Aphids Attack!

My opinion is that this living system is in a hybrid place, and we should deal with the bugs as agonistically or cooperatively as you (we) feel appropriate.    Personally, I wouldn't want to live with (too many) bugs wandering across my papers and in my computer.  (I expect aphids prefer plants.)  That's partly why I moved from Atlanta Georgia to a much colder climate ;)  The question then is how you / we all inhabit the lab which, to keep on living as a research-creation space and a home for us, must still be free enough from bugs of all types, software as well as arthropod.   I confess to hiring, in Atlanta, a professional to come once a month to spray "biodegradable" poison around the house to keep monstrous roaches from penetrating the perimeter.  ("They ain't roaches, sir.  They're Palmetto bugs!")

Now, in keeping with the spirit of this project and move to a less XinWei-centric reading of the situation, siting these plants in the lab is already a large perturbation from both the forest and LEED building ecologies.   The aphid "explosion" if that's what it is, is in fact perhaps an artifact of this mutant siting.  So my opinion is that our challenge is not to be "organic" as if there were some edenic state of nature to which we can return, but to improvise a way to put down the aphid population and bring a new dynamic equilibrium that includes how happy our computers,  papers, food, and bodies will be together with the plants and critters.   If you decide we need to "reset"  with a fresh batch of "clean" soil and new plants,  that's fine too.   The apparatus, to be worthy of the thoughtful effort, should be able to sustain multiple experiments.

At this point, I would like to start engaging more of the TML with the research area including PLSS, so let me cc the tml-active@concordia.ca.

Hope to see you and everyone sometime when I'm back in Montreal June 1-5!

- Xin Wei

On 2010-05-26, at 5:35 PM, Laura Boyd-Clowes <l.boyd.clowes@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi everyone,

Last week, Jane pointed out to me that there is a significant insect population making its living in one of our plant boxes. She suggested uprooting the afflicted plants, washing them in soap and water and then re-planting them. I was considering just removing the plants altogether, and the bugs with them. Alternatively, it was suggested that we allow the bugs to take over, and watch closely what happens. In pre-infestation discussions some of you were opposed to spraying any form of pest deterrent. I am sympathetic to this position myself. It is indeed appealing to maintain a 'pure' or 'organic' garden. Needless to say, I have thought for a while about it - perhaps too long, as the aphids have quickly spread to all three planter boxes - and finally decided to lightly spray the buggiest plants with a highly diluted mixture of mineral oil and dish soap. It should work to stop the bugs from migrating to the hanging container, which, incidentally, is bearing delicious string beans! Make sure to pick a couple the next time you visit the lab. Unfortunately, all the other edibles will now have to be thoroughly washed before consumption.

Laura

-- 
http://groups.google.com/group/tml-plss/

Aphids attack!

Hi everyone,

 
Last week, Jane pointed out to me that there is a significant insect population making its living in one of our plant boxes. She suggested uprooting the afflicted plants, washing them in soap and water and then re-planting them. I was considering just removing the plants altogether, and the bugs with them. Alternatively, it was suggested that we allow the bugs to take over, and watch closely what happens. In pre-infestation discussions some of you were opposed to spraying any form of pest deterrent. I am sympathetic to this position myself. It is indeed appealing to maintain a 'pure' or 'organic' garden. Needless to say, I have thought for a while about it - perhaps too long, as the aphids have quickly spread to all three planter boxes - and finally decided to lightly spray the buggiest plants with a highly diluted mixture of mineral oil and dish soap. It should work to stop the bugs from migrating to the hanging container, which, incidentally, is bearing delicious string beans! Make sure to pick a couple the next time you visit the lab. Unfortunately, all the other edibles will now have to be thoroughly washed before consumption.
 
 
This has got me thinking. One question that the seemingly mundane aphid immigration has raised for me:
 
It seems that for most, the assumption is that our plants should be 'protected' from parasitic insects. Indeed, if it were possible, some gardeners would prevent all but a few insect species from reaching their plants. In so doing, they impose certain boundaries on the local system, in accordance with their value assignment (plants good/bugs bad) All local systems have boundaries, but humans tend to have a knack for recognizing, inventing and enforcing them. Is it possible to bypass this proclivity for system-closing and boundary creation? Would that even be worthwhile?
 
