I'm Grant Taylor. I'm not an actual dassie, but I have a special interest in the little creatures. I follow them closely, I study their ways, I learn their patience, and practice some of their teachings. I've been following dassies for over 30 years. Fun fact: I found out that you can actually communicate and converse with dassies. I also discovered that you can't speak to them directly or look them in the eye.
They only understand whispers, so if you can't whisper, then you're out of luckYou also can't communicate with them on a windy day, as the wind is too loud and dassies can't lip-read. Anyway, I digress. I found out that dassies love gardening when I was walking along the coastline. I was actually trying to spot dolphins that day. Anyway, I tumbled down a grass embankment and rolled into a dassie colony.
I was pretty dazed, but I noticed that they had little manicured gardens with indigenous plants. There was a strong smell of fermenting seaweed, which I think they were feeding the plants, because they were lush. I couldn't speak to these dassies at the time, as I hadn't yet discovered their communication preferences. So they were naturally pretty hostile, and I didn't stick around.
But from that day, I was inspired. I had discovered something quite special, and also quite funny. I mean, no one would actually believe me, so I've kept it a secret until now. I hope you enjoy what I have to share. And if you're still reading this, I'm actually pretty impressed with you. So well done for that.
GROWING LIKE A DASSIE
The art of patience and perseverance.
This is a recent photo of some Scotch Bonnets I've been growing. They can be quite tricky plants to grow unless you're living directly on the equator.
I'm able to grow plants like this because I'm a student of life and an apprentice to a master grower dassie (who wishes to remain anonymous). Unfortunately, they are highly revered amongst botanical dassies.
Now let's keep scrolling. Thank you.
LATEST UPDATE
I transferred the smaller plants outside as space in the tent is limited. The 2×2 tent is a real challenge, especially since I’ve had to keep the dehumidifier inside, so right now it’s just the dehumidifier and one plant. I’ve also removed the lower branches and leaves, generally referred to as “lollipopping,” similar to what cannabis growers do just before the flowering cycle.
Last year, I struggled with a condition known as edema, where the plant forms blisters under the leaves, causing them to become deformed and the plant to struggle. It’s mainly caused by high humidity and heat, where the plant can’t transpire fast enough, and then the problem starts. The humidity in the tent might be around 60%, but within the plant canopy it can reach 80%, and that’s the real issue. So I’ve had to position a fan to blow air across the top of the canopy. This has really helped, and for the first time in a long while, I have a healthy-looking plant.
Generally, jalapeños and bird’s eye chillies aren’t as sensitive as the more exotic strains. The strain I’m growing is called Sugar Rush Stripey, it looks so bizarre with its blush stripes, it almost resembles candy. Not only is it a looker, it’s also very flavourful and pickles really well. Tomorrow, I’ll need to top up the reservoir, as the water level has dropped substantially. This is my first time using an AutoPot system, and I’m really impressed with it.
I'm using coco as my growing medium because it's clean, and I know there won’t be any pests or bacteria in it when purchased. I've used GHE with this type of medium before, but I thought this time I'd try something new.
A friend of mine has been growing with this two-part nutrient system, so I decided to give it a try myself. So far it's been great, I just stick to the instructions on the bottle. These synthetic nutrients have a buffer, so I don't need to spend loads of time adjusting the pH, as it remains fairly constant.
I imagine it might be a different story with a DWC system, but for now this setup is working really well.