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The Corroboree

Darklight

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Posts posted by Darklight

  1. Posted

    I've tried to do this, and the biggest variable I found is if your not saving your own fresh seed then your germination will be way to sketchy to know anyways... Some seed packs are just duds, others you'll get 100% germination...

    This.

    I've been finding this especially true of a readily available, once-loved brand of open-pollinated non-hybrid veggie seeds. The ones in the yellow-brown paper envelopes with no pictures on them. Should I name the brand?

    Their germination rates have plummeted over the last decade. How on earth it is possible to get nil germinations for 3/5 seed packets when the other two work fine... can't explain it. Especially capsicum. They've been a constant fail

    I've given up buying them after the last fiasco. Planting my own parsley seed next to them in the seed bed and I got thousands of plants from my stock

    Fortunately we now have a very local seed exchange. So if I miss a crop save I can go and buy from local backup stock

    PS if you save seed from commercial hybrid parents, you are potentially not going to get stable characteristic expression from them, they may well be different from the parent stock. Go non-hybrid wherever possible

    • Like 1

  2. Posted · Edited by Darklight

    A mate has made an outdoor edibles patch, and I gave him a spawn bag to fill it

    Now either I've mismarked the spawn bag ( possible ) and not recorded it on the spreadsheet, or he has Golden Oyster mushrooms growing wild up his way

    Golden oyster is about the only thing it could be hey, especially if they are fruiting directly off the spawn from the bag. He couldn't get a spore print as the mushrooms were too wet

    Is too early for Chanterelles isn't it? They're more a cooler season mushroom and his microclimate is quite warm

    Normally I'm 1) way more careful in the lab and 2) way less paranoid about ID, but my mate has a family and I'd hate to recommend feeding him something I wasn't 110% sure of the ID on.

    I have too many species in the culture library these days as I'm isolating local fruits, *sigh*, it's a wake up call for sure

    gallery_12_4_106183.jpg

    gallery_12_4_10782.jpg

    gallery_12_4_45583.jpg

  3. Posted

    I have unbelievable amounts of fungal gnat larvae in my garden soil. Have had for years. But it's now getting in the way of me establishing outdoor Stropharia beds in my yard and I'm over it.

    Anyone have experience with predatory mites for knocking fungus gnat larvae on the head- specifically in garden soil ( not potted plant/ greenhouse ) environments?

    http://www.bioworksonline.com.au/index.php

    Other possibilities for dealing with the ongoing infestation have been rejected, but have included letting the neighbours chooks in the yard for two or three gnat breeding cycles, dernching the whole place in neem on a regular basis, and totally razing the surrounding vegetation so that the soil is more exposed and doesn't provide habitat

    Even more relevant would be tips and hacks from NNSW and surrounds

  5. Posted

    Anyone have this one lying round? Specifically interested in Passifloraceae this week :)
    No, I won't be using the colchicine. Too toxic for safe use even here
    Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC)

    December 2011, Volume 107, Issue 3, pp 451-459

    Date: 01 Jul 2011

    In vitro induction of autotetraploids from diploid yellow passion fruit mediated by colchicine and oryzalin
    • M. M. Rêgo,
    • E. R. Rêgo,
    • C. H. Bruckner,
    • F. L. Finger,
    • W. C. Otoni

  8. Posted

    mu! i am not sure if they count as mid shelf bourbon, but i will say jack daniels, makers mark and wild turkey.

    All of the above are only remotely tolerable when you are on your second bottle and mixing them with something to hide the taste.

    Either I'm getting old or Makers and Turkey have been getting progressively sweeter over the years to the point of nausea

    Or both. Certainly I'm grumpy enough to be both, sorry :(

    Was introduced to some gorgeous rye whiskies a few years back, I think it's made me a bit spoiled

    • Like 1

  9. Posted

    Found this beautiful one on leaf litter last week in NNSW. There isn't a scale in the pic, it was approx 100mm across at the cap and about 150mm long overall

    gallery_12_4_66680.jpg

    The cap colour was closer to black than brown, and definitely became black after picking. So ignore the colour in the pic below, flash washed it out. Cap texture was mildly velvety

    gallery_12_4_270961.jpg

    At some point I took spore prints and notes on the staining, which was initially red, but I can't remember how fast the rxn was, nor if the colour deepened to black. The notes and spore slides are in the kitchen, so it's quicker and safer for me to ask you here than it is to go find them, if they still exist

    Am thinking Tyopilus sp, possibly Tylopilus alboater, because staining, and cap/ pore contrast. Any other ideas?

    Right into the boletes atm, mostly because I didn't think we had any here. Would be nice to find a safe, tasty one, I hear rumours of them out closer to the coast

  10. Posted

    apt-get -y install gimp-plugin-registry

    Worked a treat, I checked it with Package Manager to see what was in it, is a bunch of useful plugins

    Geez it stripped 10kb of EXIF data off a simple 300kb Wikipedia image, that's a fair whack... wonder what was in there? I'm gunna default to using it all the time

    Thank you so much- that's fantastic help

  11. Posted

    For forums either:-

    GIMP -> Save for web... -> JPEG -> Strip Exiv (apt-get -y install gimp gimp-plugin-registry gimp-data-extras)

    Nup. updated OS and up to GIMP 2.8.10 and it doesn't have that for Mint/Ubuntu. I'll check 2.8.14, what version are you running?

