I must have been a good dude at least part of the time as Santa brought me an EZ Clone 60 unit for the grow room. I set it up the other day and started the first test-batch of cuttings. We used Olivia's Cloning Gel on the cuttings and Olivia's Cloning Solution in the tank.
We took some Cherry, Roma, Basil and Spinach cuttings to try out the unit. I was a bit concerned that I would go back in the grow room the next day and the two leaves on each cutting would be drooping, wilted, dried up or just plain dead. Nope, still look healthy after three days now.
Showing posts with label Basil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Basil. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Grow Room Work Day
We had a little work day in the grow room last weekend. We harvested all of the fennel and basil from the PowerGrower. Made some great pesto and a fennel au gratin that was out of this world. Thanks Epicurious.com ! Great recipe site for those inclined to exercise their culinary skills.
Cleaning and grow room work included: Complete wash down of the PowerGrower water tank and three PowerGrower Modules and AeroFlo36 rails; disposal of old STG growing medium; trimming all excess veg from the cherry tomato plants (a weekly process); transplanting Roma Tomatoes from the AeroFlow36 to the Ebb and Gro system - update in video to follow; water changes on all grow systems (glad I have the primary and secondary water barrels) with nutrient changes; Hydroton preparation for new basil plant transplants; transplanting Grow 4 seedlings to the AeroFlo36; Grow 5 Rockwool cube prep.
Seems like a lot of work, but it only took about 4 hours. Not bad. The design of the grow room and the water barrel strategy really helped. Remember that the R.O. system filters water into a "primary" 55 gallon barrel. From there, I transfer water to a "secondary" barrel where I adjust pH and mix nutrients to the correct ppm. From the secondary, I pump the solution to the grow system. While I work with the "secondary" water, the primary fills back up with R.O. water through the Merlin R.O. system. With this many systems, having a continuous output R.O. system is a must.
Cleaning and grow room work included: Complete wash down of the PowerGrower water tank and three PowerGrower Modules and AeroFlo36 rails; disposal of old STG growing medium; trimming all excess veg from the cherry tomato plants (a weekly process); transplanting Roma Tomatoes from the AeroFlow36 to the Ebb and Gro system - update in video to follow; water changes on all grow systems (glad I have the primary and secondary water barrels) with nutrient changes; Hydroton preparation for new basil plant transplants; transplanting Grow 4 seedlings to the AeroFlo36; Grow 5 Rockwool cube prep.
Seems like a lot of work, but it only took about 4 hours. Not bad. The design of the grow room and the water barrel strategy really helped. Remember that the R.O. system filters water into a "primary" 55 gallon barrel. From there, I transfer water to a "secondary" barrel where I adjust pH and mix nutrients to the correct ppm. From the secondary, I pump the solution to the grow system. While I work with the "secondary" water, the primary fills back up with R.O. water through the Merlin R.O. system. With this many systems, having a continuous output R.O. system is a must.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Grow 4 Planning
Now that we have Grow 3 coming to an end, harvesting lettuces, basil, and parsley (wish I could say tomatoes) from Grow 2, it is now time to start planning Grow 4.
We have chosen Rockwool cubes (based on tests in Grow 3) for all future germinations. We have decided to plant the following:
2 Cucumbers (new plant for us)
2 Red Shard (new plant for us)
2 White Eggplant (new plant for us)
1 Spinach (from a new seed packet)
2 Leeks
2 Romaine Lettuce
2 Fennel
2 Mint (new plant for us)
We trust our lettuce consumption will keep pace and that we will have a supply of basil from Grow 2 and Grow 3. As we continue to understand germination, vegetative and generative stage durations for these plants in our various systems we will hopefully have "complete" salads, vegetables, and herbs for our family needs.
We have chosen Rockwool cubes (based on tests in Grow 3) for all future germinations. We have decided to plant the following:
2 Cucumbers (new plant for us)
2 Red Shard (new plant for us)
2 White Eggplant (new plant for us)
1 Spinach (from a new seed packet)
2 Leeks
2 Romaine Lettuce
2 Fennel
2 Mint (new plant for us)
We trust our lettuce consumption will keep pace and that we will have a supply of basil from Grow 2 and Grow 3. As we continue to understand germination, vegetative and generative stage durations for these plants in our various systems we will hopefully have "complete" salads, vegetables, and herbs for our family needs.
LED Installed, Ebb and Gro in Production
The SuperNova LED installation was fast and simple. Wish I could say that about the cumbersome reflectors, bulbs and ballasts associated with the HID lights.
Kind of looks like an alien space ship getting ready to land. The LED has separate and controllable hue settings for blue and red light. Nice! We have the LED on the same timer as the HIDs which is controlled by the 240/120v Power Box unit.
