Hydroponic Workshop

January 26, 2012 journal

2012-01-26T13:35:00.005-05:00

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

2012-01-23T18:26:00.004-05:00

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

2012-01-22T13:23:00.016-05:00

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.

January 20, 2012 journal

2012-01-20T17:59:00.009-05:00

Today I began soaking seeds for Early Wonder beets, as the chard in the photo is just about ready to harvest. At the market today chard and beet greens were being sold for $2.49 per bunch. It seems a decent price, except, the size of the "bunch" was so small you need a bunch for each individual serving. It is well worth the effort to grow either of these greens.

The chard grew exceptionally well under the LED, so I will dedicate the light and system to chard and beets.

Not to belabor the subject of LEDs, however, the Giant Marconi pepper plant being grown under the six band flower series LED is producing buds already. It is five weeks from the time I started the seeds, and we all know how long it takes just for a pepper seed to germinate.

This is really the first actual test of my revised homebuilt AutoPot, and so far it is working perfectly. I will remove the first four or five buds to allow the plant to put its energy into growing before I allow any flowers to form. So far, so good, but what can possible go wrong, as Ava has Sprout keeping an eye on things.

January 18, 2012 journal

2012-01-18T16:27:00.008-05:00

The two ebb and flow systems above are just about ready to harvest, so it is time to think about what varieties to plant next.

The top photo shows Red Salad Bowl lettuce and the bottom photo is Two Star lettuce. In my opinion the Two Star looks remarkably like Lettony lettuce. Both of these varieties are good candidates for hydroponic growing, as there was absolutely no sign of tip burn in either system.

Yesterday I contacted the AutoPot, or Easy 2 Grow, folks regarding my problems with cucumbers, and their CEO was kind enough to respond with several suggestions regarding growing cucumbers with their system. He wrote that, as one person suggested, using a pad under the pot was not necessary. The crux of his advice was to allow the plants to grow larger and develop a decent root system before placing them into the AutoPots, and, to allow them to be well established before turning on the liquid; perhaps as long as three or four weeks.

My one remaining plant, the one with the two small cucumbers, is looking slightly better. It may be my imagination, but it appears to be growing again, however, one way or another its days are numbered.

January 16, 2012 journal

2012-01-16T12:40:00.006-05:00

Things are pretty well under control and there is not much going on today , so I thought I would post a photo of the grow chamber so I would have it to look back on for reference.

In this small space I have calendula, zinnia, Australian leaf lettuce, red salad bowl lettuce, two star lettuce and chard.

It is too bad that I did not build a grow chamber earlier in my hydroponic endeavors. I most likely would not have built one at all if my wife did not keep insisting that I do so. Well, everyone knows women are much smarter than men.

January 15, 2012 journal

2012-01-15T19:18:00.002-05:00

The Giant Marconi pepper plant apparently likes the growing conditions in the tent, as it is doing very well indeed.

Today, for another experiment, I planted two Mountain Princess seedlings in the second tent. My intent is to limit the number of trusses to one, or two, per plant. I am trying to direct all of the plant's energy into producing a few large fruit, rather than a lot of fruit. It should also be interesting to see if the tomatoes mature and ripen in less time than usual.

It is sad to say, but the cucumbers have virtually ground to halt, so I replaced one planting of cucumbers with another Giant Marconi pepper. I still have one cucumber plant that is growing very very slowly. The plant looks fine, has two small cucumbers, however, it does not appear to be growing at all. I checked the roots on the plants that were replaced, and they were pure white with no sign of disease, so, at this point, I have no idea of what is going on with the cucumbers.

Seeds have been started for another attempt at cucumbers. This time I plan on using an ebb and flow system, burying the plants in hydroton, letting the roots wander where they will. As the ebb and flow system feeds the plants every four hours, any deficiencies can quickly be addressed.

I am also planning on using the same nutrients that I use for lettuce and chard for the cucumbers rather than the Peters Professional.

January 8, 2012 journal

2012-01-08T14:01:00.005-05:00

George Van Patten, in his book Gardening Indoors with Soil & Hydroponics, says to remove the side or lateral shoots from cucumber plants to send nutrients to the remaining fruit. In my case, I have as many, if not more, fruit developing on lateral shoots than on the main stem.

The Little Leaf plants develop clusters of male flowers at pretty much every leaf axil, and I spent a good part of my morning removing the clusters of male flowers from the plants.

Being parthenocarpic, the plants have no need of male flowers, so I removed the male flowers to redirect energy back into the plants.

Further, to keep the plants somewhat under control, I remove the growing tip of lateral shoots that have produced a female flower, and I am removing tendrils as they develop.

Growing cucumbers hydroponically indoors is a challenging proposition, to say the least. Nutrient needs change as the plants grow; as there are no nutrients in the media, the grower needs to recognize, and compensate for, any deficiencies, quickly.

January 7, 2012 journal

2012-01-07T15:53:00.004-05:00

Ava is picking our flowers, and presenting them to her mom and grandmother, just as quickly as they open. And, that is fine with me, as there is no sense in keeping them in the grow chamber where they can't be seen and enjoyed.

At this time I am growing several varieties of lettuce to evaluate how they grow, hydroponically, under my specific conditions. I have found that, in addition to being difficult to start, Australian yellow leaf lettuce has a wicked tendency toward tip burn. On the other hand, I have found a variety called Two Star, that is really doing quite well without a sign of tip burn.

The Fordhook giant chard, show in the lower photo, appears that it may turn out to be the very best batch of chard I have every grown, and, I have grown some great chard in the past. These plants are only four weeks from the date that I started the seeds, and they are the most compact chard seedlings I have ever grown, including in the greenhouse.

The Little Leaf cucumbers growning under the red/blue/white LEDs are finally producing female flowers. The EC has been adjusted to 2.4 with a pH of 5.8.

January 1, 2012 journal

2012-01-01T18:02:00.009-05:00

We are having an unusually mild winter so far, however, it is like waiting for the other shoe to fall, as I am sure it will not last. This afternoon, the temperature was 51 degrees F outdoors, and in the greenhouse the temperature was in the mid seventies.

The Giant Marconi seedling was ready to be transplanted and the perlite was in the greenhouse, so I mixed the media and performed the transplant in the greenhouse. It is amazing what a few hours of warm temperatures and bright sunshine did for my disposition.

The pepper seedling was planted in my homebuilt autopot, which was placed in the second tent, and I will be using a six band flower series 126 watt LED with a photoperiod of 14 hours. The light is positioned 14 inches above the plant, and at the plant level I recorded a reading in excess of 5,000 footcandles.

I have decided that going forward I will use EC as a unit of measurement for nutrients, rather than TDS, as EC is supposed to be more accurate. As I want to use a single reservoir to feed both the tomatoes and peppers, I chose an EC that will work for both, 2.7.

The bottom photo shows part of the harvest from the Balcony Hybrid tomato grow, so I will call that project a success. I am sure that there are still people who will say that LED lighting does not work, no matter how many examples like this they see. Then again, there are people who still doubt the Lunar landings.

December 30, 2011 journal

2011-12-28T18:40:00.007-05:00

The new six band flower series light has been installed in the second tent, however, both tents are sitting idle awaiting the tomato and pepper seedlings. I estimate it will be at least three or four weeks before the seedlings are large enough to be transplanted into autopots.

Slowly but surely I have been replacing all of the fluorescent lights with LEDs, and the addition of the new six band light allowed me to replace the 125 watt fluorescent light in the grow chamber with the 90 watt red/blue that I had been using in one of the tents.

The only remaining fluorescent light is the six tube Pioneer T5 light in the grow chamber. When it becomes necessary to replace the tubes in that light, I will purchase a large LED rather than replace the tubes. At that point, I will finally be gardening using strictly LED lighting

The above photo shows Fordhook Giant chard that has been growing under the LED for about a week. Even at this stage I can tell that there is an improvement over using the 125 CFL light.

December 21, 2011 journal

2011-12-21T15:55:00.005-05:00

Apparently, adding the heaters to the tents was one of my better ideas, as the few degrees of additional heat has kick started the tomatoes into ripening. Also, I thought it as being appropriate that they are ripening on the first day of winter.

As the Balcony Hybrid is a determinate variety, its life cycle will be over soon, so replacement seedlings are being grown to replace the plant. I will be growing two Mountain Princess plants in the tent this time, and, I am only going to allow one or two trusses to set fruit on each plant. Additionally, when fruit has set, I will increase the nutrient strength to slightly above normal in an effort to increase fruit size.

In the adjoining tent I plan on growing Giant Marconi peppers, and I am looking forward to trying them under the six band flower series LED by Pro LED Systems.

The bottom photo shows a system planted with red salad bowl and Australian yellow leaf lettuce that is coming along nicely. The beet greens have been replaced by Fordhook chard, as we are just not eating as much salad during the winter and I did not want the system to sit idle.

December 16, 2011 journal

2011-12-16T18:27:00.003-05:00

Our Calendula is blooming! Just having a few flowers around during the winter sure helps to dispel the winter blues.

The Mountain Princess tomatoes and Giant Marconi pepper seeds have not only sprouted, but are developing their first true leaves. Tomorrow, I will plant the seedlings in four inch pots, in coir and perlite, so they can develop for two or three weeks.

My plan is to use Peters Professional nutrients, with a TDS of about 1700, for both the peppers and tomatoes. That level is slightly high for peppers, and slightly low for tomatoes, however, I do not think it will cause a problem. I just prefer not to have to service two reservoirs, if possible.

December 14, 2011 journal

2011-12-14T19:28:00.005-05:00

Four replacement Little Leaf cucumber seedlings have been replanted into autopots. Two will be grown using a red/blue 90 watt LED light, and two will be grown using a red/blue/white 90 watt LED. I do not expect to see any appreciable difference in the performance of these lights. And, I do not expect to see any cucumbers until around Valentine's day. (keeping my fingers crossed)

I have been noticing that the Balcony Hybrid tomatoes in the tent are not making much progress. There are a lot of green tomatoes, and they seem to be getting larger, slowly, however, there is no sign of any of them ripening anytime soon.

Winter is upon us in upstate New York; the temperature in the tent is averaging in the mid sixties during the day, and dropping to the mid fifties during the night. According to the Ohio State interactive model, maturing tomatoes should have a daytime temperature between 72 and 75 degrees. I am convinced that the reason that growth has slowed to a trickle is the lack of warmth. After all, tomatoes, like cucumbers and peppers, are warm season crops. I had thought that the lights would provide sufficient heat during the day, but, being LEDs, they generate little heat.

In search of an inexpensive means of adding heat to the tents; I wandered around Wally World looking for SMALL fan forced electric heaters. The units I selected cost under fifteen dollars, and seem to be exactly what I need. They have a thermostat, and power selections of 600, 900 and 1500 watts. Additionally, they have a fan only setting, which will allow me to remove the small circulation fans I currently have in the tents.

Not being too concerned about the nighttime temperature, I connected the heaters to the timer circuit controlling the lights. Using the lowest, 600 watt, setting, I adjusted the thermostat to 75 degrees. A remote thermometer has been placed in the tent with the tomatoes, and the temperature is now averaging between 70 and 77 degrees, which is about ideal. The relative humidity is also well within the acceptable range, so, hopefully, I will see an increase in growth rate soon.

December 9, 2011 journal

2011-12-09T19:18:00.004-05:00

The Tetra dill has grown very well indoors in the ebb and flow system. There are a few large flower clusters forming, and I am going to let them go so I can collect and save the seeds. The only problem I have with growing dill; is that the constant smell indoors can make you hungry.

In the last few days I have started seeds for the Mountain Princess tomatoes, Giant Marconi peppers and Fordhook Giant chard. Also, I have transplanted Red Salad Bowl lettuce into an ebb and flow system.

The tomatoes on the Balcony Hybrid are starting to get larger, which was my objective when I removed many of the blossoming branches.

My plan for the Mountain Princess tomatoes is to grow two plants in the tent, however, I plan on only allowing one or two trusses to set on each plant. My thinking is by doing so I will force the plants to produce much larger fruit than they would if I let more trusses set.

Replacement cucumber seedlings are now growing under a red/blue/white LED. This batch will be raised using the standard nutrients that I use in the greenhouse.

December 6, 2011 journal

2011-12-06T18:37:00.003-05:00

We harvested an ebb and flow system containing twelve plants of Green Ice lettuce today. I did not weigh the yield, however, it was enough to fill a 1.25 gallon bag.

I have no idea of how much a comparable amount of greens would cost at the market, as we no longer bother to check. What is important is the satisfaction I get from indoor growing, and, spending quality time with Ava, teaching her to garden.

