Applestar’s 2019-2020 Winter Indoor Garden

[applestar]

What breeds of micro-dwarfs do you have and are they heirlooms? I was really disappointed in my Micro Tom for having such bitter fruit flavor. But I had no idea there were other mucro-dwarfs out there.

They are stable newer OP named varieties — can save seeds and expect to get same as fruit parent. I have quite a few now since I have been trying different micro dwarfs for a few years — mostly in search of good flavored ones. The very few micro-dwarf varieties that have the common definition of “heirloom” status have been improved in flavor and performance by the various breeders.

Subject: Applestar’s 2019 Garden
Jul 28, 2019

Bunny Hop Seeds is where I got most of my micro dwarf varieties too.

search.php?keywords=Micro+dwarf+

...Have you been using the search box and advanced search link at the top left corner of the forum page? Webmaster has made many upgrades to the search engine since this forum has been on-line for a long time and is a treasure trove of archived information that have been scribed by many members over the years.


Also — Reading the discussions that sometimes contain conflicting opinions is a good way to learn gardening techniques, and imho the pattern that emerges is that there is not just a hard and fast rule but different, flexible techniques that apply based on local garden conditions and climates... And, personally, I think only way to find out is to try and try again — to perfect my own techniques so I can follow through without making commonplace mistakes, and also to try different variations until I find what works in my own garden and my own gardening style.

It sometimes take years if you are on a budget, and there are ways to make an instant, flourishing garden if you have enough “green”. You can start small or go big, but things will grow unless you live here —

This is one place on Earth where no life can exist
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/22/world/ea ... index.html

[TomatoNut95]

Gross, that Dallol place sounds like a great place for a horror film!

That is great, thanks again so much for leading me on the Bunny Hop seed website! I want to get a few things from them!

Yeah, your right I should use the search engine more, thanks!

And in advance, Happy Thanksgiving!

[applestar]

The recently uppotted Shimofuri has settled in and is responding to the richer potting mix and frequent irrigation. I had to tweak the photos a bit due to the yellowish tint of the “soft white” lights, but you can see the wonderful variegation being expressed in the foliage —



This F7 segregate is from seed collecting from one of the Shimofuri F6 plants in 2019 HaybaleRow —
Subject: Applestar’s 2019 Garden

VARIEGATED TOMATO FOLIAGE OBSERVATIONS —

In my experience, there is a tendency in the gardener to want to give the variegated plant the VIP spot in the garden — best sun (less green = must need more light), better spacing for more airflow, best view from the house and paths — but I think there is a definite tendency in Faelan’s First Snow (FFS) to lose the ability to grow new variegated leaves when weather turns scorching hot. My undocumented general impression is that plants that get too hot turns greener faster. I think the ones that get some relief from the hot sun responds by growing more variegated accents.

I’ve wondered if this is because the pale areas with no pigments suffer more from lack of sunlight resistance.

My crosses that have developed more intense variegation than my selections of FFS also lose ability to grow the intensely variegated features, and I feel like the ones that are more closely planted or that get shaded are continuing a better show ... but they can then become more prone to fungal diseases. It’s a delicate balance....

I’m watching closely to see if the segregates that are showing purple/pink in the variegated stems and leaf veins are expressing antho, and are capable of sustaining the sun exposure / heat and continuing to grow variegated new foliage.

...

I was going to wait to post these until I had a chance to take some more pics of the others, but it doesn’t look like I will be able to get out in the garden tomorrow either, so.... Here are some more progress photos of the variegated tomatoes since the summer heat arrived (mid-high 80’s and 90’s high... tonight will extend the heatwave ... lowest 74°F, back up to 80 by 3am and steadily rising to heat index of 99 from 2-3pm) —


One of the Shimofuri F6 — in HaybaleRow bed which doesn’t get morning sun until about 8 or 9am, and is in the house shadow by 5pm. Sun to this short plant is starting to be blocked by the taller corn in the morning until the sun is higher in the sky as well. Showing reduced variegation but still good striping in the stems but top-most leaves (where the sunlight reaches & get hot) look almost solid green —

[applestar]

Meiwa Kumquat is starting to bloom again in the “Cool Gang” area of the Winter Indoor Garden. This is in the back of the family room where it is always warm but is near a corner with two windows and the floor level is cold. Pictured is the largest of three fruits that set last year. I *think* this one is finally starting to color break — waiting eagerly to have them all ripen so we could try them for the first time.

