Fifty Shades of Shimoda

[palmfriend]

2 hours ago, JT in Japan said:

Pop Quiz Time: Why, after the re-engineering, does this solution still not work? (hint is in the second picture)

Let me know.

JT

JT,

that wasn`t hard - it`s not connected!

best regards

 

[Steve Mac]

Mate I think that this design will give you more consistent pressure.

And that despite my childlike standard of drawing in 'paint', it is understandable nonetheless.

The trick is to have no dead ends but circles.

also on the net there are tables under 'irrigation design' I imagine, describing tubing requirements showing sizes lengths pressures etc.

[JT in Japan]

It's been a year since the Shadehouse was completed, then struck down in its infancy by Typhoon #9. My fix -- low-profile, hoop-house shadecloth structures -- worked well enough at keeping the sun off for the last year, but i never did solve my drip irrigation problem. And a couple new issues came up that I want to share here, hoping for more guidance and advise.

1. Slugs, Bugs, and Crabs - I've had my potted seedlings sitting directly on the barrier cloth on the ground. And this created a moist cool atmosphere in between all the pots which allowed a thriving population of slugs et al to grow fat on my young plants. I needed to do three things: 1) get the pots off the ground, 2) eliminate the slugs, bugs, and crabs, and 3) get more air circulating in, under and around the seedlings.

[JT in Japan]

So in order to achieve all that, I built 4 tables, each about 4 meters long, and each about 20cm off the ground. It only took a couple days to put them together, and I could still use my hoops and shadecloth to protect the plants from the sun. They're allowing plenty of air circulation now, and with luck, they are still low-profile enough to survive typhoon winds. But with the new air circulation, now the soil mix will dry out all the faster, which means I *still* have to fix the irrigation.

I also dusted the all the seedlings with a de-slug powder (which i forgot to take a shot of...).

 

 

 

[JT in Japan]

2) a second issue I've found, despite worrying about keeping the plants irrigated, is this mossy blanket of ...?? what? I don't know. Whatever this is, it can't be good. Any ideas? It's covering about 60-70 seedlings, so not pervasive, but I'm sure it's trying!

 

 

 

 

 

[JT in Japan]

Finally, here is the graveyard of seedlings that didn't survive the winter. We have mostly Archontophoenix Cunninghamiana, with some Phoenix and Trachies in the mix. The count is about 120, out of about 700 last fall.

RIP

[Steve Mac]

" , but i never did solve my drip irrigation problem. "

This should give you equal pressure.

Green - plant beds

Purple - main irrigation line

Blue - drip lines

 

[Neil C]

Pretty unusual to have crabs as pests in the garden but you did say you were near the sea. Do they cause any problems? The green plants in your pots are mostly liverworts. I don't think they cause any issues but I wouldn't want them there either.

Regards Neil

[JT in Japan]

3 hours ago, gtsteve said:

" , but i never did solve my drip irrigation problem. "

This should give you equal pressure.

Green - plant beds

Purple - main irrigation line

Blue - drip lines

 

Thanks Steve. I'm going to try a version of that. Will let you know how it turns out.

jt

[JT in Japan]

53 minutes ago, Neil C said:

Pretty unusual to have crabs as pests in the garden but you did say you were near the sea. Do they cause any problems? The green plants in your pots are mostly liverworts. I don't think they cause any issues but I wouldn't want them there either.

Regards Neil

Yes, my plot is about 500 meters to the ocean, and about 25 meters to the estuary (river, actually) where the crabs live. They don't cause problems except when they die in your extra shoes and you don't discover them for a few weeks. The dog loves playing with them.

Thanks for the Liverworts insight. I was going to repot all of the affected plants and just throw away the liverwort dirt. Maybe not so urgent...?

jt

[JT in Japan]

The evolution continues. It was last year that the typhoon took down my wood structure (fencing and shade covering), so this year, I invested a little more and went with steel pipe. I also got more land, an adjacent 400m2. This meant clearing more land, laying more weed barrier, then figuring out how to get pipe in the ground deep enough.

Of course, as soon as I laid the weed barrier and went away for the night, a typhoon hit and blew everything to sh*t. Luckily, it just needed to be pegged down again.

 

For the pipe, I ended up renting a pneumatic post pounder. The unit was hand-held and weighed about 100lb. Took one man to hold the 1.5m length plumb and true, and the other to hoist the monster to chest height to start pounding. With this soil, the post eventually went in like a hot knife in butter, but let me tell you, 60 or so posts was not a fun day. My wrists were burning in pain for 2 weeks after this adventure.

[Steve Mac]

It looks like a lovely quiet area.

I am surprised that it is so rural, I had expected Japan to be much more closely settled.

[JT in Japan]

1 hour ago, gtsteve said:

It looks like a lovely quiet area.

I am surprised that it is so rural, I had expected Japan to be much more closely settled.

It all depends on which way the camera is pointed, Steve. There are a lot of closely-settled neighborhoods, even here 3 hours south of Tokyo on the coast. But, there are also *some* tranquil spots.

[Tracy S]

JT,

Can we get an update on the new shade house and irrigation design changes?

[JT in Japan]

On 12/25/2017, 11:17:44, Tracy S said:

JT,

Can we get an update on the new shade house and irrigation design changes?

Hi Tracy, I need another couple weeks. I just bought a greenhouse structure (half-hoop-house), and hope to put it up over the next two weeks of home time. We're having nasty winds these last two days, despite beautiful sunny days, so I'm hoping they die down and I can get to work in the field.