This afternoon she opened the bottom of the tent with the tomato plant, stuck her head inside, and called out: "everything is OK Pop, the temperature is perfect, and the CO2 is working." Not too bad for a four year old child.

December 4, 2011 journal

2011-12-04T19:54:00.004-05:00

The Pinwheel Zinnia we planted to defy Mother Nature is blooming. Ava and I have been keeping it a secret so she can surprise her grandmother, who will naturally make a huge fuss when Ava gives her the flower.

The beet greens are ready and can be picked at anytime, however, I will not pick them until a few hours prior to cooking. Doing so will ensure that they have their best flavor and nutritional value when prepared.

This variety of beet, Early Wonder, is the best cultivar I have found yet for growing hydroponically indoors. All of the plants are of uniform size and are blemish free.

November 28, 2011 journal

2011-11-28T19:55:00.002-05:00

I thought Ava would really enjoy watching the wonder of a flower opening, so I set up a time lapse camera to , hopefully, record the opening of our Pinwheel Zinnia blossom.

As a matter of fact, I am looking forward to seeing how this turns out myself. I guess I am still a kid at heart, but aren't we all?

I am already planning my next tent grows, so I have ordered seeds for Mountain Princess tomatoes, and I will also be trying Giant Marconi peppers. This time I will use different nutrient mixtures for the plants.

The reason I picked the tomato variety is because it can be grown in a container, and, it has full sized fruit. These should be interesting also.

Organic Mountain Princess Tomato - HEIRLOOM Mountain sweet goodness! Grown for generations in the Monongahela National Forest region of West Virginia. Fruits are 8-10 oz, orange-red and perfectly round with a mild tomato flavor. Very productive plants bear quick and early. Works well in containers. A customer favorite for six pack sales. Determinate(Lycopersicon esculentum)

Days to maturity:68 days

November 27, 2011 journal

2011-11-27T18:28:00.008-05:00

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 by Pro LED Systems 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!

Hydroponic beet greens

2011-11-20T15:55:00.003-05:00

The beets in the above photo are just under four weeks from seed, and I expect that we will harvest them within two weeks.

I have found that this variety, Early Wonder, is an excellent choice for beet greens. Although the recommended TDS level for beets is 1260 - 3500, my TDS is about 830, and the beets do just fine at that level.

Going forward, I plan on using one ebb and flow system just for beets, chard and oriental greens. Also, as I plan to begin using my new six band flower series light soon, I will be growing these greens using a red/blue/white LED,rather than the CFL light I am currently using.

November 19, 2011 journal

2011-11-19T18:24:00.006-05:00

As an alternative to removing blossom bearing branches from the top of the plant, I decided to try to raise the light to the maximum height that I could attain.

To do this, I removed the adjustable plant hangers that I had been using to suspend the light; then attached caribiners to the light rails. The light was attached directly to the caribiners, with the hanging straps doubled.

Now, the light is 51" from the floor, and the top of the plant is 16" from the light. At this distance, the reading is still in excess of 5,000 footcandles.

This is as high as the light can ever be, but, that is fine with me, as I never expected to be growing a plant this large indoors anyway.

Also, today I terminated the trial of growing cucumbers in the modified aeroponic unit. The plants were growing fine, however, I could no longer stand looking at the mess they were making. It created such a jungle, that Ava was using the plants as an alien planet for her Star Wars figures to explore.

I replaced the plants with two little leaf seedlings planted in AutoPots, and I am sure Ava will come up with an appropriate scenario for using this planter on Monday.

November 16, 2011 journal

2011-11-16T18:35:00.003-05:00

The Balcony Hybrid tomato is now eight weeks old, and it is amazing how much fruit this plant is it producing.

I am finding that growing in the tents is actually easier than growing in the greenhouse, as conditions are pretty constant, and just about perfect for any warm season crop. It is so easy in fact, that if I had a very large reservoir, I could start the plants and completely ignore them for weeks at a time. Gravity feeds the nutrients, and timers control the lights and ventilation, so there is really nothing for me to do, other than tap the trusses occasionally for pollination.

Yesterday, I started seeds for a variety of red lettuce called Galactic. It has become kind of a tradition that we have red lettuce with our Christmas meal, and I expect that this batch will be ready just about in time for the holiday.

November 14, 2011 journal

2011-11-14T18:11:00.005-05:00

I can tell by looking at the female flowers on the cucumber plants that this project is going to be a success! Large flowers, such as shown above, are a sure sign that the fruit is going to set.

For whatever reason, I have always had difficulty growing cucumbers indoors, now, it appears that my ship is about to come in. Even though the plants are still rather small, it looks like the first flush of cucumbers will be enough for a small batch of garlic dill pickles.

If you are into hydroponic growing, and you are looking for a challenge, I suggest you try to grow cucumbers indoors. Most likely you will find it to be a humbling experience.

November 13, 2011 journal

2011-11-13T20:24:00.005-05:00

Today I planted a small Balcony Hybrid seedling in my revised homebuilt AutoPot. The size of the tray has been reduced to better match the size of the pot, and, hopefully, prevent any more overwatering of small plants.

I spent a considerable amount of time trying to find what I thought would be the perfect tray to use for this system. I walked the aisles of Home Depot and Wal-Mart looking for an idea, and all that time I had the perfect container at home. The container is, of all things, a shallow cat litter pan that I had been using to wash hydroton.

All in all, this may work out better than if both plants survived, as it appears that these plants produce a lot of tomatoes in a short period of time. There is exactly a two month difference in the age of the plants, so we may have fresh tomatoes over an extended period.

Additionally, I decided against using the 90 watt LED to light Ava's Aerogarden. The LED has been replaced with a 24" single tube fixture using a 6400K T5 bulb. In my opinion, this approach is equal to, or better than, using the Aerogarden bulbs. It is certainly less costly.

So, other than the unit itself, I have an operational system devoid of any Aerogarden supplies. The pods contain open cell foam used to weatherseal air conditioners, the nutrients are homebrewed from Wal-Mart plant food, epsom salt, and calcium nitrate, the light I have already mentioned.

Seed starting using foam in the pods is a little tricky, so if you plan to try it I will be happy to explain it, just place a request in the comments section.

November 11, 2011 journal

2011-11-11T18:32:00.004-05:00

The Balcony Hybrid tomato plant has begun to set fruit while it continues to bloom profusely.

As the light was at the maximum height that the tent would permit, I had to improvise and double the suspension cables back on themselves to gain another few inches in height to accommodate the plant. That said, being determinate, I doubt that the plant will get any higher. The bottom of the light is now forty inches above the floor of the tent, so I now know the maximum height of any plants that I can grow in the tent. The light is now seven inches above the plant, and the top of the canopy is receiving in excess of 5,000 footcandles of light.

One persistent comment that I have read concerning LED lighting is that it does not penetrate into the plant. Well, I took another reading four inches down from the top of the plant, and the reading was a respectable 3,000 footcandles.

I have had this note in my files for sometime, but I don't remember which school I borrowed it from:

"The connection is light intensity and photosynthesis .Tomato plants start to synthesize at around 200 foot candles and for normal growth, flowering and fruit setting they need a minimum of 500 preferably 1,000-2,000 foot candles of light.

Tomatoes require about 500-1000 footcandles of light for proper flowering and fruit set. However, the problem of winter needs to be considered. Tomatoes are also warm season plants. It could certainly get too cold for them in winter if they were near the windows, as required for their full amount of light.

I would suggest setting up some additional grow lights in the room to make up the difference in footcandles. I would also suggest making sure to heat the room to at least 60 degrees + for your warm season vegetables. With these conditions, you should be able to still enjoy your own garden food in your basement."

As for myself, I have no doubts about the advantages, and benefits, of growing with LED lighting. If someone tells you that they do not perform as advertised, either that person purchased an inferior light, or their gardening skills are not up to par.

I am so impressed with the six band flower series light from ProLED Systems that I have placed an order for an additional unit. Although my 90 watt LEDs are giving me good results, they don't compare to what I am seeing from the six band flower series light.

On a final note, regarding growing in the tent; when comparing the conditions in my tent against the Ohio State University's Interactive Model , I find all of my conditions, except the EC level, indicate a success level of 95% to 100%. Their recommended EC level for my current conditions is in excess of 3100 micromhos/cm, however, I do not feel comfortable running the EC that high.

November 6, 2011 journal

2011-11-06T10:11:00.005-05:00

The cucumbers are now beginning to produce female flowers, and as the plants are parthocarpic it will not necessary to pollinate them.

This morning I found the Balcony Hybrid tomato plant beginning to lean. I guess I really should have provided support and pruned the plant sooner.

To support the plant I added bamboo sections around the main stem and reinforced them with wire ties. Additionally, I placed vine clips on the large fruit bearing branches and fastened them to the light rails with twine.

Some of the larger branches, those without flowers or fruit, were removed to lessen the burden on the supports.

To say that I am pleased with the performance of the six band flower series light by Pro LED Systems would be an understatement!

November 3, 2011 journal

2011-11-03T17:57:00.005-04:00

The Dutch Winter Brown lettuce, show in the top photo, is entering the vegetative stage and I expect we will enjoying some of it with our Thanksgiving meal. This variety is truly a heirloom, as Thomas Jefferson, according to his journals, planted it in his gardens for many years.

It has become our custom to defy Mother Nature and include an annual flower with plantings during the fall and winter months. My choice this month is a pinwheel zinnia, which can be seen in the lower left corner of the container. As Ava loves pink, she has selected a Dianthus, Ipswitch Pink, and we have also started a Calendula, Sunshade, for additional color.

The cucumbers in the AutoPots are doing really well, however, there is still not a hint of a female flower. Out of curiosity I decided to let a few male flowers develop and open, thinking that that may hasten the process of fruit development. Still, I think that plants are smarter than people, and will not produce offspring until they can support them.

P.S. Later in the day I found a female flower!!!

Ava's new garden

2011-11-02T19:51:00.009-04:00

Today I resurrected an old Aerogarden unit that I had stored in the attic. I placed it there thinking that I would give it to Ava at some point in time.

My intention was to try the unit using LED lighting, rather than use the lamp housing and Aerogarden's bulbs. In my opinion, bulbs for these units are a limiting factor, as it is recommended that they be replaced every six months. The cost of a pair of bulbs for this unit is about twenty dollars; adding the price of bulbs to the price of their seeds, the cost of growing anything becomes rather steep. It is common knowledge that LEDs will last for several years, which makes me wonder why the Aerogarden folks did not elect to use them.

As soon as I opened the box I heard: "what's that Pop?" When I explained to Ava what it was, and what I was going to do, she said: "Can I have it?" Well, as that was my intention anyway, it is now Ava's new garden.

Right away she wanted to plant strawberries! I have planted strawberries from seed before, and they take FOREVER! With a little persuasion she settled on Flame lettuce, so we shaped some foam air conditioner weatherseal to fit the pods, planted the seeds, added dilute nutrients, and fired it up.

November 1, 2011 journal

2011-11-01T20:23:00.009-04:00

While my assistant harvested the rhubarb chard I was busy transplanting the Early Wonder beet seedlings into netpots. Although Ava is only four, she has at least two years experience in hydroponic gardening. She can pick up tiny seeds with her small fingers, and as her eyes can focus at incredibly close distances, she can plunk them into growing cubes faster than I can. I am considering raising her salary from five to eight cents an hour.

I am going to wear out the zipper on the tent looking at the Balcony Hybrid tomato plant as it flowering like mad. I have had the seeds for this variety for several years, but have never grown any, so I have no idea of what to expect other than what is says on the package.

A horizontal support has been provided for the cucumbers in the AutoPots, as they are getting too close to the light and I can not raise the light any higher. I am going to let them grow a short distance horizontally, and then point them downward again, kind of like an inverted U. Still, they are only producing male flowers. It beats me as to why a plant that does not need male flowers to set fruit would produce so many of them.

I can't help but think ahead of what I am going to grow next with the six band flower series light. Giant Marconi peppers would be my first choice, but using it with an active system, such as my modified aeroponic system is also an interesting possibility.

The folks at Pro LED Systems have developed a great product, and I wish them success in launching it in this difficult economic environment. To make matters more difficult, there are people purporting to be experts populating gardening forums that denigrate LED lighting, and in some instances all artificial lighting. I lifted this quote from a guy who calls himself Durgan at the Idigmygarden forum: "artificial light leaves a lot to be desired, expensive and inadequate for most plants to produce other than a bit of vegetation or greens." On another forum, someone was pretending to have this vast knowledge of the physics of plant lighting and expounding why photons, produced by LED lighting, would not penetrate a plant, and therefore LED lighting was useless. The sad thing is that many of the people participating in the forums are new to hydroponic gardening and take this drivel as gospel.

