Friday, February 27, 2009

Another heirloom lettuce

This is the decription from the seed company for this plant:

"Sanguine Ameliore or Strawberry Cabbage Lettuce.
This unique 19th century French heirloom was introduced to America by C.C. Morse in 1906 under the name "Strawberry Cabbage Lettuce." The small cabbage or butterhead type plants are quite charming, with green leaves being splashed in scarlet-red as if a red rain fell upon them, glistening and beautiful. Leaves are tender, mild and of a high quality; yummy! "

This plant does quite well when grown hydroponically, and the same is true of all other types of lettuce. Lettuce is, it seems to me, a perfect plant for this type of growing , as it needs and can tolerate lots of water.

I am finding there is a great benefit in maintaining consistency in my growing processes. By having three identical ebb and flow systems the need to measure and take daily readings has been eliminated. The same amount of nutrient can be measured and maintained in each system, and by changing the nutrients every ten or twelve days I can be certain, based on past experience, that the pH levels remain acceptable.

My experiment of growing basil using the old AeroGarden tank and low wattage LED is progressing nicely. So far five out of seven pods have sprouted, and I can see cotyledon leaves being formed in the pods that have not. The closed cell foam works just fine, and I don't think top watering was necessary. As another test I used a regular household sponge in three pods and they sprouted also. So much for buying any supplies from AeroGarden.

As another control I planted the regular AeroGarden with basil also. It will be interesting to compare the growth using the flourescent light to the LED grow lamp. The regular AeroGarden was planted two weeks before the modified version, so it will not really be an apples to apples comparison though.

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