[applestar]

The Shimofuri (霜降り) F7 plant to the left of the tub is displaying more variegated accents — leaflets, leaf stems, and I think fruit calyces as well? — compared to the Shimofuri F7 plant on the right, however, the plant on the right is growing a determinate branch that is absolutely loaded with fruit trusses.

- I can’t tell if the difference is degree of variegation in the two plants, more light exposure (right) vs. less light exposure (left) ... or something else like less variegated plant is more productive due to greater chlorophyll surface (I believe this tends to be the case for the variegated Fish peppers).

I can say that, based on my experiences as long as I have been growing the different variegated varieties, it’s definitely a good idea to plan on growing several plants of the same variety in different conditions for best show.

The new plant (different Shimofuri F7 segregate) in the double-rice milk carton is also developing purple/pink-blushed variegated stems — this might be attributed to recent dip in the temperature/chill from the north-west facing window, but in any case, the amount of variegation/white striping in the stems is significant even though this one is right in front of the supplemental cfl bulbs.

[TomatoNut95]

I'll probably be asking for some seeds for your Shimofuri someday, if you don't mind.

What are your thoughts on that fish pepper? I just bought some of those from Baker Creek. Are they highly variegated? The foliage I mean? And are the fruits hot?

[applestar]

Someday, OK? I want to see the line fully stabilized first. Shimofuri (霜降り) is what I’m working on now, but there are sister lines as well. I know several hobby tomato breeders who have fabulous variegated varieties in the works — more advanced than mine — as well, so you will be seeing more of them very soon.


I have been growing Fish peppers for a while. I actually found a sport one winter — Orange-fruited instead of the original red. I’m trying to get my orange fruited version which I’m calling “Goldfish” to be as variegated as the original Fish selection among the ones I have been growing, for which my personal nickname is "SuperVar" or “Super Variegated”. In the course of TWO growing seasons — I bring them inside and overwintered them and in the 2nd year — the "SuperVar" Fish plants turns more cream-white than green. This was accomplished by selecting the most variegated and growing out the seeds from that plant.

I have also been trying to determine if the orange fruit color is stable and really a sport — it was a single branch that produced fruits in this color. This year’s 3rd generation growout has produced orange fruits as hoped, as did the 2nd generation.

Fish peppers are not extremely spicy, but somewhat more spicy than jalapeno’s. I’ve tried making cheese-stuffed roasted peppers with them like you do with jalapeños. I thought it was as spicy as Aji Pineapple. I have heard that it was originally used to create the Old Bay Seasoning. I’ve also made fermented hot sauce with mixed peppers including Fish peppers.

[TomatoNut95]

That's cool; I wish I could discover a sport! Well I guess I did when those Yellow Pear seedlings showed variegation, but to be honest I don't have the room to experiment with sports. I do good to have room to grow my usual stuff, LOL!

So is the fish pepper thick skinned? I was wondering if it may be ok for drying?

Have you seen Fwroggy lately?

[applestar]

Have not seen Fwoggy but I haven’t discovered it dead either, so hopefully it found a hiding place and is plenty happy. I think I would see it more if it is hungry and searching for a meal. Also, since the two reservoir tubs for the system are on the bottom shelf, I would imagine it would eventually make its way down to it if the occasional flooding in its own tub is not enough.


...I started some onion seeds yesterday. This is a new to me variety called Giant Zittau and is meant to be started in the fall in milder climates, which maybe I can replicate in the Winter Indoor Garden. I’ve never tried starting onions in December before so it will be an experiment.


