What in the TOMATO??

Have you ever had a tomato that’s sitting out on the counter (where they should always be, never in the refrigerator!), and it looked like little aliens were sprouting inside the fruit?

For your botanical factoid of the day, this is called vivipary! Vivipary in fruits happen when the germination inhibiting hormone in the seeds breaks down, and exposed to the moisture in the warm cozy fruit the mature seeds inside the fruit start germinating and growing. Eventually they will burst through the skin of the tomato (“An organism. Open the hatch!).

Tiny seedlings have enough resources stored up in the seed to allow them to grow this way…but eventually they’ll need more light, water, and nutrients to keep growing. Now, you don’t want to eat these tomato seedlings - they are in the nightshade family and contain toxins. BUT you can try planting them, know that if they come from a hybrid tomato, your seedlings will have more randomized genetics and who knows what you’ll get!

To learn how to grow one or a few micro tomato plants indoors read 10 Steps to Grow Tiny Tomatoes Indoors from Seed to Harvest

To learn a bit more on how to stagger and stage grow lighting for your tomato plant indoors read Grow Lighting: Tiny Tomatoes Indoors

Plant dormancy is a complicated and nuanced biological function. While the word gets thrown around a lot to describe many plants or stages of plant development, you might be surprised that tiny many cases there is no true dormancy, but rather quiescence, or a resting period where growth can still occur much more slowly. I get into this in my Indoor Plants and Botany courses (and I have a whole class on plant dormancy that I may put online if you’re interested).

Grow Tiny Tomatoes Indoors Step by Step

If you wish you could grow tomatoes indoors, then I suggest starting small! Micro tomatoes, also called microdwarfs, such as 'Micro Tom', are really the easiest types of tomatoes to grow indoors, and a great place for beginners to start. Larger and slicing tomatoes require a lot of light...a DLI (daily light integral) of about 25-30 Mol/m2/day. That's tough to achieve indoors unless you're using higher powered HID (high intensity discharge) lighting. Usually large LED panels or LEC grow lights. I grow mine using HID lighting in grow tents. But most of us don't have space for that kind of setup, nor want to invest in it. But if you have a little space to dedicate to one to three miniature tomato plants, you can harvest some tasty cherry tomatoes using lower output grow lights.

Step 1: CHOOSE YOUR SEED

Luckily there are many more types of dwarf tomatoes on the market these days for you to choose from. Make sure to read the cultivar descriptions so you can pick the ones you're most interested in, depending on size, form, flavor, and color. Some will fit your space better than others. Some are true micros, while others are miniature or dwarf but may still get a little larger or have a bit of a trailing habit. I recommend to start with the smallest cultivars you can find, because light requirements won't be as high.

Here are few cultivars for you to look for (but you'll find more once you start seed hunting)

• 'Micro Tom'
• 'Micro Tina'
• 'Red Robin'
• 'Tiny Tim' (heirloom)
• 'Bonsai'
• 'Red Velvet' F1
• 'Cocoa' F1
• Heartbreakers tm 'Dora Red' (plants are a bit taller or trailing)
• 'Pigmy'
• 'Vilma'
• 'Little Red Riding Hood'
• 'Mohamed'
• 'Lil' Peeps'
• Ponchi tm series, with cultivars Do, Re, Mi & Fa

Step 2: CHOOSE OR MIX GROWING MEDIA

First, let's start with the substrate in which your seedlings need to germinate and grow. It’s best to choose a lightweight moisture-retaining mix that specially formulated for seed-starting, or you can use any number of other inert growing media to start your seeds (coir discs, Oasis, rockwool, foam plugs, etc.).

If you’d like to learn more about the types of ready-to-use substrates and containers, making your own paper pots and more, you can use to grow seedlings, check out the Materials and Tools chapter in my book “Plant Parenting”.

