All of our strawberry plants continue veg production it seems almost daily. We noticed a huge spike in activity every day since planting and now is leveling off a little. Leaves are mainly getting larger on the plants while production of new leaves has slowed down.
The Blackberries took off like a rocket too. We have great veg production on every plant. WOW.
The Blueberries and Raspberries are a little slower out of the gate. We have one Blueberry plant with a few small leaves and tiny buds on a few others. The Raspberries are the slowest with just hints of buds on one plant.
The Blueberry reservoir is keeping us hopping. Trying to keep the pH at about 4.6 is taking a lot of acid additions. The ppm level of the water is going up with all of the acid additions.
We have wrapped the Monster Ebb n Gro nutrient tanks with water heater insulation blankets to help keep the temp down. The black barrels absorb that sunlight and on average were 5 degrees higher than the strawberry tanks. We anticipated this but in our excitement to get into production didn't get it done. It is now done. Temps are much better now.
We have not activated the chiller full time yet as temps have been reasonable. I anticipate another month or so before it is "on" 100% of the time.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Rion Greenhouse Officially In Production
It has been a little over a month (not every day), a lot of sweat equity and learning experiences. We are live in the house !
We got the cracked manifold replaced and continued our water test. We had a minor setback on two of manual control wires. Rain Bird wires controlling the same valves were fine, manual switch wires had an open circuit. Had to replace the wires, and we were back in business.
The Merlin Pro R.O. system has been working hard and produced all the R.O. water we needed to fill the production tanks today. We added nutrients, tested pH, EC, and Temp. We were ready to plant.
We got 26 strawberry plants in the ebb and flow (flood and drain) trays, and 6 blueberry plants (3 varieties) planted in one Monster Ebb and Gro system.
Tomorrow, Raspberry and Blackberry plants go in. We will then video the production house for you to see.
We got the cracked manifold replaced and continued our water test. We had a minor setback on two of manual control wires. Rain Bird wires controlling the same valves were fine, manual switch wires had an open circuit. Had to replace the wires, and we were back in business.
The Merlin Pro R.O. system has been working hard and produced all the R.O. water we needed to fill the production tanks today. We added nutrients, tested pH, EC, and Temp. We were ready to plant.
We got 26 strawberry plants in the ebb and flow (flood and drain) trays, and 6 blueberry plants (3 varieties) planted in one Monster Ebb and Gro system.
Tomorrow, Raspberry and Blackberry plants go in. We will then video the production house for you to see.
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