6 ms·
On the subject of horticulture, there are still a great many amazing plants that aren't well understood and which resist cultivation. In addition it seems some
by contingencies 6y ago
On the subject of horticulture, there are still a great many amazing plants that aren't well understood and which resist cultivation. In addition it seems some fundamentally accepted default processes in the horticultural industry are ripe for review - for example, I read a paper recently which threw the conventional root hormone application wisdom for cuttings out the window: in that study it was found application atop a cutting (in the species covered) was superior to application below a cutting as conventionally taught. If things this fundamental are up for discussion, it would seem clear that we are really only at the relative tip of the iceberg in our understanding of biological systems and horticultural practice.
I suspect advancements in the next few years in areas like: new high yield crop combinations, improved robotic tilling/sewing/fertilizing/weeding/harvesting mechanisms, increased understanding of a broader variety of species seed germination requirements, combined horticulture/mycoculture/bryoculture strategies, autonomous tissue culture, autonomous offshore aquaculture and harvesting, etc. Robotics really should be a huge enabler here.
I already have a robotics factory in China and the personal and commercial motivation to build solutions in this space and am actively studying horticulture. Email me if you'd like to collaborate, have agricultural know-how and/or land and the medium to long term interest to collaborate, fellow startups welcome. Basically I am constrained by available land and time, don't believe in the long term economics of indoor/heavily synthetic conditions, and believe we are fundamentally at a crossroads for more sustainable, higher density agricultural practices enabled by new, more precise technology and more holistic conceptions of agricultural systems.
- varikin 6y agoI would love to see this paper you mention. My wife loves all things green. Our house is filling up with house plants, which I am OK with as long I am not in charge of them. And the more she plant outside, the less I have to mow. But anyways, she does a lot of cutting and if there is something else that can work, I would love to share it with her.
- adrianN 6y agoYou could replace your lawn with a more natural meadow. You only have to mow them once a year.
- tomp 6y agoWhat plant would you plant? I heard good things about Dichondra but unfortunately it doesn’t survive winter freezing / snowing.
- adrianN 6y agoThat depends on where you live, you should plant native species. I would go to my local botanical garden and ask them what they have on their meadows. If you don't have a botanical garden around, a local university might have information, eg https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/topics/lawn-alternatives https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/topics/lawn-alternatives
- hedora 6y agoYou could get a native wildflower mix, and seed bomb with that. After a few years, it’ll settle into patches that of species appropriate for the sun/shade level, and look more natural. It’ll make the native pollinators and birds happy too.
- tomp 6y agoSure, but then I might as well plant salad, rosemary etc (i.e. actually useful plants... along with some species that maintain / improve soil nutrition). In my view, the main purpose of ground cover is to be able to walk on it...
- BasicObject 6y agoIn my area, they hold native plant sales through the local conservation district. Here is an example: https://kingcd.org/programs/better-backyards/native-bareroot-plant-sale/ https://kingcd.org/programs/better-backyards/native-bareroot... I've purchased native trees, scrubs and native flower mixes through them. They seem to be held only once a year but the prices are very reasonable.
- contingencies 6y agohttps://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/14981883.pdf https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/14981883.pdf
- hammock 6y agoWhat do you mean root hormone atop a cutting? On the leaves as opposed to the open stem?
- hinkley 6y agoOn the bark above the cut end, is where the roots will come out, much if the time.
- hammock 6y agoOh got it. Makes sense. I typically did the whole end in which means there is some getting above the cut end
- hinkley 6y agoYou can get rooting hormone in liquid form. The protocol is to dilute then soak the ends for x number of seconds depending on what kind of material you’re working with (green, woody, semiwoody). Apparently you can do it too long, which I did not know previously.
- stepstop 6y agoI love your comments
- cmrdporcupine 6y agoI sent you an email, let me know if you don't receive it, want to make sure I got the address right.
- cmrdporcupine 6y agore: rooting, another anecdote there -- grapes have traditionally been dormant grafted and rooted vertical. But some people I know in the grapebreeding community have had more success recently with horizontal cuttings; at least for green cuttings, more experimentation required for dormant hardwood. In any case, a massive difference in terms of the amount of new root material produced. And this makes sense when you think of how a grape would naturally clone itself in the wild (which they do, like _crazy_); they'll layer along the ground and send down roots from a horizontal shoot. So they're likely some kind of dominance for roots in that formation. We may have been propagating grapes wrong for 2000+ years :-)