Journal November 10, 2013 Hydroponic bok choi

The bok choi is ready to pick so we are researching recipes to prepare it.  It has been several years since I last planted choi; and this would be the first time I have grown it using LED lighting.  As you can see by the photo, the plants are well developed, short and sturdy, not at all leggy, which means that they have received adequate light while growing.

A few days ago I received more flowering tropical plants to grow in the tents.  I ordered a Maid of Orleans, Jasmine Sambac on eBay for less than five dollars, however, when the plant arrived there were three plants in the pot.  When separating the plants, I could see that the plant had recently had flowers on it, so perhaps it will flower again soon.

Checking the thermometer in the greenhouse this morning I saw that the low temperature last night was 32 degrees.  The forecast is for bitter cold temperatures in the coming week, so I decided to close the greenhouse and move the olives indoors for the winter.  The plan was to leave them in the greenhouse until Thursday to reach the 1,000 hour chill target, however, rather than take a chance of freezing them I decided to move them.  My rationale is that they will receive plenty more chilling during the next several months.

In a seldom used area of the basement I suspended a length of 1" x 6" board using a heavy duty adjustable light hanging cord.  The LED lights and electrical connections  are attached to the board so the lights can be raised and lowered as needed.  A small fan for ventilation was also installed using a separate timer.

As most of the olive varieties are Spanish, just for fun, I used the sunrise/sunset tables for Madrid Spain to set the timer for the lights.  The calendar on Google is set to remind me to change the timer slightly over the next three months so simulate the winter solstice.