    Way off topic, normal transmission resumes. I got some lovely bolete shots locally last week and I need to ID

    • Like 1

  12. Posted

    Sounds like blossom end rot, usually caused by calcium deficiency (but also excess nutrients, excess watering, etc.).

    I'm with The Explorer on nute deficiency being the main reason. Seeing the problem on capsicums here this year too, some years are worse than others for it

    Also seeing a lot of sunburn on the sides, which also presents as rot after it sets in

    I need to get back to foliar fertilising as it's stopped the problem previously: 10ml/L molasses, 2ml/L Charlie Carp and 2ml/L Seasol in a sprayer, top up to volume with water and apply early morning or late evening. Cheap and effective

  15. Posted

    EGA ppl- I can't find the ACTINOS links from Dr David Caldicott's EGA presentation. Anyone have them?

    The WEDINOS pages are here: http://wedinos.org/

    From WEDINOS:

    New Psychoactive Substances

    "substances of abuse, either in a pure form or a preparation, that are not controlled by the 1961 Convention on Narcotic Drugs or the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, but which may pose a public health threat”

    Information from a range of sources in the UK and Europe indicate that some users of new psychoactive substances (NPS) are at risk of a number of serious adverse effects. Principally these include the direct or acute physical, psychological and behavioural effects following use, as well as the potential for increased engagement with criminal justice services. Longer term, or chronic effects are, in the main, poorly evidenced. This project is designed to inform both.

    Both are great projects. The ACTINOS one is the Australian version. Can't remember where it is at right now

    My google-fu is failing, and the obvious .org/ .com links don't get me anywhere. Can't find either via FB.

  16. Posted

    Finally back from a tumultuous EGA road trip but seriously need to say how epic both days were

    The EGA team really turned this one into a coup, thank you so much you all, love your work

    My favourites were Dr David Caldicott ( really, we could pretty much make a bobble-headed David Caldicott EGA doll and sell him as a fundraiser ), Genevieve Sinclair's presentation on solvent use and abuse, and T's presentation.

    But really, much of the day was spent in pleasant contemplation- whether to attend the next talk I really really wanted to see, decide which talk I wanted to see more, stand round outside and catch up with old friends, or keep the conversation going with people I just met

    Great venue and location, really well suited

    One thing grabbed my attention- how timely all the presentation topics were. Watching the topics and speakers morph and grow over the years has been really interesting. My instinctive preference is for academic plant discussion and this year's EGA seemed heavily weighted on policy, health and synthetics discussions. This did not disappoint me in the slightest- the mix of topics was exceptionally relevant to current events and trends, and it gave a professional emphasis to the field I really enjoyed

    Beatuiful you guys, just beautiful. Love catching up with you all. Thank you :worship:

    • Like 3

  17. Posted · Edited by Darklight

    Love the QLD mycological society link, I didn't have that one. Nice writeup in there in the Ganoderma key section, the local ones have been fascinating me for a few years

    If you got a pic of spore colour or spore print for the OP sp, could you please post it up here to assist with other's searches in future?

    Lazy question for bonus points: what software do you use to strip out yr exif data? I tried a few, they were clunky. Want something for Mint which strips exif data only. And mebbe something similarly streamlined to check/ confirm

  18. Posted

    The best way to keep out all bugs is not to crowd your plants, to keep the inside of the unit clean. Keep the floors clean too, bugs will track across messy floors. There's not a way to keep bugs out that's 100% but reducing the number of hideouts for them is a basic a lot of ppl forget

    You could keep scale-farming ants out with pots elevated in larger buckets of water, and make sure no plant part touches the walls or floors, but indoors and in a closed environment that potentially raises other problems

    I wish I had a better answer, if I did I'd be rich and famous

  19. Posted

    Ah- drainage. If you aren't going to install drainage, use a wet/dry vacuum cleaner with large capacity. Get one which easily switches to wet/dry functions. And read the manual on upkeep for it. A large unit can suck up a lot of water and keeping the area less damp can help with pests and contam

    Fully enclosed growth systems mean a lot of pests IME. In the past I've used sulphur burners nightly on timers to minimise spraying. This prolly won't suit you as sulphur gas can have a deleterious effect on some metals over time. Plus you don't want your sulphur burners on- ever- while you're in there, as the gas is toxic. In the past I've set timers for 3am, made sure the fans are switched off 15 min before and after so the gas has time to penetrate all areas, and made very sure that when the gas gets blown out when the fans go back on that there is no-one around who might breathe it.

    Still, like I said, that prolly won't be practical for you. Yellow sticky traps should give you an idea of your pest load tho, and you can determine your response from there

  21. Posted

    Giant Sundew trichomes....Bricks of bud grown in aquariums...WooHoo!