You can also mix your own seedling mix using some peat-free coir (coconut husk fiber), which you can buy as compressed bricks or discs to save space. You can aerate the mix a bit with a little perlite. Traditionally seed starting mixes also contain horticultural vermiculite. You do not need to worry about adding in any fertilizer, compost, or worm castings at the start. Your seedlings will get all their nutrients from the seed for the first couple of weeks. We'll talk about feeding your seedings coming up.

A conventional seed starting mix recipe is 1 equal part each of Peat: Perlite: Vermiculite - but I try and stay away from peat and instead use coir. If you can't find vermiculite you'll be find with just the coir and perlite.

To hydrate compressed coir:

• Gather a mixing bowl and several peat-free compressed soil discs, or a brick. Some coir products may also contain worm castings and water-retaining crystals, so make sure to read the label to see what the ingredients are that you may or may not want.
  
  • Put the coir discs or brick in the bowl and add water
  • Use fork or small garden tools to mix and fluff up the moistened growing mix.
  • Once the coir has absorbed the water and expanded you can mix it with your other ingredients, and then add it to a small 2-inch pot, small compostable fiber seedling pot for seed starting, or whatever containers you're using to hold your seedlings.

You can also follow the chapter on Starting Your Seeds in "Plant Parenting" for more in-depth step-by-step instructions on any of your seed starting projects.

OR, if you don't want to use materials such plastic or paper for your pots, and you're focused on reducing waste, use a soil block with whatever growing media you are using to make your own pot-less seed starting cubes. Simply place the soil cubes directly into a water-tight tray (I show you how in "Plant Parenting").

Step 3: LET’S GERMINATE!

Now that you’ve created a good foundation for your seedlings it’s time to plant your seeds!

• Carefully remove seeds from the packet. Micro tomato seeds are very small so you may want to set a a dark piece of paper down under your seed packet so you can see if any fall loose. Keep the packet so you have a record of what you're growing and any handy instructions.
• Gently press one seed ¼-½” into the growing mix in each pot and cover with the mix. Normally, I like to plant two seeds per pot, just in case one seedling is week or a seed doesn't germinate. But, you usually only get a few seeds per packet with micro tomatoes, so one per pot is fine.
• Gently water the growing media or mist with a misting bottle. Or, soak your Oasis, rockwool, or other inert media. Keep the growing media consistently moist (but not soggy wet).
• Place the pots, pods, or other vessel you’re using into a watertight tray. If you’re using pre-filled rockwool or Oasis plugs or the like, they typically come in a watertight tray already. You may not need to for successful germination and seedling growth, but if your home is particularly dry with very low humidity, you’ll have more germination success by temporarily placing your seeds under a humidity dome, or simply placing an individual clear sandwich bag (preferably compostable!) over each pot if you’re only starting a few pots.
• If you’re germinating seeds in cold months, your seedlings will get off to a much stronger and faster start if you use a seedling heat mat under the tray. This will warm the root-zone temperature and speed up germination and growth.
• Watering: keep the growing mix consistently and evenly moist (think the moistness of a wrung out sponge). Tomatoes thrive with even moisture with good air circulation around their roots – they don't like "wet feet"! Keep this consistent moisture until harvest.

*Micro tomatoes are pretty small plants. Depending on how much light your plants receive and your growing environment, it’s possible you could grow them to harvest in the same pot in which you germinated the seeds – it just depends on the size. Or you may want to transplant them into a 6” pot, which I’ll teach you about here coming up.

Step 4: BRIGHTEN UP! How much light to start?

Even if you are growing dwarf tomatoes in a bright window, they’ll typically need more intense light to thrive than your windowsill provides. Here are some basic lighting guidelines if you are using a 20W full spectrum LED grow light*. Typically, this small type of LED will support one dwarf tomato plant if it's a spotlight, or 1-3 plants if it's a bar. But that always depends on how much ambient light you do, or don't, have in your space.