Also, I bought some room-temperature freshwater aquarium fish — 2 Peppered Cory cats, 2 guppies, and a Mystery snail — and added them to the reservoirs. The Peppered Cory cats and the Mystery snails have joined the comet goldfish, rosy minnow, and Marimo in the front tub and the two guppies and some of the wild pond snails have been put in the rear tub. I wanted to get some Tiger shrimp, too, but the pet shop was sold out. I hope to get some later. I’m supplementing them with a windowsill (narrow) heating mat but won’t use an aquarium heater. The only one I have will be used in one of the garage reservoir buckets. I’ll use the air pump to run the split airline/air stones in the tubs when I’m not using it for powering the airlift pump.

[TomatoNut95]

MYSTERY?????.... snails?

[applestar]

https://www.fishstoresnearme.com/article ... rtebrates/
...I got a ghostly cream colored one today, but they also had blue ones. I might get one of those next time — I’ve left slots open for 3 more critters. The snail is doing a fantastic job cleaning the sides of the tank. I also watched it taking care of accumulated algae on the air and water tubing

...My 2nd wave of Winter Indoor Garden Patrol — the Ladybug Division (1st was the predatory mites) — arrived. I’ve scattered about "a spoonful" in each growing area for starters. The rest will “chill" until needed.

[applestar]

Last night while trying to dispose of the pruned tomato leaves in the mini-vermicomposter container I keep next to the Winter Paradise shelves, large mites visible to the eye which should be the predatory mites crawled out from the bunched up foliage and climbed to the top of the container! I think this means the previously released predatory mites are definitely still around and doing their thing.

I managed to catch two of the fast-moving critters (got them to transfer to a plastic spoon) and put them back on the plants. ...I lost a 3rd one (actually the 1st one) when I tried using a piece of paper to transfer it with, I accidentally flicked the paper and it fell on the floor....

[TomatoNut95]

Those are cool looking snails! I wish I could get some to clean my rain buckets for me, or like some tadpoles, but that wouldn't work would it, 'cause I'd be emptying those buckets to use em.

[applestar]

I’ve tried releasing the ladybugs three times, and each time, the number of dead ladybugs was substantial. I finally emailed their customer service that the mortality rate was too high, with some photos to illustrate, and promptly received a reply — they promised and processed a free replacement “order” right away. So they seem to have good customer service.

[applestar]

There’re plenty of stuff to do for the Winter Indoor Garden —

- I uppotted two pots with seed-grown Meyer Lemons — started in 2016. One pot is double so three plants total. (Winter Paradise Penthouse)
- uppotted two pots with lemons trees originality started in 2015 with seeds saved from organic lemons from Mexico, purchased at Trader Joe’s. One pot was double for these as well. (upstairs yellow room)
- uppotted three onion bottom-grown plants to share one 1/2 gallon rice milk carton (Garage V8)
- planted some more overgrown sprouted spinach seedlings (a couple of the previously sown spinach seedlings have bolted after growing 4 leaves)

- First Shimofuri F7 tomato fruit is color-breaking (picture later added)

- The predatory mites have been hard at work, and the citruses that had previously shown signs of mite-blasted leafnode buds have been leafing out. I’m still occasionally spotting them running around. Hopefully they have also been effective on the peppers that looked mite-infested ... but they are not likely to leaf out until late January~early February.
- With the replacement ladybugs on their way, I released almost all of the remaining live ladybugs from the first shipment, and they have been happily munching away at the aphid infestation. Some of them have been mating, so hopefully they will lay eggs and start producing the next generation Indoor Garden Patrol for later.

- Have settled on a routine for the semi-automated airlift flood-and-drain irrigation. Still not fully automated, but is working well and does not overflow or leak or pump dry if not tended to.
- The fish all seem happy and the snail has finished cleaning nearly 100% of the reservoir/tank. I’m starting to feed them with home made fish food, and supplementing with algae that feeds on the excess nutrients that leach out from the potting mix and grows in the remaining puddles of water in the upper tub.