October 30th journal

2011-10-30T15:23:00.006-04:00

Today I transitioned the nutrients for the tomatoes and cucumbers, growing both in the AutoPots and modified aeroponic system, to the bloom/fruiting stage. The tomato plant has several fully developed flowers, and I have been tapping the trusses to pollinate them. I fully expect to see fruit forming on the tomato plant in a week or so, however, the cucumber plants are only producing male flowers, which I remove as soon as they form.

Yesterday, I changed the nutrients in the modified aeroponic system and removed two of the plants. It was a shame to destroy two beautiful plants, but there is simply not enough room for four plants. The roots are about eighteen inches in length and are dangling right in the reservoir, as well as being bathed by the pump, so growth is increasing rapidly. I expect that plants in the active modified aeroponic system will soon surpass the plants in the passive AutoPot systems. The problem being, that I have no idea of how I am going to support the plants in the modified aeroponic system. I may elect to just let them do their thing and wander wherever they please.

Also, I modified my homebuilt AutoPot and will be using a smaller tray. I guess I was so caught up in the level of fluid released, that I did not also consider the volume released. All in all, the overwatering problem turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as I learned a valuable lesson.

Good things from the garden

2011-10-27T21:01:00.003-04:00

Ava and I frequently sing the Green Giant jingle while working, however, we have changed the words to: good things from the garden, garden in the basement, because, that is exactly what we have.

We will be harvesting this batch of Flame lettuce soon, and we have started a replacement batch of Green Ice lettuce just to add a little variety. Flame is really representative of the type of lettuce I really like, as it is tasty, tender and visually attractive.

The dill growing in the container is Tetra, sometimes known as Dukat. I have been looking for a compact variety to grow indoors, and this one fits the bill nicely.

Activities October 26, 2011

2011-10-26T19:23:00.005-04:00

The rate of growth of the Balcony Hybrid tomato plant growing under the 6 band flower series light by Pro LED System is hard to believe. There are several trusses with flowers forming and some of the flowers are opening already. It is at the point that I must give some serious consideration to placing a support system around the perimeter of the plant.

On the other hand, the plant under the 90 watt red/blue/white LED is not doing well at all. The problem is not so much the light, as my home built AutoPot system. The plant has been severely overwatered to the point that it may not survive.

The problem, as I see it, is that the tray I am using is too large for one plant. The tray works alright in the greenhouse, as the plant is using a lot of nutrients through transpiration. In the tent, the humidity is high and the plant, being small, does not use the nutrients as fast; as a result it sits in about an inch of liquid for several days. My solution is to use a smaller tray, or add some ballast in the tray to displace some of the liquid. Also, I am thinking that it would be best to control the nutrient flow manually until the plant is more mature. In my view, problems are part of the learning process and that is what this is all about.

Another batch of lettuce, Dutch Winter Brown, has been planted in one of the ebb and flow systems to replace the batch of Grand Rapids lettuce I harvested yesterday.

As the rhubarb chard is nearing harvest, I have started a replacement planting of Early Wonder beets for greens to replace the chard.

Cucumber grow update, first week's growth

2011-10-23T15:37:00.005-04:00

The Tom Thumb lettuce in the ebb and flow system has recovered from being transplanted and is now starting to grow nicely. I find that this variety, for some reason, tends to drop the first few sets of leaves after transplanting.

The Little Leaf seedlings have been growing in my modified aeroponic unit for a week now and they are making great progress. The plants are very compact and a deep healthy green. At some point I will most likely remove two or three of the plants, as there is simply just not enough room for four plants indoors.

Finally, I have found a variety of dill that is compact, adapts to a small pot, and grows well hydroponically. The variety is called Tetra.

Cucumber grow update

2011-10-21T15:33:00.005-04:00

The cucumbers in the AutoPots are entering the vegetative stage and growing rapidly, so much so that I had to start thinking about adding a support system. I am going to use the same method that I use in the greenhouse; twine suspended from the light hangers using vine clips to attach the plants. At some point I will add horizontal support for some lateral runners.

Although the plants are only receiving slightly less than 2,000 footcandles of light, they are very compact, with many male flowers beginning to form.

The plants in the modified aeroponic system are also making good progress.

As a test I planted two plants of dill in an ebb and flow system along with the lettuce. Although dill has a long tap root it, seems to be adapting to the four inch net pot.

LED grow light comparison

2011-10-16T14:02:00.010-04:00

While both of the Balcony Hybrid tomato plants growing in the tents are doing great, the plant under the six band Flower Series 126 watt LED by Pro LED Systems has much more vegetative growth than the plant growing under the 3rd generation red/blue/white LED.

Both plants are growing under identical conditions and share a common reservoir, light cycle and ventilation cycle. Additionally, I lowered the 90 watt light so that the intensity of light each plant is receiving is also identical. I can only conclude that the improved growth must be attributed to the spectra produced the the 6 band Flower Series light.

After reading the 6 band Flower Series light's specifications on their site, while it was in beta, I told the owner, Mr. Taylor, that I was sure he had a winner, and he definitely does.

Another approach to growing cucumbers indoors

2011-10-15T19:41:00.008-04:00

I have two Little Leaf cucumber plants growing in AutoPots under a red/blue/white 90 watt LED, and they seem to be doing fine up to this point.

As I had four seedlings left over, I thought I would try to grow them under a red/blue LED in what I refer to as my modified aeroponic unit.

My intention is to compare the difference in growth, if any, between a passive system, such as the AutoPots, and an active system, such as the modified aeroponic system.

Additionally, I wanted to try some of the additives that I received as samples, so I concocted a witch's brew containing: Peter's Professional, calcium nitrate, epsom salts, Athena's Aminas, Olympus Up and Zeus Juice in various proportions. The TDS is a comfortable 1610 and I adjusted the pH to 5.5.

As usual, I will be running a 14 hour photoperiod, and the nutrient cycle is going to be one hour on and three hours off.

As stated above, my objective is to compare the growth rate between the two systems and evaluate the supplements, so I may just continue this grow until I have achieved those objectives. I am also curious to see if the plants flower with only the red/blue spectra.

Balcony hybrid progress

2011-10-13T20:42:00.003-04:00

The plant mentioned in my October 3rd post is making progress and I expect it will really begin rapid vegetative growth very soon.

The Pro LED Systems light is doing a fantastic job of keeping the plant compact.

I have added a homemade CO2 generator to the tent with the output tube placed in a tray of water. The CO2 will benefit the plant, while the evaporating water will add humidity to the tent.

The daytime temperature has averaged in the high seventies, with an average humidity in the mid to upper fifties. The temperature drop at night is running about eight degrees, so thus far I am really happy with the tents.

Chard harvest and tomato switch

2011-10-08T20:30:00.006-04:00

The yellow chard was harvested today, and I am really happy with this variety. It is not as large as Fordhook Giant, however, that is fine by me, as I enjoy the leaves more than the stalks.

Even after all of the years I have been growing hydroponically, I am still amazed by the quality that can be achieved, as there is not one blemish on any leaf, and, these plants have never had a single drop of pesticide applied.

The Totem tomato plant in the second grow tent has been replaced by another Balcony Hybrid. The plant was overwatered and remained so for 24 hours, or more, as the feed line to the valve did not seal properly. I can not understand why hydroponic suppliers can not standardize on feed line. In my supply cabinet I have several variations of feed line, all quarter inch. There is a noticeable difference in gauge, wall thickness and pliability, in fact, there are as many variations as there are hydroponic dealers in the area. The line in question was much too brittle and did not form a seal. The Totem plant would have recuperated, and survived, but it would set it back awhile, so I decided to replace it.

Another consideration was that I had grown the Totem previously, and although it was alright, I prefer a larger tomato when available. The replacement plant was going to be tossed, as it was a "just in case" plant, and the more I looked at it, the more of a shame it seemed not to grow it.

Ava assisted in the disaster recovery, and has claimed the second plant as hers as a reward for her efforts.

Not resting on my laurels

2011-10-06T20:40:00.005-04:00

Somehow I just could not resist that title for this post. Several years ago my wife returned from the local farmer's market with two small plants in 6" pots. She said that the plants were laurel, and she had asked the farmer to order them specially for her because she has always wanted a laurel plant. I thought: "four plus decades of marriage and you never mentioned your wanting a laurel plant." At times like that silence is golden. There is a big difference between wanting to own a plant, and taking care of it, because yours truly got custody of the laurel plants.

The first frost of the season was due last night, so I placed the laurels and the orange tree in the tool shed to protect them, and today I began getting them ready to bring them into the basement for the winter.

The laurel, shown above, received it's annual pruning and repotting and the trimmed leaves will be dried and used for seasoning. Over the years I have sort of grown to like these plants, as absolutely nothing bothers them. Insects avoid them, drought does not bother them, nor does cool, damp, rainy weather. They just sit on the patio and grow and grow. Additionally, they take spending the winter in the basement, in dim light, right in stride. In essence, they are an ideal house plant.

This variety of laurel is Laurus nobilis, Lauraceae, better know as bay laurel. It is also commonly called bay leaf and can be found on the spice rack at the local supermarket. I can't imagine what the tub full of laurel would be worth if you were to purchase that much from the supermarket. Then again, I can't imagine what we are ever going to do with all this laurel. That will be my wife's problem.

This is what Wikipedia says about laurel:

"Bay leaf (plural bay leaves) refers to the aromatic leaf of the bay laurel (Laurus nobilis, Lauraceae). Fresh or dried bay leaves are used in cooking for their distinctive flavor and fragrance. The leaves are often used to flavor soups, stews, braises and pâtés in Mediterranean cuisine. The fresh leaves are very mild and do not develop their full flavor until several weeks after picking and drying."

What has all that have to do with hydroponics? Well, for several years the plants have been potted in used media from the AutoPots that would normally be discarded, and fed with used nutrients. I guess that it would be fair to state that they are also growing hydroponically, and they are doing great.

P.S. I happened to accompany my wife to the Fresh Food Market today; while there I checked the price of bay leaf. The price of a small envelope was just under three dollars, however, the unit price of bay leaf was listed at $9.96 per OUNCE! I would say that it is a house plant that earns its keep.

Indoor greenhouse

2011-10-03T19:29:00.008-04:00

I have, on occasion, seen grow tents referred to as indoor greenhouses, and that is probably an apt term to use in respect to the environmental control that can be achieved.

Today, I officially began using both of my new indoor grow tents to actually grow something to maturity. I decided that it would be much simpler to use single pot AutoPots in both tents, sharing a common reservoir, as the nutrient needs would be the same for both systems.

The system shown above will be growing a medium sized determinate variety called Balcony Hybrid, while the other tent will be growing a variety called Totem. In addition to the nutrient reservoir, the tents are also sharing timers for lighting and ventilation,

The light, shown in the photo, is the light mentioned in my September 25th post. It is a 126 watt, 6 band Flower Series grow light marketed by PRO LED Systems . I measured the intensity of the light, in the position shown above, and the reading at plant level was in excess of 5,000 footcandles. In the tent containing the Totem plant, I will be using a 90 watt 3rd. generation red/blue/white LED.

In normal operation the valve is covered, however, I purposely left the cover off the AutoPot smart valve until I was assured that the reservoir was feeding nutrients to the tray.

My primary objective at this point is to become familiar with using the tents, while learning to control the environmental conditions, if the tomatoes are a success, that will be a bonus.

Growing Swiss chard hydroponically indoors

2011-09-28T11:14:00.009-04:00

This post is an update up on my post of September 11, 2011 titled: "Nothing Beats Beets".

The plant in the photo is the same plant shown on the September 11th post, and it should be obvious that the plant has grown significantly in a little over two weeks.

Although the recommended nutrient level for chard is 1260-1610, I have been growing the chard, along with lettuce, at a TDS level of about 800.

The beets mentioned in the previous post have already been harvested and enjoyed. This chard can be harvested at anytime, so a replacement planting of rhubarb chard is in progress.

When planting beet or chard seeds, the seed is actually a fruit containing several seeds, you should expect several seedlings to come up close together, however, all but the strongest must be removed.

I have found, with beets or chard, that it is best not to wait for true leaves to develop before placing them in the hydroton. The seedlings tend to have a spindly shaft supporting the cotyledon leaves, so I like to give them as much support as possible. When placing the seedlings in the net pots, I rest the cube containing the seedling directly on the bottom of the pot; then I fill the pot with hydroton to just below the cotyledon leaves.

