Maidenhair Ferns after winter

I grow a few maidenhair ferns.  They are easy enough to grow if you get the conditions right.  Earlier I wrote a blog post on how I grow maidenhair ferns.  

My oldest maidenhair fern has been with me since 2016, over these past 8 years it has grown from a tiny cute little fern into something rather large and impressive.  This used to live full time in my office, but I brought it home a few years ago and it lives at home.  When I had this in the office with me I would remove dead fronds regularly, and it always looked lush and healthy.  

Since bringing my fern home permanently I have not removed the dead growth regularly enough.  It is healthy, but it isn't looking great.  

Over winter it got a lot of dead fronds, I left them on the plant to help protect it over winter as it lives outside.  Although it is under shelter it can get frozen during very cold spells, it also gets blasted with wind where I have it located.  Now the warmer weather is here, my maidenhair fern needs to be refreshed.  

After winter lots of dead fronds

In the old days people would suggest when maiden hair ferns start looking ratty to cover them with a brown paper bag, tie it loosely with string, and set the paper bag on fire.  

This would usually burn at a low enough temperature that the plant would not die.  Once the fronds were burned the fern would send up a flush of new growth and look fresh and reinvigorated.  

It has since been proven that burning does nothing other than removing the dead growth.  I have been told by some fern growers (who know a lot more about ferns than I do) that simply cutting off the top growth achieves the same result and is less risky.  Sounds good to me so I decided to give it a go.  

Maiden hair fern not looking great after winter

Each winter my fern looks a little ratty, and each spring I consider cutting it to the ground and letting it regrow.  Each year I don't do that.  Normally I just remove the dead fronds one by one.  

This year I decided to cut off all its top growth, I planned on removing every last frond.  

Then I noticed how may healthy fronds it had, and decided to only remove the dead fronds.  The dead fronds were clumped mainly in the middle, so cutting them off was quick and easy.  I also took out lots of the healthy green fronds while doing this, but that shouldn't be a problem.  

As you can see, I left a lot of green fronds.  Even with all the fronds, from the front or the back it looks a bit sparse.  

Looks sparse after removing dead fronds

I kept some fronds

When you look from above you can see just how much was removed.  

I kept the healthy fronds so the plant can capture lots of sunlight.  Perhaps I should have also removed these fronds and started anew, but I couldn't bring myself to do that.  Perhaps next spring if I am still here I will try to remove all the top growth, or perhaps I will chicken out again and try to leave most of the green fronds.  

Look how much was removed

Not much left, but it should regrow fast

Removing the dead fronds means they have less protection from the wind, and there will be higher evaporation from the soil.  The dead fronds would have acted as insulation, without them the temperature will rise and fall faster.  

Removing the dead fronds also means the plant can get more light, and have better air flow.  So hopefully they will regrow stronger and healthier.  Regardless, it should look nice once it grows some more fronds.  

Top: tiger fern and variegated maidenhair ferns. Lower: maidenhair ferns

This went well enough, and once you start something it is easy enough to continue.  All of my ferns look a bit tired after winter.  I tried to remove dead growth from all of them, some I was a lot more harsh than others.  As you can see above, they all look ok.  

If I remember, I will try to take some photos of my ferns once they have recovered from being cut back.  All of my ferns look healthy, and I have little doubt that they will start to grow fast now the warmer weather is here.  

Some of my ferns, cut back and ready for spring growth

  You can see a few of my different maidenhair fern varieties in the pictures above.  I have a few other varieties that are not in this picture.  There are a lot of varieties of maidenhair fern around, I grow a few and am still tracking down some others.  

As you can tell, I like maidenhair ferns.  They look pretty, they can live virtually forever, and they are reasonably simple to grow.  If you have somewhere out of direct sun, perhaps you should grow some of these ferns.  

Chicken run 'salad bar'

When we had acreage or chickens and other poultry would free range through the orchards.  After moving to town our chickens used to free range through our yard.  That was nice, it was good for the chickens, good for the fruit trees, and rather pleasant.  Then we had issues with the neighbour's dogs. 

Now during the day the chickens are contained in a (very large) run under several fruit trees, at night they have a fully contained run with a house part and a covered deep litter area.  They always have shade and water, and we like them to have constant access to greens.  The number of hens, and the sheer size of the run, means they more than meet the definition of free range, plus they are safer from dogs.  

