Jaltomate Update

Day 19.










Day 24.

Broccoli update

Day 2.
















Day 7.

The Greens!

Day 2.

Day 7. These guys like to grow!

Strawberry update.

The strawberry, day 19.

Day 24.

Did have to start over.

Well, I did have to start another batch of seeds. Only 2 plants survived the trauma in the end, but I think it was for the better. I was beginning to worry about how I was going to change the nutrient solution. I was growing a bunch of plants that would need support, and it would have been very difficult to move the planters due to that fact when it was time to change the nutes. I realized that it would be much easier to grow support-requiring plants in a bed whose nute reservoir is NOT directly attached.

So I think my cats did me a favor, in the end. The strawberry seedling and the jaltomate seedling are all that are left of the first round, since they hadn't left the dome yet. I replanted the huckleberry, but other than that, I went a totally different route than peppers. I decided to plant some greens and herbs, which won't need support, so a nute change will be easier. I also have had to move the system to a closed off room, so those kitties can't get to the plants.

So, I've got the 3 berry seeds, 1 broccoli, 1 dell celery, 1 red stalk celery, 1 1basil, 1 thyme, 1 parsley, 1 peppermint, 1 spearmint, 1 spinach, and 3 random greens seeds that came from a salad greens mix. A lot of the seeds popped root in the 1st 24 hours of planting.

All is not lost.

Well, luckily everything isn't dead. I've got some distressed plants, but still enough of em are kicking for the hydro sys. Update later.

That's what I get for sleeping!

Well, the cats got to the hydro setup, and it looks like they were chowing down on seedlings!

Don't know if anything is gonna survive that. Need to find a better spot for these things.

So, the next post might be a while starting over.

Seedlings in their new home.

Here's hoping they all make it after the transplant! The tomato looks hurting, I hope it survives!

Mixing the nutrients.

This was probably the easiest step. I have General Hydroponics Flora Nova series nutrients. I am using the grow formula now, in diluted quantities. About half strength (normal is 1-2 teaspoons per gallon, I used about 3/4 of a teaspoon per gal). I dissolved it in my water, and tested the pH.


The light from the flash made this look different on the picture than it did in my kitchen. Its safe to say I'm at about 6.5, which is high for peppers. But these guys just came out of the dome, I'm trying not to shock them any more than necessary. I'll keep track of this daily, and slowly get them where they need to be.

I poured it into the system. I have the timer set for 4 feedings a day. This is definitely on the aggressive side. But we live in Southern Nevada, in the damn desert. Its dry. To start, I am going to err on the side of wetness. The pump is going to run for 30 minutes at 7am, 11:30am, 3pm, 7:30pm. I have read in many places that you should only feed when the lights are on, so here goes nothing!

Getting the medium and planters ready for the rooters.

Now, I'm not going to go through how to put the system together, or how to build it. I will probably get into building at some point, but I already had my system put together, so I'm just going to run through what I did this morning to get it ready for my plants.

First, let me give you a little advice. Take your bathmat out of the damn tub before you do this. I spared you the pictures of that cleanup. You're welcome!

I used a steamer basket from our brewing pot (6 gal) to wash the clay pellets. I ran water over them until it ran clear. The pellets then went into the blue bin, waiting for the planters.

I then filled the planters halfway with the medium. I shoved the wick down to the bottom, held it upright, and filled up the rest, minus the depth of my rooters.

Then I put the planters in the system, which is now ready for our rooters.

From this point, I dug out a space for the planter, folded the wick underneath, and filled to cover.

Here the seedlings are planted in the clay pellets, and ready for nutrients.

Oh boy! I think I need to pay more attention!

So this morning, the tomato plant was looking a little distressed. I started an investigation! It didn't last long, because I lifted the rooter tray, and saw this. WOOPS!

So, er, I better get my system ready! Better late than never.

The second set of leaves on Black Sea Man.

Here's what is going on with our tomato. The new set of leaves has been slowly coming out for about 36 hours now. I expect that they will start to open in the next day or so.

A look at the berries.

The rare jaltomate seed seems to be taking off today, but there's nothing to see. Here is the huckleberry (above) and strawberry (below).

Plenty of healthy looking pepper seedlings!

Here's some pictures of the germination dome. The really tall one is the tomato, the tiny ones are the berries, and the rest you can see are the various peppers.

Signs of future strawberries, and the pepper crop is looking promising.

Here's the strawberry sprout!
Here go the peppers!

Black sea man tomato growth

Update on the tomato seedling.

Rainbow pepper seedling

Don't know which color this guy's peppers are gonna be. Got to love a mystery.

It's so small, its hard to get a clear picture of it (that's what she said).

Here's the huckleberry seedling. Still so tiny.

Today's pictures

Here's the tomato plant today. One of the leaves looks to be a little damaged, but all in all, I think it's healthy.
















And here is the first sign of future berries! The berries are what I'm really exicted to grow. This guy is the huckleberry.

And here is a pepper who's leaves are just aching to get out!

No more cucumber, no more pea

So on advice from the Gardenweb Hydroponics forum, I got that moldy pea the heck out of my system. The verdict is that the rooters are too wet for sugar snap peas to germinate, and there was probably some mold on the pea itself. I inspected the pea to see if it was sprouting when I took it out. It was not. It stunk like rot. Glad I got it out when I did.

I also removed the cucumber seed I hurt. I'm at almost 100% germination right now, and am going to have too many plants. Knowing it was going to be distressed, I just removed it. So now its just peppers, and a tomato plant.

I'm going to take some pictures of the life tonight. Will post at some point soon.

Grow it. Cook it. Eat it. Love it.
The Green Guisador

black tomato

I snipped the one that wasn't growing properly, the top of it was trying to burrow itself sideways into the rooter. The survivor looks well.

Grow it. Cook it. Eat it. Love it.
The Green Guisador

The cucumber I killed. I think.

It's still showing signs of life, but I can't imagine it will survive the damage I did to his early roots.


Grow it. Cook it. Eat it. Love it.
The Green Guisador