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vitex

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Posts posted by vitex

  1. Posted

    As I understand it acid treatment is just one way of scarifying seed. If its a hard-coated seed sulphuric acid works well - I've used it for thousands of seeds myself. If you want to avoid acid, you can sandpaper the seeds (put in a tin with sandpaper and shake). you can tell if you've broken the seed coat by soaking in water - the seeds swell up (imbibe). if they don't swell, rinse and repeat :) Even a nail file will break the seed coat enough

  2. Posted

    There are various ways of making hard-coated seeds germinate. I think they've been covered pretty well above! I thought I'd summarise, and add a few bits.

    Sow 'em while they're still soft (but mature) straight out of the pod - this works really well for NZ natives like Kowhai (Sophora)

    Soak them in near-boiling water. Take out the ones that swell. Repeat for those that don't.

    Sandpaper them lightly, or shake in a tumbler lined with sandpaper, then soak. Take out the ones that swell. Repeat for those that don't.

    Chuck them in acid for a minute or two to etch the seed coat. Rinse. Soak in water. Sow the ones that swell. Otherwise repeat.

    I think most if not all Aussie Acacia / Racosperma is fire-evolved, i.e. the seedlings will do well in a bed that has ash / carbon in it. You can just chuck wood ash in your potting mix, or even use some activated charcoal. Apparently activated charcoal is the thing for cation exchange and so on.

    If you scrounge around on the forest / bush floor under the trees you want to grow you will probably find lots of seeds lying there in amongst the litter. Saves buying them.

    • Like 1

  4. Posted

    I don't think we even begin to understand how much the drug trade runs the world. There's a school of thought that the UN is in Afghanistan just to protect the heroin trade, and cheap heroin is just flooding the world right now, like a wrecking ball. NZ has it's meth, South Africa has a real problem with meth, Now we have a bunch of K users in China. Mexico and the USA are deeply embroiled in the drug trade, which the CIA fights with one hand and encourages with the other. But don't worry folks, the War on Drugs contributes to GDP for both countries.

    Interestingly, I read that the British government was selling billions of dollars worth of opium to the chinese in the 1800s, so the drug trade has always been big business for all those old school rich bastards. Y'know, the ones with titles and Rothschild affiliations.

  6. Posted

    Trees cannot move, so in order to exert influence they have to wait. Trees are silent until the wind blows on them. Even as quiet and still as this, they still become kings of the forest. Trees overcome by enduring.

    Trees encapsulate decay, growing additional layers of structure around weaknesses and defects. If you want to put a positive spin on that, trees over time make mistakes and failures into part of their structure.

    But do we really have to understand? It's not for nothing that the druids used to worship trees, perhaps sensing how ancient they are.

    • Like 4

  7. Posted

    The original thread was about growing enough in a garden to feed you. Now I think that would be full-time job, were it possible, because it'd be one helluva intensive permaculture setup. There are people who have gotten close to this ideal:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuogTqasSmU (very attractive urban farmer, but also shows what's possible)

    I reckon aquaponics is the way to go to produce enough protein - now just convince the biosecurity nazis that growing tilapia or perch is a goer in NZ or Australia...

    can't go past theurbanfarmingguys.com for a look at aquaponic setups

  10. Posted

    I can't believe that Assad would use chemical weapons. The man is a doctor - he is clever enough to realise that using chem weapons would bring a shitstorm down on his head. So the only possibility (if you like elephants in rooms) is the 'opposition' (which is hardly organised enough) or the USA - false-flag style.

    I feel desperately sorry for the Syrian people who did nothing to bring this down on their heads.

    Mullar Omar banned the growing of opium in Afghanistan in 2000. In 2001 the entire UN showed up in Afghanistan. When you f&ck with Big Business, whole armies show up on your doorstep.

    • Like 2

  12. Posted

    From what I've read Roundup does what it's supposed to do - i.e. kill plants - apparently by dicking around with the shikimate pathway. So far so good. Then you figure out that it also kills or denatures the gut flora in animals (the unfortunate pigs, the unfortunate cows that get "roundup ready" cottonseed and soya beans, and the unfortunate apex predators that eat them). And it's not just Roundup Ready GMOs that increase our exposure to glyphosate - Big Ag has dreamed up exotic ways to use this stuff. They use it to ripen wheat - and because the plants are becoming R-up resistant we use more of it than ever. And this great beeg food channel points straight to us - and by the time the glyphosate gets to us, it just about saturates everything on the supermarket shelves.

    I'm no scientist, but apparently the shikimate pathway is critical for plants to synthesize tryptophan (say what?). So I wonder if chronic exposure to background levels of glyphosate or glyphosate metabolites makes us depressed as well, by reducing the tryptophan content of everything?

  13. Posted

    I'm doing a permaculture course at the beginning of Oct. its expensive. and I need to take off two weeks unpaid leave to do it as well as having car rego, electricity and rates all due in September. but on gonna wing it and do it anyway!!!!!!! why the eff not, I can make more money but there may not be another course on in my area for a long time. ill let yas know how much I got out of it

    It's not all about the money :) I'm doing a permaculture design course too.

    Try this http://holmgren.com.au/essence-of-permaculture-free/#lightbox/0/

    I reckon permaculture is a philosophy rather than a method. The twelve principles (see link) are helpful, because they make you think differently about growing things. I've been looking at permaculture since the mid 80s and there has been a change - a lot of people are now saying "where's your yield?" It's not just a system for rich yuppies - anyone can benefit from using the best bits of philosophy. I reckon the principles of permaculture can help us to transition away from tearing up the soil and then throwing chemicals at it (for one). You don't get more vegetables out of a neat garden than an untidy one, that's for sure. Another thing that permaculture does is to allow synergy - to grow plants closer together (like beans growing up corn stalks) so that they help each other. The ancient "three sisters" garden is arguably a permaculture setup.

    I think my exposure to permaculture has totally changed my thinking and I'll never go back to just buying stuff from the stupormarket without thinking about it

    • Like 2

  14. Posted

    When I tell other Christians What Would Jesus Do ( wwjd) they look at me weird . I think the message of

    Christ has been lost in this hierarchy called mainstream religion . When you start saying that Jesus hanged around

    hookers , leepers and other scum and spent his last night as a human in jail. They look at me funny and

    The Bible is so misinterpreted and the true message of love and help gets lost in translation. I think if jesus

    was here he would be burning down a lot of churches

    Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

    37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

    40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

    So a lot of people at my church automaticly judge me as my past is very colourful. But now i have a title in the

    church and are becoming a deacon . so they suck up to me and when i start saying if you want to help

    you need to help the poor,sick lost people of the world they say some shit like . well i donated $30 bucks and

    a tin of baked beans that should be enough for them . ( will stop ranting )

    Christianity was so pure now its getting really jaded the message of helping your fellow man has been lost

    any way

    peace be with you all

    Trouble is, Jesus and "Xtianity as practiced in the white western world" are not the same animal. I stop with "Unless a man loses his life he cannot save it - if he loses it for my sake he will save it" which is very similar to the "death-like" experience of the shaman

  17. Posted

    All mine that flowered were in the ground with decent soil so I never bothered with ferts lol

    But something with good levels of potassium is what I assume is best?

    Looking at nutrient deficiencies, attached link might be useful - http://5e.plantphys.net/article.php?id=289

    I reckon with tender plants worm juice or nitrosol would do it - they don't burn anything. Only about 10% solution though to avoid leafburn. Having said this, your plants look pretty darned good N

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