Saturday, January 2, 2010

Hydroponic grow experiment #1





Dec. 10, 2009

I am experimenting growing vegetables and herbs in hydroponic and aeroponic systems as well as soil less potting mix. In the turbogarden (aeroponic) I am growing four varieties of lettuce including red oak leaf, outstanding red romaine, buttercrunch and waldens dark green lettuce. I am also growing a basil plant and garlic chives. In the ecogrower I am growing a relleno pepper, two basils, bouquet dill, english thyme and peppermint. In the Cocogrowers I'm growing Chadwick cherry tomatoes and Brandywine heirloom tomatoes.
The primary nutrients I'm using are General Hydroponics 3 part flora series. I supplement with Florablend, Floralicious plus, Cal/Mag, Koolbloom, Sweet and Silica blast. I am using Great White Mycorrhizae for the roots.
The lighting system I am using is a 12 lamp T-5 Badboy, with red and blue spectrum lamps. I am growing in a Growlab 5'x5' grow tent with exaust ports and a viewing window. For an air intake, I went to home depot and bought a 6" inline fan for $30. I put a 150 micron stainless steel screen on the outside of the fan to catch carpet hairs and dust as well as pesky bugs. I don't have an active exhaust, meaning I let the air naturally escape through the 6" exhaust hole in the ceiling of the tent. By doing this, I can keep the humidity up around 65%. The temperature is steady around 78F. during the day and 69F. at night.

Hydroponic grow experiment #2










Jan. 2, 2010

I harvested my lettuce and basil. I'm ready to start again! The plants in the turbogarden (aeroponic) system are planted from seed 12/18/09. The English thyme(front left) in the turbogarden is an older plant. The other plants in the aeroponic system are basil, pepper, celery and lettuce varieties. In the Ecogrower (hydroponic drip system) I am growing a two month old relleno pepper, Aroma 2 basil, Garlic chives, Bouquet dill and two lettuce varieties. In the CocoGrowers (hydroponic drip system) I am growing two month old Chadwick cherry tomatoes and Brandywine tomatoes. No tomatoes yet. I'm getting flowers and self pollinating, but no tomatoes? I'm about to give up on the brandywines in the cocogrower. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong! I am in the process of building a 10'x9'x8' grow room in my garage, where I will grow my tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. This growlab is getting ready to be a propagation room/ herb garden.