Everyone’s growing environment is different. Observe your plant closely and be ready to adjust your lighting if needed. If plants begin stretching you can move your grow light closer to the plant to increase intensity and light quantity. If plants are yellowing or burning raise up the grow light a little farther from your plant.

When growing tomatoes from seed, you can expect to harvest mature fruits anywhere from about 90-112 days from when you plant the seed, or 50-60 days from when you transplant a seedling. Each cultivar will have slightly different days-to-maturity, which will be listed on the seed pack, but can differ depending on growing conditions and temperature. Plants grown in cooler temperatures will develop more slowly, whereas plants in warmer temperatures can develop faster.

• Seedling Week 2-5: DLI (Daily Light Integral): 15 Mol/m2/day
  • As soon as you see germination occurring make sure you grow light is on. This is one of the worst times for your seedling to not have enough light, as overstretched seedlings are often doomed! Germination usually occurs between 7-10 days, depending on home temperature. Warmer temperatures will speed germination (this is where a seed het mat helps).
  • Place your 20W lamp 12” above your seedling pot and run your lamp for 12 hours.
  • This will give your seedling a PPFD of approximately 200-300 umol/m2/s, which is ideal for this stage of seedling growth, and the target DLI.

*These are approximations based on output of quality 20W LED grow lights in the 3000-3800k range. Actual output and intensity at different distances will vary by grow lamp and be impacted by the amount of natural light in your space. You may be able to run your lamps for less time inf a southern window for example, or you may have to run them longer in a darker area of your home.

Generally, I'd recommend at least bumping to a 30-32 watt spotlight LED for your miniature tomato plant, as you'll likely get more fruit! If you bump from a 20-watt to a 32-watt, you may be able to run your lamp for a shorter time, or raise it a bit higher above your plants. I do like the 32-watt GE grow bulbs you can screw into any fixture - they are available in both a cooler and warmer spectrum, that you can switch between for different phases of leafy to fruity growth.

Learn a bit more about how much light your tiny tomatoes need, and more on how to stage and stagger the lighting schedule and spectrum as plants mature HERE.

Step 5: FEED YOUR BABIES

About two to three weeks after seedling germination, when your seedlings have their first set of true leaves, you'll need to apply some fertilizer. It's at this stage the seedling is beginning to grow the tiny root hairs that absorb water and nutrients. But again, micro tomatoes are pretty small plants, so don't go crazy with fertilizer - either too strong or too much. Look for all natural or organic vegetable or tomato fertilizers with a lower nitrogen content – something with a guaranteed analysis of around 3-4-6 N-P-K works well. If your plants look a little pale or lack vigor, bump to something similar to a 6-12-6 N-P-K (This is a balance I use quite often in a liquid feed).

If you use a low nitrogen synthetic granular fertilizer, you’ll apply it once every couple of weeks by watering it into the growing media. However, if you are using a slow-release granular synthetic, you may only need to apply it once or twice total. Granular feeds are applied as a side-dressing, or simply sprinkling into the top of the growing media.

I find with tiny tomatoes using a liquid fertilizer that has some water-soluble nutrients available is preferred. Remember that if you’re using a granular or powered fertilizer, check the label – if it does not have a guaranteed analysis of available nutrients, then you should consider it more of a soil conditioner (rather than a fertilizer) that needs to break down over time before it will provide nutrients to your plants. Given tiny tomatoes are a relatively short crop, you probably need something that works a little faster, but is still gentle.

If you’re using a liquid fertilizer, you can apply it weekly until harvest, but make sure you follow the label mixing instructions and you do not use too much.

Step 6: HEALTH CHECK

When you grow any plants indoors, you’re essentially creating the perfect environment for pest or disease issues to grow out of control. You’ll need to regularly check for signs of common diseases such as powdery mildew, leaf mold, leaf spot, and even root rot, which can affect your tomato plants. Other pests include spider mites, mealybugs, and aphids. Typically plants that get enough light indoors and don’t stay too wet shouldn’t have much disease or pest pressure, but low humidity can often encourage spider mites on tomato plants.