To lessen transplant shock I soak the hydroton in dilute nutrient solution for ten minutes before I begin planting. Additionally, I turn on the pump and flood the tray while I place the seedlings in the tray, then continue flooding for about twenty minutes after planting.

In about three weeks we will have another nice batch of chard.

New LED grow light trial

2011-09-25T18:48:00.005-04:00

I have a new LED grow light, acquired from Pro LED Systems, that I will be using to grow Burpee's Balcony Hybrid tomatoes indoors, in a grow tent

Balcony Hybrid is a determinate variety, said to be good for container growing, producing six to seven ounce fruit. Were it not for this new LED grow light, I would not attempt to grow a medium sized plant indoors. The power and performance of this light will most likely inspire me to attempt other more ambitious projects going forward.

Listed below, from the Pro LED Systems site, are the particulars on the light I will be using:

Our 6-band Flower Series LED lights are perfect for small to mid-size grow tents where space is limited, but power is still needed. There are 6 flowers which contain 6 wavelengths, outlined below. Pair this light with a 60 degree Convex Lens and you will be shocked at how much Par value is delivered by just 126 watts of LED. This light outperformed the squarebox, second generation 300w LED light when compared with a Quantum Flux Meter. We think the 6-band Flower Series lights will become a very popular item with new and experienced gardeners.

Features:

126 - 1 Watt LEDs
2 Switches to control banks of flowers
Choose from a 60 degree or 90 degree convex lens
Create your own color spectrum

Indoor tomato grow choice

2011-09-23T15:36:00.008-04:00

One of the varieties of tomato I will be growing indoors will be Totem; the following description is from the Totally Tomatoes site:

"More fruit than foliage, compact and perfect for patios or window boxes. Just 18 to 30" tall, with small to medium, round, red, flavorful fruits produced in abundance-- up to 10 lbs. per plant! Great for indoor gardens too, with its attractive dark green foliage. No staking is required. "

The seedling, started on September 5th, is compact and stubby, so I seem to be off to a good start.

My plan is to grow the plant using a single pot AutoPot using a red/blue/white 90 watt UFO LED with a 14 hour photoperiod.

Today I stopped by the Albany store of Hydroponics Shops of America for some coco coir, and while I was there the salesperson asked if I would like to try a new line of organic nutrients called Nectar for the Gods. I replied that I would like to try them, and I was given some samples. Later, at home, I checked their site and found that they write: "The only drawback on this line that we have found is it is not Hydroponic friendly." After reviewing what the various samples are derived from, I feel that I can safely use some of the samples as supplements for indoor growing. The samples that contain organics, such as worm castings or steamed bone meal, I will only use in either the greenhouse or soil garden.

First I will try something called Zeus Juice growth enhancer added to the nutrients I use for seedlings. This supplement is derived from kelp extract and leonardite, neither of which I feel is going to cause an odor problem indoors.

What I like to see

2011-09-19T20:56:00.008-04:00

The first batch of cucumbers in the greenhouse has finished producing and I have removed the plants. The photo above looks like an ugly mess, however, it is something I love to see. The color, and healthy appearance of the roots, tells me that these plants have given all they have to give, and have done their very best. It also tells me that the growing conditions during their productive life were "spot on". Whenever I harvest, or discard a plant, I examine the roots, as they can tell you a lot about your growing conditions and identify possible problems.

Hurricane Irene hammered the area during the last few days of August and caused widespread damage. We were very fortunate, as we are over four hundred feet above sea level, and the river basin, so we did not receive any damage. Some people in the area lost pretty much everything, as homes were completely destroyed in some cases. After the storm, to my amazement, I found that the greenhouse only had about a cup of water on the floor, and that was because one of the vent controls did not bring the vent all the way closed. As the greenhouse was closed completely for a few days, with humidity near 100 per cent, the second planting of cucumbers were beginning to show signs of powdery mildew. I sprayed the plants with sulfur and was fortunate control it quickly. The plants are starting to produce fruit, so I guess Ava and I will still be making pickles for awhile.

The second crop of tomatoes is doing OK, but the fruit will be smaller than the first planting. The photo above shows a plant that was cloned from the top of one of the the first plants sometime in June. The daylight hours are getting shorter, and the plants are receiving less light, and consequently the fruit will be smaller.

I read posts on hydroponic gardening that go on and on about this or that nutrient, when in fact the amount and quality of the light plants receive is just as important, if not more important, for healthy growth.

My Lola tomato plants were a big disappointment and I have discarded the seeds; so much for relying on information from university test grows. Each and every fruit on the Lola plants developed blossom end rot. I know the causes, and how to treat blossom end rot, but this had me stumped. The Lola plants were growing side by side with three other varieties, in the same medium, receiving the same nutrients, from the same reservoir, and all of the other varieties did fine. I decided not to waste precious time, or space, on Lola, so she is gone and forgotten. I will order seeds for Trust for next year, as I have found these to be outstanding in terms of production and taste.

Pro LED Systems - a new approach to LED grow lighting

2011-09-15T20:08:00.010-04:00

If you have been following my blog it should be obvious that I am a fan of LED grow lights. Over the years I have stated the numerous advantages of LED lighting: energy savings, performance, durability, tube/bulb replacement cost savings, and on and on.

Even though I am a big supporter of LEDs, I could not recommend a reliable source for LEDs when someone wrote to inquire. Now, however, there is a vendor that I feel comfortable in recommending: Pro Led Systems.

This company is not offering the customary "one size fits all" approach to garden lighting. They will custom build lights to maximize YOUR specific garden. That applies whether you are a hobbyist, like me, or a professional, or researcher.

I believe that this company will have a major impact on the LED grow light market. If you are thinking buying a light for indoor gardening, or supplemental greenhouse lighting, you really should visit their site to learn more about their unique approach to grow lighting.

G3 LED grow light trial

2011-09-12T15:15:00.005-04:00

The cucumber seedlings have developed their first true leaves and the roots are protruding from the cubes so they have been been planted in 4" pots.

The seedlings will be grown in these pots, in the tent, using a new 90 watt G3 LED until they are large enough to be finally transplanted into an Autopot system.

The temperature, at the time the photo was taken, was 74 degrees, the RH was 73 and the light level is in excess of 2,000 footcandles with the light 12" above the plant surfaces. I will be using a 14 hour lighting cycle throughout this trial.

Nothing beats beets

2011-09-11T19:20:00.003-04:00

Courtesy of Wikipedia:

"The beet (Beta vulgaris) is a plant in the Chenopodiaceae family which is now included in Amaranthaceae family.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] It is best known in its numerous cultivated varieties, the most well known of which is the purple root vegetable known as the beetroot or garden beet. However, other cultivated varieties include the leaf vegetables chard and spinach beet, as well as the root vegetables sugar beet, which is important in the production of table sugar, and mangelwurzel, which is a fodder crop. Three subspecies are typically recognised. All cultivated varieties fall into the subspecies Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris, while Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima, commonly known as the sea beet, is the wild ancestor of these, and is found throughout the Mediterranean, the Atlantic coast of Europe, the Near East, and India. A second wild subspecies, Beta vulgaris subsp. adanensis, occurs from Greece to Syria."

As I had a few systems that were not being used I started some Yellow Decorticated Swiss Chard and Ace beet seeds intending to use the seedlings as baby greens in salad mix.

The seedlings, as seen above, are a little under three weeks from the start date and they are doing fantastically. At this point, I am thinking of passing on the baby greens in salad and letting these plants mature for cooking, as these are our very favorite vegetables.

The days are getting shorter and cooler, so I removed the automatic vent openers from the greenhouse, and going forward I will operate the vents manually. I like to close the vents and let heat built up about 90 minutes before the sun sets so the greenhouse retains some of the day's warmth.

What's sprouting?

2011-09-08T14:38:00.010-04:00

This season's weather certainly presented some challenges in maintaining the greenhouse; we had a long period of very hot weather, followed by rain, rain, and more rain. In addition to the greenhouse, I had four ebb and flow systems growing lettuce in the basement, so we had plenty of lettuce to go with the tomatoes and cucumbers grown in the greenhouse. Even with only four systems running, we had plenty of lettuce, so much in fact that we were giving some away.

Even though I expect that the greenhouse will be operational for a month, or longer, I am gearing up for indoor growing. The seeds sprouting in the tray include: Tetra dill, Totem tomatoes, Little Leaf cucumbers and Waldmann's lettuce.

As much as I enjoy the greenhouse, I always look forward to growing indoors, where I can control the conditions and not have to deal with what Mother Nature throws my way. Today I ordered another grow tent, which I intend to use for Totem tomatoes.

My past experience is that tomatoes and peppers are much easier to grow indoors than cucumbers. That said, I have never tried seeds for parthenocarpic cucumbers, or used a grow tent for them either, so perhaps I will have better results this year.

Beam me up Scottie

2011-09-02T19:27:00.007-04:00

My first thought after seeing the above photo was that it looked like the transporter on the Starship Enterprise. In actuality, it is a grow tent that I intend to use to grow warm season vegetables in the basement this winter. Ava, my assistant, is hooked on garlic dill pickles, and finding pickling cucumbers in December could pose a problem, so I am going to try to grow them.

Late last winter, while my wife and I were visiting a new hydroponic store that opened in Albany, we saw some very nice sweet peppers growing in one of these. It seemed to make sense that if I placed one in the basement, where the average temperature during the winter is in the sixties, the tent would retain the heat generated by a small light and raise the temperature sufficiently to grow a warm season vegetable variety.

We were told that the price of the tent was $189, and my wife wanted to buy one on the spot. I deferred, as I was in the process of opening the greenhouse so it would be several months before I could use it. During the interim, I did some online shopping in June, and I found the same exact tent on Ebay for $79, delivered.

Ava and I finally got around to putting it together this week and I am really impressed by the quality of the tent. The supports and rails are of powder coated steel, the tent itself is a very heavy material with hefty zippers, and it has plenty of openings for power and nutrient lines. The design itself is well thought out in terms of providing for exhaust and ventilation. Overall, I am really pleased and looking forward to using this piece of equipment.

Initially, I intend to use a 90 watt Tri-Band generation 3 LED as a light source, and I am thinking of a simple AutoPot setup. Additionally, I have installed an inline fan rated a 65 cfm for air exchange. The exhaust, which can be seen at the very top right of the enclosure, will exhaust from the top and fresh air will be drawn in through the vent openings on the bottom. As I gain experience using the tent I am hoping that I can control the internal temperature by automatically cycling the exhaust fan.

Although it is still too early to activate the system, we have a test in progress to monitor the temperature and humidity in the grow tent. Ava has delegated the monitoring to her Little Green Sprout doll, who can be seen in the photo staring at the thermometer.

When the photo was taken the temperature was 77 degrees and the humidity was 67%, which are really ideal conditions for growing cucumbers.

In any event, this should be an interesting project.

Indoor growing Jerico lettuce

2011-08-09T12:36:00.008-04:00

Yesterday I transplanted a dozen Jerico lettuce seedlings into an ebb and flow system. Jerico, which was hybridized in Israel, is very tolerant of heat, tip burn and mildew. One of the seed companies states that Jerico is a good selection for indoor growing, which makes me wonder how many people actually grow lettuce indoors.

Even with two of my systems out of production I am harvesting more lettuce than we can possibly use, so I am going to start seeds for chard and beet greens. Also, I am casting around for something different in terms of oriental greens, just for some variety.

Currently the large cucumber plants in the greenhouse are producing nothing but male flowers, however, I believe that is because I neglected to prune them and allowed too much vegetative growth. Today I removed the ends of each side shoot after the second flower cluster. Going forward I will have to pay more attention to pruning the side shoots.

Little Leaf - the dual purpose cucumber

2011-08-02T20:20:00.007-04:00

When I first read the description for Little Leaf cucumbers I admit that I was skeptical. A cucumber that is parthenocarpic, disease resistant, grows either in the garden or under glass, and, can be used as a slicer or for pickles seemed too good to be true. I might add that this variety is open pollinated, and the seeds are plentiful and inexpensive. In other words, a real winner, so I am glad that I decided to grow them!

The greenhouse plants produced quite well, but they have run their course and were removed. New plants are in place and they are just beginning to produce male flowers. I expect, though, that it will be three or four weeks until I begin to see cucumbers forming. Fortunately, the plants in the garden are humming right along, so we have had a continuous harvest for several weeks now, and hopefully, will have until sometime in the fall.

