2023 our new gardening adventure

[jjannie]

Latest status reports:

23 Apr Weekly maintenance day. Had to trim roots in both farmstands. #2 has a cuke from #1 and it is doing well. I stopped measuring amount of water going into the reservoirs, but #1 is still taking the most about a 10:1 ratio between the 2. Since I had #2’s ph a little on the low side last week I didn’t add any phdown to it this week, and for #1 I gave it 2T. So, we’ll see where they stabilize.
Some of the plants are so big they get close to the glow rings so after trimming the roots we put them back in upside down (trellises on top) because the lights can put burn spots on any leaves that touch them for too long. We harvested 2 bowls of lettuces - could have been 3 if needed, so we'll get that 3rd bowl in a few days. 

25 Apr checked on ph levels - #1 at 5.75 and #2 was at 5.5. So, they’re within the target range, so I’m ok with that for this week. Pollinated as many cukes as I could.

[jjannie]

28 May

I know it's been a while since I've updated this but not very much is new. 

I'm still doing the weekly root trimmings and adding ph down and nutrients to the water. The Ph has still been VERY stabilized.  

In #2 - we 've had to start harvesting lettuces and baby bok choy because once they get too large their weight is too much to allow the grow basket to stay seated in their holes so it gets watered and the fed nutrients. 

In #1 - we are still harvesting tons of lettuces and its baby bok choy. I'm going to try freezing some bok choy to see how that works - some say you can some say you can't, so we'll see how that goes. 

In both - I've been using a personal sized fan on both to help the tomatoes (that have yet to set any fruit at all) and all the kinds of peppers and cukes all of which normally just get wind pollinated. We'll see if this helps any produce set fruit better. Using the little fan is just so much faster than using my little paint brush every day.

[wiperhunter2]

28 May

I know it's been a while since I've updated this but not very much is new. 

I'm still doing the weekly root trimmings and adding ph down and nutrients to the water. The Ph has still been VERY stabilized.  

In #2 - we 've had to start harvesting lettuces and baby bok choy because once they get too large their weight is too much to allow the grow basket to stay seated in their holes so it gets watered and the fed nutrients. 

In #1 - we are still harvesting tons of lettuces and its baby bok choy. I'm going to try freezing some bok choy to see how that works - some say you can some say you can't, so we'll see how that goes. 

In both - I've been using a personal sized fan on both to help the tomatoes (that have yet to set any fruit at all) and all the kinds of peppers and cukes all of which normally just get wind pollinated. We'll see if this helps any produce set fruit better. Using the little fan is just so much faster than using my little paint brush every day.

On #2 when you say you had to harvest the lettuces and baby bok choy, does that mean you had to remove the plants and start over with them?
So are you saying that you are using a fan to pollinate your tomatoes, peppers and cukes and that is how they get pollinated when outdoors normally? So bees don't pollinate them normally? That will be very interesting to find out if the fan works because I could use one inside my hoop green house instead of just leaving them open.

[jjannie]

28 May

I know it's been a while since I've updated this but not very much is new. 

I'm still doing the weekly root trimmings and adding ph down and nutrients to the water. The Ph has still been VERY stabilized.  

In #2 - we 've had to start harvesting lettuces and baby bok choy because once they get too large their weight is too much to allow the grow basket to stay seated in their holes so it gets watered and the fed nutrients. 

In #1 - we are still harvesting tons of lettuces and its baby bok choy. I'm going to try freezing some bok choy to see how that works - some say you can some say you can't, so we'll see how that goes. 

In both - I've been using a personal sized fan on both to help the tomatoes (that have yet to set any fruit at all) and all the kinds of peppers and cukes all of which normally just get wind pollinated. We'll see if this helps any produce set fruit better. Using the little fan is just so much faster than using my little paint brush every day.

