250. PROPAGATION: Slideshow about an annual called Cannabis

September 19, 2024 //

This slideshow takes us through Cannabis and its evolution with humans over the centuries. We go to the golden triangle of Humboldt Trinity and Mendocino counties, and cover the journey that is required for a crop to grow from seed or cutting to its harvest and processing and eventually making it to the market. Along the way we discuss Cannabis taxonomy, breeding, pests, and culture in general with regards to light, soil, water, nutrition, and so on. We end the slideshow with a visit to a local Cannabis nursery that grows small plants in greenhouses to sell to growers to grow to flowering stage.

Elsie Allen pounds acorns into flour in Ukiah in 1964. Allen contracted the flu during the 1918 flu epidemic, acorn mush cooked by her mother nourished her back to health, according to her 1972 book Pomo Basketmaking: A Supreme Art for the Weaver. (Sonoma County Library)

Author Ken Kesey poses in 1997 with his bus, “Further,” a descendant of the vehicle that carried Kesey and the Merry Pranksters on the 1964 trip immortalized in Tom Wolfe’s book *The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test*. Kesey, who died in 2001, is the subject of the new documentary *Magic Trip.*

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249. PROPAGATION: Slideshow about seeds

September 19, 2024 //

This slideshow takes us through the basics of seed collection, cleaning and processing, getting permits and getting through quarantine, and storage. Then later the show gets into the different ways we treat seeds so that they germinate well, as well as other things like the seeding soil mix, how deep to plant em, and stuff like that. And we throw in spores of ferns too since they are on the continuum of plants we like to grow.

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248. PROPAGATION: Propagation environment slideshow

September 3, 2024 //

This is a supplement of photos to the a previous blog entry about the tools and structures we use in propagating plants: https://missionazul.com/2020/01/27/122-gardening-propagation-3/

This slideshow is a little bit wonky. It starts off at the lighting department of your local Lowes or Home Depot, talking about lights and the importance of light for plant growth. Then it goes to the Strybing Arboretum nursery (now SF Botanical Garden) and grow grounds the way I remember it back in the days of the late 1990’s. There I learned about the myriad of special needs each plant has with regards to temperature, humidity, soil nutrition and drainage, and so on. You really have to pay attention to the plant if you want it to be happy. Once in magic moment, its not the high tech automated perfectly sterilized environment that makes a good propagation environment, it is caring people who really really love to grow a diverse selection of plants and are consistent in caring for them, even if its a bit DIY (LOL). Then we go to some other retail nurseries too and chat about the importance of the plant label and all the great things you can learn just by reading it. Afterwards we end at the grow area of our local sister community college Diablo Valley College across the bay in Pleasant Hill. Real nice and knowledgeable folks they are.

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247. PROPAGATION: Slideshow about genetics and plant breeding and such

September 3, 2024 //

Sometimes folks are absent from class and miss the slideshow and want to at least see the pictures even if they missed the stories. Well this one is about plant genetics which is a massive topic and of course source of much research in biotechnology, agriculture, and science today. The slideshow is a very basic introduction to the topic for most of us who are either ignorant or confounded by such dense and occasionally inscrutable matters. It will give you a jump off point to appreciate and understand genes and inheritance and why plant breeding is of such tremendous importance.

The slideshow starts off with some examples of non sexual cloning type breeding, then follows with animal hybrids leading to plant hybrids. There are a few pictures about different type of animal breeding strategies and systems. Some plants prefer to outcross, while others are really inbred for stability of traits. We talk about selecting for specific things when breeding like disease or insect resistance or aesthetics or ease of transport and picking. We explain the essence of genes which is DNA in the charming double helices. You have to learn about the haploid, diploid and so on polyploids of chromosomes and the way they divide. We end the lecture with a bit about how GMO works and also its flip side which is regular type breeding that has been honed over millennium to create diverse and locally adapted strains or ‘races’. Talk more about seeds in the next slideshow…

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246. DESIGN: Slideshow about drainage, sewers, runoff, culverts, canals, and so forth

August 19, 2024 //

This short slideshow is a walkabout that watches the way water travels around us, whether as rainfall precipitation coming down and moving about, or as irrigation or water works that we direct and channel here and there. It is an ode to the love of water and our very unique planet full of life.