2024.10.05: Greenhouse Move-In Day
It s been a remarkably warm fall so far but cooler October days are coming up, dipping down into the 40s
Brian C. Becker
Robotics and Horticulture Enthusiast
Latest posts
2022.02.06: Sunny Greenhouse
It has been the depth of Pittsburgh winter her recently with snow on the ground for several weeks in a
2022.02.05: Micro Dwarf Tomato Experiment, Day 642!
So almost two years ago I started an experiment to see how well Micro Dwarf Tomatoes could be grown indoors
2022.01.30: We have germination!
A few of my tomatoes and peppers have germinated. I didn t have great germination rates, possibly because it was too
2022.01.23: Winter Greenhouse Sprouts & Micro Tomatoes
It s 2022! Pretty crazy, and winter is hitting full force here in Pittsburgh. We ve had single digit lows and snow
2021.08.22 (Day 1): Peaches & Shelving
Today I was encouraged to spend less time on screens and media consumption. Not entirely sure how I feel about
2021.01.30: Scale Infestation :(
Last year my mango got scale and I fought it all year with not too much success (horticultural oil, scrubbing
2020.10.17: Desk Grow Space
With working from home dragging on, I ve been slowly upgrading the room I ve been using as an office with grow
2020.07.24: Micro Dwarf Tomato Experiment, Day 77
First harvest!! Just under 3 months from seed, both the Bonsai and the Pinnochio tomato plants had two ripe tomatoes
2020.07.16: Micro Dwarf Tomato Experiment, Day 69
Just under 10 weeks from seed and the first outdoor micro-dwarf tomato is starting to ripen! This is the Bonsai
2020.07.12: Micro Dwarf Tomato Experiment, Day 65
Two months in and my 10 outdoor micro-dwarf tomatoes are doing great! Most have lots of fruit. I measured the
2020.07.05: Micro Dwarf Tomato Experiment, Day 58
So yes, I can say definitively that planting micro-dwarf tomatoes 6 apart is too close together and now I have
2020.06.25: Micro Dwarf Tomato Experiment, Day 48
Two weeks after transplanting into the sub-irrigated bin indoors, the tomatoes are taking off! So much so that I probably
2020.06.17: Micro Dwarf Tomato Experiment, Day 40
I have two QB120 HLG lights with reflective sides around the back and sides of the sub irrigated bin. I
2020.06.13: Micro Dwarf Tomato Experiment, Day 36
After hardening off, I planted one of each of my 10 varieties in my designated outdoor garden plot (well the
2020.06.11: Micro Dwarf Tomato Experiment, Day 34
Since many of my tomato seedlings were already starting to flower, I ve been meaning to transplant them. I think I
2020.06.06: Micro Dwarf Tomato Experiment, Day 29
Today I spent some time creating a new sub-irrigated bin to put the tomatoes in. I used a pretty even
2020.06.03: Micro Dwarf Tomato Experiment, Day 26
Only 4 weeks into the experiment and just noticed tiny flowers are appearing! That s pretty crazy. I guess I was
2020.05.29: Micro Dwarf Tomato Experiment, Day 21
3 weeks in, I figured it was time to thin the tomatoes. Since I had planted two seeds in each
2020.05.19: Micro Dwarf Tomato Experiment, Day 11
All of the cells are up except one of the Yellow Canary, which means I probably overlooked it when planting
2020.05.14: Micro Dwarf Tomato Experiment, Day 6
It s Day 6 of the Micro Dwarf Tomato Experiment and almost all the tomato cells are up! Yellow Canary seems
2020.05.09: Record Cold Freeze
It s May 9th and snowing! Yes, Pittsburgh is in the upper-20s. That will make it the 8th time in our
2020.05.08: Micro Dwarf Tomato Experiment, Day 0
Background: A few years ago, I got interested in growing the smallest tomato, the Micro Tom as a curiosity, so
2020.04.27: Planting Black Vernissage Tomatoes
The tomatoes were quite leggy so I planted them sideways. Also sprayed insecticidal soap for thrips and tried to get