You may need to use a pest control treatment, but remember you're growing edible plants! Do not use any sort of systemic pesticide. Stick to mild natural topical treatments, such as insecticidal soap or horticultural oils. Sticky traps can help you monitor pest populations and manage some of the adults insects and mites. I go into more detail on pest management in both my books "Gardening Under Lights" and "Plant Parenting".

Step 7: POTUP & VEG OUT…Let's boost the light!

VEG OUT: As your tomato plants grow, you’ll need to increase the amount of light they are getting so they can put on more vegetative growth (stems and foliage) to support the coming flowers and fruits). . You can do this pretty easily by simply lowering your grow light so it’s a bit closer to your plants. Or you can also prop your pots up to be closer to the light if you can’t move it.

• Vegetative Phase Week 5-9: DLI 18-20 Mol/m2/day
  • Place your grow light about 8-9 inches above your plants and rune the lamp 13-14 hours
  • This will give your seedling a PPFD of approximately 400-600 umol/m2/s

Step 8: POT UP? Week 5-6

Is it time to repot your seedlings? It's usually a good idea to bump your micro tomatoes up to a slightly larger pot...but not too big. Micro tomatoes are pretty small plants. Depending on how much light your plants receive and your growing environment, it’s possible you could grow them to harvest in these same pots you started your seeds in, especially if they were 3-4" sized pots. It However, if you started your seeds in tiny plug trays, then you'll need to repot them. Otherwise, roots become restricted and plant growth is stunted.

Depending on conditions, especially if you're provided enough light, you may have seedlings that grew vigorously and have already rooted out to the bottom of the plug or pot before week 5 - keep an eye on your seedlings as they may need repotting a bit sooner. Once roots have reached the bottom of the pot or plug, it's time to bump it up! (no larger than 6” diameter is necessary to finish most micro tomatoes).

Transplant your tomatoes into their new pot with a lightweight indoor potting mix. You can choose a premixed indoor potting mix or lightweight mix for vegetables and herbs. Just stay away from heavier chunkier mixes that contain a lot of bark or lots of organic matter - these are best for your outdoor plantings.

How To Transplant:

• Fill your 5-6"pot halfway with lightly moistened potting mix.
• Take your transplant and gently squeeze the plug on both sides to loosen the roots (if you've used expanding loose coir plugs, oasis, or rockwool you don't need to do this).
• Tip the plant towards your hand and gently slide the pot away from the root ball. Try to disturb the root system as little as possible, as these are small plants. If it's stuck, you can stick the tip of a pencil through the bottom plug hole to nudge the seedling out.
• Set your tomato plant on top of the potting mix in the pot.
• Backfill with additional potting mix around the transplant’s root ball.
• With tomato plants it’s ok to add potting soil so that it covers some of the base of the main stem. Meaning, it’s ok, and often beneficial, to plant tomatoes a little deeper than where they originally emerged as a seedling. (note, not all plants can tolerate deeper planting and often recommend the opposite!)
• Lightly press potting mix around the plant to stabilize it.
• Lightly water the container so there is even moisture, and some water comes out of the bottom of the container.

Tomato Care Reminder: Don’t forget to Fertilize! Side dress with a granular fertilizer now, or use a liquid fertilizer.

Step 9: ILLUMINATE YOUR HARVEST How much light for flowers & fruits?

Remember, tomatoes are full sun loving plants. Making flowers and fruits takes a lot of energy. So now is when you want to try and deliver the equivalent of full sunlight to your tiny tomato plant. Remember, you can do this easily by simply lowering your grow light so it’s a bit closer to your plants. Or you can also prop your pots up to be closer to the light if you can’t move it.

• Flowering & Fruiting Weeks 9-14: DLI 30 Mol/m2/day
  • Place your grow light about 6-8 inches above your plants and run the lamp for 14 hours.
  • This will give your seedling a PPFD of approximately 600-900 umol/m2/s, which is ideal for this stage of development, with the target DLI.
    
