafted Red Israel fig onto my conadria and to an unk, tree from hirts. It was supposed to be a panache but not sure what it is, it looks like a Brunswick time.

[BrooklynMatty]

Awesome job Zuny!!!!!

[Zuny]

Thank you.

[Zuny]

Yesterday, I took all my figs out and placed them in my fig cage. No more squirrel problems.

[Zuny]

Wow, that is crazy. I didn't realize they could climb either. I have a ton of chipmunks and squirrels. I hope they don't figure it out untill I eat the figs.

[cjccmc]

Looks like you are blessed with a nice sunny growing space Zuny. Now I'm feeling under privileged ;-)

[Zuny]

Cjccmc, thank you. This was the last spot which gives full sun. I have 2 huge maple trees in my yard that shade pretty much everything else.

[Zuny]

Well it looks like I will be placing my trees back into the greenhouse because there is chance of severe thunderstorm and maybe some hail. Also on Wednesday it is going down to 38 and it will probably feel colder then that

[eboone]

My long range forecast says 39 degrees next Sunday night - I don't want to move ~90 trees back in the garage and cover the 7 in ground as well

[Zuny]

Yea, It's a big pain to do. Your trees are probably a lot bigger then mine.