Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, and Blackberries

The Rion Prestige "Berry House" is in production.  We have 26 strawberry plants, 6 blueberry plants (3 varieties for better pollination), 5 raspberry and 5 blackberry plants.

When we planted the strawberries on Tuesday there were no leaves on any of the plants, just roots and sticks (old runners).  We now have leaves (yes, plural) on every plant.  We are very happy to see this.  We are using a different nutrient manufacturer (General Hydroponics) than we used in the indoor grow room (Canna) to give something new a try.  We still remain pleased with Canna too, a little expensive, but great results.

We know that the rasp, blue, and blackberries may outgrow the space we have them in now but with a second greenhouse under construction, we will have plenty of room to expand.  There is very little to no information on  growing these plants hydroponically so we are wandering in the dark.  We are following basic berry growing principles of each of these types of berries so we will see how we do.

Grow Room Update

We are busting at the seams here in the grow room.  The eggplants are taking over with elephant ear sized leaves, we have harvested several zucchini, cucumbers, yellow peppers, and of course fresh romaine lettuce each day.

Our Roma tomatoes are doing much better now that we have raised the pH level to about 6.5 on average and reduced our nutrient levels to the minimum recommendations of Canna.

Greenhouse and Equipment Selection

Now that we have made the choice to move outside, here is the "plan"

Greenhouse:  Rion Prestige, 8' 6'' x 24 '   (see http://www.riongreenhousekit.com/rionprestige.php).  We have included two louvered venting fans (hot in Texas), the automatic roof vent and side louver openers as well as a shade screen.

Water Management:  300 gallon main water tank supplied by a Merlin Garden Pro 750 GPD R.O. system with automatic shutoff kit and Tall Blue Chlorine pre-filter.  For water mixing and reservoirs for the Ebb and Flow grow tables we are using 75 gallon stack-able units.  The water tanks are from Global Industrial (see http://www.globalindustrial.com).  We chose the tanks due to their size, shapes, and industrial quality for outdoor use.

Growing Systems:  We chose 3 Monster Ebb n Gro units to plant our Red Raspberries, Blackberries, Blueberries, dwarf Meyers Lemon and Fig trees.  These units have 5 gallon planter capacities and support up to 12 planters per system.  We will start with 6 on each as the default configuration or 5, 5, and 8 depending on plant purchases / nutrient requirements.

Ebb and Flow Tables:  We chose Botanicare 3'x6'x7" trays for the strawberries.  They will be supplied nutrients from 3 different 75 gallon nutrient storage tanks by 900 gph Bluestone pumps.

Nutrients:  Although we have had great success with the Canna product line, we are going to give the General Hydroponics product line a go in the greenhouse.  They are slightly less expensive - especially on the blooming stage supplements.  Canna Boost is WAY expensive.

Foundation for Greenhouse:  we will construct a standard cinder block foundation to secure the greenhouse, raise it about 8-10 inches, and provide for a nice floor with proper drainage.  We will use 3/4 inch stone aggregate as a base and a crushed fill material that will be compacted.

Pictures / Video updates to come !

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.

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.

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 !

WE HAVE CHERRY TOMATOES !

The day has finally come, we now have cherry tomatoes, and even a few Roma's, popping out all over the place.  We noticed the first starts early this week and new ones coming out every day.  We did a nutrient change yesterday in the PowerGrower where the cherry tomatoes are growing.  Significant difference - higher concentration of Canna Boost and addition of Canna PK 13/14.  This nutrient shift is required, per Canna instructions, when first fruits start to bloom.  We were low on water in the PowerGrower so the timing was perfect.



The Ebb and Gro system has performed very well since installation.  The Grow 3 seedlings we transplanted from the AeroFlo36 (they had been in there only a few days) are keeping pace with the "like" plants from Grow 3 that stayed in the AeroFlo36.  One difference noted was in the Basil.  The AeroFlo36 seedling growth is beating the Ebb and Gro seedling hands down.

We took lumen measurements under the SuperNova LED this week.  We noticed a significant difference in lumen (from the same distance) between the HID HPS and MH lights compared to the LED.  Given the LED is only 270 watts, per the manufacturer it is supposed to put off as much light as a 1000 watt HID.  Not in lumen - that is for sure.  Not sure what the manufacturer means by their statements but clearly the lumen readings are significantly different.  Regardless, the plants under the SuperNova are doing well, either because of a more beneficial light spectrum (more "usable" light) or some other magic we don't know of yet.

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.

Equipment and Nutrient Change Tomorrow

Nutrients
We have seen the Generative (aka flowering) stage begin on our Cherry and Roma Tomatoes in the PowerGrower.  Our nutrient solution in the PowerGrower is Canna Aqua Vega, Rhizotonic, and Cannazyme delivered at Canna's published rates.  We will now switch to Canna's Aqua Flores, reduce the Rhizotonic concentration, keep the Cannazyme about the same, and add Boost.  All of these products are available in different size containers (1 liter, 5 liter, etc).  We will continue to follow dosing rates per Canna's literature.

Lesson learned - if you have two big systems like I do, and run successive grows back to back - get the big jugs of nutrients.  You will also need one of those big syringes to get the nutrient out of the big jug (unless you like funnels and big measuring cups).

I have not experimented with other nutrient manufacturers' products, nor am I endorsing any product for any type of financial gain or consideration.  All I can say is that this Canna stuff works extremely well for me while following their recommended dosing and while also using their nutrient additives (like Rhizotonic, Cannazyme, Boost, etc) to the base products of Aqua Vega or Aqua Flores.

Lighting
We will change the HID light bulb above the PowerGrower from Metal Halide (MH) to High Pressure Sodium (HPS).  A metal halide bulb has a high concentration of blue light spectrum and is primarily used during the Vegetative stage.  A high pressure sodium bulb has a high concentration of red light spectrum and is primarily used during the Generative stage.  Either bulb will provide results for you.  If you want the best results, use them during the identified stages, if you can, to improve your results.  The MH bulb in the HID above the AeroFlo36 will remain since those Grow 2 plants remain in the Vegetative stage.

Lumen, Nutrients, and pH Measurements

Received the light meter yesterday. Measured a little over 2500 lumen at top of plants on the Aeroflo36 and the seed germination tray. Was happy to see this as I had to guess on distance when placing the lights above the plants for this initial veg stage. I had read that 2500 was a good rate for this stage, slowly increasing to 8 to 10k lumen during flowering stage - provided that you don't torch the plants. Got to love those little light yo-yos

Running Aeroflo36 at 770 ppm of nutrients (yes, I think it should be higher, maybe around 1000 ppm - using Canna Aqua Vega, Cannazym, and Rhizotonic). I have been bringing the pH down from 6.7ish to about 5.8ish over the last 24 to 36 hours as ideal pH level, according to Canna literature, should be 5.2 to 6.2. I will continue to drop it more tomorrow to get within the ideal range. I think the air stone addition to the Aeroflo36 reservoir increased the pH a few points as it was lower when the water/nutrients were first put into the system.

Water temp holding with room temp at 75-76 degrees F