Truleaf Insights

A science-backed guide to growing winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus), the four-angled tropical legume where pods, leaves, flowers, and tubers are all edible. Covers seed scarification, trellising, the short-day flowering problem, nitrogen fixation and feeding, pests and diseases, and harvest, drawn from 20 peer-reviewed studies plus extension and reference-database guidance.

A year-by-year guide to establishing an asparagus bed from 1-year-old crowns: trench depth, gradual backfill, and why you don't harvest for the first two seasons, grounded in root-growth research and extension guidance.

Why does lettuce bolt and go to seed? Bolting is a programmed reproductive switch flipped by heat and long days, not old or diseased lettuce, and it is what turns the leaves bitter. Learn what triggers the switch and the levers that keep it from flipping, all traced to peer-reviewed and university research.

Why do Kratky plants wilt and die? The number-one killer is not what most growers think — it is refilling the reservoir. Learn the 7 Kratky method mistakes that drown, starve, and rot plants, with the fix for each, all traced to university research.

Why does hydroponic pH keep rising every day? It is not a broken meter. Nitrate-dominant nutrient uptake and source-water alkalinity push pH up. Learn the four real causes of upward pH drift and the fixes that actually last.

Your winged bean grew a huge vine but never flowered? The plant is healthy — the daylength is wrong. Winged bean is a short-day plant that won't bloom under long temperate summer days. Learn the real cause and the three-part fix, starting with day-neutral cultivars.

A research-backed guide to growing cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) in beds, containers, indoors, and hydroponically. Learn why it bolts, how to slow it with cool-season timing and slow-bolt cultivars, plus germination, succession sowing, spacing, light, feeding, and harvest. Grounded in peer-reviewed studies and university extension guidance.

A research-backed guide to growing onions in beds, containers, indoors, and hydroponically. Learn the one thing most guides skip — matching day-length type to your latitude — plus seeds vs sets vs transplants, watering, feeding, common problems, and how to harvest, cure, and store. Grounded in 17 peer-reviewed studies and university extension guidance.

Learn how to grow ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) from seed to root harvest — germination temperature, soil and pH, watering, organic feeding, pests, and even soilless methods, grounded in peer-reviewed research and horticultural extension guidance.

Learn how to grow garlic from a single clove with this research-backed guide to all four methods: garden beds, containers, greenhouses, and hydroponics. Covers clove selection, vernalization (the cold requirement), day length, scapes, and how to harvest, cure, and store your crop. Grounded in 11 peer-reviewed studies and 8 university extensions.

A month-by-month planting calendar adjusted for El Nino 2026, broken down by climate zone — Drought Belt, Flood Belt, Monsoon Disruption, Temperate Shift, and Iberian/Mediterranean. What to plant, when to start, and what to avoid, backed by NOAA CPC, BOM, and FAO forecasts.

A science-backed guide to growing jaboticaba (Brazilian grape tree), the fruit that blooms straight from the trunk. Covers acidic soil and pH, light, water, feeding, pruning to protect cauliflory, the honest years-long fruiting timeline, why grafting shortens the wait, container vs. in-ground, and troubleshooting myrtle rust and iron chlorosis.