During the summer of 2019-2020 it was extremely hot and dry and we lost all our grass/weeds/lawn.  When the rains returned, the larger lawn came back but any seedlings that popped up in the chicken run were immediately eaten by our hens.  This means they would have no grass in their run unless some of the soil is protected.  I like chickens to have access to grass and weeds, I think it is good for their health.  

Back when our hens were free ranging, my wife built some cages to put in their run.  The idea was for the cages to protect grass and weeds enough that they could survive, and when they grew tall enough to poke through the wire the hens would eat some green feed.  It works well.  

The internet seems to refer to this as a chicken run salad bar, I hate this term but can't find it referred to as anything else.

Chickens are destructive

The cages work well.  For the past few years the chicken run has bare soil under the fruit trees, the only place anything grew was under these cages (plus whatever grows there that they will not eat such as wormwood or white horehound).  Each time grass seeds germinate outside of these cages they don't last very long.  

I have tried moving the cages in the hopes that the more established patch will survive.  The new covered soil quickly grows grass and weeds, while the unprotected grass gets eaten and scratched back to bare soil.  No surprises there, chickens are destructive.  

Cages protect grass and weeds for hens to eat

We have several of these little cages in the chicken's run.  Over summer we need to water them to prevent the grass and weeds from dying.  I have a few of these cages scattered through their run, and I have a few cages along the fence so the running grasses can invade them and replenish them if they get eaten too vigorously.  Grass is good for hens to eat, it helps them stay healthy, but it does not replace the bought feed.  

From time to time I sprinkle spare seeds in these cages.  Things like silverbeet, coriander, parsley, and bok choy are readily eaten by hens.  All of these things grow among the grass and weeds to survive for a time.  Sooner or later they die and need to be replaced.

  

This got me thinking, I wonder if I could grow something in these cages to replace a percentage of bought feed.  I don't want to replace all their bought feed, but I do want to replace enough that it lowers the cost of feed.    

I am not just aiming to keep the chickens alive, I want them to be productive.  They won't be productive unless fed some bought feed.  According to the FAO: "A scavenging hen lays only 30 to 50 eggs per year".  Also according to the FAO, in Tanzania the total number of eggs produced per scavenging hen per year ranged from 6 to 20.  This is not many eggs, and the FAO is talking about 40 gram bantam size eggs.  My hens lay on average 190 to 230 medium to large eggs each per year.  

Admittedly the FAO are talking about unimproved varieties of scavenging hens, while I run improved hens.  I also know from food security projects that improved breeds tend to die pretty quickly when not fed concentrates or grains.  

All of this indicates that I won't ever be growing all the feed for my hens, I will always be feeding them some pellets.  Even so, I would like to reduce at least a little of the bought feed.  

Sometimes we extend the run using temporary fencing 

I have known a lot of people who sprout grains, and I have sprouted grain to feed hens in the hopes of reducing feed costs.  Sadly we have never seen a noticeable difference in feed costs from feeding sprouted grains.  It may make a difference if the hens are in battery cages, but when free ranged and fed various fruits and vegetables sprouting doesn't seem to make much difference.  I know a few people who have fermented feed for their hens, again this has made negligible impact to feed costs and has increased the amount of work.  

I did a bit of reading on the internet to see if anyone else has reduced their feed costs by growing some chicken feed.  After reading countless pages about 'salad bars' in the chicken run, it became obvious that, while plenty of people only grow 'treats' for their hens, very few people are attempting to replace any bought feed.  This does not interest me.  

Some people suggest growing things such as iceberg lettuce!  While this is gladly eaten by hens, it is less nutritious for them than grass and weeds, plus it needs a lot more water.  Dandelion is far more nutritious than iceberg lettuce, plus it needs less work from me.  

Other people suggested growing mint for laying hens.  Mint is very productive, and has some medicinal benefits, but my hens rarely eat mint, and when they do eat it they never eat enough to replace any percentage of their feed.  Mint may work as a supplemental treat, but is not a good choice to grow for replacing any amount of chicken feed.  

While many people grow treats for their laying hens, it seems very few people have tried to grow something to replace feed and had it make any real difference to feed costs.  Or if they have tried, they have not told anyone what worked and what didn't work well.  

This means I can't learn from other people's mistakes.  How disappointing.  

Rosemary and other tall herbs provide afternoon shade

You can see in the photo above that I have shade cloth that I put down in summer to provide shade from the afternoon sun.  I put the shade cloth up during the cooler months so the hens get all the sun they can.  I am training a grape vine over this fence to do the same job with less effort from me.  

