Down, But Not Out

In case you haven't heard, it's been a little challenging of late for Team Mater-Matic. A week ago everyone on the team was gung-ho for moving outside into the bright sunshine. And that's what we did. The maters had been in their final homes for three days; the weather was sunny and beautiful - it just seemed to make sense that this show get on the road.

So out they went last Tuesday, and given last Wednesday was also beautiful, they went out again. But in checking the maters by the middle of that day, it became apparent something was wrong - all of them had leaves turning white. Yours truly was very sad and worried. What was the cause? Was it the potting soil? Was it the buckets themselves? Was there too much fertilizer in there?

Unfortunately Maters can't talk (although apparently they can sing for some folks). If they could talk they would have told me exactly what the problem was. So I checked the internet and my best guess was a combination of windburn and sunburn. Turns out greenhouse maters need to be gradually exposed to the outdoors. Should have been obvious I guess, but given how they had been growing like gangbusters, I misread growth for strength.

So as a different approach, I let them hang out on the front porch. It's eastern facing, and gets only a couple hours of direct sunlight in the morning, then indirect for the rest of the day. Then every night I'd take Nate's little red wagon and shuttle them back to the protective confines of the garage. And every morning the maters got another wagon ride back out to the front porch. Given each bucket with soil and water is over 50 pounds, I got quite a workout too.

Even Gimpy's lookin' good!

'Slim' (hopefully not Slim Pickings)

Little by little, the maters are turning around. The whiteness on the leaves didn't advance, and all show new growth. Granted as of today I haven't seen any buds, but I hope they're not far behind.  And now that the weather has been above 50 degrees at night, and topping in the lower to mid 80s during the day, the maters get to sleep outside (and my back gets a break - whew!).

MM

Pretty Maids all in a Row

Now here's a lovely site, eh? Happy Maters basking in that warm sun. They seem to have perked up quite a bit just being outdoors. I put them out this morning just as the sun was peeking over the neighbor's house. I suspect I'll easily get 8 to 9 hours of full sun in this spot today. Also, it seems the green buckets trap quite a bit of the warm stuff too. Although I don't have very accurate probe thermometer, it appears I'm getting internal bucket temps in the mid to upper 80's. 

Here's a closeup from the side. Can you see the quarter? Yes, it's quite small in comparison to those maters, isn't it? 

They are now officially off the grow lights!!!

MM

Home Sweet Home

Well, those littluns grow up so fast (sniff, sniff). It just seems like yesterday they were pokin' their heads out of the dirt for the first time. Now they are set to go out into the world as World Class Maters. Just wish I had a little 'Pomp and Circumstance' playing in the background - well, wait a minute ... is that just in my head? LOL

Here they all are in their SIPs. I haven't named them all yet, but the one up front is definitely Gimpy. Unfortunately Gimpy didn't do too well with a rogue gust of wind. I had him out enjoying the sunshine while I was getting his brothers planted. I've got a little crutch in there for him - hopefully he will make it.



As they were bursting to get out of the Mater Matic, I've put together this 'Lean-To-Matic' to keep them in that fake sun for another day or two. Crude? Yes, but functional.

And here's the proud Papa with the maters. Not bad for a smartphone snapshot, eh? I promised them I will have them out in the sun very soon!.

MM

Big Talk from the Worm Guy Today

In response to Dad's attempt to chum the waters with some smack, let me just give a little example of what a mere four days in the Mater-Matic can do for a mater ...

As we can plainly see in this before-and-after example, my maters are a good three inches below the diffuser when I last raised it on Sunday the 24th. Now this evening as the picture on the right shows, the maters are raising the roof - they're not only up to the diffuser, they're trying to go around it. Put it another way, these maters are growing 3/4's of an inch a day!!!

Nothing to be ashamed of here ... NUH UH!!!

MM

Maybe a Week Away from Moving Day?

From what I've been told from folks in these parts, the week after Easter is a great time to get your maters planted. And given how crowded the Mater Matic is getting, that may be the plan. 

Real cozy in there!

We'll have to see how the weather holds up. Granted it's been cold, rainy and wet for a few days, but these maters wouldn't know any different from being warm and sunny. 

Being that it's the weekend I did a little more work in the mad scientist lab. I took care of the usual weekend chores in the Mater Matic. I raised the diffuser a couple inches. I flushed the reservoirs, and checked all the hardware.

I also took the Chik Fil A pickle buckets and made four more SIPs. Unlike the others, these are green. I think I might use these for the maters - seem a little more fitting for the backyard. Granted there's not much you can do to blend a bunch of buckets into the surroundings, as they have a tendency to stand out a bit, but I figured it might be a little more pleasing to the eye if anyone takes a gander. 

I picked up a 1 1/4" hole saw from the hardware store. Cutting with the spade bit was a bit nerve-racking. Nothing gets the heart pumping then have one of those bite into a pickle lid and send it flying across the garage like a industrial strength frisbee. Luckily no damage, but it was enough to make me rethink my approach. The right tool for the right job they always say. The hole saw is much easier to control, and it makes cleaner cuts. As you can see below, my SIP making is getting better. I also thought it best to integrate support for some tomato cages, so I drilled three tiny holes just inside the rim of the bucket lid, and the cages fit fairly snug, even with no potting mix in the buckets. I suspect they'll do fine.

Here are the maters checking out their new homes.

While at the hardware store, I picked up a hose and some parts to complete the watering manifold. This is what I'll use to distribute water from the automatic timer to each bucket. I had thought on a couple different ways to approach this, but I figured the least expensive, most flexible way would be to repurpose a brass bib manifold for the job. Along it it and the connectors, I pulled out an old piece of EMT conduit and fashioned a support stake. I'll drive this into the ground behind the plants, connect the garden hose on one end, then run flex tubing from the others to each of the bucket snorkels. Here's what it looks like without the hoses and tubing:

The last thing I worked on was with the other greenery in the Mater Matic. My sweet peppers haven't grown much over the last few weeks, so I suspect they're past due for coming out of the flats.

I fabricated a smaller 'mini-SIP' from a water bottle and transferred one of them to it. I want to test this out to see how well keeping the plant indoors on the sill will do. I'll move these over gradually, just to make sure everything goes well.

MM

Still Going Strong

Well, the Mater-Matic may have to give out a few Mea Culpas for having been missing in action  over the past few days. Been very busy with a new website update at work, so getting in front of a computer at home just hasn't been that much fun lately.

But my babies are making me proud so let me show them off a bit ...

They seem to be still going strong. Mind you, each one is nestled in a 2 liter bottle, so that should give you a good sense of how big they are. They took right to these 'mini-SIPs' without any fuss.

This afternoon I had to reorient the grow light so it's now horizontal, and bring up the diffuser about an inch. I still have several inches of space to work with, but I don't think I'll need all of it. I suspect I'll soon have the first graduating class of the Mater-Matic moving out into the world.

Speaking of which, I'm happy to report some very excited co-workers. All are saying their adopted maters are doing well - in fact they haven't taken out of their mini-SIPs yet. They have remarked how easy it's been to maintain them. One fellow is using his fishtank water to keep them going - apparently that's as good as worm tea!. 

I also hit the mother lode of pickle buckets, thanks to my local Chik-Fil-A, which means I'll have enough SIPs to meet my needs and have a few more to give out at work. 

MM

WOW! - That's Quite A Mater!

You got that right little buddy!