The Ebb and Gro system is now in full production. We transferred 12 plants from the AeroFlo36 today. We now have more room for Grow 4. Transfers included Romaine, Basil, Parsley, Roma Tomatoes, Yellow and Red Peppers, and even a few Leeks.
The plants transferred to the Ebb and Gro were from Grow 2 and Grow 3. We have a pretty equal split of plant species between the STG inserts and Hydroton grow media in this new system. I will admit, STG is spot on when it comes to preparation time. Take the insert and put it in the pot, versus, washing Hydroton which took about 20 minutes for 6 pots. Hint - use the top pots from the system to help rinse the dust out with the hose - the holes in the bottom make a great sieve. You can see that the LED puts off a pretty red / pinkish spectrum. Compare that to the more yellowish hue (HPS bulb) in the photos below with the Grow 2 Basil, Parsley, and Yellow Pepper plants that are in the PowerGrower.
An update on our Spinach - all hope is not lost, we now have two sprouts in the Rapid Rooter cubes and one in the Rockwool cubes from Grow 3. We are hoping to get more sprouts, but after two unsuccessful germination attempts, I will take what I have at this point.
Kind of looks like an alien space ship getting ready to land. The LED has separate and controllable hue settings for blue and red light. Nice! We have the LED on the same timer as the HIDs which is controlled by the 240/120v Power Box unit.
The Ebb and Gro system is now in full production. We transferred 12 plants from the AeroFlo36 today. We now have more room for Grow 4. Transfers included Romaine, Basil, Parsley, Roma Tomatoes, Yellow and Red Peppers, and even a few Leeks.
The plants transferred to the Ebb and Gro were from Grow 2 and Grow 3. We have a pretty equal split of plant species between the STG inserts and Hydroton grow media in this new system. I will admit, STG is spot on when it comes to preparation time. Take the insert and put it in the pot, versus, washing Hydroton which took about 20 minutes for 6 pots. Hint - use the top pots from the system to help rinse the dust out with the hose - the holes in the bottom make a great sieve. You can see that the LED puts off a pretty red / pinkish spectrum. Compare that to the more yellowish hue (HPS bulb) in the photos below with the Grow 2 Basil, Parsley, and Yellow Pepper plants that are in the PowerGrower.
An update on our Spinach - all hope is not lost, we now have two sprouts in the Rapid Rooter cubes and one in the Rockwool cubes from Grow 3. We are hoping to get more sprouts, but after two unsuccessful germination attempts, I will take what I have at this point.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Grow 3, Grow Room Update, AND HARVEST !
Significant changes were made to the grow room in the last few days. We added a 30 amp circuit to provide 240 volt power to a new Power Box; we split some existing electrical circuits, added some outlets, and eliminated all but one extension cord; we changed the routing and support system for the exhaust fan which kicks on when the room is too hot (due to HID heat output); and we installed a new Ebb and Flow system from C.A.P. called Ebb and Gro.
The Basil plant has been picked several times for recipes over the weekend, not to mention the great salad we made with Buttercrunch and Arugula. Nice to finally have some rewards for all the hard work. Grow 3 continues, and it is a toss-up between Rapid Rooters and Rockwool. STG has been a dud. I think we may continue with Rockwool due to its ability to hold moisture better than Rapid Rooters even though Rapid Rooters had a faster germination rate. In the end, Rockwool caught up - and didn't dry out.
The Basil plant has been picked several times for recipes over the weekend, not to mention the great salad we made with Buttercrunch and Arugula. Nice to finally have some rewards for all the hard work. Grow 3 continues, and it is a toss-up between Rapid Rooters and Rockwool. STG has been a dud. I think we may continue with Rockwool due to its ability to hold moisture better than Rapid Rooters even though Rapid Rooters had a faster germination rate. In the end, Rockwool caught up - and didn't dry out.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Nutrient Changes
We drained both the AeroFlo36 and PowerGrower today. The AeroFlo36 went first, no cleaning as it looked fine, and received a new batch of water and increased nutrient levels. We were running in the high 800s due to the small plants. Now that they have matured a bit, we increased to full strength at about 1050 ppm (vegetative state) using Canna Aqua Vega, Rhizotonic, and Cannazyme with the pH level at 5.5.
The PowerGrower was drained and now has a cleaning solution running through it and we will leave the pumps on continuous drip to help clear residual salts. Tomorrow morning we will drain all of the cleaning solution and change the nutrients to the Aqua Flores, Rhizotonic, Cannazyme and Boost mix as stated in the previous post.
We moved the Basil kickback back to the PowerGrower module with the bigger Basil plant. The root structure looked better and we made sure a the drip ring was right over the root ball.
