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Dustin Demmer @DustinDemmer

blazingstargardens.bsky.soci… Owner of Blazing Star Gardens--a native plant nursery and prairie seed production company in southern Minnesota.

Joined September 2014
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Dustin Demmer@DustinDemmer
28 Aug 2023
Daily update of the massive amount of monarchs in our garden: It’s not luck, it’s native prairie plants!
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If you want to see my posts, check out blazing star gardens on insta or fb. More pictures, more native plant posts!
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Like so many research projects, my peat-free potting soil grant ended up yielding secondary lessons--like the importance of nitrogen in a soil mix (50ppm in front set of rows vs 340ppm in back of trays--10-16 days after sowing)
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My mom gave me my old 7th grade class cookbook and the recipe I put in it. I found it funny, the way I drew illustrations next to the directions. 25 years later and I still make instructions the exact same way—that mix of words and visuals. “Wherever you go, there you are”
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The “hill” garden at the Mankato Children’s Museum in June and October 2024 (and after planting 2015). A good example of mixing grasses and flowers together, just like a prairie, but still designed. The grasses add a season-long softness to the garden, I think
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With big gardens like these, I kind of compare flowers to paintings and grasses to wall paint—you need a balance in a house…too many paintings on a wall is too busy, and only having wall paint is a bit boring, but a good mix is perfect.
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My favorite native garden stretch at the Mankato Children’s Museum, from May-October this year.
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Same sidewalk at the Mankato Children’s Museum, 4 different months. Native prairie gardens
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In the peat-free potting soil grant, I created our own peat-free mix (left) and bought a pro peat-free mix (right). The pro mix had low nitrogen levels (soil test came back at <5ppm nitrogen 😬…good levels are ~200-400ppm). Rooted all right but the nitrogen deficiency is clear.
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I tried solving the issue by fertilizing the pro mix differently but I think the initial soil deficiency and the initial stunting was too much to overcome. Added slow release on top, too, so will be interesting to see if they grow better after going through dormancy this fall.
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Found a pot in the peat-free soil trial where the soil was clumpy when filling the pots and left an air gap. Cool how the roots bridged the gap in mid-air. I’ve seen this before in deep plugs too—a complete air gap that the roots through to reach the next layer of soil. Humid.
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I'm hoping to shoot more videos next year of native plant gardens in MN. Anyone have recommendations of public plantings in the Twin Cities? There's Eloise, the Arb, Silverwood--but I'm looking for garden gems with high diversity...like large rain gardens, schools, buildings, ...
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I’ve been meaning to post some thoughts about the fantastic dissertation by @chase_prairie . A lot of good stuff, and this page pops up in my thoughts pretty often—“Many are slated for extinction…Who will we bring with us…into this weird new future world?” Right in the feels.
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I like the variety—presenting a different and, I think, valuable and effective approach for a dissertation, some restoration and land history, nice illustrations throughout, and a cool breakdown of the research process of finding the history of a piece of land.
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Finishing up a new batch of plant photos for the website. Spiderwort has some of the most unique roots of the native plants we grow--an odd mix of thick, kind of un-branched main roots and very fine secondary roots...almost like spiderwebs (not what it's named after tho!)
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The Stiff Gentian is blooming in our Minnesota garden. Really nice lavender flowers that are much smaller than the other gentians. A biennial. Small, round seeds like a tiny version of prairie dropseed seeds, kind of cool.
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During our Edina Plant Sale on Saturday from 10am-1pm, we will also have an educational display showing the results of our Peat-Free Soil Grant! Come see some peat-free soils that include wood fiber, recycled paper, and compost.
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Final plant sale of the year in Edina, MN on Sept 7th! Join Blazing Star Gardens and Wild Ones Prairie Edge from 10am -1pm at Meetinghouse Church. Choose from a huge selection of pots and plugs. See selection here: blazingstargardens.com/plant…

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The Downy Gentian is blooming in our home garden. It’s a unique closed form of the species—not as open as the species usually is. But beautiful, deep purplish blue flowers.
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My peat-free soil grant is in full swing. It’s been a rollercoaster! Very promising results with compost/wood fiber/paper blends that I hope can be developed further into industry soil products. Everything will get published in next year’s MN Greenbook by the MN Dept of Ag.
Dustin Demmer@DustinDemmer
18 Oct 2023
I received a grant to research peat-free potting soil alternatives. Currently, most greenhouses use a peat/bark/perlite mix that makes growing easy. Peat moss is perfect for potted plants, but harvesting it releases a lot of stored carbon, so I'm looking into alternatives. 🧵
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Day 31 Stiff Goldenrod grown in our 45% compost/45% wood fiber (HydraFiber) blend on the left, pro peat-based potting soil on right. Peat has been ahead with shoots on almost everything, but the roots have been keeping up on peat-free blends and shoots are catching up.
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I’ve learned a lot over the past 2 years working on this. Mixing large amounts of soil is not easy. Fertilizer is the make-or-break of any soil. High quality wetting agents are important. But this turned out better than I hoped, and with fine tuning, I think it can be great.
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