Handsome Hunks and Blossom Fairies

Well, we did have a trace of snow on Christmas Eve, then a bit more of the white stuff on the Big Day itself, but alas, mixed with rain. The near freezing temperatures and the turkey on the table kept most people off the golf courses, but my daily trek to the movie houses was undisturbed by the weather.

First I went to see “The Good German” with George Clooney (why does he have to be so good looking? Just made it more poignant that I was munching on the popcorn all by myself). It’s about an American journalist in post-war Berlin.

I’m a sucker for fantasy, so “Night at the Museum” followed, in which Ben Stiller plays a guard who gets menaced by the exhibits that come alive at night. It was funny and scary at the same time.

Since I hate horror movies, I avoided “Black Christmas,” but did see “Blood Diamond” which has enough horror in it, thank you. It also has Leonardo DiCaprio, who is a great inspiration for giving up spinsterhood.

“Dream Girls” opened Christmas Day. It’s a thinly disguised story of the Supremes. My dad was a big fan of that group, so I watched with interest. Can be summed up with one word—glitzy.

I cried toward the end of “Charlotte’s Web,” and lusted after Daniel Craig in “Casino Royale.” All-in-all, I saw twelve movies in three days, and I’m all popcorned out. I loved “The Queen” with Helen Mirren, even though I think that the accidental death of Diana wasn’t entirely an accident.

On the way home from the last movie, I stopped in at Blockbuster and rented one that I missed the first time around. “Must Love Dogs” stars Diane Lane as a woman left stranded when her husband goes off with a younger babe. This one hit too close to home, but it had an interesting twist.

John Cusack plays a very handsome, sensitive male who builds hand-crafted wooden boats. He too was left abandoned by his ex. So Diane’s sisters put her profile on the Internet and John answers the ad. Or was it Diane answering Cusack's ad?

The mix-ups and foibles of Internet dating have Diane answering an ad by her own father, and her father’s middle-aged paramour hooking up with a fourteen-year-old, when she impersonates a teenager on line.

In spite of these hijinks, “Must Love Dogs” is a love story that leaves you feeling that perhaps that great love of your life is yet to come. Please!

The love of my life at present is gardening, more specifically growing single stem, Sim carnations in my basement rec room. As you know, I’ve set up a professional grow space with a Drip Irrigation Hydroponic system and my flowers have been receiving accolades at flower shows.

I grow them in all different colors, but my current favorites are pink blush and lemon yellow. There is something about bright colors in the middle of winter that cheers one up. Even if one is without a honey to snuggle up to at night.

Ever since I started using Grandma Enggy’s Humic Acid and Golden Honey Fulvic Acid I noticed that the colors of my carnations have become richer and more vibrant. I got excited by this, so I researched these two Advance Nutrients products to ascertain their secret.

Humic Acid gets its name from humus, the rich decomposed organic material in fertile, black soils. It’s no secret that rich, organic soils have grown the best vegetables and flowers since humankind started to till the soil.

Humic Acid and Fulvic Acid are both derived from “leonardite,” a vein of hardened, organic material that has to be mined from deep below the surface of our planet.

What accounts for the more vibrant colors that I noticed on my carnations? Humic acid, according to its entry in Advancedpedia, increases chlorophyll synthesis, which explains the bright green color of the plants treated with it.

It also accentuates the colors of my flowers, helps reducable sugar accumulation, gives a boost to nutrient uptake, accelerates plant growth, aids root respiration, and increases the nutrient and mineral content of my flowers.

Fulvic Acid speeds up cell division and root formation, aids plant respiration an nutrient uptake, and spikes plant membrane permeability. Depending on the permeability of the cell walls, the transfer of minerals and nutrients play a major role in the growth rates and increased yields of my carnation plants.

Used in conjunction with Grandma Enggy’s Seaweed Extract, these three Advanced Nutrients products have a synergistic effect which multiplies their individual benefits manifold.

Seaweed Extract contains essential B’s and many other vitamins, including A, C, E, and K, as well as natural growth stimulants, antibiotics, auxins, and gibberellins.

I had to look up these last two. Auxins are substances that in minute quantities act to promote the growth of plants, specifically in root and bud formation.

Gibberellins are closely related plant hormones that regulate certain processes in higher plants such as flower formation, seed germination, and stem elongation.

Long stem carnations can certainly benefit from gibberellins. The word reminds me of goblins, which serves to reveal my fascination with fantasy. When I was a little girl I used to imagine that each flower had a tiny fairy living among its petals.

To this day I find myself talking to my carnations. Or am I really talking to the tiny, unseen fairies? The woman who founded the Findhorn community used to do the same thing to her peas and vegetables.

After talking to them for a number of years, she found that the Findhorn vegetable garden was consistently producing the most abundant vegetable crop on the unforgiving soil of the British Isles.

So talking to my carnations might be one of the secret ingredients in my award-winning harvest. The others are the Advanced Nutrient products that I use to feed my flowers.

In addition to Micro, Grow, and Bloom, this week I started mixing Big Bud into my hydroponic reservoir. This bloom enhancer is famous for producing large, scented flowers.

