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.
Showing posts with label STG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label STG. Show all posts
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
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.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Big Harvest
Took 6 lettuce plants out of the AeroFlo36 today. Salad for dinner tonight (and a few more nights too). We transplanted many of the Grow 3 plants into the AeroFlo36 today. I have to tell you that my fears of the Rapid Rooter cubes came true. Very "crumbly" medium - especially when it comes to transplanting. Rockwool and STG are no problem to transplant. I am still using STG hail in my net cups around the transplanted seedling cube.
We took a fairly equal number of Rapid Rooter and Rockwool seedlings into the AeroFlo36 from Grow 3. Only two STG seedlings were taken due to the slower growth rate, and well, we had enough for a transfer in this grow. I still have Grow 3 seedlings germinating. Two Spinach seedlings ! I am going to give them another week or so, then see if we can transplant. One is in Rockwool, one in Rapid Rooter.
I think I am going to move forward with Rockwool for seed germination on future grows due to the results and observations during Grow 3.
We took a fairly equal number of Rapid Rooter and Rockwool seedlings into the AeroFlo36 from Grow 3. Only two STG seedlings were taken due to the slower growth rate, and well, we had enough for a transfer in this grow. I still have Grow 3 seedlings germinating. Two Spinach seedlings ! I am going to give them another week or so, then see if we can transplant. One is in Rockwool, one in Rapid Rooter.
I think I am going to move forward with Rockwool for seed germination on future grows due to the results and observations during Grow 3.
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.
Ebb and Gro has arrived
The Ebb and Gro system arrived and we were excited to get it up and running. It is an Ebb and Flow system made by C.A.P. We have 12 modules that we plan on using for our larger plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, etc. The Power Grower is doing great as a drip system but we wanted to expand, and try a new system at the same time - with an LED light.
Although we don't have the SuperNova LED yet, we went ahead and installed the Ebb and Gro yesterday since we had all the electrical work finished. The instructions were easy to understand, the system was easy to install, and our water test was successful - aka - no leaks !
The instructions indicate that the system was designed for Hydroton. We are going to do another experiment. Sure To Grow (STG) designed a product with their medium to work specifically with this Ebb and Gro system so we are going to try it. We really believe in the concept that STG has for their Hydroponic medium even though the seed germination product just isn't working as well as the traditional mediums of Rapid Rooters or Rockwool (at least it isn't for us).
Our strategy is to plant one STG and one Hydroton module of each plant type from the same Grow to see how each medium works in the Ebb and Gro system. More to come on this...
Although we don't have the SuperNova LED yet, we went ahead and installed the Ebb and Gro yesterday since we had all the electrical work finished. The instructions were easy to understand, the system was easy to install, and our water test was successful - aka - no leaks !
The instructions indicate that the system was designed for Hydroton. We are going to do another experiment. Sure To Grow (STG) designed a product with their medium to work specifically with this Ebb and Gro system so we are going to try it. We really believe in the concept that STG has for their Hydroponic medium even though the seed germination product just isn't working as well as the traditional mediums of Rapid Rooters or Rockwool (at least it isn't for us).
Our strategy is to plant one STG and one Hydroton module of each plant type from the same Grow to see how each medium works in the Ebb and Gro system. More to come on this...
Sunday, November 7, 2010
New System Experiment
We will add an Ebb and Flow system (Ebb n Gro) to our grow room in the newly reclaimed space. We are also going to do an experiment with both Hydroton and STG Deluge which is designed specifically for the Ebb n Gro buckets. It will be interesting to see which medium does better with our plants. We have an eye on the red and yellow pepper plants currently in the AeroFlo36 as potential transplants to the new system.
As heat is becoming an issue for us (or certainly will in summer), we have also chose an LED lighting system. We selected the Super Nova Enhanced Spectrum light. It sports a nice function of custom selecting blue and red spectrum mixes to support the cycle of your plant's growth. The manufacturer also provides a three year warranty, first year 100%, second and third prorated. Look for that warranty on LED lights you are considering and be careful of the knock-offs on EBAY.
The Super Nova we selected provides light output for a 3x3 area that is supposedly greater than a 600 watt HID. It will be interesting to see if that is true. I am really excited about little to no heat output from the light and 1/8th of the amount of energy usage in the grow room.
As heat is becoming an issue for us (or certainly will in summer), we have also chose an LED lighting system. We selected the Super Nova Enhanced Spectrum light. It sports a nice function of custom selecting blue and red spectrum mixes to support the cycle of your plant's growth. The manufacturer also provides a three year warranty, first year 100%, second and third prorated. Look for that warranty on LED lights you are considering and be careful of the knock-offs on EBAY.
The Super Nova we selected provides light output for a 3x3 area that is supposedly greater than a 600 watt HID. It will be interesting to see if that is true. I am really excited about little to no heat output from the light and 1/8th of the amount of energy usage in the grow room.
Friday, November 5, 2010
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%.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Seed germination update
Grow 2 is turning out great. We used Rockwool plugs in a plug tray, pretreated with Europonic Rockwool Conditioner. The buttecrunch, romain, and arugula all showed their first leaves after three days. At six days now, we have leeks and fennel starting to emerge.
Grow 1 plants survived the transfer to our Aeroflo36 except a few seedlings we knew weren't looking good. Roma and cherry toms are almost doubling in size each day, basil isn't far behind. Grow 1 was started in STG cubes with a 25-30% germination rate, but again, I think that was due to my performance vs STG.
