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My 91 year old neighbor Mario, who passed away last year, gardened all of his life, and I must admit his vegetables looked great. Early in the spring Mario would go to the dairy farm a mile or so from our houses, and get a five gallon bucket of manure. (A nice word for cow feces)
He would put several inches of water on top of the manure, cover the bucket, and place it in the sun behind his garage. Each day he would ladle off some of the concentrated "tea" , add some water, and pour this mixture over his lettuce.
Mario would, of course, rinse the lettuce before tossing it into his salad, but to my way of thinking no amount of washing would remove weeks and weeks of cow tea residue.
I used to envy Mario's ability to grow vegetables, however, since I began using hydroponic gardening techniques my results are far far superior to Mario's cow tea lettuce. Also, I have never grown lettuce in a conventional garden that I did not have to contend with zillions of aphids. Mario was using a powered pesticide for aphid control, but I would have given odds that the cow tea alone would kill aphids. Between the cow tea, aphids, and pesticide, the flora and fauna in his digestive system was most likely unusual to say the least. As he made it until past ninety, I guess his system adjusted reasonably well to his gourmet habits.
Recently, for the first time in almost ten years, I was sick for almost two days. My wife also came down with the same symptoms of nausea and vomiting. I am a vegetarian and she is not, but we did share a salad the evening before. It was bagged spring mix lettuce. My guess is that we both had a case of Escherichia coli . And we all know that commercial growers use their own version of "cow tea". So, no more cow tea for me!!
The first commercial hydroponic system I purchased was a Deep Water Culture unit called Emily's Garden. This type of system is what is known as a passive system, as it basically does nothing other than provide an aerated reservoir for the containers to soak in. After using it for sometime I developed a few techniques that the instruction manual did not cover.
Although I have since moved on to using mostly flood and drain systems , I do like the DWC system for swiss chard. When setting up the system I place strips of felt to run from the bottom of the pot to a level that I estimate the bottom of the rockwool cube will be. These felt strips will act as a wick and provide nutrients to the cubes if the level drops too low. The plant with the cube is placed on top of the "wick" and the expanded clay pellets are added to support the plant. When all the containers have been filled I place them in the unit and then dribble the nutrient solution slowly through the containers. By doing so the seedlings are less likely to wilt from transplanting and the system gets off to a good start. Filling the reservoir through the planters also begins the wicking action.
For these small plants I will be using a mild general purpose mixture with a TDS of about 700, and I found that swiss chard likes the pH at 7 or even slightly above.
There are three plants in each container, so I will be growing 18 plants in about six square feet of space. That would be insanity in a soil garden, however, with hydroponic gardening the plant does not have to develop an extensive root system searching for nutrients. All the nutrients the plant needs will be available when it needs them so it can concentrate its energy on growing.
The thermal vent control has been installed for a few days and it works really well. It only cost nineteen dollars to purchase, and it clamps on, which makes removal real easy. I would not want to leave in on during the winter, and I am glad I did not have to drill any holes in the frame for the installation.
It begins to open at sixty degrees, and as the greenhouse warms it eventually opens the vent completely. I have been checking it frequently since it has been installed, and I can see that it is adjusting the opening as the greenhouse heats and cools. After sunset and the temperature drops below fifty nine the vent is closed.
The weather is so variable in upstate New York that this addition is going to come in real handy.
Today I transplanted the cucumbers into the AutoPot, and the more I use them the more impressed I am with the concept. Most likely the Aussie that invented the valve made a fortune. (Wish I thought of it) For the above photo I left the cover off to display the valve during the initial filling. An airline gang valve was installed for this unit also, as it makes it a lot easier to manage.
The medium is half perlite and coco noir, and after the rockwool cubes and plants were placed, I poured two quarts of nutrient solution into each container to begin the wicking action.
Most likely the reason I like these units is that; basically I am a lazy person.. Four gallons of nutrient solution mixed for the growth stage of cucumbers was placed in the reservoir and the TDS and pH were recorded as 930 and 6.0 respectfully. The real nice feature is that: I do not have to take periodic readings just simply check and refill the reservoir as required. When the bloom and fruiting cycle begins I will let the reservoir level drop to an inch or so and then add four gallons of a mix appropriate for that cycle.
Growing cukes in a greenhouse may seem like a nutty idea, but my soil is just about pure clay, and no matter how much peat I add it still bakes and drys like brick. When planted outside the plants droop badly in hot weather to the point that they must be stressed most of the time. The AutoPot will ,at the very least, maintain an even moisture level in the medium, and I may get decent cucumbers this year.