    

*These are approximations based on output of quality 20W LED grow lights in the 3000-3800k range. And again, this is for one plant, not a group of plants over a larger surface area. Actual output and intensity at different distances will vary by grow lamp and be impacted by the amount of natural light in your space. You may be able to run your lamps for less time inf a southern window for example, or you may have to run them longer in a darker area of your home.

Be sure to observe your plant and make lighting adjustments as needed. If your plant looks like it’s stretching move your grow light closer to the plant. If it appears to be yellowing or burning raise up the grow light a little farther from your plant.

Step 10: HARVEST & ENJOY!

Once your tiny tomatoes are ripe it’s time to pick and eat. One thing to know about micro tomato cultivars is that most of them are determinate, meaning they’ll set most all of their fruit at once, or in a short period of time…and then plants may “crash”. They could collapse and die, or if you’re practiced in tomato growing and you catch plants soon enough, you can cut them back, fertilizer them, and see if they’ll regrow successfully for you. Don’t be sad if they don’t, it’s just a normal cycle for these plants. If your tiny tomato plant crashes after it produces fruit, just start another seedling! That’s really the fun of it anyway, right?

This post is not sponsored, does not contain any paid advertising, nor any free products for endorsement...because I don't do that stuff! Any products mentioned are simply items I use or made a good example for this project.

Parts of a Perfect Flower

Did you know? Sexually speaking, there are different types of flowers that are capable, or incapable, of different reproductive functions.

Understanding some basic flower morphology and anatomy can come in handy if you're trying to pollinate, or hybridize, your own plants to generate seeds you can collect and grow. Not all plants have the same types of flowers, nor contain the same "parts". Some of the easiest plants for you to pollinate are "monoecious" plants with "perfect" flowers.

Parts of a Perfect Flower

The easiest way for me to teach this is usually just to create an illustration! So that's what I did this morning for you with this drawing of a lily flower from a bouquet that's currently sitting on my kitchen table.

A "perfect flower" is a common term used to describe bisexual flowers; flowers having both ovule-producing ("female") parts AND pollen-producing ("male") parts within the same flower.

The female organs are collectively referred to as the "pistil" and the male parts collectively as the "stamen".

When a single plant produces both pollen and ovules (be it on "perfect" or "imperfect" flowers, which will get to in another post), it is called monoecious (from the Greek "one house").

A monoecious plant with perfect (or imperfect) flowers needs pollen from either the male parts of the same flower, or another flower on the same plant, OR another plant of the same compatible species in order to germinate the ovary, which is located at the bottom of the pistil.

Many of these plants can easily self-pollenate, and we refer to such plants as "self fertile". Some, however, have adapted morphology that encourages "outcrossing", or getting pollen from another flower, or a flower on another compatible species before successful germination can occur.

Ooooo those pesky fungus gnats!

I JUST spotted a fungus gnat on one of my houseplants. Time to break out some good old sticky traps! Flighting fungus gnats (and other flying plant pests such as whiteflies) involves both monitoring and population reduction methods. In greenhouse production, sticky traps are a standard go-to for monitoring pest populations. But they are just as handy for the home plant parent.

Sticky traps are an easy low-impact way to knock out the adult fungus gnats currently flying around your plant, as well as prevent them from laying more eggs in the plant’s growing media. Those larvae that hatch out around your plant roots will want to munch on organic matter. If there isn’t any in your container, that leaves your plant roots!

I usually apply a diluted soil drench of hydrogen peroxide to knock out the larvae (I use a 10:1 ratio of 3% HP to Water - it seems to be a really heavy infestation you can go a bit stronger). and then you may try Bt (Bacillius thuriengensis) for longer term control or prevention.

I have some handy pest and disease charts as well as control methods in my books “Gardening Under Lights” and “Plant Parenting” if you need a good walk through and reference always at your fingertips.

