Blog Post #9

Hey there Poly (culture) Pocket crew! 

This is going to be a short update but the team just wanted to touch base about the progress we're seeing and our expectations over the next few weeks. 

To begin with the most exciting news: we have corn, and lots of it! We're starting to see full heads of corn appearing and looking beautiful, especially our Indian corn. The purple color is gorgeous and provides a wonderful contrast to our King corn. Watching this crop flourish has been a highlight, especially since corn was a major focus during our plot design and is the first crop to yield fruit.

Our other crops leave a lot to be desired at the moment. The tomatoes are experiencing significant curling, and we’re still working to identify the cause. The good news is they’re still producing flowers alongside our peppers, giving us some hope for a successful harvest.

In terms of daily life at the plot, it’s business as usual. We’re still spotting a variety of beneficial bugs, which is great—though we’re keeping a close eye on any caterpillars munching on our leaves. 

That's all for this week folks! Stay tuned for further updates. 

Photo captions (left to right, down to up):

1 and 2. Two ladybugs walking across our crops. One rests on a corn stalk while the other takes refuge on the leafy parts of our growing squash. It was always such a treat seeing these little guys and knowing we were getting some beneficial insect visitors. As seen in picture 2, we did experience minor pest damage in the form of bits and pieces being taken out of our leaves. The damage was not significant at this point. 

3. A single white flower can be seen on our tomato plant. This was an exciting development as we were hopeful this was an indication of the early stages of the fruiting process. The flowers that covered the plot were likely the source of our bug friends. There were many more flowers to be seen.

4. A significant amount of curling can be seen in this photo. This curling occurred on our tomato crops and at this point, we still were not sure of the exact cause. We had different theories regarding the nutrients and water the crops were getting but were otherwise confused about what could have caused the plants to wrinkle so quickly and abundantly. 

5. The top of an Indian corn crop. The plant appears a beautiful purple color with various shades of intensity and was wonderful to see along the usual white and yellow corn foliage. The Indian and King corn grew at an equal rate, with no visible advantages being seen between the two. 

6. A bug found during the lab portion of our time spent in the garden. This new friend jumped and clung to Naomi and we named him Phil (after team member Phillip Shaske of course) to commemorate his short absence. Many insects were seen that day but Phil definitely stole our hearts.