I also grow tall herbs next to their run.  The tall herbs block the afternoon sun in summer, and the hens pick at them and eat bits they can reach.  These grow over the warmer months, then parsley and things die off.  I need to cut back the rosemary as it is getting a bit too big.  Strong smelling herbs probably also decrease the mites and parasite load somewhat.  

Many people talk about growing treats for the hens, where I am trying to look into how to reduce the cost of feed over a year.  The difference here is one between a supplement and a replacement. 

Many people, if not all, seem to focus on supplementing feed.  They still provide the same amount of base diet, with the addition of various things that they grow.  This addition quite likely has multiple benefits and possibly helps the chickens to be healthier.  If you are aiming to supplement their feed, then you can add basically anything that they will eat (even if they will only eat it begrudgingly).  If you supplement their feed, they may be healthier due to the increased variety, but your feed costs remain much the same.  

In addition to bought feed, we feed our chickens leftovers and kitchen scraps, we also feed them a wide range of seasonal vegetables, herbs, and fruits from the garden.  They also eat a wide variety of insects, spiders, and mice.  I am already supplementing their feed and providing a huge array of seasonal variety, and I don't intend to stop doing this.  

What I am interested in is replacing some feed.  This is where the hens get less of the base diet, they have a percentage of bought feed replaced with something else that is cheaper (or free).  I don't want to replace all their bought feed, but I do want to replace enough that it costs me less to feed them.

In this case you don’t need to supply every nutrient from their feed in a completely balanced way, but you need to supply enough that performance does not decrease as a result of the substitution.  If you substitute correctly, the hens may be healthier as a result, but the important part is the costs should decrease in a noticeable way.  If costs don’t drop, then you need to consider if the replacement is worth doing.  

Grass in the cages is similar to the grass outside the fence

 The FAO and various other food security projects and agricultural experimentation stations have run trials and experiments to replace bought feeds with various things.  There are a bunch of different edible things that have been trialed over the years and can replace a percentage of bought feed without lowering egg production. 

Some are things that I can't grow here due to climate, others we don't have in this country, others are not legal to grow here.  Various meat and bone meals and slaughter waste have been successfully trialed, but they are not an option for me at the moment.  

Other trials have replaced one grain with another, this is of no use to me.  I know some people raise various insects or worms to reduce feed costs, these are not feasible options for me at the moment for a number of reasons.  

As well as these, there have been a few plants that have successfully replaced a percentage of bought feed without reducing the number or quality of eggs laid.  These are the plants I need to consider. 

Grass only survives where protected in the chicken run

I have read a few papers where they replaced up to 10% bought feed with mulberry leaf meal.  Mulberry leaves are incredibly nutritious, and the trees are true survivors.  I already grow mulberry trees, and I feed the leaves to my hens.  While this is a great start, I am also looking for things to grow in their run under cages that they can pick at during the day.  

Azolla is meant to be able to replace up to 20% bought feed without decreasing egg production.  Azolla grows fast and has an impressive amino acid profile.  Duckweed also grows fast, contains a complete amino acid profile, and is said to be able to replace up to 15% bought feed with no decline in egg production.  I grow azolla and duckweed, and feed them both to the chickens, but I lack the ability to grow enough to be able to feed significant amounts.  I also would not be able to grow much azolla or duckweed in their run, so this is labor intensive.  

I started to consider if Vietnamese fish mint (Houttuynia cordata - not related to mint but has 'mint' in the common name) would work.  It is incredibly vigorous, surprisingly nutritious, and has a host of proven medicinal effects.  I have read several papers where including fish mint in the diet of hens has effectively controlled coccidiosis and increased survival rates.  This is a great plant for poultry to eat, plus they seem to eat it readily. 

For all its benefits, I worry that fish mint would escape into my yard and I would have to deal with the yard smelling like fish each time I mow, so I am reluctant to grow this in the chicken run.  For now I am growing it in pots and cutting handfulls of it to take to the hens.  This is more work than growing it in the chicken run, but I have the peace of mind that it won't escape on me.  

Fagopyrum cymosum might be useful in reducing feed costs

I did a little reading about perennial buckwheat, Fagopyrum cymosum.  This perennial leaf vegetable which has been eaten in the Himalayas by people and livestock for centuries and has a host of proven benefits.  There has been some research done into using this to replace commercial feed in laying hens that indicates that 10% of the feed can be replaced with this without adversely decreasing number of eggs produced.  This sounds like it could be a candidate for replacing some bought feed.  

