Friday, October 10, 2008

High density growing


Above is my bus tub ebb and flow system and there are fifteen plants under cultivation in this small tub. I will try to remember to photograph the tub weekly and post a photo to track the progress of the plants.
As of today I have not had to use the grow lights at all, as the plants remain in the greenhouse. It was necessary to use a small oil filled electric heater on two nights because of frost, however, I feel I am still way ahead in terms of the cost of running the lamps 14 hours per day.
This is really my first attempt at growing this late in the season in the greenhouse and I am excited to see how it compares to growing under lights. Because the greenhouse is shaded by trees, it does not receive full direct sun until noon or so. The temperature can vary thirty degrees on any given day depending on the nightly low temperature. This afternoon it was a very comfortable 79 degrees with relative humidity about 40%. As I am mostly growing lettuce and herbs, this range should be acceptable.
There are three tomato plants still growing in the AutoPots, and I have been picking a few ripe fruit every few days. It is almost mid-October and tomatoes are selling at $1.79 per pound in the market, and they don't taste as good as my tomatoes, so I consider my tomato growing a success. We picked our first tomato on July 4th., and we are still picking tomatoes in October.

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