2020.04.24: Sub-Irrigated Planter (SIP) Water Level Meter
I ve been using Sub-Irrigated Planters (SIPs) using 27 gallon storage totes in my greenhouse, office, and basement for a couple
2020.04.22: Blueberry Box is Open for Business
Today was ~50F and sunny, so I got a chance to head outside and finish up the blueberry box section
2020.04.21: Up-potting Seedlings
Today I spent some time up-potting my seedlings. I had some artichokes, tomatoes, and peppers that I had started a
2020.04.16: Feeding Time & Blueberries
Spring is here, though today in Pittsburgh the high was only 42 F. The greenhouse was nice and warm though,
2020.04.10: Potting Up & Liliana
Almost two weeks ago my daughter Liliana was born! With COVID-19 restrictions, the hospital allowed only one person to accompany
2020.01.05: Visit by the friendly Assassin (Bug)
Tonight I was eating supper in the greenhouse when I noticed two Assassin Bugs on the Hibiscus plant sitting on
2020.01.04: Planting New Crops
Today we planted some Early Girl tomatoes, Rattlesnake green beans, California Wonder sweet peppers, and French Velour green beans (which
2020.01.02: First Winter Tomato
Today I got back from spending New Years in Florida, and was greeted by the first ripe cherry tomato in
2019.11.12: First Fall Snow
First snow with a record-breaking 12 F low in mid-Nov!
2019.11.11: Mars Hydro and HLG First Impressions
I ve been dabbling in grow lights for a few years now, starting with CFLs. My first LED light was a
2019.11.04: New Heater Fan
The new fan for my heater came today from Amazon, it seems to be working pretty well to circulate the
2019.11.03: Hammock Time
For the past few winters, I ve put a hammock in the greenhouse, which has been delightful. This year I was
2019.11.02: First Freeze
This morning was the first freeze here in Pittsburgh. It toasted my tomatoes and the remainder of my warm weather
2019.10.11: Digital Thermostat w/ External Probe
The past few days I ve been seeing 10-15 degree swings with an analog house thermometer and a digital house thermometer
2019.10.10: Thermostat Woes
I got my new gas heater installed and it works with an external thermostat (instead of my ventless gas heater
2019.09.29: Horticultural Oil + Movable Fire
Today I spent some time spraying all the plants I m hoping to transfer into the greenhouse with horticultural oil in
2019.09.28: Start of the Fall Greenhouse Season
So with the traveling I ve been doing lately, I haven t had had a chance to really get a jump-start on
New Williams Vented Heater
Now that I m going into my third winter, I m starting to have some plants that would be hard to replace,
Oh my, spider mites & aphids
This week I noticed aphids were infecting some of my tomato plants and flowers in the greenhouse, and upon closer
ACF GrowMore Dripping is No More
Since I use my ACF GrowMore greenhouse more as an add-on conservatory to the house than a separate greenhouse, growing
Winterizing the Greenhouse (Dec 2018)
It s now December in Pittsburgh, which means getting cold. Well not today specifically since it s 63 F and sunny (so
MOAR LIGHT!
It s getting to be late October in Pittsburgh, which means waking up to temperatures in the 30s, highs in the
Back Home, Blue Enchantments
Coming back from vacation, I checked the greenhouse and it was largely as I had left it: a few self-irrigated
Greenhouse Mango Tree
2018.09.14: Last summer, my dad and I built a deck and then a greenhouse on half the deck. This past
KinectFusion Presents: Lord Pyry
After working all weekend on getting PCL s new KinectFusion and collecting cool voxel representations of my friend (and after fixing
KinectFusion Weekend (T-107)
So KinectFusion is an awesome new Microsoft algorithm for the GPU that essentially does real-time SLAM with Kinect RGBD cameras.