Stir Fry In Process

Although we enjoy fresh salads in the winter, warm tasty greens are a welcome addition to our table.

As an added bonus; all of the above oriental vegetables can used for salad, stir fry, or soup greens. The small Joy Choi added to vegetable soup tastes pretty much like swiss chard. The Rubicon Chinese Cabbage grows so quickly under lights in the ebb and flow system you can go from seed to table in about four weeks.

It was not necessary to alter my growing conditions, or nutrient mix, to include these vegetables with the lettuce.

When I began growing under lights this winter I considered having a different nutrient mix in each of the three ebb and flow systems for the different stages of growth: seedling, vegetative and ripening.

Early on I decided to concentrate mostly on salad greens, and adjusted the systems to a vegetative mixture. The TDS is between 1500 and 1900, which I know is high, however, it was changed yesterday, and it will decrease quickly as the plants are growing rapidly.

Another advantage is; the higher TDS allows me to include a few flowers in the system until they reach the bloom stage. There is a Dianthus growing along with the lettuce, and I can see buds beginning to form. In a few days I intend to place it in an individual container with a mix specific to the bloom stage.