Air Pruning Method

Recently I've been watching a lot of YouTubers discuss grow bags and Air Pruning techniques and wanted to try the Air Pruning method. I had soil and landscaping fabric, so looked around and found some old laundry baskets and got to work. All I did was drill some holes towards the bottom of the baskets, lined them with landscaping fabric and filled them with soil. 

The theory is that when the roots hit the fabric and get exposed to the air they die, which will cause the plant to create more roots. The more roots a plant has the more nutrients it can absorb causing the plant to grow larger and healthier. 

If you recall I had about 75 Tomato seedlings. I planted 10-15 in a planter I built, which I will trim down to 8 plants, and planted 9 seedlings in these Air Pruning containers. This weekend I will transplant a few more seedlings in regular planters so we can see how they perform. Stay posted for updates and results.

(5/19) 

(Air Pruning Container) Soil 8 inches (21 cm) deep

(5/19) 

(Air Pruning Container) Soil 6 inches (15 cm) deep  

(5/20)

(Air Pruning Container) Soil 10 inches (26 cm) deep   

(5/14) 

(Planter) Soil 8 inches (21 cm) deep

Today's Harvest (21 May)

Bitter Melon (Goya), Flat Bean, String Bean (Ingen), Green Pepper (Piman)

Celery

I planted the Celery core last week (5/15) from the Celery stock I harvested on 25 April. This will be the third time I planted the core from the same stock. The two stocks at the top left and right are from Celery stock cores.

(4/25)

Dragon Fruit

My Dragon Fruit plant is starting to produce red buds. I do not know if these are flowers that will turn into fruit or new branches. I'll keep you posted.

(6/3) Okay, question answered. The red buds were not fruit, but rather new branches.

Goya Bread

Yesterday I picked Goya and a few where very rip and turned yellow. Many people just throw them away, but they are still eatable. 

My wife made Goya cake with some slice nuts and served it with Earl Grey tea with honey and Rosemary. Super delicious! You can actually see the chunks of Goya in the cake, and Rosemary in Earl Grey tea creates an amazing aroma.  

Acerola Cherry Tree

(5/18) My Acerola Cherry tree is flowering and producing fruit now. It does not produce Cherries all at once, but rather little by little over a one or two month period, which makes it difficult to collect enough at once to make something. So, I collect them when they start turning red and freeze them until I collect what I need. This year I will try making jam.

Today's Harvest (18 May)

(5/18) Today I picked some String Beans, Flat Beans, Goya and Acerola Cerries. My Acerola Cherry tree produces Cherries little by little, so I will collect them, let them ripen a bit a freeze them until I have enough to make jam. My tree has some many Cherries and it is still full of flowers. I expect a huge harvest.

Acerola Cherry Tree

Herbs (Chamomile)

(5/15) My wife likes Chamomile tea and decided to plant some. 

 (5/15) Planted

(5/18) Started to sprout

(5/20)

Radish Sprouts

(5/15) Today my wife prepared some Radish Sprouts. Radish Sprouts have a mild Radish flavor and used as a Garnish.

Radish Sprouts do not require dirt, but rather a moist paper towel.

The seeds are sprinkled on a moist paper towel and placed in a dark location to sprout.

(5/19) Seeds begin to sprout. My wife changed the container to a smaller container. 

(5/20)

(5/21)

(5/23) The sprouts have been in a dark location for the past eight days. From today will place them in the light to gain color

Herbs (Italian Parsley)

(5/15) Planted some Italian Parsley today

(5/23) Finally starting to see Italian Parsley sprouts

Praying Mantis

I have a Praying Mantis in one of my Sweet Potato planters, which is a good thing. Mantises are carnivorous and eat unwanted pests that lay their eggs on the leaves. 

Passion Fruit

(5/16) I was pleasantly surprised to see new Passion Fruit flowers. I thought the season was over and was not paying attention, but when I went to pollinate this flower I noticed many more that I missed.

Today’s Harvest (17 May)

(5/17) Today I picked some Bitter Melons (Goya). Goya ripen (yellow) extremely quickly, but still eatable. 

Lizard

(5/15) We have lots of Geckos in Okinawa, but I found this lizard on my Acerola Cherry tree. This lizard was probably three times larger than the typical Gecko and not sure what species it is. I recently netted the cherries and suspect I frustrated him (haha).  

Peach

(5/16) My Peaches are growing well

Today's Harvest (16 May)

(5/16) Lots of Tomatoes today

Today's Harvest (15 May)

(5/15)

Bitter Melon (Goya, Nigauri)

(5/14) My Goya plant on my second floor balcony is full of Goya. I was not able to take a picture of every Goya, but just the larger ones.

Caterpillar

I noticed these little pellets under my Guava tree and knew there was something on my tree eating the leaves. I checked it carefully and could not find anything, but day after day I could see more pellets and more damage to the leaves. 

After more careful inspection I could find a Caterpillar under one of the branches. 

I am not sure what species this is, but it was huge (about 4 inches long). I did not kill it, but rather moved it to a place it would not bother my plants.

Watermelon (Suika)

(5/14) I built a trellis using Pampas Grass stocks I gathered from behind my house to place my Watermelon plants. I have six pretty healthy plants and plan to grow one Watermelon per plant. I typically only grow one Watermelon per plant to try and get a sweet Watermelon. I hope my trellis holds up.

(5/16) There are a lot of flowers and a few little Watermelons seem to be growing.

(5/19)

(5/21) 

I see more Watermelons growing. I will have to trace the vine, because I only want one Watermelon on each plant to ensure all the nutrients go towards one fruit to make it sweet.

(5/23) Found a second Watermelon. I have six plants in this container, so hope I can get one fruit per plant.

(6/3) I've lost a few Watermelons to caterpillars so decided to wrap them. It has been about a week and it looks like the wrapping has worked. 

(6/7) The Watermelon are growing quickly. 

(6/7)

Cucumber

(5/14) I moved my Cucumber container and built a trellis using Pampas Grass stocks that I gathered from behind my house.