On #2 when you say you had to harvest the lettuces and baby bok choy, does that mean you had to remove the plants and start over with them?
So are you saying that you are using a fan to pollinate your tomatoes, peppers and cukes and that is how they get pollinated when outdoors normally? So bees don't pollinate them normally? That will be very interesting to find out if the fan works because I could use one inside my hoop green house instead of just leaving them open.

I use the fan inside on the grow towers because there is no natural wind. Bees can help some but guess they aren't the main pollinator on those plants from what I read. 

Haven't harvested #2's plants only there farthest outside leaves so they won't try to push themselves out of grow baskets and drip water falling past them. I suppose a fan on low, especially if it oscillates to circulate the air under those hoops should work the same way though.

[wiperhunter2]

28 May

I know it's been a while since I've updated this but not very much is new. 

I'm still doing the weekly root trimmings and adding ph down and nutrients to the water. The Ph has still been VERY stabilized.  

In #2 - we 've had to start harvesting lettuces and baby bok choy because once they get too large their weight is too much to allow the grow basket to stay seated in their holes so it gets watered and the fed nutrients. 

In #1 - we are still harvesting tons of lettuces and its baby bok choy. I'm going to try freezing some bok choy to see how that works - some say you can some say you can't, so we'll see how that goes. 

In both - I've been using a personal sized fan on both to help the tomatoes (that have yet to set any fruit at all) and all the kinds of peppers and cukes all of which normally just get wind pollinated. We'll see if this helps any produce set fruit better. Using the little fan is just so much faster than using my little paint brush every day.

On #2 when you say you had to harvest the lettuces and baby bok choy, does that mean you had to remove the plants and start over with them?
So are you saying that you are using a fan to pollinate your tomatoes, peppers and cukes and that is how they get pollinated when outdoors normally? So bees don't pollinate them normally? That will be very interesting to find out if the fan works because I could use one inside my hoop green house instead of just leaving them open.

I use the fan inside on the grow towers because there is no natural wind. Bees can help some but guess they aren't the main pollinator on those plants from what I read. 

Haven't harvested #2's plants only there farthest outside leaves so they won't try to push themselves out of grow baskets and drip water falling past them. I suppose a fan on low, especially if it oscillates to circulate the air under those hoops should work the same way though.

Ok, that makes sense, did not think you used them outdoors but I wasn't sure. To use a fan outdoors could be a problem in an wet environment so I think I'll pass on that this year.

[jjannie]

28 May

I know it's been a while since I've updated this but not very much is new. 

I'm still doing the weekly root trimmings and adding ph down and nutrients to the water. The Ph has still been VERY stabilized.  

In #2 - we 've had to start harvesting lettuces and baby bok choy because once they get too large their weight is too much to allow the grow basket to stay seated in their holes so it gets watered and the fed nutrients. 

In #1 - we are still harvesting tons of lettuces and its baby bok choy. I'm going to try freezing some bok choy to see how that works - some say you can some say you can't, so we'll see how that goes. 

In both - I've been using a personal sized fan on both to help the tomatoes (that have yet to set any fruit at all) and all the kinds of peppers and cukes all of which normally just get wind pollinated. We'll see if this helps any produce set fruit better. Using the little fan is just so much faster than using my little paint brush every day.

On #2 when you say you had to harvest the lettuces and baby bok choy, does that mean you had to remove the plants and start over with them?
So are you saying that you are using a fan to pollinate your tomatoes, peppers and cukes and that is how they get pollinated when outdoors normally? So bees don't pollinate them normally? That will be very interesting to find out if the fan works because I could use one inside my hoop green house instead of just leaving them open.

I use the fan inside on the grow towers because there is no natural wind. Bees can help some but guess they aren't the main pollinator on those plants from what I read. 

Haven't harvested #2's plants only there farthest outside leaves so they won't try to push themselves out of grow baskets and drip water falling past them. I suppose a fan on low, especially if it oscillates to circulate the air under those hoops should work the same way though.

Ok, that makes sense, did not think you used them outdoors but I wasn't sure. To use a fan outdoors could be a problem in an wet environment so I think I'll pass on that this year.

