More Sprouts!

Titty Fruit

 So far so good with the Titty Fruit tree.  It's growing slowly, but growing.  I think it really likes the warm days and actually grows best when it's hotter in the apartment.  It's looking healthy, so I'm happy.

And then there were more plants that have finally decided to pop out of the soil.  The Dwarf Pomegranate was the first, popping up a few days ago.  Then I noticed that the Star Fruit that I was pretty much figuring was a lost cause had poked through the soil yesterday.

My kids loved the star fruit and the last time we had one I saved the seeds, so I had no idea if they would grow or not.  I looked up care instructions for them and found that it was not suggested to try to grow them out of their region since they need lots of light, warmth and will grow large quickly.  It sounded like a challenge, so I'm curious to see how it turns out.

Star Fruit

Pomegranate 

After days of waiting, watering and more waiting, I finally have my first sprout!  That's right!

This is the first baby plant!  This is, if the labels haven't gotten mixed, a Solanum Mammosum, or as it is commonly called, Titty Fruit tree.  This guy will be cut and decorative, and supposedly will grow pretty well trimmed down to about 2 or three feet to be an indoor plant.

The tree will produce little fruits that look like fat feet with toes.  The fruit is poisonous, so don't eat them!

So, with a happy sigh I welcome my new addition to my plants family.  Now, I'm hoping something else pops up soon.

Reality is that I'm not expecting 100% success with everything, but I'd be happy with 50%.  Who knows.

And now, I wait for more!

The Seeds!

So, the seeds arrived yesterday, so this morning I collected pots, my dirts, and my spray bottle and watering can and got to planting.  The only one so far not planted are the Kaffir Plums, as the pits need to soak for several hours before planting.

I'm excited to say the least!  I tried to do my best at sorting out the seeds by what their water and moisture requirements are.  Fortunately only one of the plants requires constant humidity.  To ensure this, I planted the seeds in a small starter pot and then used an old soda bottle to keep it in a moist environment.  Hopefully that will work.

The planted seeds with my tomato seedling behind.  

In all, I have 14 little pots.  There is still at least one more, though the kaffir plum seeds are pretty big.  I may actually plant them in a few containers to start.  I can't help but wonder still where the fuck they will all go when they grow and need transplanted.

I need a bigger home... as it is, I have quite the collection of plants and such in my windows.

coffees and such with my basil and cacti

Now that it's almost all planted, I get to wait for the actual germination.  The coffee seeds will likely take the longest according to the instructions.  I wonder what will be first.

Just can't wait to see!

current view from my desk.

So... my children were introduced to the wonder of the star fruit the other day.  They loved them so much that I had to buy 3 more that day for them.  They devour them when I buy them now.  This last couple I got, I was careful to not slice all the seeds and collected a few un-sliced ones.

I have looked online, and most people seem to just say that it's an easy plant to get started, but due to it's need for a tropical environment and fast growth, these are very difficult plants to cultivate indoors and potted in colder regions.

Well, fuck the nay-sayers... I'm giving it a try.  I planted them around a four inch starter pot in a starter soil, watered them, and now they are sitting with the brain flower plants that have sprouted, my daughter's cherry tomato sprouts, and the blue eye sprouts that didn't seem to germinate very well with only about six sprouts total.

So, we'll see how it will go.

From humble beginnings...

I have always loved to try to grow things.  In my first apartment when I was  18, I bought grass seeds and a tray to plant my first lawn.  (It was about eight inches wide and about 18 inches long.)  Really, it was silly.  But I did have fun keeping it for while I kept up with it.

Years later, I became very interested in having a garden.  I moved into a house with my first wife and started a vegetable garden and tried to make a nice ornamental garden.  When I moved out, my now ex-wife had it all tilled under and it's just grass now.  I also tried to start growing my own bonsai.  I bought a plant that my mother killed.  I bought another plant that my ex-wife crushed when she fell from a stool.  I tried again, this time from a kit with seeds.  I went away for a few days and some one forgot to water it.  My last one was a ficus that again was forgotten about when I went on vacation.  As of yet, I have no bonsai.

I have been able to grow cacti fairly well.  At this time, I have a pretty nice sized aloe plant, and two cacti that had started from broken pieces of a large cactus.  I also have a snake plant that I've now had for years.  I bought an air plant last year, and have had a struggling spider plant for a couple of years.  Every year, I grow peppers in a pot from the seeds of the previous year.  This will be the fourth year.

And then there are the banana trees!  My father had a story about banana trees and how they can't die.  I bought one three years ago.  It seemed to die during the winter when I brought them it.  Then, it grew again.  Every winter it goes through the cycle of dying and growing.  I added a second one to my collection the next year.  Both seem to still be alive, though I am learning more and more about how to properly take care of them.

In my search for finding more information on proper care for my banana trees, I found a website selling seeds for all manners of crazy tropical and Asian plants.  After some time, I finally decided on a few plants and placed an order.  I was quickly sent an email telling me that I had to purchase more than $20 worth of seeds before I could get an order.  I went through the list and decided on 15 plant seeds.  (I have no idea where the fuck I will put them all!)

In the order, there are seeds for 5 different types of coffee plants, a giant cactus, a couple of trees to bonsai, and a few edible fruits.  Included is the Titty Fruit tree because I couldn't resist.

So, if you managed to read through all this, I'll end this post explaining that the whole idea of this is more of an online journal of how my plants grow or not and such.  In a way, this will be my inspiration to keep at my plants.  I'll post pictures and updates as often as I can.

For now, as I wait for my seeds, I planted some stuff with my kids.  My daughter loves tomatoes, so we planted some cherry tomato seeds that have sprouted and are about one inch tall today.  My son picked out some "Blue eye" flowers that are just starting to sprout.  I picked up some seeds for that plant that looks like a brain is growing for a flower.  These aren't as exotic, but they'll keep me busy for now.

-sj moyer