[imafan26]

To control the rate of water that goes to the upper reservoirs you can use a small hose clamp and tighten it down to decrease the amount of water that gets pumped up through the tubing. You may as well be doing a dutch bucket system. I sounds like your return tubing and reservoir is too small. Larger return tubing should drain the trays faster by gravity to return to the reservoir.

In a mini dutch bucket system you would have to run micro tubing off the main distributions line to each cup. Let the cup drain into a return tray and the tray tubing goes back into the reservoir. It would work if you use drip irrigation tubing, if it can be adapted to fit your pump. Leave the 1/4 inch tubing open without emitter, just use stakes to keep the tubing in the pots. Media in the cups could be hydroton, or cinder.

I did not have problem germinating spinach. The seeds are better if they are soaked overnight first to speed germination. The biggest problem I have with spinach besides heat is the snails will eat them overnight. They are such a short and fussy crop that I prefer to grow sweet potato leaves, ong choi, and NZ hot weather spinach since they are more productive, can be used the same way, and be grown year round. In fact, they grow like weeds.

I have another question to ask you about winter growing. I don't have a true winter, but I would like to germinate some pepper seeds now so they will be ready for February. The night temps are around 60 degrees now, which is not ideal for germinating peppers. They like it at least 68 degrees. The day temp is around 80, so that is fine. I don't have a heat mat, so how can I get the seeds warmed up so they will germinate?

[applestar]

That’s so true that there are other, spinach-like green leafy veg’s.

Re: starting pepper seeds, I’m not the best one to advise on peppers ... I HAVE tried various other methods but have ultimately ended up with thermostat-controlled heating mat ... and I’m still having some problems.

What I HAVE found is that peppers do best with even heat, not much more than 5°F variation/decrease at night, and 10°F would be pushing it. Some people say they use 85°F but I think when I have tried, the thermostat’s fluctuations end up raising the temperature too much and end up cooking the seeds. Using a more precisely controlled heat source than inexpensive heatmat and thermostat might improve my results. My other problem is that taking longer than 2 weeks to sprout invites other issues like fungus gnats which absolutely demolishes the weak pepper seed roots.

Overall, I have best luck using (what I call) spoon-zip method — pre-germinating Overnight soaked seeds on plastic spoon filled with moistened media like sand grain sized DE in small zip bags used for seeds ...or beads in craft stores, etc... (seedzip bags). The loaded zip bags are put in vented clear plastic clamshell containers, and the seedlings are allowed to completely sprout (seed leaves) in the zipbags before planting.

Do you have an indoor location where night temp stays around 75°F?

[applestar]

Two of the orchids are blooming

[TomatoNut95]

Those are gorgeous orchids, @applestar!

I've never had a problem with starting pepper seeds indoors in egg cartons and never used a heat mat. The indoor temp stays around 70, give or take a few degrees. I've got my work cut out for me tgis year, I've got a few new pepper varieties I want to try for 2020. I have a couple that I'm willing to give away if someone wants them. One is called Lipstick pepper, it is a sweet one I received as a free gift. I can't think of the name of the other one, but it's sweet to, and long thin shaped.

[applestar]

I had 2 male guppies in the window-side reservoir for the Winter Paradise shelves, then I thought maybe 2 isn’t enough for schooling fish and bought a 3rd male guppie. But then, one of the original two starting hanging out rather listlessly by it self while the new guy swam around with the other one. I worried that it was sick, but when I caught it and examined it closely, it didn’t seem like it had any signs/symptoms... so on Friday, I went and bought 2 females —and that seemed to liven things up. They were swimming around more, and when that one fish tried to find a corner to be alone, the girls would swim by and poke at him and wouldn’t let him.

Today was scheduled airlift pump cycle day, and that always seem to freshen things up for the fish as well. I think the gravel filter in the front of the tomato tub is providing a positive effect. All good, right?

...then I was watching them a little while ago, watching little debris float by, and it turned around and floated the other way!
— looked more closely and ...

0754C438-320B-43E1-A68E-D017FA9677EA.gif (2.96 MiB) Viewed 10452 times

...babies!...