This plant is extremely vigorous, and spreads underground by rhizomes, so should be able to survive and spread under the cages.  It does need to grow tall to set seed, but I wonder if it could survive long term by staying closer to the ground.  

I also have some wire protecting one of the smaller fruit trees, you can see it in one of the photos higher up on this page.  The grass tends to grow rather tall in the cage around this tree at times.  Perhaps I could plant some perennial buckwheat in there and allow it to spread until it escapes under the wire and is eaten by the chickens.  I think this is a good option that is well worth trying.  If it did escape and get into my lawn, I don't think I would be overly bothered.  

I can't take photos without the chickens coming over

There is not a huge amount of space in the chicken run that I am willing to cover in wire cages as I don't want them always walking on wire, so I only have a few square meters of space to play with.  There is no point growing mint or lettuce as this space would be better used to produce grass and weeds that are both highly palatable and more nutritious.  

If I had acreage I am pretty sure I could significantly reduce feed costs, but at this stage I only have a little space that I can use.  I wasn't even sure if a few meters of growing space is enough to make any noticeable difference to feed costs, but it is worth trying.  

If it wasn't for these cages there wouldn't be a blade of grass left

After a bit more reading, it appears that I am already significantly reducing the amount of bought feed I give my hens.  What I am currently feeding them is apparently working well at reducing their feed costs.  

I read that on average laying hens are fed 120 grams of pellets per day.  For the past half a dozen years or so my hens are eating on average a little under 50 grams of pellets each per day.  They also get grass/weeds, left overs, food scraps, excess things from the vegetable garden, hand fulls of azolla and duckweed, excess eggs when they lay more than we need, various dropped fruits in season, various insects etc.  It seems as though all of this has reduced their feed costs significantly, and has done so for years, without me even realising. 

My hens are about 6 or 7 years old (and very close to being retired and replaced), and have declined to laying an average of about 190-230 eggs each per year.  I keep records on the amount of eggs, they are declining noticeably as they age and they may be in their final days.  Over winter their laying almost stopped, I gave some extra lighting which fixed the issue, which is pretty impressive for hens this age.  Now the days are a little longer I removed these lights.  

We used to have a rooster, and we used to hatch the hen's eggs.  Fertility was high, usually around 85% to 90% hatch rate.  While the hens may lay slightly less than if fed entirely on bought feed, they are laying well enough for us, and have laid for long enough, to demonstrate that what we are doing is working and is sustainable long term.  The high fertility and hatch rate when we had a rooster also indicated that what we were feeding was working well.  I have a feeling that the huge amounts of seasonal fruit and vegetables my hens eat has have helped them be so healthy and productive for so long. 

I plan on leaving the grass and weeds in the cages, as this is working well.  I will keep throwing in extra seeds of parsley and silverbeet and things into those cages from time to time.  I also plan to introduce Fagopyrum cymosum and probably a few other things to the cages and see how they go.  If nothing else, I think the wide variety in their diet must be of some benefit to the hens. 

If you have something that you are growing to reduce your fed bills, and doesn't need much effort, please let me know how well it worked.  At some stage I will try to either expand on this post, or write another post, and detail what worked and what hasn't worked well for me.

Perennial buckwheat vs fishmint

A few years ago, I started growing a perennial vegetable called Vietnamese fish mint (Houttuynia cordata).  This perennial plant is used as a vegetable, or herb, or medicine, or grown as an ornamental, in a host of different countries. 

Fish mint is an extremely productive and vigorous plant, and borders on being indestructible, which is a great trait for a perennial vegetable to have.  Fish mint is productive, it looks pretty, and is incredibly healthy to eat, but I find the smell to be a little overpowering.  

I grew fish mint for years, and wished that there was a version of it that was not so strong smelling.  Some people love the smell of fish mint, however, I find it a bit too much. 

Fish mint on left, buckwheat on right 

Fish mint produces copious amounts of food and tolerates poor growing conditions.  I only grow it in a pot with pavers under it, otherwise I worry it may escape through the drainage holes and get into the garden.  After years of growing it like this I have never had it even come close to escaping into my yard.  

I am told that people grow this as an ornamental in the garden and regret it.  They say that spraying with weed killer removes growth above the soil line, but the plant survives and springs up again from rhizomes.  After it escapes, every time you mow your yard, or walk through your yard, it smells like fish.  

