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Three days seems forever when waiting for something in the mail but they finally arrived in fine shape and well packaged from
Three days seems forever when waiting for something in the mail but they finally arrived in fine shape and well packaged from
Green Planet Farm. I ordered the multi-pack of four varieties.
Asian Black, Home Green, FL Red, Yue Tang
A bonus variety, Cold Hardy #8 was added on my request with a promise to give it a fair cold hardiness test and report back since it doesn't get cold enough there to actually test it.
Each variety came wrapped in slightly damp paper towel with variety identification label...
I smiled at the note and imagined they said goodbye to their babies. 
Five Varieties
I decided after much thought the last few days to fall back on my favorite method of indoor propagation, coarse sand in gallon size Root Pouch grow bags in a wicking system, using a ten gallon aquarium. I've had great success using coarse sand with figs and NO FUNGUS GNATS!!!
The sand was gathered locally and sifted so that anything more fine than 20-mesh is removed which allows it to remain aerobic. The grow bags were cuffed to halfway and four inches of sand added to each. Previous testing with this sand shows it wicks by itself to four inches height when set in one inch depth of water. The grow bag material also wicks a significant amount of water and is the main cause of evaporation, which we want.
The cuttings were cut again to make chip buds, about 1.5 inches long or so and pushed into the sand just so the buds remain at the surface.
The first and only surface watering, to settle the sand around the buds was done with one-gallon of water which had 1/2 fluid ounce of homemade Aerobic Liquid Compost added that I keep brewing out in the garage. Further watering will go into the bottom of the tank.
I was sure looking forward to tasting some sugarcane and the leftover pieces did not disappoint. I know it's not prime time for eating but still was able to get a good taste. Out of them all, I prefer the Home Green and Asian Black about equally for ease of chewing, juiciness and flavor. Florida Red takes second. I will place Yue Tang in third and Cold Hardy #8 last, expecting these may change when the season is right and freshly picked.
An inch of water should be maintained in the bottom of the tank after what is visible is wicked up, which keeps the top inch of sand damp while providing air circulation needed to keep healthy liquid compost microorganisms alive and aerobic. Light is set for 16 hours on, 8 hours off. No more liquid compost will need to be added for awhile and I fully expect to need bringing out the T-5 light fixture before long and re-potting sugarcane starts!
Not too much longer and I'll be able to provide the starts with natural sunlight, doing the sugarcane shuffle in and out during our crazy Arkansas weather. One day it's freezing and in the 70's the next.
Here's some close-up's from today so we can gauge growth when it starts. In the first photo, I believe that bud on the upper right may not be viable but I'm not the expert. All the rest look firm and plump. Maybe it's just not awake yet.
Here's an edit, six hours after setting up the tank. The end of the probe is at the sand surface of the Asian Black pot, showing about 80-82 F. Our home stays constant 70-72 so this is perfect.
The tank sits up on two folding tables, back to the wall which has a sheet of reflective mylar, also covering the tank ends and front is not attached on bottom, yet. I can see well enough through the door hole in the lid.
The lights are two, stock 20W tubular aquarium bulbs I need to replace with a better spectrum LED type and will probably lose a few degrees of heat but I believe will benefit the young shoots.
When the time comes, my T5 fixture is equipped with Eye Hortilux Power Veg bulbs and will hang from the ceiling where the tank now sits, taking advantage of the already installed mylar on the wall. That should get us well into Spring.
Also worthy of mention is the ruler I have taped to the front, bottom-right corner which measures water level. It has transpired a full 1/16" in six hours. I would rather have to replace water more often than having it sit too long and become anaerobic. There ended up being 1-5/8" water level at filling time so I'm not too worried it will set too long. After it's all gone an inch will be added back.
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Edit 2/25/18
Water level in tank after 24 hours is 1-3/8" for a total evaporation of 1/4". More would be used if the plants were transpiring.
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Edit 2/26/18
A couple days ago, actually about 36 hours I posted the close-up photo's and commented on one Florida Red bud not being viable. It seemed to be so, even more evident this morning with increased browning at the bud site so I plucked it out of the sand. Don't want to contribute to possible spreading of death in the system so to speak. Kind of got a surprise...
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Edit 2/27/18
Replaced the bulbs in the aquarium with these for I would say a lot better illumination.
