SIP planting experimentation

Of all the angel trumpet i planted only one seemed to actually do anything. i had the soul survivor in a separate container full of this semi-inferior potting mix that i'm not sure if i'll ever use again. so i decided that i would give him a try in the SIP planters that i found online. first, i wanted him to do well b/c he was the lonely only and with working and school i haven't been the best about watering lately and its starting to get into the hotter months. it seems to be taking very well to the planter and i'm very pleased with the results.

left to right: sweet 100 cherry tomato, datura vine (double golden) and angel trumpet

Which leads to a whole other story... 

You read things and it says not to over fertilize and watch out for "burning" the plants and all that good stuff right? well me, i look at that and scoff at it. over fertilize? get out with that stuff. 

So i make the planters and it comes time to put the water in the bottom of it and i decide to get all smart right? so i decide to put like 5 drops of liquid feed miracle gro in there (normal ratio is like 10 to 20 drops/quart), and i go outside all proud of myself thinking this will get them going! Ha ha horrible idea. first off, the datura vine was very small when i first planted it, only having 2 true leaves. When i looked i initially thought it was the angel trumpet b/c it had about 4+ leaves on it. It grew that much. But then i looked right next to it and saw the other one and realized my mistake. So alright, cool right? At this point i'm thinkin' i seriously need to buy some stock in miracle gro and write those guys a letter. But then i go out the next day and the leaves are pink. Not green, not a pale yellow, pink. So i pull off the cover and in just that small movement - dink, dink, both of the pink leaves fell off, grrrrreat. Not to mention the little tomato sprout has totally killed over. poor guy. so i dump out the water reservoirs and put in fresh water (without liquid feed this time!) and replaced the tomato sprout that died with another. i go check on them 2 days later and the tomato sprout died again. He was all frail and yellow and just horrible looking. So today i emptied out all the soil from the planter and rinsed it with water, getting all the extra miracle gro out of the soil. i'm guessing too much of it was still retained in the soil. I replaced the tomato plant again and hopefully this time he'll be alright. third time is the charm. 

                                                                                          
                          











    The jasmine plant i was trying to root actually ended in success. I haven't checked on the ones from cuttings in a while but the last time i checked them they showed no resistance when i tried to tug them up, making me think that there were no roots forming to give me resistance. But i got the sample from where i tried to air layer them and i cut open the bag to find actual roots! Thats 3 successes with propagation so far. nice. so i took the rooted portion and put it into another SIP planter with only one drop of liquid feed. That's probably still a lot, but i figured the datura could handle the soil not being washed out so this one should be alright. he's a little crammed in there, but i'll see how it fares.

sidenote: found out that the butterfly i saw (the black one with the blue wings) is called a "red spotted purple" common name or limenitis arthemis scientific name (and not the white admiral one it's grouped with). And it's mimic of another, what i think is poisonous, butterfly. Evolution is sometimes such a smart fluke. Oh, and it's fond of rotted fruit, which explains why he was in the vegetable garden. i never let anything decompose enough, i'm so impatient.