My fish mint produces flowers, and I am told it does not set viable seed.  For the first year or so I removed all of its flowers in case they set seed.  After the first year I just let it flower and hoped for the best.  

Fish mint escaping it's pot

Fish mint growing out of the drainage holes 

Not long after allowing fish mint to flower, I grew common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) from seed.  The cotyledons were rather unique, I had not seen cotyledons like them before, but it was the true leaves that concerned me.  

The true leaves of buckwheat were much the same shape as fish mint.  I worried that my fishmint may have set seed, and I was concerned that it had escaped.  Would my yard smell like fish for ever more?  Oh, the terror.  I honestly felt sick to my stomach with worry that this had gotten away from me.  

I didn't remove the seedlings at this stage, I left them to see if I was wrong and hoped I could get on top of things.  I was hopeful that I had not lost control of the fish mint because the seedlings were only in the one spot I planted buckwheat, and were nowhere near the fish mint.  Once the seedlings grew a little larger, I bruised, smelled, and tasted a leaf.  I was pretty convinced that they were not fish mint seedlings, but I still worried that maybe they didn't get their distinctive smell until older.  

The seedlings grew and rather quickly flowered.  The flowers were buckwheat and looked nothing like fish mint flowers, then it set seed that was clearly buckwheat, confirming that they were absolutely not fish mint.  Phew!  

I have been growing fish mint for years, and have never had it set viable seed.  

After growing fish mint for a few years, and reading about all of its benefits, I started to wish that there was a variety that did not smell so strong.  I considered trying to restore fertility and grow seeds and try to breed something that didn't smell as strong, but I am glad to say that I thought better of it.  I didn't want this spreading by seed through my lawn.  Not setting seed is a good trait for this vigorous plant to have, I don't want this plant to set seed. 

Perennial buckwheat - Fagopyrum cymosum

A few years later I learned of a perennial vegetable called perennial buckwheat (Fagopyrum cymosum complex, also called Fagopyrum dibotrys), this also goes by the common names "Golden Buckwheat" and "Tall Buckwheat".  This perennial vegetable sounds a lot like fish mint, but it has no smell.

Even though these plants are not even distantly related, my wish for fish mint that is not strong smelling has basically come true.  Perennial buckwheat does all the things I wanted fish mint to do (and more), and has none of the down sides.  

While perennial buckwheat and fish mint are not closely related the plants look superficially very similar to one another.  They are both perennial plants that are very vigorous and highly productive.  They both cope with hard frosts, and survive poor soils (they survive poor soil, they are vastly more productive in good soil).  They both spread vigorously by underground rhizomes.  They both have nice looking heart shaped leaves.  They have both been eaten as leaf vegetables and their rhizomes used as folk medicine by people for centuries.  They both have a lot of proven medicinal properties (for people as well as poultry and livestock) that have been reported through many peer reviewed papers.  

Perennial buckwheat plants

In my garden, perennial buckwheat grows much taller than fish mint.  In autumn, perennial buckwheat leaves become a brilliant golden yellow colour, whereas fish mint just grows until getting burnt down by frosts.  The flowers of fish mint are visited by pollinator insects only there is little else flowering, while perennial buckwheat flowers seem to be adored by beneficial pollinators and appear to be one of the preferred sources of nectar and pollen.  Perennial buckwheat leaves are high in rutin, and high in protein.  

I have not read anything about how much fish mint is safe to consume.  I think the smell would stop me eating it long before I ran into trouble.  Perennial buckwheat leaves (much like most common vegetables) have some levels of anti-nutrients, even so peer reviewed papers prove that it is safe to eat perennial buckwheat every day. 

Vietnamese fish mint

If you are into Asian cuisine, you should probably grow fish mint.  It can be used like a vegan fish sauce.  I have plenty of these plants, they are very vigorous.  

If you are into growing food, or concerned about food security, growing perennial buckwheat is a must.  I am not sure why it is so uncommon in Australia, it seems to only be common in developing nations where growing food really counts.  At this stage I am still trialing it under different conditions, and seeing what it can do.  

At some point if I have any spare plants I will list perennial buckwheat plants for sale, along with fish mint, on my perennial vegetables for sale page.

Chickens laying through winter with lights

Our chickens, like all chickens, don't lay very well over winter.  The pineal gland in their brain detects the reduced hours of sunlight, and they either lay less or stop laying eggs entirely.  For young pullets, this is normally not an issue and they still produce enough eggs.  For older hens, this can mean months of no eggs.  