[TomatoNut95]

AAAAAWWWWWWWWWWW!!! Baby fish are so CUTE!!

[applestar]

I was hoping the water temp was cool enough to keep them from getting too frisky, but obviously, these babies were “made” before, and the female(s) had been carrying them already. I did get worried about the morose male and decided to try to keep to the minimum recommended temperature — upgraded to a full size heat mat connected to the heatmat thermostat, pressed against the two short ends of the tank, and added some insulating barrier material (large bubble-wrap + plastic lids) between the tank and the clear vinyl green house shelves cover, so the cold air from the window/windowsill won’t chill the tank as much.


Years ago, DH used to keep aquariums (four 45-150gal tanks, one of them saltwater), and his warning that DD has been repeating is “you’ll end up with hundreds of guppies” (abbreviated to “100’s of guppies! 100’s of guppies!”) Also, while I was consulting with him and describing my cobbled together set up, at one point, he said — “you know you CAN have an aquarium if you want one” ... and he rollled his eyes when I said “I DON’T want an aquarium. What I want are water reservoirs with fish in them.”

[TomatoNut95]

Before my time, my Uncle had some guppies that had babies. I heard they didn't live.

The only pet fish I've had were a few goldfish and bettas. (Siamese Fighting Fish) I just love those fish, they're so adorable, especially when they flared their gills out!

[applestar]

Spotted 2 next generation Indoor Garden Patrol on particularly badly aphid-infested pepper plant:


...eat them up, Babes!

[applestar]

...tomatoes in time for the holidays,,,

[TomatoNut95]

Instead of figgy pudding, how about tomato pudding? Kidding!

You're lucky to have fresh tomatoes this time of year. As soon as I can get my greenhouse up, I'll plant a few Tiny Tim's to begin with. Maaaayyybbe a Micro Tom, just to see if the cooler temperatures may tone down that bitter fruit flavor.
Then later my 'Mystery' F2's to see how they handle.

[applestar]

Sounds like a plan. However, typically, sweetness in tomatoes tend to develop more in warmth. That’s why I try to grow sweeter and richer flavored varieties in the winter indoor garden. Ones that have strong lingering acid will be accentuated without higher levels of other flavors.

[applestar]

It turns out that ANOTHER Garden Patrol squad has been actively handling the aphid situation — I found all these mummified aphids on the Pasilla Bajio pepper plant — parasitized by the aphid mummy maker wasps. Evidently, not all of the tiny black flying insects I’m seeing are fungus gnats.


...interesting to note that the ladybugs I released here did not bother to eat the parasitized aphids.

[applestar]

Update photos of my Winter Indoor Tomato jungle ....





...and the orchids...

[applestar]

Winter is also when I like to conduct mini experiments and practice/trial runs which might be expanded to a more fully developed project during the upcoming growing season. Doing this helps me to get the kinks out of the vague half-formed ideas rattling around in my head.

Here are my first attempt at aeroponics. Not quite there yet since the airlift delivery from within their own reservoirs is resulting in only drips — barely enough to keep moist. I believe for it to be called “aeroponic”, the solution needs to be strongly SPRAYED?

The photo below it are my first trial of using loofah sponge “plugs” to start lettuce seedlings — I think those are working? I’m going to insert them in the PVC elbows and hole-drilled medicine bottles. (I also tried using some grain straw on a whim.) I found my corded Dremel set so I’m going to try using that to prep some more medicine bottles and see if they will end up with cleaner-looking holes and slits than regular drill-bit and hack saw. If the DIY’s don’t work well, then I’ll spring for small net pots (maybe).

— in the nearest bottle, the medicine bottles are being used to cover pruned pepper plant trimmings wrapped with paper towel and inserted through the elbow. The one that was in this side FELL inside when the paper towel got weighed down so it’s “empty” ....trying to remember where I put the extended picker upper I used to use for terrarium projects...




... I found some small fountain pumps in my stash and made sure they are working. I may rig them to these tubing and see how that would work — but I have to figure out a way to set up a better reservoir. Also, once I have a better reservoir, I might be able to get the airlift pump to run more efficiently.

