How to grow an Esrog plant in New York and cold climate areas

[jdl4ever]

I was finally successful in growing 4 esrog seedlings now 6 inches tall.  Here is how you do it.  For best results you got to obtain a small glass fishtank with that aquarium fluorescent light that is included with the tank usually so that you can incubate them in a greenhouse like structure.  It has a special light that gives off a lot of infrared meaning heat and you use the tank as a greenhouse; if you don't want to get the fish tank then simply use a regular fluorecent bulb not an incadescent one.  I recommend a 15 watt bulb or higher left on 24 hours a day continuously.  Take the seeds out of the esrog and plant like 10 seeds into a 4 inch pot and wait until they grow.  Thin to about 4 per 4 inch pot.  Then water once a week and let them grow until they grow out of the tank.  After that I'll keep you posted since mine are still in the tank.  They like it there as it seems to imitate their natural climate.

[shimon]

i like to buy my etrog from israel so that it supports jewish farmers

[jdl4ever]

I used to have fish in it but they died. 

[Tina Greco - Melbourne]

I used to have fish in it but they died. 

Thats sad. 

[Dexter]

Why do you call it Esrog ?

[OdKahaneChai]

i like to buy my etrog from israel so that it supports jewish farmers

This may pose a problem, come next Succos...

[shimon]

i like to buy my etrog from israel so that it supports jewish farmers

This may pose a problem, come next Succos...

yeah i guess il have to buy one thats made buy a non jew or one grown outside israel because of shmita

[Dexter]

Why do you call it Esrog ?

Esrog is etrog in Ashkenazic Hebrew just like Shabbos is Shabbat. That is because there is no dagesh in the taf so it is pronounced as a saf.

Without the dagesh in the Taw it's sounds like Th in the word Think, isn't it ?

[OdKahaneChai]

Why do you call it Esrog ?

Esrog is etrog in Ashkenazic Hebrew just like Shabbos is Shabbat. That is because there is no dagesh in the taf so it is pronounced as a saf.

Without the dagesh in the Taw it's sounds like Th in the word Think, isn't it ?

I believe there is a tiny minority who pronounce it like that, but most pronounce it as a Sav.

[Ulli]

This idea with the aquarium is good. There are special plant-fluorescent lamps on the market. 

How do you care for the right temperature? Do you have a heater mat in the aquarium?

I try to grow tabak and grape-vines in the moment. I use for it a mini-   green house 

But the vine I don't grow from seeds. I use cuttings.





For the substrat I use two deposits. 2 cm special planting earth and about it I have put 4 cm of sand.

Agriculture is one of my hobbies

 

[Ulli]

Heating mat:

[jdl4ever]

I don't use a heating mat but simply use the room temperature of the house plus the special plant flourescent light gives off heat and heats up the mostly sealed fishtank at least another 5 degrees and it also is very humid in the greenhouse since it is mostly sealed.  The 75 degree humid climate seems to be the optimum temperature for the seedlings since they are growing very fast and look very healthy.  Soon I'm moving the seedlings out of the greenhouse since they will be too big and placing them in a regular room at room temperature with a regular 25W flourescent light on the ceiling on for 24 hours a day and hopefully they wouldn't mind the drier and cooler climate.

[jdl4ever]

Why do you call it Esrog ?

I'm Ashkenazi and we pronounce everything wrong.     We say Taf only if it has a dot in it.  Otherwize, we say "Saf" and it sounds like "Samach".

[Ulli]

I don't use a heating mat but simply use the room temperature of the house plus the special plant flourescent light gives off heat and heats up the mostly sealed fishtank at least another 5 degrees and it also is very humid in the greenhouse since it is mostly sealed.  The 75 degree humid climate seems to be the optimum temperature for the seedlings since they are growing very fast and look very healthy.  Soon I'm moving the seedlings out of the greenhouse since they will be too big and placing them in a regular room at room temperature with a regular 25W flourescent light on the ceiling on for 24 hours a day and hopefully they wouldn't mind the drier and cooler climate.

That your plants are fine is great. You should use a stronger light after you put them out of the greenhouse.

Look here this is great:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-vapor_lamp

It uses a lot of energy  But is the best solution for healthy plants.

But you can do it with a regular fluorescent lamp too. But you have to put the lamp then near to the plants. Perhaps you can use a chain, which hangs from the ceiling. Then you are able to pull the lamp higher if the plants are growing.

Or put them near the window.

The plants need to are a few hours in darkness each day. I suggest you 6-8 hours.

But I never thought about using an aquarium for the first time. This is a great idea.

My neighbor has a store for garden articles. He told me that I have to wait up to two months until the grape-vine will grow.