The PowerGrower was drained and now has a cleaning solution running through it and we will leave the pumps on continuous drip to help clear residual salts. Tomorrow morning we will drain all of the cleaning solution and change the nutrients to the Aqua Flores, Rhizotonic, Cannazyme and Boost mix as stated in the previous post.
We moved the Basil kickback back to the PowerGrower module with the bigger Basil plant. The root structure looked better and we made sure a the drip ring was right over the root ball.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Grow 1 and 2 Plants Exploding
Our AeroFlo36 and PowerGrower continue prove themselves as very good investments. Not only have we seen great progress on our Grow 2 plants placed in the AeroFlo36 but also the two plants (Roma Tom and Basil) that we kicked back from the PowerGrower from Grow 1 that we thought would die. Check out the root mass now on the Grow 1 Basil that is recovering nicely:
The Arugula adds more leaves every day while the Yellow Peppers aren't far behind in veg. I must find a home for these peppers in the PowerGrower soon (or maybe an Ebb and Flow system test? Hmmm). That little Leek in P1 below next to the yellow peppers is sporting good growth too.
The Buttercrunch lettuce seems to just love the AeroFlo36 as seedlings from Grow 2 are doing wonderfully. Our original Buttercrunch plant from Grow 1 is getting huge in the PowerGrower. It may be salad time for that one in the next week. The Buttercrunch from Grow 1 was planted as a seed on Sept. 18. Wow, seven weeks from seed to table. Try that in dirt!
We can't leave out the Basil......so hard to get fresh Basil where I live, not to mention Italian Parsley! I "staked" the Basil plant tonight as it was getting a little top heavy. Another lesson learned. STG hail is a great medium until you start using it for tall, heavy plants. It is light and fluffy....and unless you really pack it in (and I mean really!), it seems as it has a problem supporting these plants. Haven't tried those little pebbles (Hydroton) yet as it has a lot of pre-use maintenance. Maybe another test to add in the book...(Ebb & Flow, Hyrdoton, LED???)
Grow 3 - Cube Test Results Day 4
The results are in, and it appears that the Rapid Rooters are leading the pack. They were the first to show signs of germination (Romaine Lettuce) after 3 days. The seed packet indicated a 5-10 day germination cycle on these seeds. Wow.
The Romaine is in the far left column. Four out of five seeds germinated so far. Second column (from left) has Basil in the top three cubes (going down) and the last two are Roma tomatoes, the far right column - my dreaded spinach.
The STG cubes are getting smoked so far with only two Romaine seeds germinating in the bottom two cubes of the first column.
We can see the beginning of other seeds germinating (as of today) but nothing confirmed as of this posting. As of now, STG is dead last in this three horse race.
The Rockwool cubes are running in second after four days. We have progress on the Romaine as we did in the Rapid Rooters, however, the activity didn't show until late yesterday and early this morning.
As you can see, we have fewer seeds that germinated (only bottom three in first column) and no signs in any of the other Rockwool cubes. The tray with all the cubes shows the three in comparison. All seeds are planted in the same order as to number of cubes per type of plant and layout in the tray.
Grow 3 is comprised of:
Basil - 9 Plants (3 Rapid Rooter, 3 STG, 3 Rockwool)
Romaine Lettuce - 15 Plants (5 Rapid Rooter, 5 STG, 5 Rockwool)
Roma Tomatoes - 6 Plants (2 Rapid Rooter, 2 STG, 2 Rockwool)
Spinach - 12 Plants (4 Rapid Rooter, 4 STG, 4 Rockwool)
The Romaine is in the far left column. Four out of five seeds germinated so far. Second column (from left) has Basil in the top three cubes (going down) and the last two are Roma tomatoes, the far right column - my dreaded spinach.
The STG cubes are getting smoked so far with only two Romaine seeds germinating in the bottom two cubes of the first column.
We can see the beginning of other seeds germinating (as of today) but nothing confirmed as of this posting. As of now, STG is dead last in this three horse race.
The Rockwool cubes are running in second after four days. We have progress on the Romaine as we did in the Rapid Rooters, however, the activity didn't show until late yesterday and early this morning.
As you can see, we have fewer seeds that germinated (only bottom three in first column) and no signs in any of the other Rockwool cubes. The tray with all the cubes shows the three in comparison. All seeds are planted in the same order as to number of cubes per type of plant and layout in the tray.
Grow 3 is comprised of:
Basil - 9 Plants (3 Rapid Rooter, 3 STG, 3 Rockwool)
Romaine Lettuce - 15 Plants (5 Rapid Rooter, 5 STG, 5 Rockwool)
Roma Tomatoes - 6 Plants (2 Rapid Rooter, 2 STG, 2 Rockwool)
Spinach - 12 Plants (4 Rapid Rooter, 4 STG, 4 Rockwool)
Monday, November 1, 2010
Grow 3 Launch and Grow Room Update
We have planted all the seeds for Grow 3. We used 14 cubes of Rapid Rooter, STG, and Rockwool. We used the Rockwool conditioner on all three mediums for control purposes except that the Rockwool cubes were soaked overnight.