Today, I picked nine fruit from the garden; using the smaller fruit for pickles, with the larger fruit to be used slicers. As can be seen in the photo, the fruit gets blocky, or has more bulk, as it gets larger.

Ava and I continue to make small batches of pickles every few days, but it is getting harder to keep up with the demand. She gets here at about eight thirty in the morning, and she wants to have a pickle shortly after she arrives. Add two or three pickles with lunch, and the garlic smell on her breath, when her mother picks her up at three, is strong enough to wilt an oak tree. She really enjoys helping me make pickles, and she told the mother that it is so easy that even she, meaning her mother, could do it.

This year's second planting

2011-07-29T19:38:00.007-04:00

As of today all of the autopots have been replanted with either tomatoes or cucumbers. The north (left) side of the greenhouse has six systems with cucumbers, and the south side has seven systems with tomatoes. The reservoirs have been adjusted for their specific crop: tomatoes at 1600 ppm with a pH of 6.5, and the cucumbers with a ppm of 1600 with the pH at 5.5.

The plants range in size from seedlings, that are just developing true leaves, to plants with fruit already set. The difference in age should further prolong my growing season well into the fall.

Additionally, I have started three types of dill: Fernleaf, Bouquet and Tetra. The seeds were germinated in moist coffee filters and placed in horticubes when the radicle developed. Knowing that dill does not transplant well, I will set the cubes into self watering planters as soon as possible after seeing a true leaf develop.

I wrote in an earlier post that I also tried to start McCormick's dill seed from our spice rack as a trial, however, as of today, not a single seed has germinated. The seed coats are swelling, but the seeds show no sign of germination. I am wondering if they are somehow treated to prevent germination, or, if they are so old that they simply are no longer viable. Just out of curiosity I will continue the trial for another week

Unlimited salad bar.

2011-07-23T14:55:00.004-04:00

We have been enduring a heat wave in the northeast with the temperature approaching one hundred degrees. Growing lettuce in this heat would be impossible, as there are no varieties that could withstand these temperatures without bolting. In my opinion, factoring in aphids, slugs, and other pests, growing lettuce outdoors is really not practical, or worth the effort.

As I write this post, the temperature outdoors is in the nineties, and the humidity is also high. In my basement, where I am growing an endless supply of greens, the temperature is a comfortable 75 degrees with the humidity at 54 percent.

I asked my wife how much the markets were charging for lettuce this time of year, considering the problems associated with growing lettuce in the summer. Her reply was that she does not even bother to look anymore, as it has been so long since she has had to buy any.

Considering the little effort involved in growing hydroponically indoors, we feel that the results are well worth the effort.

In the winter, the folks on the gardening forums are writing that they just can't wait until spring to get back to their gardens, however, they fail to consider that they could be gardening indoors 365 days a year if they wanted to.

There is still time, but not much.

2011-07-22T20:11:00.008-04:00

In order to maintain a continuous growing regimen I have been trying to anticipate when each plant in the grow pots should be replaced with either another plant, or a different variety altogether.

On sort of a staggered schedule I have now replaced all of the tomato plants on the south side of the greenhouse with either new seedlings, or plants cloned from the previous plants.

The fruit on the tomato plants on the north side of the greenhouse is beginning to ripen, so I am planning on replacing the tomatoes with still more cucumbers in the near future.

This variety of cucumber should be ready to harvest in 57 days, so there should be plenty of time for the seedlings in the photo to mature and produce a crop. I have already replaced the original cucumber plants, started in the spring, and the replacement plants are forming flowers. The plants in the soil garden are now producing fruit, so we have had a continuous supply for weeks now, and I hope to keep the supply going into the fall.

I needed dill for another batch of pickles today, so I asked my wife to pick up some at the market. She paid $2.49 for a very small packet of dill, so I have decided that growing my own dill is well worth the time and space. I have started two varieties of dill seed that I had in storage, Fernleaf and Bouquet; we also had a small bottle of McCormick's dill seed in the spice rack, so I started some of them also. I am guessing that the seed from the spice rack will do just as well as the seeds from the seed supplier.

As usual, time will tell...

Miniature eggplant

2011-07-17T23:56:00.003-04:00

It appears that my project of hand pollinating the miniature eggplant has been a success as the plant has quite a few miniature eggplant forming, and it continues to grow and bloom. I do not, however, have any idea of what I am going to do with these tiny eggplant.

That said, I have come to the conclusion that the reason that I was not successful in growing eggplant in the greenhouse previously was my choice of variety. Apparently, the Florida Highbush plant I tried to grow required different environmental conditions in order for it to set fruit.

To pollinate the flowers, in addition to shaking them, I inserted the tip of a small artist brush into the center of the flower and rotated it to transfer pollen from the stamens to the pistil

Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets.

2011-07-09T22:03:00.003-04:00

The title is borrowed from a song written for the 1955 musical Damn Yankees, however, in this case Lola is a variety of tomato, and what she wants is plenty of light.

Territorial Seed Company writes this about this variety:

"80 days. Lola is an eye-catching charmer with veritably everything one could dream of in a tomato, plus the added benefit of an indoor cultivating variety. Big, plump, luscious fruit are lipstick red with a delightfully delicate flavor and absolutely divine aroma. The tomatoes develop a round, slightly squat shape, averaging a hefty 7-9 ounces each, and offer superior storability. Potato-leaf, indeterminate plants.
F1, F2, V, ToMV"

The plant in the photo is receiving about six hours of supplemental lighting each day from a 90 watt LED. The reason for the supplemental lighting is because the plant, being shaded, is not receiving direct sunlight, and tomatoes love light.

To really produce, tomatoes need at least 30,000 footcandles of light per day. My intent is that what the plant is lacking in intensity, I will supplement by increasing the duration of light it receives.

Replanting Little Leaf cucumbers

2011-07-05T20:18:00.006-04:00

Today, my assistant and I picked all of the small gherkin size fruit from the Little Leaf cucumbers in the greenhouse and started another batch of dill pickles.

We removed the plants and replaced them with two Little Leaf seedlings that I had started a few weeks ago. The plants that were replaced were still growing, however, I feel that they lose vigor and slow down after awhile. I guess it is like life; as you get older you slow down some.

The plants in the soil garden, started on the same day as the replaced plants, are now just beginning to really set fruit, so we will have a continuous supply for quite sometime. In mid-August, I will replace the greenhouse plants to try to grow cucumbers as late in the season as I can get away with it.

Two for one.

2011-07-05T20:05:00.004-04:00

When the Trust hybrid was approaching the peak of the greenhouse I removed and cloned the top section.

Rooted and planted, the cloned top is already forming buds, and we expect to have some of these wonderful tomatoes to enjoy until late in the season.

In an earlier post I wrote that I intended to plant a seed from this hybrid to see what the F2 generation was like, however, I read a post where someone had tried this and the tomatoes were ugly and tasted awful. I think I am going to pass on that experiment.

When growing tomatoes it seems to be either feast or famine. We can't wait for our first homegrown tomato of the season, and now we have so many that my wife is thinking of making and freezing marina sauce. Go figure.

Trust trial conclustion.

2011-07-03T15:10:00.004-04:00

The new varieties, Arbason and Lola, are going have to be super performers to outperform the Trust hybrid.

Not only are these tomatoes hardy and productive, they taste as good as any tomato I have grown in the greenhouse to date.

In addition, they look terrific; when it come to food, eye appeal is important, as if you expect something to taste great, it usually does.

Arbason and Lola trial.

2011-07-02T22:00:00.006-04:00

The Arbason and Lola seedlings have been planted in the greenhouse, and I will be using red/blue/orange LEDs for supplemental lighting to give the seedlings a little extra boost. There is an adjustable plant hanger advertised on TV, also sold by Wal-Mart, that I found ideal for suspending the LEDs. It is half the cost, and works better, than the adjustable hangers offered by the local hydroponics dealers.

Another reason for adding supplemental lighting is to overcome shading from adjacent plants that are still producing fruit and have not yet been removed.

Some minor modifications have been made to my home built autopot, one of which will hopefully improve the performance. As seen in the photo, I added a plug on top so that I can check the level in the tray without disturbing the plant. Additionally, the reservoir tray had a slight elevation molded into the bottom, which prevented the valve from completely closing.

To overcome this problem, I cut a quarter inch thick piece of plastic to fit the reservoir, forming a new completely flat floor. The valve was then secured to this plastic piece with a small stainless steel screw to prevent it from moving or floating.

The latter modification should allow the media to dry slightly, and not get soggy, before the reservoir is refilled.

Pilot project progress

2011-07-01T20:31:00.002-04:00

To recap the pilot project; I am trying grow a miniature eggplant in the greenhouse, because to put it mildly, I have been less than successful in growing eggplant. I can grow gigantic plants, but getting them to set fruit has been a problem, or more like a disaster. Well, my one and only attempt was to try to grow an enormous eggplant bred in the 40s to grow in Florida, that in itself may have contributed to my downfall. The plant was surely enormous, the eggplant were non-existent.

My test specimen was started from seed on May 7, 2011, and the plant is doing fantastic, so much so that it is attractive enough to be a houseplant.

As shown in the photo above the plant is flowering, so the project is humming along nicely, but now comes the hard part. When I researched hand pollinating eggplant; I found that doing so is not really necessary. The pollen is supposed to just drip from the stamens to the pistil. That is, of course, unless the temperature is not too hot, or too cold, or the air is not too humid. If all else fails you can resort to hand pollination by gently rubbing a clean artist brush around inside the flower. All this makes me wonder why eggplant don't cost $400 each.

Just to be on the safe side, my assistant ,Ava ,went at the flower with an artist brush today, and pollinated the hell out of the flower. Well, she has loved hand pollinating flowers since she was two, so why not?

Time will tell...

Starting round two.

2011-06-30T17:43:00.011-04:00

My assistant and I have begun to replace the tomato plants on the south side of the greenhouse. The replacement plants will consist of clones of the existing plants, as well as the new greenhouse varieties Lola and Arbason.

This year I tried a test grow on the south side plants using Miracle Grow for tomatoes and calcium nitrate. The plants did really well until I decided to end the test and reverted to regular professional hydroponic nutrients. After the change the plants reacted to the switch, and the outside edges of the leaves turned brown. Eventually, the new growth returned to normal, but the plants really look stressed. The tomatoes, although not as large as I would like them to be, are alright. I really don't mind replacing the plants, as I planned on doing this anyway, but not for another couple of weeks.

The plants on the north side of the greenhouse have been receiving the professional nutrients from day one, and they are doing just fine.

I will also be replacing the corno di toro peppers in the garden with cloned tomatoes, as it is still early enough to do so. For some unknown reason, the peppers are long, thin, and are extremely hot. We don't like, and have never grown, hot peppers, so why this batch is so hot will remain a mystery.

Getting pickled.

2011-06-28T21:04:00.004-04:00

The little leaf cucumbers in the greenhouse are really starting to produce, so I decided to make dill pickles. I searched online as, I wanted a recipe for a small batch of pickles that could be fermented in a crock.

I found a recipe that could be used to make as few as six pickles, and that is exactly what I wanted, as making pickles is not one of my fortes.

After following the instructions to the letter, letting them ferment in the crock for the required number of days, I found the pickles to be extremely salty. Much to my dismay, they were so salty I had to throw them away. At this point, I decided that I might as well forget the idea of making dill pickles.

Just by chance; the very next day my wife came across a post regarding Morton's salt on a cooking site. The person was complaining that when she used Morton's salt, according to the recipe, the result was too salty. She posted that she had determined that Morton's was TWICE as salty as other salts. Yup, Morton's salt is what I had used.

Well thought I, why not adjust my recipe, cut the salt in half , and try another batch. Ava, my granddaughter, loves pickles, and she has been sniffing the crock and asking when the pickles would be ready. Today we opened the crock and I let her taste the first bite, her eyes lit up and she said: "Fantastic", and they truly are!

I am going to file this recipe in a safe place because it is a keeper.

I guess it is hybrid vigor.

2011-06-23T20:57:00.003-04:00

In an earlier post I wrote that I would be replacing the Trust hybrid tomatoes with Arbason and Lola tomatoes next year. Now, after watching the Trust plants mature, I am not so sure that is a good plan.

At the very beginning of summer the plant in the photo has twenty one fruit set, and each one is perfectly formed. As it has almost reached the peak of the greenhouse; I have removed and cloned the top section, which will be planted in a different location.

Last evening I was served a "supermarket" type tomato at a restaurant, and it was dry and completely tasteless. It made me think of something Andy Rooney once said:

“The federal government has sponsored research that has produced a tomato that is perfect in every respect, except that you can't eat it. We should make every effort to make sure this disease, often referred to as 'progress', doesn't spread.”