Venus Slipper Orchids

V is for Venus Orchid…In today's Plant ABCs series aimed at introducing you to the wild world of plants.

Venus orchids, or Venus slipper orchids, are some of my very favorite orchids to grow as houseplants. Species in the genus Paphiopedilum - not to be confused with LADY’s slipper orchids, which are in the Cypripedium genus and found growing as terrestrial plants in many of our national forests and grasslands- although, if you want to get into the taxonomy and classification, Venus orchids are technically part of the lady slipper subfamily Cypripedioideae under the family Orchidaceae) produces large GORGEOUS flowers with a large “pouch”.

Flowers often sport striking color combinations of green, chartreuse, burgundy and pink. Because most species in the genus are terrestrial plants (although some are epiphytic or lithophytic), I find these orchids to be relatively easy to grow indoors and re-bloom. And did you know? Species in this genus have unusual stomata that only respond to blue light and don’t have chloroplasts. Botany fun facts! If you’d love to know more about growing such orchids, you can join me in my Indoor Plants course, and if you’d love to dig into botanical nomenclature and taxonomy a bit more, you can join me in Botany class in the spring quarter!

Thinking About Using Grow Lights?

Answers to a Few Basic Grow Light Questions

I get asked about grow lights A LOT.

Problem is, most questions about grow lights required very detailed LONG answers. It's just not a super simple subject. That is why I wrote an entire book on the subject!

But since I'm still getting asked this particular question, I thought I'd summarize some basic thoughts on the topic before you dive deeply into grow lights.

With the resurgence of indoor plant popularity, many plant enthusiasts have discovered their favorite plants may not thrive in their low-light conditions. Or, they want to grow seedlings and edibles indoors, which pretty much always requires grow lighting.

We know from research that keeping indoor plants has many benefits, such as reduced anxiety and stress, improved productivity and focus, and even improved healing. So in terms of wellness, bringing some nature indoors can have a very positive impact on our lives. Beyond the mental benefits, plants bring so much dimension, aesthetically, to our homes and offices. Plants literally bring our indoor spaces to life.

Succulents are a great example of plants that typically need much more light that we typically have to offer them indoors. That's why so many beginners kill succulents from "overwatering". The plants actually need greater light intensity to use the water quickly enough. Otherwise, the root zone simply stays too wet for many succulent and cactus species. However, if you add a grow light, you can significantly improve plant health and vigor.

You don't need a green thumb to start gardening indoors with grow lights. You just need a desire to learn and make a few mistakes. Green thumbs are, after all, earned not born! That said, it's beneficial to at least dip your toes into learning a bit more about light science, how plants use lights, and how measuring light indoors can significantly change your understanding of how to use grow lights successfully. Also, indoor environmental conditions are very different from your outdoor environment, so you may experience different challenges with certain plants than you do outdoors.

The best way to be successful with a grow light is to first learn more about the species of plant or crop you are growing. The bottom line is, you aren't going to be able to grow big slicing tomatoes indoors with a small LED grow light. When you acquire a deeper understanding of how tomato plants grow and the amount of light they actually need to thrive, it will completely change your perspective on the type of indoor grow light setup you'll need to achieve those results.

Choosing which LED grow light to use goes back to what you're growing and does your grow light have enough power to emit enough usable light PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation) for that plant species or crop. Energy in is energy out and small low-power LEDs won't sustain high-light plants such as citrus or tomatoes. They'll be fine for foliage houseplants or small succulents.