Whitish Christmas, Big Buds, Darkened Theatres

While people are flocking to golf courses in Ontario, we might still get a whitish Christmas. The weather network forecasts flurries for December 25th, and light snow for Boxing Day.

Then the thermometer will dip down to minus 4 on the 29th, only to gradually go back up again to the plus 4—plus 6 range during the first week of the New Year.

The demand for flowers historically increases at this time of year, so I’ve already sold all that I’ve harvested from my mother plants in the last week or so.

My carnations are universally going into flower now, so I’ve applied Bud Blood only for one week. This bloom enhancer has to be mixed into your nutrient solution only for week 1 of the bloom phase.

As you know, I use a Drip Irrigation Hydroponic System to grow my flowers in the basement recroom of the house I bought after my divorce. Since single people are at a disadvantage at Christmastime (especially if their parents are deceased or live far away), I started a new tradition of attending as many newly released movies as I can.

It’s not that I haven’t been invited to spend the holidays with friends, but those that have families are only inviting me out of pity, while my single friends prefer to spend the holidays with people with whom they’re romantically involved.

Since I lack a significant other at the moment, I’m afraid it’s the silver screen and popcorn for me during the holidays.

I spend a lot of time with my flowers these days, babying them, making sure that they’re well fed. I’ve been using Emerald Shaman, which is a blend of over eighty certified organic herbs, vegetables, and fruits. The twist is that they are fermented—a process perfected in the Orient over centuries of experimentation.

Although it can also be used as a foliar spray, I prefer to mix it directly into my reservoir for root feeding. I’m also adding Sensi Cal Mg Bloom at this stage, in order to provide my carnations with essential Calcium and Magnesium, as well as some much needed micro-nutrients, such as Cobalt, Iron, Copper, Molybdenum, and Zinc.

Grandma Enggy’s Seaweed Extract is also blended into my mix at this time, since it is very much like a multi-vitamin, as well as an organic smorgasbord for the flowers that I love.

As an added bonus, Seaweed Extract also contains natural antibiotics that help my carnations develop a resistance to spider mites, aphids, scab parasites, powdery mildew, and other harmful fungi.

As I’ve said, during week 1 of my bloom phase I add Bud Blood to my reservoir, during weeks 2, 3, and 4 I add Big Bud, and weeks 5 & 6 it’s the turn of Overdrive.

These Advanced Nutrients bloom enhancers are very powerful and they should never be mixed together and given all at once. Doing so would irreparably damage your flowers.

If you check their individual NPK and add it to the NPK of your basic nutrient (in my case Micro, Grow, and Bloom) you’ll see that mixing them together would give your plants much too much nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium for their own good.

I’m about to spend my holidays in darkened movie theatres. Whatever your pleasure, hope you enjoy yours!

Greenhouse risks, Ice storms, Stocking up

Although present temperatures in Mississauga are relatively mild, according to the fourteen-day trend on the Weather Network website, our temperatures are about to plummet into the minus three to minus six Celsius range.

Historically, as in many other places, January and February are the coldest months in our area. My thoughts returned this week to the famous Ice Storm of 1998, when freezing rain fell on Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and parts of New York State for five days straight.

The results were catastrophic. Utility poles were falling like matchsticks and over a hundred transmission towers collapsed under the weight of the ice. Millions of trees fell and over 4 million people found themselves without power, some for extended periods of time.

I was happily married then (or so I thought) and I wasn’t growing carnations. My husband and I shut off all the water mains into our house and drove our SUV down to New York City, to be able to fly down to Cancun for the duration.

The storm happened right after the Christmas holidays, January 5-10, almost nine years ago. Thinking about it now, it started me worrying about what might happen if a similar disaster were to strike. What would happen to my flowers? Am I ready?

No escaping to Mexico this time, if it does happen. I started making enquiries about alternate sources of power. Southern Ontario gets a lot of sun, even in winter, so I’m making arrangements for solar panels to be installed on my roof.

A half a dozen 185W panels will supply enough energy to run one 600W High Pressure Sodium light until the emergency is over. I can’t afford to buy a complete solar system, which would run all six of my 600W lights.

These six solar panels will provide additional electricity to run my Drip Irrigation Hydroponic system as well as some of my fans and one oil-filled radiator for heat.

A complete solar system generating 4000 Watts is out of the question, nor can I afford to buy a diesel generator that is big enough to handle such a large load. Both of those options exceed thirty-thousand dollars, which is out of my reach at the moment.

In addition, I have to make sure that I have enough plant nutrients on hand to feed my flowers. If an emergency happens, transportation will certainly be affected, so I can’t count on any supplies getting through.

I ordered enough of my basic 3-part fertilizer, Micro, Grow, and Bloom, to last me a couple of months. I also replenished my Mother Earth Super Tea Grow supply, as well as the quantities required for a sixty-day period of Grandma Enggy’s Humic and Fulvic Acids, which are essential ingredients in my feeding regimen.

I took stock of my B-52 and Barricade supply and found that I had enough to last me until March. But as far as Piranha, Tarantula, and Voodoo Juice are concerned, I had to re-order all of them. Ditto for Scorpion Juice.