There are two varieties in the system, Picklebush and Saladbush. Both plants require less than two square feet of space and the bamboo at the top of the photo will be used to construct a trellis so they can grow vertical and not fight for space with the swiss chard which will next to them in the DWC system.
So far excessive heat has not been a problem with the greenhouse. It has not yet been necessary to place shade cloth on the unit to control the heat, as the two vents in the roof and the fan in the open door have not allowed the temperature to go above 87 or so. Although lettuce is a cool weather plant, is seems to be doing real well in the greenhouse so far.
"Not in this lifetime!" That is what I said when I found out that AeroGarden wanted twenty bucks plus shipping for seven seeds.
My wife wanted the AeroGarden, as she said she always wanted to try hydroponics. We were among the first to order one and when it arrived it came with a seed kit of salad greens. The salad greens we grew looked nothing like the ads on TV showed them. After a few weeks we wanted something else, like herbs, but I was not about to pay twenty dollars for a few seeds. That is what got me started in hydroponics. We found a hydroponic dealer locally and I bought some rockwool cubes and a small supply of nutrients. Using my own seeds, I found the results were as good as AeroGarden's. After getting hooked on growing , the next logical step was to scale up the project so I added a large grow light, and the rest is history.
Now, the only use I put the AeroGarden to is starting seeds that take a long time to germinate, like parsley or cilantro.
If you happen to own an AeroGarden and want to grow your own seeds just cut a rockwool cube to fit LOOSELY in the small cup. And yes, you can reuse the cups, so don't throw them away.
We found that the AeroGarden is OK for herbs like basil, but growing salad greens or tomatoes with the AeroGarden is not, from my point of view, the way to go.
Having spent a great deal of time last winter attempting to grow hydroponic strawberries with no success, I am going to give it another try, with a much different approach. Many of the commercial growers appear to be using vertical drip irrigation stacks to grow strawberries. And, they are growing outdoors, and in many instances under netting or shade cloth.
My approach is to try to grow them in an flood and drain system filled with expanded clay pellets. Strawberries will rot if they touch damp soil, so I felt I needed a dry surface for the fruit to rest upon. The expanded clay will remain dry on the surface, and if need be I will place dowels under the plants to support the berries. Additionally, they are planted close to the edges so berries can cascade down the sides.
I have a mixture of plants in the containers shown above. In the black container the large plant in the upper right is an Alpine called Temptation. It was started from seed in February and has berries forming already. The plants in the lower right and upper left corners are Sarian, and were also started from seed in March. Sarian is a new variety of a traditional berry developed in Holland for home gardens, and it is supposed to be the very best for home gardeners. Time will tell. The remaining plants are all Seascape runners purchased from Agway. Seascape is also a new variety that is supposed to be the latest and greatest. In the portable greenhouse I am growing a Quinault berry in soil. I read on a hydroponic site that Quinault is the only self pollinating berry, and the author was trying to locate them. Well, I have one, and did not pollinate it, and I have monkey faced berries which result, I believe, from inadequate pollination. So I guess you can't believe everything you read. My interest in the Quinault was to obtain runners to place in cold storage for growing indoors next winter. However, the Sarian plants are producing runners like mad, so I should have a few options for the winter experiment.
Pollinating strawberries with an artist brush is not my favorite activity, and hopefully a few bees will wander into the greenhouse and take care of that little chore.
Last, but not least, the white tub on the right in the photo was a stacking sweater storage box purchased from the local supermarket for about six dollars. Again, hydroponics does not need to be high tech or costly.
When I began this project I had no idea of how much work it would entail. Remove the pool, level the area, construct the base, assemble the greenhouse, install the electric, install the flooring, construct shelving, and if that is not enough, set up the hydro units. There is not a part of my anatomy that is not hurting from lifting, lugging, hammering, tamping and whatnot. To say I am glad that it is a done deal would be a huge understatement.
I can see why they used to call them a hot house though, as when I was installing the patio block, I was wearing only a tee shirt, and there were snow flurries flying about outside. Perhaps I can also use it to get an early start on my tan......
As it stands right now there is still room enough left for few more systems, and I may put in a DWC unit for swiss chard. Spending all that time building has left little time for starting seeds, so even my present systems have plenty of room for additional plants.
The AutoPots on the left front are reserved for the cucumbers, but I am going to wait a while to plant them. The type I will grow only need two square feet of space and I will need to place a trellis on the north wall to hold the plants.
Well, I wanted my own greenhouse since I was a youngster, and after all these years I have one. Now, I will have to learn how to use one.....
My 91 year old neighbor Mario, who passed away last year, gardened all of his life, and I must admit his vegetables looked great. Early in the spring Mario would go to the dairy farm a mile or so from our houses, and get a five gallon bucket of manure. (A nice word for cow feces)
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