From what I have read online; Trust is supposed to be a great tasting tomato, however, I will have to wait awhile to confirm that statement.

Again, time will tell...

Early harvest.

2011-06-21T20:32:00.004-04:00

Much to my surprise both of the "off the shelf" Super Beefsteak tomato plants have ripe tomatoes. Usually, I don't have any ripe tomatoes until the first of July, so this is a pleasant surprise. That said, I still think that the greenhouse varieties will be better performers. Both of of the Super Beefsteak had a few deformed fruit that were removed, however, I have not seen any deformed fruit on the greenhouse varieties.

The little leaf cucumbers are really starting to get ahead of me. I am fermenting a crock of dill pickles from the first batch that I picked, and it looks like I will have to start thinking about another batch real soon.

These cucumbers are supposed to be compact plants, but they have grown over the peak of the greenhouse and are almost down the other side. Now I have an arch of cucumbers, and I forget the fruit hanging from above and keep bumping my head on them.

I am only letting the tomato plants set four trusses and then I am topping them off. Replacement plants have been cloned and a few seeds of new varieties were started and the new seedlings have been transplanted into pots. Somewhere around the first or second week in July I will replace some of the existing plants with new plants.

This project has been put off too long.

2011-06-09T20:20:00.004-04:00

The plant in the photo above is Waldmann's Green lettuce. which is the standard variety in long dark looseleaf types.

Although seeds for this variety are inexpensive and readily available; I intend to grow this plant for seed. Why bother? Well, for two reasons; I have never grown lettuce for seed, and an ideal specimen of lettuce can produce up to 60,000 seeds! This I just have to see to believe. It is probably true, as lettuce seed is really cheap.

Generations ago seed saving was not only common, but essential. Ancient man carried seed with him on his migrations, forcing plants to adapt to new conditions or perish, and they crossed with native plants producing new varieties.

Given the conditions in the greenhouse in summer, I would think that it would not take too long for this plant to go to seed.

Time will tell...

Scaled down project

2011-06-07T20:43:00.003-04:00

Years ago when I worked in manufacturing we would do what is known as pilot projects. When developing a new product or equipment; rather than build or produce a full scale version we would build and test small scale versions first. That is what the photo above represents: a pilot project.

For whatever reason I have difficulty growing eggplant. I have grown enormous plants, but alas, no fruit would form or mature. I tried any number of ways to pollinate the flowers without success, so I sort of gave up on eggplant, kind of.

Also a few years ago there was a craze for miniature vegetables, and I must have ordered seeds for miniature plants, but I simply don't remember doing so. While going through my seeds I found packets for miniature peppers and eggplant, which gave me the idea for this project.

I planted one miniature eggplant seed on May 7, 2011, exactly one month ago, knowing that it was really late in the season to be starting eggplant seeds. My plan is to grow this plant in the greenhouse and experiment with nutrient levels, and if necessary move the plant inside in the fall.

Another reason for growing this plant is that my granddaughter, Ava, will love being involved in growing a tiny vegetable. The plant itself is supposed to be small, with three or four inch eggplant, if I can get it to produce any. And, if nothing else, eggplant flowers are kind of attractive.

As usual, time will tell...

Bughatti and Galactic lettuce.

2011-06-05T20:07:00.005-04:00

The red/blue/white LED that I was using for seed starting for the greenhouse has been sitting idle for quite sometime, so I decided to put it into service.

All of my ebb and flow systems are in use, and I decided to go with one of my modified aeroponic systems. I placed six lettuce plants, three each of bughatti and galactic, into the system two weeks ago.

I rarely check the system, as it operates pretty much automatically, so I was impressed when I drained it for the first time and saw the growth of the plants.

I am running a twelve hour photoperiod with the the TDS averaging 550 and a feed cycle of one hour on four hours off.

It has been my experience that active systems such as this are much more productive than passive systems like DWC and wick systems.

Hydroponic beet greens

2011-06-04T20:20:00.003-04:00

A small batch of beet greens, which were growing in an ebb and flow system, under a 90 watt red/blue LED, were harvested today. This is the first time I have grown beet greens using an LED, and the LED light seems to have made the colors much more intense than when grown using fluorescent lighting.

I had simply intended to drain and refill the nutrients, however, my wife said that she thought that the plants were getting too large, and that they would be tough if I let them grow further. Naturally, I yielded to her opinion and terminated the grow sooner than I had planned.

The plants were just short of sixty days since I started the seeds, and I intended to let them grow another two weeks. I was, though, beginning to be concerned about a slight curl at the tips of the leaves. Though I don't grow beets greens often, I did not recall the leaf tips being curled, and I know it sure was not caused by wilting.

I suspect the curl was due to the TDS being too high, and hopefully this post will remind me to adjust the TDS downward the next time I plant beet greens. The TDS used for this batch was 1560, which was well within the suggested range of 1260 - 3500. Some of the suggested ranges are published by hydroponic suppliers, and I have found over the years that they tend to recommend higher concentrations than necessary. I will use a more moderate approach on the next batch and adjust the TDS range to 900 -1100 and see what happens.

Visual proof

2011-05-31T15:22:00.012-04:00

When I tell other gardeners that hydroponic gardening outperforms soil gardening; I usually get one of those looks. You know, the look that you give the fisherman holding out his arms and telling you about the one that got away.

When planting my cucumber seeds I only wanted two plants, but planted six seeds, just in case. Well, all six came up and were about equal. Two plants went into the greenhouse, two were given away, and two were planted in my soil garden. All of the seeds were started on the same day, so the comparison should be equal.

The greenhouse cucumbers, growing hydroponically, can be seen on the left side of the top photo. They are approaching six feet in length and will reach the peak of the greenhouse in a day or so. Also, they have several cucumbers forming on each plant.

On the other hand, the two plants growing in soil are just passing two feet, and have very few cucumbers forming.

When searching for Trust seeds I found this interesting notation on a commercial greenhouse seed supplier's site:

"YIELDS: A good grower who keeps it warm, fertilizes, pollinates and sprays properly should expect 7 - 10 lbs/4 kg per plant, depending on the spacing and light available during the growing season (hydroponically grown crops about 20 lbs./9 kg per plant.).

This statement acknowledges that hydroponically grown crops can expect TWICE the yield, but everyone should draw their own conclusions.

Merlot lettuce started

2011-05-30T21:08:00.004-04:00

Having decided not to fight the bugs and elements; I intend to grow my lettuce and salad greens indoors in my grow chamber permanently. Above is a batch of Merlot lettuce I just placed in one of the ebb and flow systems.

Here is what one seed company has to say about Merlot lettuce:

55 days. Striking, deep dark red, almost purple frilly leaves. A real eye-catcher in the garden and one of the darkest lettuces you can grow. The plant is nothing less than stunning. A very crisp and open headed leaf type that stands upright with a waxy shine that makes an ideal salad lettuce at every stage. It's very high in antioxidants and non-bitter.

The company is selling organic seeds, and I have to wonder what the benefit of organic seeds could be if you don't grow the crop organically?

On the subject of organic growing, I copied and pasted this quote from the CNN website:

"An E. coli outbreak linked to some raw vegetables has killed at least six people and sickened hundreds in Germany, national and global health authorities said Monday.

The European Food Safety Alert Network said EHEC, or enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli, a strain of E. coli that causes hemorrhage in the intestines, was found in organic cucumbers originating from Spain, packaged in Germany, and distributed to countries including Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg and Spain."

These poor people, thinking that they were doing something healthful, purchased and consumed organic vegetables. Often people tell me that hydroponics is not organic, and that that they want to grow organically. To that I generally reply that the nutrients are made from natural elements found in nature, and in my opinion, that is organic enough for me. What is organic? Does growing your greens in animal feces make them more healthful, or appetizing?

Commercial hydroponic growing has been around since the 1930s, and I would seriously doubt that anyone has been sickened or died from consuming hydroponic vegetables in those 80 or so years.

Trust tomatoes being replaced.

2011-05-28T21:38:00.004-04:00

I am kind of satisfied with the Trust hybrid tomatoes, as the plants have more fruit, and larger fruit, than any of the other varieties.

Today I removed all but four of the green immature fruit from each truss. In addition, I plan on topping off the plants after four trusses have set. The stems that hold the fruit on the truss are really large, and I am thinking that is because the fruit is going to be fairly large. In contrast, the Super Beefsteak, which is supposed to produce fruit close to a pound each, has very small stems supporting the immature fruit. And, in some cases there are double trusses with a dozen or more flowers. That has me stumped at the moment. As the flowers set I will only allow four fruit to remain on each truss.

Yesterday, while I was searching the web for a deal on Truss seeds for next year, I found a tomato trial performed by the University of Maine. The trial was geared toward unheated greenhouses, with fifteen greenhouse cultivars being tested.

I felt that this trial matched my growing conditions and climate, so I was really interested in the results. Trust, which is hyped by the seed companies as a top performer, came in dead last in the Maine trial.

The best performer in the Maine trial was a new hybrid named Arbason, so I placed an order for seeds for this variety. Additionally, I have ordered another new hybrid called Lola, which is also a greenhouse variety. Fifty seeds for both of these hybrids only cost fifteen dollars, with five dollars shipping. That is less than half the cost of Trust seeds, and although I am kind of satisfied with Trust, I decided to go with the new hybrids next season.

I still plan on growing the Tropic tomatoes, as we really like them, and I have plenty of seeds. As the Tropic are open pollinated, I can save seeds.

Tomato trial

2011-05-24T21:02:00.004-04:00

Although our weather this spring has been dismal the tomatoes are doing OK. All of the plants have multiple trusses and are setting fruit, however, a few continuous days of warm sunny weather would really be beneficial.

As stated in a previous post I am doing a nutrient test comparing Peters Professional hydroponic nutrients to Miracle Grow for tomatoes with a few added components. So far I can see no apparent difference in growth, or flowering, when comparing one to the other.

The plants in the top photo have been grown using the Miracle Grow concoction and the plants in the bottom photo were grown using the Peters Professional nutrients.

The nutrient strength of each reservoir is approximately the same.

Little leaf cucumber trial

2011-05-24T20:30:00.003-04:00

Although this variety has the ability to set fruit without pollination (parthenocarpic), my plants are, like regular cucumbers, producing male flowers. There are a few female flowers developing, and that in itself is encouraging for such immature plants. A female flower can be seen in the photo directly below the third black vine clip.

The telegraph improved cucumbers that I grew last year also produced a lot of male flowers before producing female flowers and fruit, so the little leaf appear to be no different in that respect.

So far training the plants to grow vertically has not been a problem. My plan is to provide horizontal support for any side shoots that develop and pinch out the growing tip of the side shoot two leaves beyond a female flower.

Supporting Cordon or Indeterminate tomatoes in the greenhouse.

2011-05-20T19:00:00.005-04:00

This post applies to Cordon or Indeterminate tomatoes being grown in a greenhouse. If you are planning on growing tomatoes in a greenhouse, and you don't know the difference between indeterminate and determinate, you should research the variety you plan to grow before starting. The type mostly grown in greenhouses is indeterminate.

Actually, a recent question in the comments section regarding the wood posts in the greenhouse prompted me to do this post on how I solved the tomato support problem. My solution may not be the best, and it is certainly not the only way to solve the problem, it is however what seems to work best for my purposes.

As seen in the photo above there is a small bamboo stake inserted in the pot next to the plant. A length of poly twine is attached to the stake with a wire tie and the twine is wound clockwise abound the plant. The twine is attached to a length of 5/8" oak dowel above the plant. I fasten the twine using a simple slip knot and leave about about a foot of extra twine so that the slip knot can be loosened to allow more twine to be wrapped around the plant as it grows.

For additional support I attach a few vine clips where I think they will give the best support. The vine clips are small plastic rings that have teeth that grip the twine and the ring clips loosely around the plant providing additional support. There is a clip visible in the photo on the right side slightly above the green fruit. Clicking on the photo will enlarge it to better show the clips.

The plant in the photo is one of the expensive hybrid Trust plants. Although it seems to be a nice plant, the plain old Super Beefsteaks actually are larger plants and have many more flowers and developing tomatoes. This should prove to be an interesting experiment, however, it is much too early in the season to form an opinion one way or the other.

Again, time will tell...

Bypass the produce section

2011-05-19T19:11:00.005-04:00

Although the plants in the above photo are continuing to provide fresh produce everyday I have already started replacements. We have been harvesting the outer leaves of these plants for several weeks and we have enjoyed many a nice meal from this planting.