[TomatoNut95]

It's all good! Loving those orchids, and the tomato 'jungle'!

[applestar]

I saw an opportunity to take a good picture of the Ivory White Mystery snail in the front reservoir, so I ran upstairs to go get the iPhone. When I came back, it started to head up the wall and started to look different, so I kept taking pictures... and captured it extending the snorkel/siphon to get some air

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...I think it’s getting used to me because, in the beginning, it would let go of the wall and sink to the bottom as soon as I approached with the iPhone, apparently thinking it was going to get eaten.

@@@@@

…adding a collage of the Blue Mystery snail in the back reservoir here

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[TomatoNut95]

He is one fascinating guy! Have you seen Fwoggy lately? I accidently dug up my frog with my hoe in my garden a couple of weeks ago. I was afraid I'd hurt him, but I washed him and saw no visible wounds. I sat him in a bucket until I finished my hoeing, then placed my prince charming back in the garden.

[applestar]

Have not seen fwoggy Not sure if it is alive, but if so, I did release some more ladybugs, so it should not be lacking for food.


::::::

I was thinking about the really gratifying way those tomato fruit trusses are setting fruit and I’ve thought of a possibility beyond my own efforts to electric toothbrush them once a day — The air pumps

Since for Christmas, I got a 2nd, slightly less powerful pond air pump than the current one, I’ve hooked it up to the Garage V8 system to explore its capabilities and moved my currently most powerful aquarium air pump to the Winter Paradise set up to run in tandem with the least powerful aquarium pump on different timers.

Even though The air pumps are hanging to minimize noise, they probably vibrate the entire structure when running.....

[applestar]

...that might have sounded callous...

This is a kind of frog that I never see during the warm season unless I disturb while cleaning up pots and bags or shifting containers ... or I happen to be outside when heavily overcast or actually raining and they are out hunting on the leaves, etc.

Unlike the grey tree frogs which are constantly announcing their presence, it is more cautious and hardly cheeps when I am anywhere close — so I doubt I could find it without severely dismantling the container arrangement, and scare it out of hiding ... and then, unlike when outside during the season, it will have nowhere to go where it will be comfortable or even remotely habitable, and if it’s wandering around at floor level, it is sure to be discovered ... and possibly eaten, most certainly be hurt or injured, by one of the kitties.

I will be relieved and happy if and when I see it when this overwintering tub of plants are put outside for the summer — which is not likely to happen until 2nd or 3rd week of May.

So as long as I don’t see it come out of hiding because it is finding the tub inhabitable, or see it get washed out dead by the airlift pumped fish reservoir water, when it cycles, I can feel pretty safe in assuming it’s alive and hiding — possibly half or fully hibernating.

[applestar]

I inserted one of the lettuce loofah-plugs

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[applestar]

Whoo boy. This morning, I turned on the lights and started to feed the guppies ... and realized the Big Tail female was floating sideways on the surface. I was so sad, since she was swimming around just fine yesterday, but some of the others were poking at her, so I thought she might already be starting to you know, decay.... I used a plastic spoon to scoop her out, and was about to drop her in a cup or a jar when she did a little flip.

I thought I had somehow mistook her condition, and put her back, but then she sank away It was harder to coax her back to the surface but I did, and saw that she was in fact not entirely dead. So I prepped the (now empty) Marimo container with some of their water, quickly rigged a double valve connector and an air line (switching the air pump for the bubblers to run constantly on rather than one hour on and one hour off timer) and set up and ICU on that skinny windowsill heat mat, which I doubled over to intensify the heat. I thought I should do for her what everyone needs when they are sick — “keep the patient warm and give her oxygen” .. you know?