In the past we have used a fan in our greenhouse to circulate the air some. I think it does help  with production. But I wouldn't want it out where it could get wet either.

[jjannie]

Perhaps only running a fan on low when you are home and the water is not running would work out ok.

Grow towers updates: 

We are still getting LOTS of lettuces and bok choi - lots of salads and stir fries - LOL.  

PH is maintaining well on both. 

We've fully harvested a few of lettuces as their leaves are now getting much smaller so we could restart some seeds in their places. 

The tomatoes we grew from collected seeds have never set fruit on them. My sister-in-law says indeterminate you cannot get fruit from their seeds - maybe these were I'm not sure but maybe that's the reasoning. So, I've now started some from some seeds she's sent - they've sprouted so eventually maybe these will work better. 

We relocated a mini sweet pepper from #1 into the GH outside - it's not happy but it was getting really big and loaded and we figured it got shocked from lots of water to only once or twice a day - we'll see if it survives the move. 

We've harvested our first pickle sized cuke - they're only 4inch cukes - so we had it in what - a salad  !

[wiperhunter2]

Perhaps only running a fan on low when you are home and the water is not running would work out ok.

Grow towers updates: 

We are still getting LOTS of lettuces and bok choi - lots of salads and stir fries - LOL.  

PH is maintaining well on both. 

We've fully harvested a few of lettuces as their leaves are now getting much smaller so we could restart some seeds in their places. 

The tomatoes we grew from collected seeds have never set fruit on them. My sister-in-law says indeterminate you cannot get fruit from their seeds - maybe these were I'm not sure but maybe that's the reasoning. So, I've now started some from some seeds she's sent - they've sprouted so eventually maybe these will work better. 

We relocated a mini sweet pepper from #1 into the GH outside - it's not happy but it was getting really big and loaded and we figured it got shocked from lots of water to only once or twice a day - we'll see if it survives the move. 

We've harvested our first pickle sized cuke - they're only 4inch cukes - so we had it in what - a salad  !

I gave up on the fan idea, after thinking about it some more. I decided just to take the cover off, since it had so many blossoms anyway and after I did  those blossoms turned into cukes. I must have close to a dozen, one is about 3" long. 
Good to hear you grow towers are doing so well. Hope your new tomatoes seeds work out better for you. It will be interesting to find out how that pepper plant does, going from just water to being in dirt with less water.

[jjannie]

Perhaps only running a fan on low when you are home and the water is not running would work out ok.

Grow towers updates: 

We are still getting LOTS of lettuces and bok choi - lots of salads and stir fries - LOL.  

PH is maintaining well on both. 

We've fully harvested a few of lettuces as their leaves are now getting much smaller so we could restart some seeds in their places. 

The tomatoes we grew from collected seeds have never set fruit on them. My sister-in-law says indeterminate you cannot get fruit from their seeds - maybe these were I'm not sure but maybe that's the reasoning. So, I've now started some from some seeds she's sent - they've sprouted so eventually maybe these will work better. 

We relocated a mini sweet pepper from #1 into the GH outside - it's not happy but it was getting really big and loaded and we figured it got shocked from lots of water to only once or twice a day - we'll see if it survives the move. 

We've harvested our first pickle sized cuke - they're only 4inch cukes - so we had it in what - a salad  !

I gave up on the fan idea, after thinking about it some more. I decided just to take the cover off, since it had so many blossoms anyway and after I did  those blossoms turned into cukes. I must have close to a dozen, one is about 3" long. 
Good to hear you grow towers are doing so well. Hope your new tomatoes seeds work out better for you. It will be interesting to find out how that pepper plant does, going from just water to being in dirt with less water.

I hope the new tomatoes work better for sure we'll know more by fall timeframe. 

I have several cukes set but they don't appear to be really growing very fast. So we're going to try to not trim the roots as short as we have been doing to see if that'll help them any. You just don't want them to get so long as to interfere with the pump in the bottom which would be pretty long. 

Wil let you know....