This time of year I browse the gardening forums and people are writing about planting lettuce in their gardens, and soon many will be asking for all kinds of help with plant diseases and bugs. Some write that they have been waiting for months to get back to gardening.

With such a simple alternative available I can not help but wonder why urban hydroponic gardening is not more popular. It could be that hydroponics has a bad reputation due to the people growing illegal crops. I get comments frequently like: "one of these days the cops are going to pay you a visit to see what you are growing in that greenhouse." My reply is that they are welcome anytime, and that I will treat them to a nice healthy salad if they stop by.

Recently I watched a documentary on nutrition, and the person being interviewed stated that the produce in the supermarket travels, on average, 1500 to 2000 miles to get to the market, is more than a week old when you buy it, and has lost 40% of its nutritional value by the time you eat it. And, and this is a BIG AND, Lord only knows what it was sprayed, and fertilized, with when it was grown!

I prefer to bypass the produce section.

Trying Navada Lettuce

2011-05-18T13:00:00.003-04:00

Navada lettuce seeds have been in my freezer for sometime, however, up until now I have never really given this variety a serious trial. The above photo was taken today and my first impression is that it does look promising.

Since I built the grow chamber, and it performs so well, I have decided to continue to grow lettuce indoors permanently. Growing lettuce in the greenhouse during the warm weather is really a challenge, so the greenhouse will be only growing warm weather crops and flowers until fall. In the fall I will add some chard and beet greens.

Below is some information that I found online regarding this variety. And, as always, time will tell...

Nevada Lettuce

48 days. Possibly the best in its category, this extremely uniform, all-green Batavia lettuce performs in all kinds of climates. Nevada has a tall open head with thick, bright, lime green leaves that are crunchy and have a wonderful nutty flavor. Very resistant to tip burn, bolting, and downy mildew, plus tolerant of lettuce mosaic virus. For the market gardener, Batavia lettuces can be stored longer than other types when cooled at picking and kept refrigerated.

Getting crowded

2011-05-09T20:24:00.003-04:00

It is just about time to set some plants in the soil garden and I am thinking this coming weekend is when it will happen. The probability of frost for this area after May 15th is only about ten percent, and I will check the long range forecast for five days and decide to plant, or not to plant. Planting can not come too soon as the greenhouse is getting crowded and I am starting to get frustrated when attempting to get at plants to attend to them.

The tomatoes and cucumbers along both sides of the greenhouse have been attached to their overhead supports using vine clips and twine. They will be grown to completion in the greenhouse. The peppers, on the large green container in the upper right, and all of the plants in flats are destined for the soil and annual garden. Actually, I have been removing flower buds from the peppers for a few weeks, but now it is time to let them do their thing.

In a book on greenhouse growing that I recently read the author stated that only a tiny fraction of home greenhouse owners actually grow in the greenhouse. They use them for starting seeds and then bring plants in at the end of the season to extend the season. We know one other family in the area that has a greenhouse and that is what they do also. I just can not imagine having a greenhouse and only using it a few weeks a season. Well, to each his own I guess.

And the beat goes on.

2011-04-27T16:35:00.004-04:00

My gardening book says that a Calceolaria plant should be discarded when it stops blooming.

That is all well and good, but, it seems the plant did not read the book, as it just continues to bloom week after week.

It could also be because I did not follow the book's instructions regarding growing Calceolaria. It makes me wonder if anyone else has ever tried growing one of these hydroponically under lights.

Planted my cucumbers.

2011-04-26T14:34:00.004-04:00

The sun finally decided to make a rare appearance today, so I decided to transplant my cucumbers into AutoPots and get them into the greenhouse.

These are Little Leaf cucumbers, and they are living up to their name, as the leaves are indeed small.

I found the following description online:

Compact plant produces high yields of small emerald green color cucumbers. An excellent cucumber for salads and pickling. This parthenocarpic plant produces cucumbers without pollinators. Does well under adverse weather conditions. Developed by the University of Arkansas. Disease Resistant: Angular Leaf Spot, Anthracnose, Bacterial Wilt, Cucumber Mosaic Virus, Downy Mildew, Powdery Mildew.

The seeds were not all that expensive and let's face it two people do not need a lot of cucumbers. I may very well grow these indoors next winter also.

The season is officially underway.

2011-04-21T18:35:00.009-04:00

Today I spent just about the entire day soaking and mixing coco coir and perlite and planting tomatoes. While I was engaged in doing this, the outside temperatures were in the low 40s, and the wind was howling like a banshee. At one point, tiny flakes of ice crystals were striking the polycarbonate panels. What a strange day to be planting tomatoes.

As the forecast for tonight calls for temperatures in the lower 20s I have added a small oil filled electric heater to the greenhouse, in addition to the small forced air heater. Both units are set for the mid forties,however, along with residual heat from the day I will not be raising the temperature all that much. The trade off of running the lights should compensate for the heat

The photo above is the south facing side of the greenhouse, and that is the side where I am using the tomato specific nutrients. The opposite side has also been planted, except for two pots which are reserved for cucumbers.

I hope this one performs as advertised.

2011-04-20T21:53:00.002-04:00

Today I planted another autopot with a Trust tomato plant. This plant will be receiving the general purpose nutrients using the same TDS levels as the tomato specific nutrients. As I have several of each variety, I will try the different cultivars on both types of nutrients, but I really do not expect to see much of a difference in growth or yield.

This variety was developed by DeRuiters of Holland and is a hybrid known for heavy production and exceptional taste. Sometime in July I will clone another batch of these plants, and, I will at some point save and plant the seeds just to see what the F2 generation is like. And, a comparison of the performance of this variety to the "plain Jane" Super Beefsteak should be indeed interesting.

In my part of the world April is usually a dismal month, and this year our April weather has been particularly dismal. Still, I will be adding even more plants to the greenhouse this week, but I am holding off on the cucumbers for at least another two weeks.

More tomato tests.

2011-04-18T19:44:00.007-04:00

Like everyone else I am anxious to begin the new gardening season, however, I am starting very slowly this year as the weather has been unpredictable.

The night temperatures have been running in the lower thirties, so I have been bringing the tomato plants into the greenhouse during the day, and returning them to the indoor growing area in the evening.

In spite of my near disaster with damping off; this year's plants are among the best ever. They have developed to the point that I must either plant them in autopots, or transplant them again into larger pots. The plants intended for the garden have already been transplanted to larger pots, but I have been holding off on the greenhouse plants waiting for better weather.

Today I planted a Cobra tomato plant in my home built autopot and filled the reservoir. Drip line valves have been placed in the feed lines so that I can control the flow of nutrients to each of the trays, and I am only running nutrients to this one system. I will risk the elements and leave this one system in the greenhouse at night, as long as there is no danger of a freeze.

This year I will be taking a more conservative approach to nutrient levels, so from transplant to second cluster I will maintain the level between 800 and 1,100 TDS. The reservoir, as it now stands, is at 817 with a pH of 6.1, which is exactly on target. Additionally, I will run two different types of nutrients to determine if nutrients intended strictly for tomatoes produce better results than general purpose nutrients.

The plant in the lower photo is a Burpee Super Beefsteak that I originally intended for the garden. I only planted two of these, and both plants are very very impressive. I intend to grow one of the Super Beefsteak tomato plants in the greenhouse to compare to the high priced hybrids bred for greenhouse growing. As usual, time will tell..

Finally finished!

2011-04-13T14:49:00.005-04:00

The greenhouse preparation is finally complete, and all I need now is for Mother Nature to begin cooperating and provide some decent weather.

I have installed the plant support systems, feed lines, solar vent openers, ventilation fan and heater.

In addition to the autopots I have several self watering containers, that I will use for flowers, and to grow lettuce that I intend to let go to seed.

As we get a lot of dismal days in the spring, I have added supplemental lighting to use on dismal days.

Finally, a lazy man's greenhouse

2011-04-10T19:09:00.003-04:00

I spent the last two days getting the greenhouse in shape for this year's growing season. All of the major preparation is pretty much complete, with only a few minor chores remaining. I still have to install supports on the left side for the tomatoes and cucumbers. And, I still have to install the automatic vent openers and run the feed lines to the autopots.

As a result of someone giving up hydroponic growing, and giving me their autopots, I now have enough autopots so that I can use them exclusively. It will be a much neater operation, as all of the pots will all be gravity fed from the two large reservoirs on the top shelf in the back of the greenhouse. The only pump I will have to run is a two outlet air pump to aerate the nutrients in the reservoirs. There will no longer be a need for timers, or other electrical devices, which makes for a pretty energy efficient operation.

Each day I place the trays of seedlings in the greenhouse, and I return them to the indoor growing area before the sun sets. I will wait a little longer, until the night temperatures are running in the mid to upper forties, before I plant in the autopots and officially open the greenhouse for the season.

Prognosis is good!

2011-04-08T18:15:00.006-04:00

At this point it appears that the tomato seedlings that had damped off are going to survive. They are, in fact, looking pretty impressive and recovering from the cloning process rapidly.

I am go glad that I did not destroy the seedlings as directed by the gardening books. The replacement seeds that I planted have not even developed any true leaves, so saving these seedlings will put me just about back where I was originally before the problem first appeared.

To repeat something that I posted sometime ago; regardless of what the books say, if something seems reasonable, you should try it, because plants don't read books.

Amazing clone

2011-04-05T21:51:00.005-04:00

Today while removing some lettuce for dinner I found my Calceolaria clone buried among the much larger lettuce plants. The clone was in the back of the tray, and the lettuce had grown around it. As I could no longer see it, I had completely forgotten about it.

Not only had the little clone grown significantly, it is flowering! I find it amazing that such a small plant can not only root, but flower, in only thirty odd days.

The clone was moved and placed next to the parent plant in a tub full of lettuce seedlings. (lower right corner) And, the parent plant is still blooming, which I find equally amazing.

If that was not enough to make my day; the parent plant is producing two different color flowers: some red, some yellow.

I did manage to harvest some seeds from dried seed pods, and that was indeed a chore. When I purchased the seeds I thought they were kind of expensive, but after having grown my own I can't imagine raising these for seed commercially.

Resurrrected seedlings

2011-04-04T15:00:00.008-04:00

In spite of all of the precautions I take, about two weeks ago I noticed that my tomato seedlings were showing signs of damping off.

This fungal condition, known as Pythium wilt, is found in soil and growing mediums, and it can also be transmitted by air and contaminated tools.

I guess I was in denial, as I watched the condition progress for several days hoping that I was mistaken. Then, on Sunday March 27, 2011, my beautiful ,expensive, seedlings began to topple over.

My authoritative greenhouse gardening book says: "Once initiated, damping off is fatal. At the onset of damping off, the stem looses girth at the soil line, weakens, then grows dark, and finally circulation is cut, killing the seedling or cutting." And, that is exactly what was happening to my seedlings. Consulting other gardening books I found no cure for this condition, and the advice given was to remove and destroy the seedlings.

Immediately I started a replacement batch of seeds in rockwool cubes, thankful that I had plenty of time as it is still early in the season.

I was still hesitant to destroy my diseased seedlings, as the tops, above the diseased stem, were green, healthy and growing. My first thought was to cut off the tops and clone them, so I Googled cloning tomato seedlings that had dampened off. If anyone had tried it, they had not put anything on the web concerning it as I found absolutely nothing.

Well thought I, why not give it a try? First I sterilized a pair of surgical scissors and then soaked enough rockwool cubes in a solution of Capitan to accommodate the seedlings. I cut the seedlings about 1/4" above the diseased area, and dipped the cutting in the Capitan. While still holding the cutting under the Capitan solution I used a sterile scalpel to place a 45 degree cut above the first cut, this was done to prevent an embolism from forming in the stem. The cuttings were then dipped in rooting hormone and placed into the rockwool. Isolating the cuttings, I placed the cubes under a dome, and the dome under the red/blue/white LED for 14 hours a day. Finally, I added CO2 and a heat mat to complete the cloning attempt.

Much to my amazement, and relief, the cuttings rooted in only six days. So, six days after the first seedling toppled over, the seedlings were repotted in sterile potting mix and back under the LED, minus the dome.

As I would expect, there is some minor yellowing on some of the leaf tips, but that is typical with cuttings. The good news is that I can already see vertical growth, and that is an indication that the roots are working and a transport system is in place and functioning.

On Sunday, April 3, 2011, one week later, the seedlings were back in the greenhouse enjoying the sunshine and eighty degree heat. As we are now in a cool, damp, rainy period, I am giving them several hours of light under a HID HPS and several hours under the LED.