Our Cherry Tomatoes have put on an amazing amount of veg since transplanting from the AeroFlo36 to the PowerGrower. We now have our first flowers !! The Basil is getting taller and adding new leaves daily. All other Grow 2 transplants are showing great progress in the Aeroflo36. We lost three Leek plants we placed in the PowerGrower yet the ones in the Aeroflo36 are doing fine. We placed the Leek Rockwool cubes right under the dripper of the PowerGrower so either too much moisture or something else whacked the little Leeks. RIP.
The Roma Tomatoes are growing much slower than the Cherry. Not sure why. All were from the same Grow. We actually had to move one of the Roma plants back to the AeroFlo36 due to its immature root structure. Lesson learned - make sure you have significant roots to spread out in the PowerGrower module if using STG hail. It just doesn't wick and a small root circumference will lead to plant dehydration.
Our Cherry Tomatoes have put on an amazing amount of veg since transplanting from the AeroFlo36 to the PowerGrower. We now have our first flowers !! The Basil is getting taller and adding new leaves daily. All other Grow 2 transplants are showing great progress in the Aeroflo36. We lost three Leek plants we placed in the PowerGrower yet the ones in the Aeroflo36 are doing fine. We placed the Leek Rockwool cubes right under the dripper of the PowerGrower so either too much moisture or something else whacked the little Leeks. RIP.
The Roma Tomatoes are growing much slower than the Cherry. Not sure why. All were from the same Grow. We actually had to move one of the Roma plants back to the AeroFlo36 due to its immature root structure. Lesson learned - make sure you have significant roots to spread out in the PowerGrower module if using STG hail. It just doesn't wick and a small root circumference will lead to plant dehydration.
Grow 3 Experiment - Planting Strategy
Grow 3 will be an experiment with three cube mediums. In our first planting, Grow 1, we used Sure to Grow (STG) cubes and had pretty abysmal results. We thought our methodology may have been flawed and determined we would try STG again to be fair. In our second grow, Grow 2, we used Rockwool cubes using a Rockwool conditioning solution and a different planting/germination methodology and had very good results. We had some Rapid Rooter cubes on hand and determined an experiment with all three was warranted.
Grow 3 will use Rapid Rooter, STG, and Rockwool cubes using the same germination methodology as we employed in Grow 2. We will plant Romaine, Roma Tomatoes, Basil, and the dreaded Spinach. We have yet had spinach germinate (maybe bad seeds?). We will plant each medium with a series of the same seeds and document the results. The medium that produces the best will be the medium we use for all future Grows (until Santa Clause brings me a cloning machine).
Grow 3 will use Rapid Rooter, STG, and Rockwool cubes using the same germination methodology as we employed in Grow 2. We will plant Romaine, Roma Tomatoes, Basil, and the dreaded Spinach. We have yet had spinach germinate (maybe bad seeds?). We will plant each medium with a series of the same seeds and document the results. The medium that produces the best will be the medium we use for all future Grows (until Santa Clause brings me a cloning machine).
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Grow 2 Transplanted
We spent a few hours in the grow room yesterday installing the Nutramist machine and transplanting Grow 2 seedlings. Parsley, Buttercrunch, Romaine, Yellow Peppers, Arugula, Leeks and Fennel were all put into the AeroFlo36. Roma and Cherry Tomatoes, Basil and Grow 2 Leeks and Fennel were transplanted into the PowerGrower. We now have the second HID light activated over the PowerGrower sporting a 1,000 watt SolarMax metal halide bulb.
Nutrient concentration was increased to 1160 ppm, with a pH reduction to 5.8 for the PowerGrower plants. Previously we had these plants in the AeroFlo36 with nutrient levels around 780 ppm and pH at 6.2ish. The plants were all big enough where full strength nutrients made sense.
Our C.A.P. Hum-1 humidity controller manages the humidification level in the room. The Nutramist machine activates when the humidity drops below 40% and is deactivated when humidity levels reach 50%.
Nutrient concentration was increased to 1160 ppm, with a pH reduction to 5.8 for the PowerGrower plants. Previously we had these plants in the AeroFlo36 with nutrient levels around 780 ppm and pH at 6.2ish. The plants were all big enough where full strength nutrients made sense.
Our C.A.P. Hum-1 humidity controller manages the humidification level in the room. The Nutramist machine activates when the humidity drops below 40% and is deactivated when humidity levels reach 50%.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Grow 1 Plants in AeroFlo36
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