Grow 3 experiment will have Rapid Rooter plugs, STG cubes, and Rockwool plugs all in same germination tray, same nutrients, and seeds to see which germination medium produces better results.
Grow 1 plants survived the transfer to our Aeroflo36 except a few seedlings we knew weren't looking good. Roma and cherry toms are almost doubling in size each day, basil isn't far behind. Grow 1 was started in STG cubes with a 25-30% germination rate, but again, I think that was due to my performance vs STG.
Grow 3 experiment will have Rapid Rooter plugs, STG cubes, and Rockwool plugs all in same germination tray, same nutrients, and seeds to see which germination medium produces better results.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Grow Room & Seed Germination Update
Grow Room Update
Equipment shown in the video was acquired from a local grow shop - great educational resource, and retailers with an Internet presence. Special thanks to Texas Hydroponics (www.texashydroponics.com), Growco (www.4hydroponics.com) out of Michigan, and Discount Hydroponics (http://discounthydroponics.com/) out of California for all the great service, selection, and information provided to make our grow room the best we could. Other miscellaneous items acquired locally or had on hand. I am sure that some would go the DIY approach on some of these systems, I wanted to take the "proven" systems and used them first, then experiment with self constructed systems. You sure can learn a lot from the pros, and they deserve to be paid for all those years of R&D.
We finished the grow room ducting yesterday and as you can see in the video we are now in production.
First Seed Germination
Our first germination started several weeks ago and produced less than expected results. We used STG seed cubes and got about 25-30% of the seeds to germinate. I think we know where we went wrong. The process we used included:
1. Wet all cubes in the slab with pH corrected R.O. water, no nutrients
2. Drained excess water from the propagation tray (did not "squeeze" the cubes)
3. Placed seeds in cubes at depth indicated on seed packet
4. Placed humidity dome on the tray
4. Placed propagation tray under T5 light, 16 hours on, 8 hours off
Although we had good rates on the Cherry and Roma tomato plants, the rest didn't come out well. We started to see fungus / algae / mold on top of the cubes. I think due to the high humidity under the dome and poor air circulation in the tray itself (we used the entire block of 98 cubes in the package). After a few weeks, we picked the best 12 seedlings and placed them in the AeroFlow36 system under lights on 16 on / 8 off cycle. We also cranked on the CO2 system to deliver 1500 ppm in the room.
Second Seed Germination
After assuming we had to much humidity, no airflow, and perhaps too much water in the propagation tray, we switched strategies for the second planting. We selected the Rockwool plugs in a 50 count divided tray. After soaking the Rockwool plugs over night in the conditioning solution - noted below - we placed seeds in the plugs at appropriate depths, replaced the humidity dome and left the T5 over the tray off.
After 2 days we began to see sprouts on the buttercrunch lettuce, romain lettuce, and arugula. I waited one more day (today) and saw that we had initial leaves on the same, so I turned on the T5 for 16 on / 8 off cycle. We still do not have germination on the peppers, leeks, fennel, or parsley which all have longer germination rates. Will update as we get them.
Equipment shown in the video was acquired from a local grow shop - great educational resource, and retailers with an Internet presence. Special thanks to Texas Hydroponics (www.texashydroponics.com), Growco (www.4hydroponics.com) out of Michigan, and Discount Hydroponics (http://discounthydroponics.com/) out of California for all the great service, selection, and information provided to make our grow room the best we could. Other miscellaneous items acquired locally or had on hand. I am sure that some would go the DIY approach on some of these systems, I wanted to take the "proven" systems and used them first, then experiment with self constructed systems. You sure can learn a lot from the pros, and they deserve to be paid for all those years of R&D.
We finished the grow room ducting yesterday and as you can see in the video we are now in production.
First Seed Germination
Our first germination started several weeks ago and produced less than expected results. We used STG seed cubes and got about 25-30% of the seeds to germinate. I think we know where we went wrong. The process we used included:
1. Wet all cubes in the slab with pH corrected R.O. water, no nutrients
2. Drained excess water from the propagation tray (did not "squeeze" the cubes)
3. Placed seeds in cubes at depth indicated on seed packet
4. Placed humidity dome on the tray
4. Placed propagation tray under T5 light, 16 hours on, 8 hours off
Although we had good rates on the Cherry and Roma tomato plants, the rest didn't come out well. We started to see fungus / algae / mold on top of the cubes. I think due to the high humidity under the dome and poor air circulation in the tray itself (we used the entire block of 98 cubes in the package). After a few weeks, we picked the best 12 seedlings and placed them in the AeroFlow36 system under lights on 16 on / 8 off cycle. We also cranked on the CO2 system to deliver 1500 ppm in the room.
Second Seed Germination
After assuming we had to much humidity, no airflow, and perhaps too much water in the propagation tray, we switched strategies for the second planting. We selected the Rockwool plugs in a 50 count divided tray. After soaking the Rockwool plugs over night in the conditioning solution - noted below - we placed seeds in the plugs at appropriate depths, replaced the humidity dome and left the T5 over the tray off.
After 2 days we began to see sprouts on the buttercrunch lettuce, romain lettuce, and arugula. I waited one more day (today) and saw that we had initial leaves on the same, so I turned on the T5 for 16 on / 8 off cycle. We still do not have germination on the peppers, leeks, fennel, or parsley which all have longer germination rates. Will update as we get them.
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