The Nutrient Calculator calls for generous portions of Sensi Zym to be mixed into the nutrient solution, so I asked Advanced Nutrients to send me some more of this vital ingredient. I used to pick up these supplies from my local garden shop, but now I find that the Advanced Nutrients online store is so much more convenient.

The acid-alkaline balance correctors, pH Up and pH Down are also very important to have on hand, so I made sure that I had plenty of these left over from my last order.

The estimated cost of the 1998 Ice Storm was five and a half billion dollars. I am determined not to become just another statistic on the debit side of the next disaster.

I found a booklet online called “Risk Reduction for Greenhouse Growers,” and ticked off all the possible things that could go wrong with my grow operation. Electricity supply failure will hopefully be handled by the six solar panels that are being installed as I write this.

They provide direct current (DC) so I have to get a converter to Alternate Current (AC) which is in general use.

Equipment failure is the second category of risk and I’m brainstorming with some fellow flower growers about what to do if my Drip Irrigation System malfunctions.

A constant supply of clean water is essential for any flower growing operation, so I’m having a special filter installed to purify my water source. Recently, there was a turbidity problem in British Columbia that played havoc with greenhouses in that province.

The weather is always an unknown factor. I just have to make sure that I have adequate heating and cooling for any temperature extremes and adequate stores of supplies in case the weather cuts off my supply routes.

Disease, pests, and the fluctuations of the market place are always risky. By using Barricade and Scorpion Juice I’m reducing the risk of pathogens and pest attacks on my flowers.

I don’t have time to worry about the market variable right now, since I must make my deliveries in time for Christmas. My carnations will grace many a holiday table, and I’m proud of that.

The Nutrient Calculator--certainly a godsend

I’m working with the Advanced Nutrients Nutrient Calculator (easily found on the top line of their website main page) and currently it’s week 5 of the vegetative growth of my carnations.

As you know, I switched over to their main 3-part fertilizer, Micro, Grow, and Bloom. Oddly enough, you mix all three of these even during the vegetative stage, albeit the Bloom at a much lower percentage.

For instance, my reservoir size is 80 Litres, so during week 5 I mix 128 mL of Micro (always mix this ingredient first, all by itself), then I mix in 128 mL of Grow, followed by 24 mL of Bloom.

“Why do you need Bloom during the grow cycle?” I asked the Advanced Nutrients tech guy, naively. “It’s to balance the N-P-K ratios,” was his answer. “But you must have noticed that the suggested amount of Bloom that you have to mix in is only about 10% of the total fert mix,” said he, knowledgeably.

“I noticed it was a much smaller figure,” said I, “but now that you mention it, it is about 10%.” He went on to explain—“Grow is NPK 2-1-6, Micro is NPK 5-0-1, while Bloom is NPK 0-5-4. When you put them all together, you wind up with an NPK of 7-6-11, which is just about right for your carnations.”

For the totally uninitiated, the NPK ratio is the percentage of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium in your fertilizer.

Other ingredients that I have to add to the mix during week 5 are Mother Earth Super Tea Grow, to add that organic touch to my synthetic fertilizer, and Grandma Enggy’s Humic Acid and Fulvic Acid. These are products that are also richly organic and are derived from a layer of “leonardite” that is mined from deep within the earth.

I have to mix in 180 mL of Super Tea Grow, while 108.8 mL of Humic Acid, and 100 mL of Fulvic Acid. Remember, the exact measurement depends on the size of your reservoir. In this case, as perhaps in other cases as well, size does matter.

In addition to the Micro, Grow, and Bloom, there are ten other ingredients suggested by Advanced Nutrients. B-52 is a B-complex vitamin to reduce plant stress (500 mL in week 5), while Barricade is a potassium silicate product that literally gives your plant immunity from many pathogens and insects, from the inside out. (14.96 mL in week 5).

By the way, the optimum ppm for week 5 is 1200 and your EC reading should be 1.71. The parts per million (ppm) is a particle count in your solution, and it should go from 800ppm for week 1, to 1400 ppm in week 8. The EC reading has to do with electrical conductivity—don’t ask me to explain it.

No Scorpion Juice, Piranha, Tarantula, or Voodoo Juice should be added in week 5, but these ingredients are very important to add during the course of other weeks.

SensiZym, however, is called for in week 5, to be precise 500 mL of this product containing live enzymes that like to munch on the root debris in your grow medium. It serves to purify your grow medium as well as to enhance the growth of your plants by making the roots more efficient.

Once you mix all these ingredients in your mixing tank, you have to take several pH readings to make sure that the acid-alkaline balance has settled, before adding this nutrient solution to your reservoir. The optimum hydroponic pH balance is 5.6. You may add pH Up or pH Down, depending on the correction necessary.

The Nutrient Calculator is a godsend for growers like me who are not too strong on technical details. I’m an artist at heart, who rejoices in the beauty of my carnations and am happy to have found a company that helps me make sure that they get fed the proper nutrients.

Now only if Advanced Nutrients could come to my home and prepare my meals for me with the same meticulous attention to quality and detail as they prepare the meals for my carnations, I’d be all set.