Journal February 10, 2012

Ava presented her grandmother with the the last of the flowers from the calendula and zinnia plants today. The plants were still growing, but showing their age. When I checked the tags in the plants, I was surprised to find that they have been growing since October, so they have nothing to be ashamed of, as they did a yeoman's job producing flowers.

In a normal winter we would have had about six feet of snow by this time in February. This winter, we have had hardely any, and the temperatures remain above normal. As much as I like LED lighting for growing, I can't resist giving the plants natural light when conditions permit.

The three tomato plants spent the afternoon in the greenhouse; this being the first time these plants have been exposed to natural light. It is, in fact, the first time that they have been out of the tents.

With that said, the plants are such a healthy color green, that they appear almost blue green with very compact internodal spacing. Yet, there are still those who insist that: "LED technology is not there yet."

Journal February 6, 2012

Today, while turning the pepper plant to inspect the backside, I found that there was a fully opened flower that I had not seen before. The plant has quite a few buds, so I will have to pay close attention to the plant from now on, so that I can pollinate the flowers as they open.

All of the Mountain Princess tomatoes have trusses with buds forming, but it will still be several days before the flowers form. And, if the weather continues to be mild, I will bring the plants into the greenhouse in the afternoon, to allow them to bask in the warmth and sunlight. The temperature in the greenhouse was in the 80s today, and I can not recall it ever being that warm in February. Not that I am complaining.

The cucumbers in the ebb and flow system are starting to put out tendrils, and so far, look fantastic. Cucumbers are a good "notification" crop, because it there is a problem with your growing conditions, cucumbers will be the first plants to show it. I have not used the el-cheapo Wal-Mart nutrients for cucumbers before, but they seem OK with it. That said, I plan on changing the nutrients weekly, instead of every two weeks, just to be safe.

It is hard to believe I will soon be starting seeds for the coming season. Where does the time go?

February 2, 2012 journal

The feed lines to the AutoPots have been turned off for several days and the reservoirs are completely dry, however, the meter is telling me that the moisture level within the pots is about an 8 on a scale of 1 - 10. That said, the plants are doing fantastically well! I venture to state that they are the best I have yet grown indoors.

The Mountain Princess tomato, shown above, is an extra plant that I was going to discard but decided at the last moment to grow instead. This morning I thought I could see a bud cluster forming, and by lunch the cluster was indeed visible.

I have been removing suckers, as I want to limit trusses to the main stem for support. After the first truss has set I will decide whether I am going to allow an additional truss to form.

The part I am unsure of is how much foliage the plant should have to support one or two trusses. I suppose it would be best to err on the side of too much, rather than too little.

Journal February 1, 2012

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Three cucumber seedlings have been planted in an ebb and flow system replacing the plants growing in AutoPots. These seedlings will be grown using a 90 watt red/blue/white LED with a photoperiod of fourteen hours. The initial EC was 1.6 with a pH of 5.6 and the cycle is fifteen minutes on every six hours.

The ebb and flow system is filled with hydroton, with the net pots containing the seedlings buried in the hydroton. In addition, I have placed a layer of ceramic tiles on the bottom of the tub to protect the roots from any liquid that might remain in the tub between cycles.

I am firmly convinced that when using an AutoPot indoors it is absolutely necessary to control the release of nutrients to the reservoir manually, as there was a dramatic improvement in the cucumbers after I began monitoring the moisture levels. Still, I felt that the plants were so stressed from being overwatered, that they would most likely never fully recover. However, I was able to make a small batch of pickles using my own cucumbers, grown indoors during the winter, and that in itself was rewarding.

The chard that has been growing under the red/blue LED for the last six weeks was harvested today. We have enough for probably six individual servings from one ebb and flow system and the quality is fantastic, with the leaves being so green that they appear to be artificial.

As I am using highly efficient LED lighting and inexpensive off the shelf nutrients, the cost to grow the chard is hardly worth considering.

January 26, 2012 journal

At this point I am going to consider my homebuilt AutoPot project a success, even though I still have to cut down the two covers that fit different size pots to fit the smaller reservoir tray.

To date I have removed at least six small buds from the Giant Marconi pepper plant, however, from this point on I am going to let the plant flower. If the plant can not support fruit, it will abort the flowers itself. Mother Nature knows best.

A week ago I placed the time lapse camera in the tent to record the growth of this plant, however when aiming the camera I accidentally cut the top of the plant from the frame. At some point I will have to repeat that experiment, as when I viewed the video the leaves on the plant appeared to be flapping like bird wings. The camera was set to take three frames every fifteen minutes, and for the life of me I can not imagine why the plant appeared to droop and recover. The temperature is pretty constant, as are the light and moisture levels, so that really has me baffled.

January 23, 2012 journal

Sunday I stopped by the local Agway to pick up some perlite, and they had just put out this year's shipment of seeds. Not that I needed seeds, but I bought up some anyway.

Livingston Seed Company is not associated with Monsanto, which is one of the reasons I like to buy their seeds. Of course, the other reason is that you get a lot of seeds for a reasonable price. The lettuce has 3 grams, the beets have 5 grams and the chard has 10 grams, so for under five dollars I got several thousand seeds. And, considering that I waste very few seeds, that is a bargain indeed!

Today I planted cucumber seedlings in an ebb and flow system, where they will grow until I see roots sticking out of the net pots. At that point, I intend to fill an ebb and flow system with hydroton, and plunge the net pots into the hydroton allowing the roots to grow into the tub.

The nutrients for the cucumbers will be the standard mix I use for lettuce, with the EC adjusted to 1.6 and the pH at 5.6.

January 22, 2012 journal

As much as I like using AutoPots the recent episode with the cucumbers has convinced me that they do have a tendency to overwater.

The problem is more evident when growing indoors, where the rate of growth and transpiration is much slower than in the greenhouse.

I thought that installing cut off valves on the feed lines, before the smart valve, would solve the problem, but the question was: how wet was the media at the bottom of the pot?

Today I purchased a Rapitest digital moisture meter at a local garden shop and I am quite impressed with the performance. The programmed plants are all house plants, so they are of little use to me, however, by using the basic setting and inserting the probe 2/3 of the way into the container I can get an accurate reference on how moist the media is.

I have had the feed to the cucumbers turned off for several days and they are looking much better. As the reading on the cucumbers was 3, I turned on the valve and let the reservoir fill turning the valve off when the reservoir was filled.

After testing the tomatoes and peppers I found the readings to be in the 8 and 9 range on a scale of 10, so I have turned off the feed to the smart valves.

My thinking is to monitor the levels and turn the valves on when the reading is 3 or 4. Over time I can determine how the plants respond, and the best level for each variety.

When using the meter I simply select the basic setting, insert the probe and read the scale. The probe is cleaned on a paper towel before being inserted into the next plant. That simple.

I suspect that this tool will be well worth the twenty dollars it cost me.