JT

[DoomsDave]

50 minutes ago, JT in Japan said:

Hi Tracy, I need another couple weeks. I just bought a greenhouse structure (half-hoop-house), and hope to put it up over the next two weeks of home time. We're having nasty winds these last two days, despite beautiful sunny days, so I'm hoping they die down and I can get to work in the field.

JT

Do, please, let us know.

[Steve Mac]

I used to have problems with crabs too, now I maintain a higher level of personal hygiene. .

[Tracy S]

On 12/26/2017, 8:50:50, JT in Japan said:

Hi Tracy, I need another couple weeks. I just bought a greenhouse structure (half-hoop-house), and hope to put it up over the next two weeks of home time. We're having nasty winds these last two days, despite beautiful sunny days, so I'm hoping they die down and I can get to work in the field.

JT

Excellent. Please keep us posted.

[JT in Japan]

Hello All, An update – long overdue, granted – on the workings of Shimoda Palms, my little palm farm venture on the beaches of Japan. I’ve got a couple topics to share, and many more questions than I’ll actually list.

The first topics to share relate to Infrastructure:

If you’ve read this thread from the beginning, you’ll know for every one step forward I take, a typhoon knocks me two steps back. But I hope to change this with the latest steel pole structure and pig fencing I’ve put up. It’s now about a quarter acre of fenced land that no wild boars can get into, and no wild wind can blow down. I haven’t put the shade cloth up top yet, since we’re in the winter and the sun more desirable than in the summer. But that’ll happen in March.

Greenhouses: I’ve put up two hoop-houses (they’re called “pipe house” or “vinyl house” or simply “house” in Japanese, depending on if you’re talking to a vendor, a neighbor or a farmer). I wanted to hire pros to put them up, but the costs were in excess of $10,000. So I bought a couple of them online (4.5M x 8M) and did it myself, for about $3,000, with more square footage than the pros. For the first one, I had help with the poly covering from some friends, but the second one I did fully alone, over two days,… and yes, I’m pretty impressed with myself.

 Immediately, the benefit of greenhouses is obvious. Very warm during the days, up to 40C when just outside is less than 10C, no wind, no rain, lot’s of humidity even in the driest part of a Japanese year. I’ve put a couple of charcoal pots in them, and have lit them in the evening to keep the lows above 0C on the coldest nights. I’ve done it about 4 nights so far this year.

Irrigation: You’ll be shocked (or maybe not) to hear I still haven’t solved the irrigation problem. I took all suggestions to heart about how to set up my lines, but at the end of the day, the well water and pump that exists on this land just doesn’t have enough pressure to drive the automatic watering. So I’m out there every couple days using the hose and watering by hand. Luckily, we get a good amount of rain in Spring and Fall. It’s only in mid-winter and August where I really need to watch the soil for desiccation. Now with seedlings in the hoop-houses, I’ll have to be diligent about not letting the heat dry out the soil.

I did start a system of 500-litre water tanks to collect rainwater, plus a 50L fertilizer tank, but I haven’t hooked the pipes up to run to the plants yet. I’ll get some help and put an inline pump on that to give me enough pressure and maybe then all will be fine. Also need to build a shed around them to keep the algae from blooming inside. That’s another March task.

Also, the black ground cover is useless. The ground is too soft for the spikes to hold it down, and the wind too strong. I’m going to bury the edges of the cloth next ½ day I have free, and that’ll keep some of the weeds down in the spring/summer.

But what about the plants, you ask. They are actually doing fine, but not as fine as the same seedlings I keep at the house and give regular fertilizer to. So it’s imperative that I get those water tanks and fertigation system up this spring!

As for plant problems, the main issue I have these days is weeds. I’d appreciate any advice here. Are there herbicides that I can use to cut down on these things? I’m not against chemicals. I spend days plucking them out of pots, and I’m sick of it. I’ve tried buying expensive soil, but nothing seems to work. (Here you see my young cycads being overpowered.)

Something I’d like to pass along about the black shade cloth I’ve been using. In a windy environment, that cloth unravels quite easily, and if it’s covering plants with spiny leaves or stems, the very strong plastic threads will wind themselves around the plants and throttle them dead.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 30, 2018 by JT in Japan

[JT in Japan]

And I've tried 3 times to delete the last 3 or 4 images that are skewed strangely, but to no avail. Oh vey!

JT

[Kim]

Very impressive structures you've built!  I'm not helpful for  solving the weed problem -- have the same thing myself, just fewer pots, so I weed by hand. I suppose you could look into using pre-emergent products that prevent weed seeds from sprouting.  Always great to have tanks full of water handy! Wishing you lots of success with your project.

[palmfriend]

@JT in Japan

JT,

this is great work - I think you built up the greenhouse right on time!

How did it go through the cold snap between Feb1st and Valentine? It was really chilly even down here...

I hope your plants did well!

 

best regards

Lars

[Steve Mac]

Have you solved the low water pressure problem yet?

[Tracy S]

I'm really impressed with all the work you put in. It looks awesome. I don't think there is a quick fix for the weeds. I think had pulling them in the small pots is just part of the joys of gardening. I would fear that a preemergent chemical might interfere with the health of those seedlings. But others should weigh in.

On the irrigation pressure, do you have a way to split to smaller zones? If so, you could water fewer plants per zone but allow the system to water longer to get coverage.

 

Thanks for sharing you progress. I am rooting for you and your garden. It's very exciting to see the progress.