There is a wide range of grow lights to choose from, depending on your plants and goals. If you're growing smaller foliage or blooming houseplants or succulents, then some of the smaller 20-40 Watt full/broad spectrum LEDs will work just fine. Know that dual-multi band LEDs may put off a pink or purple colored light you won't want in your living space. So look for a broad spectrum lamp that emits a "white" colored light. Generally speaking, "cooler" spectrum grow lights (> 5000K) better support vegetative leafy growth. "Warmer" spectrum lights (< 5000K) tend to encourage more flowering. However, most plants will grow just fine under a balanced broad spectrum grow light. HO T5 Fluorescent lamps can still be a good option for these types of plants (just be aware Fluorescents do contain some mercury and LEDs may be a more sustainable choice). If you are jumping to indoor citrus, edible crops, or larger floor houseplants, you'll want to look for more powerful LEDs or even HID (High Intensity Discharge) options.

Yes, there are a lot of cheaply made grow lights on the market these days so I typically recommend buying lamps made in the U.S. I find quality and longevity is better, as well as care of shipping and customer service.

There are no specific types of plants that respond better to grow lights - each species has a requirement for the intensity and duration of light it would normally get from the sun in order to thrive and reproduce. You can, for the most part, replicate these needs using quality grow lights. If you are growing low or very low light foliage plants indoors and you have good natural light from East, West, or Southern exposures then you may not need grow lights for these plants. But if your home is relatively dark, or you want to grow species or edible crops that require more light to thrive, then you may need to at least provide some supplemental light for your plants, or significant lighting for seeds, edibles, and other high-light plants.

It’s L for Love in a Mist!...In today's Plant ABC Series that introduces you to the wild world of plants.

Meet Nigella damascena, commonly called love-in-a-mist, or devil-in-the-bush by a cheekier crowd. This is one of my very favorite annual flowers that easily reseeds itself in your garden with no effort at all. You’ll find the flowers come in shades of blue, purple, pink and sometimes white. I find their flower form to be stunningly beautiful. N. damascena is a member of the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae and plants produce a profusion of lovely black seeds inside striking dry pods.

Depending on where you live, plants can bloom very early spring into early summer, as they do for me here in Texas, or may be a summer bloomer for you in cooler climates. Plants drop seed in summer and fall. In my area seedlings emerge in late summer and fall, then begin blooming in late winter early spring. These are easy wildflowers you can throw seed out into areas you don’t do any garden maintenance. Once you have an established population you can save plenty of your own seed.

Getting Lost in the Forest

Sometimes you need to get lost…

To begin a new adventure. When there is always a clear (or what you think is clear) path in front of you, it’s easy to keep walking it. Even if it may not take you where you want to go. Sometimes you just need to get lost in the woods (literally and figuratively) to find your way.

I was hiking a supposed back side trail down from the mountaintop Tambomachay ruins in Cusco, Peru (if I recall correctly that’s the site I was at for this hike but it could be a different one). Instead of taking the normal public descent back to the town where I was to meet a friend who would pick me up, I decided for a longer more scenic route. The local guide posted at the ruins indicated with hand gestures that yes I could get where I was going by hiking down the mountain...that way...mind you he just pointed in a general direction.

I was like…ok cool! Why not, right? It was a beautiful hike and I have many photos of amazing plants I found. But about an hour in the tiny sort of foot path that looked like a foot path disappeared. No markers, no path, just lots of mountains and a tiny descending stream that would appear and disappear…then reappeared sometimes.

I just had to pick a direction, pointed myself downward, and hoped that in my descent I’d end up in the right village in time for my ride. No, no cell signal of course. No map. No path. I just had to trust my gut. I thought Huh, if it gets dark and I don’t show up…maybe my friend will send someone? Images of helicopter rescues ensued. Although something like a llama rescue would have probably been more in order.

I tromped may way along keeping my eye out for the little stream to follow, forced to switch back and forth from both mountainsides in order to find a walkable route. After a few hours, I got a view of a valley and hoped I would end up at the right destination in time. I did. Whew.

I’m not recommending you go get lost in a mountain forest in a foreign country in order to find your way. But I will say it was one of the most lovely and memorable hikes. I’m on another one of those hikes in life right now, and I can’t wait to see what new adventure awaits.

If you find yourself uncertain about your current path, it might be time to through caution to the wind and get lost for a while.