I don't know if the disease was limited to the area infected, or if it is present in the tissue and cells of the plant, but I consider this a learning process, regardless of the outcome.

What I do not understand is that my pepper seedlings were planted the same day as the tomatoes, grown under the same conditions, and they did not damp off. The replacement seeds have started to germinate, so I may have more tomatoes than I know what to do with if this process is a success.

As usual, only time will tell the outcome of this project, but some of the cuttings are developing flower clusters, and that can be nothing but a good sign.

Swiss Chard coming up.

2011-03-27T16:13:00.004-04:00

I am just about ready to pick the chard I have been growing in one of my new flood and drain systems, and it looks fantastic!

For this batch I ran the TDS at slightly over 1300 with the pH at about 6.5 and changed nutrients every two weeks.

Another change I am making is to reduce the photoperiod for leaf vegetables to fourteen hours. Also, for lettuce I am reducing the TDS to about 450 - 500 in an effort to slow down the growth, and by doing so I think I will get better tasting plants.

When the chard is harvested it will be replaced by beet greens, which are among our favorite pot greens. They are hard to find in the market, and expensive when you do find them.

Calceolaria clone

2011-03-22T15:01:00.003-04:00

The cutting taken from the Calceolaria plant on February 28, 2011 has taken. Not only has the cutting rooted, it is also beginning to bud. The small cluster of flower buds is in the center of the cutting in the photo above.

It took about five months for the parent plant to flower, so having the cutting bud in only three weeks blows me away.

In spite of the success with this project I have decided to leave Calceolaria growing to the experts.

The tomato seedlings are developing rapidly.

2011-03-17T18:14:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, and again today, conditions were perfect in the greenhouse. My tomato seedlings received at least five hours of direct sunlight on both days, and already I can see the seedlings responding.

Even though there is still snow in our yard, the temperature in the greenhouse, in the afternoon, is above eighty degrees. My light meter has a maximum reading of 5,000 foot candles, and the light falling on the plants pegs the meter. I would think that the level is closer to 10,000 footcandles, however, tomatoes will take all the light they can get.

After I remove the seedlings from the greenhouse they are placed under a 400 watt HPS lamp four hours. After four hours under the HPS light I place them under the 90 watt red/blue/white LED for another seven hours.

Considering the prices I paid for the seeds, I intend to pamper these seedlings as much as possible.

Seedlings for greenhouse

2011-03-15T18:30:00.005-04:00

Today I planted the tomato seedlings that I started on March 1, 2011 into 3" pots filled with coco coir and perlite. I will be top watering them with nutrient solution with a TDS of 550 and a pH of 6.0 until they are transplanted into the autopots.

The pepper seeds have all germinated, however, the seedlings are still too small to be transplanted at this time.

The tomato seedlings have been placed under a dome using the red/blue/white 90 watt LED. I will give them a few days to recover from transplanting before I attempt to place them in the greenhouse during the afternoon. Today, the sun was was shining brightly, and the temperature in the greenhouse was a toasty eighty degrees, but I had nothing I could put in there to take advantage of these great conditions.

I hope that planting them on the ides of March does not bring me the same luck as Julius Caesar had on this date.

Additional capacity

2011-03-08T18:54:00.004-05:00

A friend, who is just starting into hydroponics, was in the process of ordering bus tubs to build ebb and flow systems. The company offered free shipping on orders over fifty dollars, so I asked him to order extra units so I could build two more systems for my growing area. As I had the pumps and fittings, the two new units I added cost $12.50 each.

We have more than enough lettuce and salad greens, so I will use the additional units for two of my very favorite pot greens: Swiss chard and beet greens. The chard, pictured above, is a great selection for these units, as are beet greens. Both grow upright, and the plants support each other when packet tightly together. When the weather permits I will place the two new systems in the greenhouse, as both of these varieties can tolerate warm temperatures.

All, except one, of the seeds that I planted for the greenhouse have germinated, and, it has only been seven days since I planted them. I am not surprised so much that the tomatoes have germinated, but to have pepper seeds germinate in less than a week is somewhat unusual.

I have not given up on the remaining seed, and if it germinates my success rate will be 100%. Perhaps this is an omen that Mother Nature is going to smile on this year's gardening endeavors.

Spotted Aleppo

2011-03-05T13:53:00.000-05:00

The plant in the photo above is Spotted Aleppo, the heirloom variety mentioned in my post of February 18, 2011.

I'll be the first to admit that it is not a vary attractive plant, and I was tempted to title this post ancient and ugly.

It is, however, apparent to me that this will be a "do again" variety, to add texture and interest to our menu. It's redeeming qualities are that it grows quickly, and I seriously doubt that any problems such as tip burn, common to less robust varieties, will be an issue with this cultivar.

Plant choices for 2011

2011-03-01T21:28:00.000-05:00

Today, the first of March, is the date I have been waiting for to start the greenhouse and garden tomatoes and peppers. The cucumbers will have to wait several more weeks before they are started.

I "bit the bullet" and purchased expensive hybrid greenhouse variety seeds to grow this year: Cobra, Trust and Tropic.

Cobra - A Hybrid Greenhouse Tomato. Cobra has gained strong recognition both in greenhouse and open field production. High yields of uniform glossy fruit. Large, round to oblong, 7 ounce fruit are firm, extremely resistant to cracking with excellent external quality. Tolerance to Tobacco mosaic virus. Start seed indoors 6 weeks before last frost. Maturity is 65-70 days from transplanting.

Trust - This variety has earned its reputation as one of the best greenhouse varieties in America. That is due to its heavy crops of large 8 to 10 oz. tomatoes that ripen to a uniform bright red. Firm fruits hold up well after harvest and plants are highly disease resistant, including protection against leaf molds. Indeterminate. 78 days.

Tropic - Strong vines with multiple disease resistance bear heavy yields of large, firm red fruit. Developed for Florida, it is resistant to gray leaf spot and leaf molds and tolerant to early blight. Well suited for pink harvest. Also used as a greenhouse tomato. Indeterminate. 80 days.

The Cobra and Trust seeds, with shipping, cost more than a dollar per seed. I found the Tropic at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, and purchased a lifetime supply for about six dollars. It pays to shop around.

I now have enough AutoPots to completely fill both sides and the back of the greenhouse, so all of the warm season plants will be grown in AutoPots.

As I had great luck with the peppers in my soil garden last year, I decided not to use and drip ring systems in the greenhouse this year, and I will grow the peppers in the garden. Again this year I will be growing Giant Marconi and Corno Di Toro, as we absolutely love these varieties.

Additionally, I have started a few Super Beefsteak and Black Cherry tomato seeds for the soil garden. If the price of fresh produce continues to rise it might be prudent to hire armed guards to patrol the garden and greenhouse. :-O

Ava and I planted the seeds today in Oasis horticubes moistened with dilute nutrient solution. From germination through the first transplant I will grow them using the 90 watt red/blue/white LED and a sixteen hour lighting cycle. Hopefully, by mid-March, the snow will melt and I will be able to set the seedlings in the greenhouse on sunny days when the temperature is above sixty five in the greenhouse. If we have an extended cool and cloudy period I will place the seedlings indoors under a 400 watt HPS grow light.

I am hoping to be able to plant two crops of tomatoes in the greenhouse this year. I just finished a book on vegetable breeding, and the author, a Ph D. in biology from Harvard, with twenty years experience as a geneticist, questions the hybrid tomato industry, as does another Ph D. plant breeder, as tomatoes are inbreeders. I intend to save and start seeds from these expensive hybrids, and see how the F2 generation grows.

As always, time will tell...

Taking a shortcut

2011-02-28T14:36:00.001-05:00

Today I started a clone of the calceolaria plant, which will be placed alongside the mother plant in the ebb and flow system. It should be interesting to see if the cutting develops roots and grows to maturity. When I started the plant from seed, it was months before the seedling grew to the size of today's cutting.

The mother plant continues to bloom, and there are literally dozens of seed pods forming. When the pods have dried I will break them open, then, hopefully, collect my seeds.

The seeds for this plant were not available locally, relatively expensive, and difficult to locate, which makes seed saving an attractive option.

Another historic grow

2011-02-18T19:40:00.001-05:00

Today I began another historic grow, historic in terms of the varieties that is. These are the seedlings from yesterday's post, and it is exactly two weeks from the date the seed packages were unsealed.

I am using a red/blue 90 watt LED with a 16 hour photoperiod. The light is 19" above the plant surfaces with the intensity, measured at plant level, ranging between 1,500 and 2,000 footcandles.

The nutrient feed cycle is 15 minutes every four hours, with a TDS of 711, and a pH of 6.4. Additionally, I am dribbling CO2 into the grow tank during the lighting cycle.

Now to the historic aspect, the varieties are:

Tom Thumb (1850s) A small growing green lettuce with heads that only get 3-4" across. Very tasty! Crisphead type.

Spotted Aleppo (pre1731) An ancient variety that had been grown in Aleppo, Syria for a long time prior to being introduced into Europe in the early 1700’s. It was also grown in colonial America and was offered by Bernard McMahon in 1804 and many other North American seed companies until the 1870’s. Spotted Aleppo is a beautiful loose headed Romaine type of lettuce with many bronze speckles. Romaine type. RARE.

Getting ready to start seeds for the greenhouse.

2011-02-17T21:00:00.001-05:00

I feel that the CO2 generator/injector, that I built and posted recently, has really made a difference in my seedling production.

The seeds shown in the above photo are only thirteen days from the day I opened the package and moistened them. I can see a noticeable improvement over previous batches of seedlings, so I am adding these CO2 generators to my other propagators.

The enclosure in the photo was constructed from scrap materials; the interior is shown in my January 5, 2011 post. As it is located in an unheated part of the basement, I placed pieces of scrap carpeting on the top to capture the heat generated by the T5 light. The temperature, with the lights on, is a comfortable seventy two degrees, and it can be lowered simply by removing sections of the carpeting. Additionally, the end panel is removable for access and temperature control. As these units only use a 24 watt lighting tube they are super energy efficient and cost effective.

Each of these small propagators can produce 16 to 24 seedlings every two weeks or so, which is more than adequate for our home needs.

In search of the seeds

2011-02-17T19:59:00.000-05:00

I kind of like having these colorful little plants among the more mundane edible plants, so I want to save the seeds. The only information I found regarding saving seeds from these is to let the flowers dry on the plant and then collect the seeds.

Well, the first flowers have dried, and they actually fell off the plant when I moved them to examine them. Using a magnifying headset, tweezers and a scalpel I dissected the flowers in quest of seeds, and found: nothing. I would have thought that the seeds would be located within the purse itself, but apparently that is not the case.

Upon closer inspection of the plant itself I think I have located where the seeds will form. In the center of the plant, where the first flower was growing, I believe I see the ovule, and it is still green and remains the plant.

Hopefully, by letting the that part of the plant dry completely, and then opening the ovule, I will find my seeds.

At some point I will also clone the plant and see if that is a more efficient way to grow these.

Saved from the recycling bin.

2011-02-09T18:31:00.000-05:00

As the weather is keeping me indoors pretty much, except for shoveling and snow blowing, I have been catching up on projects and looking for things to keep my mind occupied.

To enhance the small propagators, as illustrated in my January 5, 2011 post, I decided to automate the addition of CO2 to the propagators by adding a small CO2 generator/injector.

The generator is nothing more than a gallon container; to which I added two cups of sugar, some warm water and a teaspoon of yeast.

A length of airline tubing is inserted into a hole drilled in the top of the container and is run to the propagator. The yeast eats the sugar and produces CO2 in the process. The CO2 fills the container and flows through the tubing to the propagator and seedlings. Not exactly rocket science, but it works just dandy.

After placing the seedlings in the media, and the media in the propagator, I place them under the light and let the light stay on continuously for 48 hours. When I resume my normal 16 hour lighting cycle I remove the CO2 injector feed line from the propagator just before the lights are to be turned off. The valve must be left slightly opened to allow some CO2 to escape, as the yeast will continue to produce CO2 and it will pressurize the system if not allowed to escape. The result would be a small bomb, and BIG mess.

The systems produce CO2 until the sugar is depleted, and I check the output every few days by placing the tube into a glass of water. If it produces bubbles, it is working, if not, I toss the contents and refill the container.

The amount of yeast to sugar is not critical, however, more yeast means more CO2, but it will use up the sugar faster. I am now using 2 cups of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of yeast, which should keep the system perking along for about two weeks.

My first batch of seedlings using this method look fantastic.