Laura

Gentle Invasion

Just a quick post to inform you of a territorial conflict between a hanging Senecio picticaulis and a twining Aristolochia durior (Dutchman's Pipe). The vine has wrapped itself around the succulent and is continuing on up! It looks like they are wrestling.

seeing the plss

Hello all

I was disappointed I couldn't meet any of the plss people last week, but was very pleased to meet the plants! What a great mix of horticultural categories, ages and speeds you have created! It will be very interesting to see how the landscape changes with time, and with the transition to sensor-care. I'm not sure how much you guys want to document, but I did take some pictures - let me know if you'd like to see/have them.

I also really liked the variety of structures you have constructed. I wondered if it might be possible to lower the hanging plants even more, so that they might have more of a chance to interact with the plants below (the morning glory is already making some serious progress in this regard!)

I'm going to be back in early June so am looking forward to seeing how things change.

Erin

Late Spring Status Report

A quick update on the status of things:

- Toby's off to start a restaurant in Albany
- I got a job in Montreal, so I'll be working on PLSS all summer with Laura
- Toby made 3 movable boxes, a piano-soundboard garden, and a hanging garden made from rubber liner. 
- Plants are planted and growing fast!
- There is space for more plants!
- I'll start developing sensors in early May
- I'll start putting together a video for the Think Box soon – I may ask people for video interviews!
- The cistern will arrive this week and I'll start putting all that together next week
- Natasha comes in June
- A revised schedule is due for Sustainable Concordia (got plans? let me know and I'll put them in the schedule)
- I've started scanning and submitting receipts – please get me receipts for anything you want to be reimbursed for.
- Ramy and Alvaro have volunteered to help with building a RepRap from scratch this summer. 3D printing in our future!

M

Unpotting

As spring has the shoots and buds emerging outside, a similar revitalization is happening inside.
This weekend Morgan, Toby and I went to the Concordia greenhouse and returned to the lab with armfuls of young potted plants. We transplanted most of them into the soil yesterday. Toby scooped some leaves and soil from Parc Mont-Royal to combine with our peat moss, vermiculite and compost mix. He may have also scooped some worms that were dwelling there... the TML has unwittingly opened its doors to alien annelids!

The following plants are currently rooting in the lab space:

Rosemary
Lavender
Stinging nettle
Thyme
Aloe Vera
Basil
Spider Plants
Ivy
Norfolk Island Pine
Baby's Tears (Irish moss)
Feverfew
Asplenium fern (the plant that inspired Michael Barnsley's fern fractal)
Sage
Parsley
and a very thorny bush that I can't identify... I'll post photos soon so if anyone recognizes it please let me know!

We tried to get a wide variety, including both pleasant and not-so-pleasant plants (such as the nettles), herbs, vines, shrubs, both dry- and humid-climate types etc. We hope to put some beans and other vegetables in soon. Toby is also tending to two rice paddies along the floor by the windows. 
I believe the water tank and piping will be installed by May; for now we will be watering the plants by hand.

It all looks good. More than that it feels good. Come sit by the windows and you'll smell the basil!

Laura

[tml-plss] other experiments

On the topic of other work, a prof just sent me a link to this:

Nomadic Plants by Gilberto Esparza

On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 12:28 PM, Erin Despard <erindespard@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello all

Just thought people might enjoy this short video of Nathalie
Jeremijenko's bird garden and her discussion of experimenting with new
forms of urban ecosystem.

I found it through the blog of another Concordia student, who is
attempting to make squash art in the greenhouse on top of the Hall
building. I'm finding her struggles to get technology and plant life
working together toward her artistic goals interesting to follow.

http://aloader.wordpress.com/

Erin

Environmentally Friendly Plastics

Toby and I are looking at buying tubing and fittings made from non-PVC plastics. Find information about the toxic and possibly carcinogenic properties of different plastics in the following (mostly unfiltered) links:

Cute Anti-PVC Video: http://pvcfree.org/

Greenpeace offer a number of useful guides to 'eco-friendly' materials, for instance this Green Guide to Electronics: http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/usa/press-center/reports4/green-guide-to-electronics-fo.pdf

M