Our hens are getting old, they are six or seven years old now.  I should have retired them the previous winter, but didn't, and for a number of reasons (one being sentimental) I didn't retire them this winter either.  

We only eat the eggs our hens lay.  Even when you include the cost of buying point of lay hens, their eggs are still considerably cheaper than supermarket eggs.  Our older hens largely stopped laying when winter started.  We were getting one egg every few days, which is dreadful when you are feeding eleven hens.

When we had acreage I bought some garden solar spotlights.  I put them in front of the chicken tractors over winter, and they increased the number of light hours enough that we got a lot of eggs over winter.  I haven't done this for a few years and thought I would do this again.  My hens are now in a shed instead of a chicken tractor, which has changed things. 

The solar lights work well if they can get sun, and can shine directly into the coop.  This was perfect with a chicken tractor.  With our current set up this wasn't working well as I can't get the right angle.  I had one light in the ground, another light on the fence, and between them could not get the right angle.  

Solar spotlight for eggs

Solar garden spotlight for chickens

I couldn't get the angle right

I like the solar lights because they are cheap to buy and free to run.  No point spending a lot of money when the whole idea is to save money!  

The solar lights do not pose a fire risk, or need an electrician.  They are bright enough for a few hours that they increase the number of eggs laid, and they dim out each evening so the hens are not surprised by it immediately turning dark. 

These solar garden lights are about ten years old, perhaps more, their light is dim and they were not working overly well.  So we decided to invest in a new solar light. 

The new one we got has two lights.  It has a small solar panel, and a short lead that is connected to the lights.  This means I can put the lights in the chicken house and angle them where I want light, and have the solar panel outside where it can catch sunlight.  

Solar panel is sitting on the roof, and the light are inside the shed under shelter.

Solar panel on the roof

Lights inside and pointing where needed

Having two lights means I can change their angles and have them face wherever I want.  This worked well.  We went from one egg every few days, to a few weeks later getting 3 or 4 eggs per day.  This continued all winter. Perfect!  

As you can see below, we have a lot of hens.  They are old, and it was winter, so it is expected that they would lay no eggs until late spring.  Getting a few eggs per day is all we need.

As you can see in the photo, these solar lights do not produce huge amounts of light.  This amount of light is enough to induce them to lay.

View from outside the chicken house at night

Solar light on chickens over winter

People have some concerns with inducing chickens to lay over winter using supplemental lighting.  Some concerns are valid, others less so.  I thought I should mention some of these concerns here.  

I haven't used lighting in a few years.  When I do use lights, I only ever use them over the winter months.  I remove the lights when the day length starts getting a bit longer.  I am not sure, but think if I had the lights all year it would probably stress the birds and lead to them having a shorter life.  If you add lights to your chicken run, only do so for the shortest months.  There is no need to have them under lights all year.

Chickens have all the eggs they will ever lay inside them when they hatch.  I used to worry that adding lighting would mean they may lay out all their eggs too soon and then be barren in their later years. I am glad to say that this is not the case.  A vet told me they chickens have thousands of eggs inside them, they lay a small fraction of these over their life and the vast majority are never laid.  According to the vet, adding winter lighting can not make chickens lay out all their eggs too early in life.  This is reassuring to know.  

Some people worry that the chickens will not moult if given extra light.  This is not the case with these solar garden lights.  The lights are not bright enough to prevent moulting.  The chickens still get enough environmental queues to moult when they need to, and they tend to stagger moulting with some hens moulting and others still laying.  I currently have 11 old hens, and was getting 3 or 4 eggs per day in the depths of winter.  I use rather dim lights because they were cheap.  Given that people in places such as Ecuador raise chickens, and they moult with a little over 12 hours of sunlight year round, I doubt that having brighter lighting could prevent moulting.  

I have read on online poultry forums people expressing a concern that the chickens will not sleep and will die if they are provided with supplemental lighting.  This is an unrealistic concern.  Light does not prevent them from ever sleeping.  My solar garden lights are only on a few hours before they dim out.  People raise chickens in northern countries where the sun does not set for weeks on end, and they don't seem to have issues with hens falling dead from lack of sleep.  You can see in my photo that my hens are roosting with the light on them.  They were asleep when I opened the door and woke just before I took the photo.  Even when they are asleep, their pineal gland is detecting elevated levels of light, which brings them into lay.  

