Zucchini Transplanted

The zucchini plants we placed in the AeroFlo36 have 4-6 big leaves on each plant and a nice healthy root base so we planted two in each of the PowerGrower and Ebb n Gro systems.  pH balanced R.O. water was used to "top off" each of the grow systems.

The zucchini was planted in the systems using Hydroton as a base medium.  We have come to really like this "days gone by" product in lieu of the newer ones based upon our grow room experiments.  We have placed a Hortinet (basically a plastic 4x4 net) over the cucumber and Roma plants on the Ebb n Gro system as they are getting larger and require constant support.

Grow Room Video Update

We posted some photos of the peppers, eggplant, and zucchini today but also wanted to give you the broad view of the grow room.



We are ready to fill out our PowerGrower and the remaining two spots on our Ebb and Gro system with the Jalapeno peppers and Zucchini we just transferred to the AeroFlo36 system.

Changed the water and refreshed the nutrients on both PowerGrower and Ebb n Gro systems today. Taking out the Cherry Tomato plants was bittersweet but we had eaten so many that I felt it was time to move on. We did clone the plants and also started another from seed so it won't be long before we have more.

Holy Eggplants Batman

This is our first attempt at growing white eggplant and all I can say is, WOW !  These things are getting huge in a very short time.  We can't wait to see some flowers.

There is another white eggplant in this picture (about 11 o'clock) that is equally as large. 

We eat eggplant a lot in Italian recipes we make and are looking forward to seeing how this white variety does.  The fruits are round like softballs on steroids versus the elongated pear shaped purple variety.

These plants are in our Ebb and Gro system which we recently expanded due to its success in our grow room.

Grow Room Cleanup

We took out the cherry tomato plants and one Italian Parsley plant today so we could clean the PowerGrower system and make room for the Grow 5 zucchini and jalapeno pepper plants that we transplanted to the AeroFlo36 today.  We now have 5 openings in the PowerGrower and 2 openings in the Ebb and Gro systems.

The nutrients were refreshed in both the Ebb n Gro and PowerGrower systems to support more flowering and fruiting.  The Canna products continue to perform very well for us as you can see by our video and photo updates.

The fennel, mint, leeks, and a cherry tomato plant were transferred from the AeroFlo36 system to the Ebb n Gro system to support their size and expansive growth.

Peppers Everywhere

Our red and yellow peppers plants in the PowerGrower have produced so well that they have begun toppling over due to the peppers' weight.  We put in support posts today and tied them up to help the plants.

These peppers have another month or two (we think) to turn their final colors of red, yellow, and orange as they ripen on the vine.  I am looking forward to some sausage and peppers already !

The water and nutrients were changed today

Cucumber Blast Off

The cucumber plant has exploded with flowers and is now about 3 feet tall after two weeks in the Ebb and Gro system. We have tied it to a stake as it grew to support the main stem as its tentacles found their way to the stake and neatly wrapped themselves around it.

We have about 15 flowers on this plant already and the urge to clone it is killing me but I think I will wait until it gets to the point of producing fruits. 

The water and nutrients in the Ebb and Gro system was changed today from an early flowering stage supplement to support an intermediate stage flowering / beginning stage fruiting nutrient base as the Roma tomato plant has also put on a lot of flowers and now has a few budding tomatoes.  The peppers in this system have also produced a lot of small bell peppers so the Canna Boost nutrient and PK 13/14 were added.

Grow 5 Planted

We have seeded Grow 5 with 4 Jalapeno, 4 Zucchini, and of course more Romaine Lettuce. Germination should occur over 7-10 days and we will bring you more info then. We continue to harvest the Romaine we plant almost every day. We start several new seeds every few days as the germination rate is quick, and once in the AeroFlo36, we get full heads in about 7 days.

Spinach is not working

The two spinach seedlings just didn't make it. We pulled them out of the rail this weekend. Any ideas on germination (we have about 20% success), and seedling care would be greatly appreciated. We are using the same method of germination as all of our other seeds. We follow seed packet instructions, and even have used two different seed companies. Hmmmmm.....

Grow 5 planning

We are documenting "Grows" with new plants we have not germinated or taken to maturity in the grow room. We do sub-grows (like Grow 4a, 4b, etc) each week that are mainly romaine lettuce almost weekly. It is taking about 2 1/2 weeks to go from seed to table with our Romaine so I thought documenting each would be a bit tedious and boring for you.

Grow 5 will have 2 new heirloom plants, jalapeno peppers and zucchini, and of course we will put some lettuce and other fast consumables in the grow. We have the Rockwool cubes soaking now and they will be ready tomorrow. Since we have not grown these plants before, they will start from seed.

Clones Potted and in the Rail

We potted up six of the clones - some Cherry and Roma tomatoes - and placed them in the AeroFlo36 today. Each of the clone cuttings had about 12 inches of root mass that had to be curled up in the net cup. I thought about putting them directly into the PowerGrower or Ebb n Gro system, but thought it better to get some more veg and stronger stem base on them first. We'll see how they do and report.

Cha Cha Cha Changes......

Many changes to the grow room occurred in the last two weeks.  Thought I would wait and post all at the same time.   With the EZ Clone, we needed more light above the unit.  We installed a new 4 bulb T5 to replace the single bulb unit; installed an expansion kit of 5 pots onto the Ebb n Gro system to handle some of our larger root based plants; installed another LED, this time a 540 Watt "Mother Ship" from SuperNova; lastly a dehumidifier was added to remove excess humidity in the room.  Doing so allowed us to turn the CO2 back on and wow what a difference.



General water changes continue with new nutrient mixes every two and a half weeks with plain water top-offs in between.  We check pH and balance as necessary every few days.  The CANNA nutrients are working so well for us we just can't imagine others would be better.  We are following CANNA recommended doses of base (Aqua Flores or Agua Veg) and additional nutrients (Cannazyme, Rhizotonic, Boost, and PK13/14) according to plant growth stage.

Wish I had doubled the size of the room now !