    Yeah yeah... but you'll still need to know what the genes encode for, or test them in Arabidposis first :P

    Mind you with all this getting simpler, pretty soon someone will have most of this down for you anyhow

    Call me when you can get it done before lunch ;)

    • Like 1

  23. Posted · Edited by Darklight

    Oh, and invest in a temp alarm which will contact you in an emergency, or if it loses power. Work out what your normal temp fluctuations are by testing them, and then set alarms at +/- 7C so you don't get too many alerts

    A research institute a FOAF was working at lost all their research plantlets a few years ago when a sparky forgot to turn a switch back on after an upgrade over Xmas. Hot summers here, the temps got up to 42C outside, and the roof was tin, poorly insulated. They had loggers, but no alarm system. Get one for any fridge/ freezers in there as well. I believe they're cheap to set up if you have an existing network. Cold storage outages suck donkey dicks if you aren't there to move important stuff fast

    • Like 2

  24. Posted · Edited by Darklight

    48ft...wow. 8ft is narrow tho, make sure you can walk down corridor while carrying large crates or you'll be cursing yourself for eternity. I'd only set up on one side. Is this a tissue culture area as well?

    I'm not brave enough to set up whole plants in a space where TC is going on, I'm thinking humidity issues causing contams at the grow room end. And mites. Paper mites. But you do like a challenge...

    I have set up and wrangled a few fully enclosed spaces for various research institutes. Here goes...

    Rule of thumb for plant growth in fully enclosed environments is that growing plants need at least 5 volumes of air per hour. Office environments only require 0.5 volumes per hour in .au I was told by an aircon bloke. If you are running evaporative cooler ( swamp cooler ) units you will need more airflow than that just to keep the coolers operating properly to hit temperature in summer

    If you're keeping the doors shut all the time that amount of airflow makes a helluva current- it needs to reach all the room too, no dead spots. Dehydration is an issue for staff or yourself if you're working in that space longer than 30 minutes. It's easy to miss if temps are around 22C, because it's not hot. First sign of dehydration is crankiness. Headaches can follow. Hydrate. Keep water handy.

    If you are using filters in your aircon unit, keep them clean and keep your maintenance up. Clogged or mouldy air filters are a hazard for breathing and reduce airflow

    See if you can locate a cheap network setup for temp/ humidity and lights. They're around, but cheap is a relative term. You can get independent waterproof USB humidity/ temp sensors for around $25 each if you buy in bulk, but you will have to check and log them individually. There are Arduino units which can be setup for PAR ( the spectrum of light plants use ) with temp and humidity as well, and these can be networked for logging via a Raspberry Pi or similar. It's a headfuck, but worth it to keep an eye on your lights performance. Most PAR units are around $300 last I checked, and you will want at least five of them- you may as well integrate a Pi/ Arduino system and save some dosh. If I had the dosh I would knock a system like this out and add a few extra units for upscale use in the future

    If you are planning to use sprays as any kind of control for pests and pathogens, or as a fertiliser, make sure you can turn the fans off during spraying. Single switch.

    Drainage for floors- will you have it? Put some 500 micron mesh under it so critters can't get in. Make the mesh easy to remove so you can clean it- they clog.

    I'd use CFL bulbs in a fully enclosed environment, rather than HPS, but you prolly know lighting better than I do. I like CFL because you can be confident they won't get too hot. I'm unfamiliar with the new LED teks but the Home Tissue Culture Newsletter 9 you just pointed me at has some really good writeups on LED technology developments

    And finally, my favourite.... plastics. Brassicas hate plastic. If it's the wrong type of plastic- specifically phthalates- and it's outgassing as part of it's normal lifespan, your Brassicaceae species will not thank you. They sicken. This includes plastics used in internal wiring. So either avoid Brassicaceae, which includes lovely plants like Wasabia, or accept that they might not respond well to a fully controlled environment- or make sure that none of the plastics you have around include phthalates in them.

    • Like 2

  25. Posted

    I use distilled water from the store, too.

    Feel guilty about all the plastic containers,used,

    but I do take them to recycling.

    I am considering gertting or making a water distiller,

    Just get the water from the shops unless you're using more than 10L every day. Seriously. I wasted money on double distillation water units years back, the situation changed and I've never switched them on :( Think maintenance, think seals, think benchspace, plumbing, power

    I've heard Reverse Osmosis units can be cheap and provide good quality water, just make sure you get one with easy to find cartridges. But really, stick with ironing/ battery water. Spend your $$ on other toys

    Carol is in the process of making a kit to sell for Cannabis micropropagation,

    where legal of course.

    Which may be in more locations over the next few years!

    She has much wisdom to share, as does Darklight, regarding various kinds of micropropagation techs.

    I would post what she sent me, but its probably better if you ask her yourself.

    A search online will reveal her interesting ghetto micropropagation techniques,,

    as well as a way to contact her if needed.

    Haven't corresponded with her in years, she prolly wouldn't remember me but her expertise was invaluable in my early days

    Cannabis kits, hey? That should get a bit more interest in the field :)

    Ta, no need to share private corro, but I should check her ghetto teks again, there have been some amazing advancements in the field of late

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