Sunday, November 27, 2011

November 27, 2011 journal




A dozen seedlings of Galactic lettuce were planted in an ebb and flow system today. The TDS was 982 with a pH of 6.0, and I added 15 ml of hydrogen peroxide to the nutrients for added oxygen.

More and more I am leaning toward growing just leaf and romaine varieties of lettuce. Butterhead varieties tend toward tip burn under my growing conditions, and head lettuce is a waste of time, as it just takes too long.

The cucumbers are giving me a hard time, as after I switched to the flower/bloom nutrients, the plants completely stopped growing. I had five cucumbers set, and the plants aborted all but one cucumber.

I have not used any commercial hydroponic nutrients for several years, following a thirty percent increase in pricing by General Hydroponics. I have brewed my own since then, and have been very happy with the results. However, last fall someone gave me all of their hydroponic equipment and supplies, including nutrients. I tried using something called Liquid Earth on the cucumbers and tomatoes. Although the tomatoes are doing fine with the Liquid Earth, the cucumbers are now struggling.

I have switched the cucumbers to my normal nutrients, and if the plants do not respond quickly I will start new plants.

As I stated in a previous post; growing cucumbers indoors can be a humbling experience.

And in summary, the tomatoes under the Six Band Flower series light are producing so many blooms that I have begun removing some of the new budding branches in an effort to begin the ripening process. This is surely one prolific plant!

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