The photo color now is the real color. Yes I said I would wait a week before more photo's but these are amazing me...
Sorghum seeds arrived, three varieties. Rox Orange, Sugar Drip and Iowa Sweet. Per directions on the packs I will wait until warm soil to plant these.
Later that same day, the Sugarcane Propagation Unit was determined to not be large enough for what's about to happen. The last time this light fixture saw any action was Winter of 2015 in the indoor fig grow room project. It's equipped with Eye Hortilux Power Veg bulbs and puts out a bit of heat.
Eight foil pans with plastic lids lining them will serve as the holding trays for the bags and watering. We can fit three per tray and still have room to water and move them around if needed. I opted for several individual trays instead of one large reservoir because some canes may grow faster than others. We can place like sizes in their own tray and raise them up to where the light level is optimal for all canes.
Below is the temporary way until I can get them situated properly tomorrow. I think it best to go ahead and put each cutting in its own pot, given the growth rate of the root system.
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Everything needed to re-pot cuttings in sand. Benefit of sand is that when you put it into water and shake a bit, it becomes fluid. I had imagined the cuttings would float out like figs but no, they mostly sink so the bag is submerged into the red tub and tilted sideways so the sand and cuttings pour out under water.
First is Cold Hardy #8. Kind of disappointed as there are just barely white nubs starting to form around the nodes.
Home Green made me feel a bit better! Keep in mind these photo's were taken with the cuttings underwater so they aren't too sharp.
So all except CH #8 have nice roots for four days into it.
It's pretty much impossible to photograph the process of re-potting by this method so I will do my best to explain.
After the cuttings are poured out into the red tub, have a grow bag ready in the white bucket, also holding about 4 inches of water. Hold the cutting by the ends between thumb and finger at the bag surface ,allowing the roots to maintain their original position in the water, gently pour sand that will flow in and around the roots. If this is done correctly, the roots keep their position as if nothing ever happened. Fill each up to 4 inches depth, shake the bag gently to settle the sand and then lift it out of the water by the top edges to be placed in the grow tray. That's all there is to it.
Having seen the root growth on these in just four days, I'm glad this was done now while the roots weren't a tangled wad. From now on I will always pot a bud cutting into its own container.
Now an inch of water will be maintained in the trays and we'll have more varieties to add soon.
The last addition for now is mylar material to cover the front. Lots of exposure to Eye Hortilux bulbs is not good and was beginning to blur my vision. I halved the 4ft length so it could easily be lifted up for maintenance.
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Edit 3/1/18
How to convert plastic pots to sand wicking pots...
Several other varieties of sugarcane are on the way. I have plenty of 1-gallon grow bags but it's room to put them all I lack, so out of necessity I'm converting some plastic pots into sand wicking pots.
The pots are recycled from a landscaper. In order to safely use them, they need to be washed and sanitized. They were all sprayed to get rid of the bulk of junk and soaked in a solution of Star-San sanitizer, rinsed and ready to use.
These pots are standard 3" square at the top nursery pots, 4" tall x 2.5" on bottom. One 1-gallon Root Pouch grow bag, when opened up at the seams will provide exactly forty, 2.5" square "sand barriers" for fitting into the bottom of the pots. Without it, our sand would simply exit the drain holes.
The sand barrier is fitted into the pot, about a cup of sand is added and the pot is then lowered into the bucket of water which has 1/2 oz per gallon of Aerobic Liquid Compost. When the sand is saturated, the pot is lifted out and allowed to drain back into the bucket. This inoculates the sand with beneficial compost microbes and nutrients so the cuttings will have a good start and will remain plenty damp until they arrive.
Later that same day I decided instead of having two different sizes of pots going on, they all needed to be one size, given I don't have enough sand at the moment, no way to get and sift any more any time soon and keep from crowding under the light. So they were all re-potted into the plastic pots we just completed. I hope they will be sufficient until Spring. Commercial chip bud plantings use even smaller pots so they should be fine.
Could probably squeeze twelve into one tray but not necessary and will be room enough to move them around.
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3/5/18
This post is getting long. We're not going to change-up the way it is now after potting up several more varieties which arrived in the mail this morning so you may continue with us at https://diysugarcane.blogspot.com/2018/03/growing-sugarcane-in-arkansas-part-ii.html
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