At that point, she was being buffeted by the currents made by the air bubbles and her movements were weak to non existent. I thought her prognosis was very bad. But I tried a few drops of peroxide in the water (this oxygenate the water for waterlogged plant roots in anaerobic conditions, and I thought it might help if there were some kind of fish germs in the water... I had also read that guppies prefer alkaline water) ... and to my surprise, she twitched and tried to straighten up in the water. This was around 10:30AM

She had no external blemishes/symptoms, so I was afraid that it might be the air bladder like that first one that died, but I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to try to increase the beneficial microbial count in the water — I think of this as analogous to supplying probiotics for digestive system issues. So I added a few drops of cultured vermicompost tea and green juice/Bokashi tea which I use for supplementing my plants. Then I had to go out on an errand.

When I cam back around 2:30PM, she was slowly swimming around upright. So for added measure, I dropped a few grains of Epsom salts and sea salt in her cup. (...I also initiated the airlift pump irrigation cycle to filter and aerate the reservoir waters for the other fish just in case it was a water quality issue, even though everyone else, including the baby guppies were swimming around just fine.)

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...This evening, she was teetering a bit sideways, but I tried the peroxide and then another grain of sea salt and the probiotic supplement drops, and traded out the water with some of the cycled reservoir water. I then put the cup she was in in a larger container with some bottled spring water in it, and once the water temperatures in the containers equalized and I saw that she was swimming stronger, poured her (and the combined waters) into the slightly larger ICU so she can stretch her fins a little better.

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She could still take a turn for the worse, but I think I’ve done what I can.

[TomatoNut95]

Aww, poor thing. I hope she will feel better. You seem to be an excellent fish doctor.

[applestar]

It was a touch and go for a while, but she might be better. The main difference I saw was that she was no longer desperately working her lateral fins to maintain buoyancy. I put her back in the rear reservoir today.

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...in the top-right photo of the still-frame collage, she had her dorsal fin spread out and I could see the pretty blue markings to match her big tail fin for the first time (I think maybe her pattern is called “mosaic" or maybe "grass" and maybe she has a bit of "glass (clear)" in her, too). Most of the babies in the reservoir should be hers, so even though I don’t know what kind of patterns their daddy(s?) had, I’m looking forward to watching them grow into their mature colors.


~~~ eta ~~~ just took a peek at 6:30pm and she is swimming with good control — no sign of wonky air bladder
... To be on the safe side, I gave them only mashed defrosted frozen peas for dinner, which was recommended for air bladder failure due to constipation from dry fish food. She was aggressively chasing down bits of mashed peas, so her appetite is good, and her swimming control, too.

[applestar]

Big Tail guppy is doing well. I think she has recovered. yay!

Now that I’m pretty sure she IS better, I want to review her treatment and make the assumption that *maybe* the fortified vermicast tea and fermented green/bokashi juice, plus microbe-lift mosquito/gnat control (Bti) may have been part of the effective cure. Now that I’m pretty sure she IS better, I want to review her treatment and make the assumption that *maybe* the fortified vermicast tea and fermented green/bokashi juice, plus microbe-lift mosquito/gnat control (Bti) may have been part of the effective cure. I added a few drops of the vermicast tea + green juice/ bokashi juice in addition to daily 1/2 water changes using bottled spring water, a few drops of peroxide, then a few grains of Epsom salts and sea salt.

I added few drops of the beneficial microbes in her 12-16 oz cup ICU in the morning and in the evening. My original desperate and vague notion was to increase population of her internal and external system flora/fauna to the benign/beneficial ratio and thereby, reduce any inimical microbes as well as hopefully affecting any parasitic larvae that could be eliminated/weakened by the Bti. I reasoned that the constant aeration I was already providing was much like AACT (actively aerated compost tea) and similar microbial lifecycle paradigm should apply.

However, when I had the time to look up just what kind of microbes might be in an aqua-culture (that you always hear you want to increase/colonize in the biological filter and substrate), I found out that the Microbe-Lift brand actually already sells a couple of products exactly for this purpose. I couldn’t find out what specific microbes theirs contain, but the recommended dosing for sick fish was basically what I was already doing.


...Having reached the above assumption, I added a squirt (about 2.5 ml) of the combo to each of the reservoirs to hopefully create a preventative increase in beneficial microbes. I also increased the water cycling schedule frequency so it will now run every 30 hours.