I have grown until now black salsifies, artichoke, potatoes, grape vine (the cuttings are from the plant in my garden), tabacco (failed last year - the snails eat all little plants last year) and tomatoes (I had hundreds of tomatoes last year from only a few plants)

[jdl4ever]

I like your plants.    I didn't think you could grow tobacco like that.  I also grew tomatoes indoors but I found that they didn't transplant well outside since they suffered from climate shock due to the difference in climate and died outdoors; same thing happened with cucumbers so I buy the seedlings of tomatoes to plant outdoors since it is less trouble and I grow the cucumbers in pots outdoors and transplant them when they are big enough.  The problem with the mercury lamp is that it is too expensive, it consumes too much energy.  Flourescent lamps are the best to use as a 26 watt lamp produces as much light as a 100 watt incadescent bulb.  I actually used only a 15 watt flourescent in the fish tank and that's how I grew the seedlings.  Now I transplanted them to bigger pots with a 26 watt on the ceiling.  Believe it or not, I had the best results this year since I never turned the light off but left it on 24 hours a day.  The plants grew twice as fast.  So I feel no need to turn the light off unless I want to stunt the plants growth when they get too big. 

[Ulli]

I like your plants.    I didn't think you could grow tobacco like that.  I also grew tomatoes indoors but I found that they didn't transplant well outside since they suffered from climate shock due to the difference in climate and died outdoors; same thing happened with cucumbers so I buy the seedlings of tomatoes to plant outdoors since it is less trouble and I grow the cucumbers in pots outdoors and transplant them when they are big enough.  The problem with the mercury lamp is that it is too expensive, it consumes too much energy.  Flourescent lamps are the best to use as a 26 watt lamp produces as much light as a 100 watt incadescent bulb.  I actually used only a 15 watt flourescent in the fish tank and that's how I grew the seedlings.  Now I transplanted them to bigger pots with a 26 watt on the ceiling.  Believe it or not, I had the best results this year since I never turned the light off but left it on 24 hours a day.  The plants grew twice as fast.  So I feel no need to turn the light off unless I want to stunt the plants growth when they get too big. 

Oh, you are really lucky. I have used a time-clock to regulate light and darkness. I have never tried 24 hours of light, because all books I read about this issue tells not to do it.

But, perhaps trying is the best way. 

Perhaps I make in the near future a experiment with 24 hour light. I am very curious about the results.

This year I will be very carefull with my tabacco culture. I will grow them inside in big pots (I will have nearly 200 plants) until they are great enough to resist the evil slugs. I think about digging glasses into the earth after planted the tabacco outside and fill them with beer. The slugs will drink from it and fall drunk into the glasses 

I smoke sometimes some tabacco (really not a lot), but the gouvernment takes high taxes.

Perhaps I will succeed this year. 

I have a mercury lamp with the electronic. It is very bright. I can't look into it without seeing nothing for the next minutes. 18 hours a day a 400 Watt is really expensive, you are right.

[Ulli]

This was my tabacco culture before the evil slugs ate it:

[jdl4ever]

Those are some nice looking Tobacco plants.  I've had the same problem with slugs.  I tried the beer idea but it didn't work and not one slug fell for the beer.  The only thing that kept some of them out was wrapping the tiny plant in plastic with a few small holes in it and burying the plastic in the ground.  The problem is that you are successful in keeping the adult slugs out but the tiny baby slugs can still get in and eat the plant so it might or may not work depending on how lucky you are.  For me they lived until I took the plastic off and the slugs ate the plants again.  Then I stumbled across a better idea that seemed to work.  I call it the "sacrificing idea".  Plant a couple of cabbage full grown plants or lettuce plants around the borders of your tobacco farm.  The slugs will eat the cabbage plants and lettuce plants instead of the Tobacco (or eat only a little of the tobacco) since it is much easier for them to eat the softer lettuce or cabbage I think.  It worked for me with cucumbers, haven't tried it with Tobacco so no guarantee.  I also found that the sacrificing idea also worked when I didn't weed the garden and the slugs ate an equal proportion of soft weeds as they ate the seedlings allowing most of them to live.  When the seedlings are the only thing in the garden, guess what the slugs are going to eat?   The only fail proof way to get rid of them is to find the places where they are hiding and kill them or go out at night and kill them yourself since they come out at night but I'm too lazy to chase slugs at night. 

[Ulli]

Those are some nice looking Tobacco plants.  I've had the same problem with slugs.  I tried the beer idea but it didn't work and not one slug fell for the beer.  The only thing that kept some of them out was wrapping the tiny plant in plastic with a few small holes in it and burying the plastic in the ground.  The problem is that you are successful in keeping the adult slugs out but the tiny baby slugs can still get in and eat the plant so it might or may not work depending on how lucky you are.  For me they lived until I took the plastic off and the slugs ate the plants again.  Then I stumbled across a better idea that seemed to work.  I call it the "sacrificing idea".  Plant a couple of cabbage full grown plants or lettuce plants around the borders of your tobacco farm.  The slugs will eat the cabbage plants and lettuce plants instead of the Tobacco (or eat only a little of the tobacco) since it is much easier for them to eat the softer lettuce or cabbage I think.  It worked for me with cucumbers, haven't tried it with Tobacco so no guarantee.  The only fail proof way to get rid of them is to find the places where they are hiding and kill them or go out at night and kill them yourself since they come out at night but I'm too lazy to chase slugs at night. 

I will try it with planting lettuce around the tabacco. If I prepare the garden in the next weeks, I will  dig up a greater part of the grass for it.  I do not want to use poison, because I am afraid of the poison will find a way into the plants.

You are right, in daylight I have never seen a slug. They do their evil work by night.