They still roost, and get enough light to induce laying

People have a concern that the chickens will be active when the lights are on, and not be able to find their way to roost once the lights suddenly switch off.  This is not an issue with these solar lights.  As you can see, my hens roost even with the light on.  Even if they were active, this would still not pose a problem.  These lights do not go from dazzling bright light to off in the blink of an eye.  These are not overly bright to begin with, and they slowly dim out after a few hours.  If the hens were active, they have plenty of time to get to the roost while the light slowly fades away.

A large risk that must be considered is safety.  If you run an electrical cord and run a lamp in the chicken house there may be a fire risk.  These solar lights do not pose a fire risk.  If they get shorted out by rain or something they just stop working.  It is not the same as running a power cable from the house.  My lights are up off the ground where they are touching nothing other than wire, which also reduces the possibilities of fire hazard.  They produce next to no heat, so even if the lights were nestled in among straw they should not heat up enough to cause a fire.  Fire is a serious danger and is worth considering when you place your lights.  

Now that it is spring I will remove the lights and pack them away until next winter.  The solar lights helped my old hens lay eggs over winter, and now the days are long enough that the lights are not needed.  I plan to put the lights up again next winter, and ensure that my family has eggs year round.  

String of Pearls Variety Comparison

String of Pearls is a lovely succulent.  They grow long trailing stems, most varieties have almost spherical leaves, some varieties have leaves that are still round but a bit pointier, and the flowers are always white and fragrant. 

I am growing a few different string of pearls varieties and thought I would write a comparison of how they perform for me, as well as take some comparison photos with them side by side to give a better perspective of what each variety is like.  

String of pearls can usually be found under the binomial name Senecio rowleyanus, although it is more accurately known as Curio rowleyanus.  The genus name 'Senecio' is the most commonly used genus, but has now largely been disbanded.  In the year 2019 the genus was split into Curio, Caputia, and Kleiniawas.  I believe there may be a few species of Senecio that remain in the original genus, but string of pearls is not one of them.  While the nomenclature doesn't really matter to growers I mention it as it can be helpful if researching these plants. 

Three string of pearls varieties

I wrote an earlier post on different varieties of string of pearls https://living-mudflower.blogspot.com/2018/08/string-of-pearls-real-and-fake.html.  There are a lot of people from Australia (and other countiries) selling fake seeds for these plants.  They photoshop images of real plants and alter the colour to make them look bright blue or red, then they sell the seeds for a low price.  They then post you seeds of whatever they have on hand, mostly they don't send not even string of pearls seeds.  By the time you realise you have been duped it is too late to do anything and you have already left positive feedback after they posted you the fake seeds really fast.  

String of pearls are only ever green or variegated.  There are no stunning blue string of pearls plants, not brilliant red ones, no deep purple ones.  I wish blue ones existed, but they don't, and they never will.  Sometimes when stressed they get a slight purple tinge, you can see this in the photos below, but they are still quite green.  

String of pearls plants are only green, or green and white, and anyone selling seeds of the fake ones is a thief who you should never buy anything from.  Hopefully my rant about fake seed sellers helps someone not be taken advantage of.  

Slight purple tinge over winter

Slightly purple, but still obviously green

String of beans (different species) gets purplish in my winter

I currently grow three of four different varieties of string of pearls (as well as a few other similar species such as string of beans).  The string of pearls are lovely plants, and very simple to grow.  I grow the typical form, a variegated one, a giant one, and lovely one called 'Angel tears' that is variegated and has pointier leaves.  They are all very different, and I like them all.

I will give a very brief description of each variety, add in a few pictures of each, then show some comparison photos.

String of pearls typical

String of pearls typical form

String of pearls flowers are white

The typical variety has green leaves and green stems.  It grows small, pea sized, almost spherical leaves, each with an interesting little window.  Over winter they produce small white flowers that smell much like cinnamon.  The stems can get very long if the plant is well cared for, I have several pots of them that are well over a meter in length.  

The typical variety of string of pearls was commonly grown as a house plant in hanging baskets in the 1970's, and then somehow became less common to the point that it was rare and difficult to find for a time.  These are succulents so don't need heaps of water to survive, but I find they grow fastest and look best when given extra water.  They grow reasonably fast, are very simple to propagate, and are very forgiving of less than ideal conditions.  

While string of pearls perform best when grown in soil, they can be grown entirely in water.  I grew one string of pearls in nothing but water for over two and a half years.  It certainly is not the best way to grow them, but they survive.  If nothing else, this demonstrates how easy these plants are to grow.  

String of pearls variegated

My variegated string of pearls

Slower growing, very beautiful plants

Variegated string of pearls is much like the typical version, it is the same shape and size, but has variegated with green and white leaves.  For me this plant grows a lot slower than the typical form.  Being variegated it is probably not as hardy as they typical form, but it is still forgiving of less than ideal conditions.  

The variegated form is less common than the typical variety, presumably this is because it is slower to propagate and is a little newer.  Propagation is still very simple, but it takes extra time as it grows slower than the green form.  While it is slower growing, it is also a lot prettier than the typical form.  For me it gets more variegation when given lots of bright indirect light.  When grown in too little light it would probably revert to all green.

Giant string of pearls, sometimes called 'Big Peas', 'Big Balls', or 'Perla Grande'

String of pearls 'big peas'

Giant form string of pearls

When I started growing string of pearls I wished the leaves were larger.  That is exactly what this variety is!  I am not sure if it is polyploid, but it most likely is.  This variety is similar to the typical form but larger in every way.  

The smallest leaves on this plant are about as large as the largest leaves on the typical form.  The stem is thicker.  The flowers are white and smell the same as the typical form, but are a bit larger than the typical form.  I have not grown this long enough to know how fast it grows or how robust it is.  

I only have a few pots of these, and they are all still getting established so I have not yet seen what this plant can do.  I really like this plant, it is bigger and more imposing than the typical form.  This variety is very rare in Australia, I am not sure if this is due to it being more fragile or simply because it is a relatively newer variety.  From what I have seen in the short time I have been growing the giant string of pearls, I assume its rarity is purely due to it being a newer variety.  

Angel tears succulent

Variegated Angel Tears

Angel Tears is a highly variegated variety of string of pearls, but with pointier leaves instead of the almost spherical ones of the typical form.  I only have two small cuttings, both of which are very small and are growing well.  

I have not grown it long enough to know how fast it grows or how robust the plant is.  I assume that it will be slower growing due to the reduced chlorophyll, and I am guessing that it will be slightly hardier than the typical form.  I assume the flowers will be similar to the typical form.  

There is a completely green version of this plant, which I am not currently growing.  I really like the look of the variegated form and have no plans to track down the green one.  Sooner or later this plant will probably grow a part that is all green, I can remove that and grow it on if I want a green one.  For me it has developed more variegation when grown under brighter indirect light.  I think it is quite pretty.   

Still small but growing strong

Comparison photos

When I first heard about the giant form of string of pearls I wondered how much larger it was to the typical form, and how noticeable this was.  I could only find two photos online that showed a comparison to the typical variety.  

Below are some comparison photos of the giant form next to the typical form, as well as the giant next to typical and variegated.  As you can see, the variegated and the typical forms are pretty much the same other than their colouration, and the giant form is larger in every way.

For now the giant ones I have are still getting established, so the comparison photos are not the greatest.  Once my giant form grows out a bit, and my angel tears gets some length, I will try to take some better comparison pictures.  

String of Pearls: Typical on left, Variegated middle, Giant on right

Three forms of string of pearls comparison

Giant on left, typical form on right

Typical, Variegated, and Giant string of pearls

I like these string of pearls plants.  You can see that I have a lot of the typical form, this is because I got this variety first.  I also have a few really long ones that I have not taken photos of, and a few that are growing in weird places.  String of pearls plants are very simple to propagate from cuttings.  Once you have one plant, if you like them you can propagate them and over time you can have as many as you want.  

String of pearls plants are surprisingly hardy considering how delicate they look.  As mentioned earlier, even though they are succulents I find they perform at their best when given ample water.  I would never leave the pot sitting in water, but I also would not do that with most other plants.  They don't love frost, and grow far better when protected from frosts, but can survive a few light frosts.  

I sell plants and cuttings of typical string of pearls through my for sale page.  Plants cost more because of the time and space they have taken to grow, cuttings are cheaper because I can simply remove them from a healthy plant.  String of pearls are very simple to grow from cuttings, and the cuttings I send usually have some roots to give them a head start.  

I plan to sell variegated string of pearls soon as I have a few little ones growing out, and would love to sell the giant form once I have grown it long enough to know how it performs so can offer growing advice.  My angel tears is so tiny at the moment that it will be a while before I would have enough to be able to enjoy it as well as have any to sell.