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

Those peppers are a rootin!

Here's some photos of the various pepper seeds doing their thing.


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

Sugar Snap Pea, is there a problem?

So I've been hawking the sugar snap pea, and the past day or two, it has changed a little. I didn't know if it is sprouting, or just kind of taking on water and decomposing. Now there is a little bit of white stuff that seems to have popped up on the surface of the rooter. Do I have a problem here, should this be removed from the system? I don't know if this is common, or harmless, but it looks like some kind of fungus or mold growth. My first instinct is to get it the hell out of there, so it doesn't spread.

Having never done this, I'm worried about over and under reacting.
Am I okay to give it a few more days to see what happens, or should I get it the hell out. Maybe these rooters are just too wet for the sugar snap pea? We'll see how it goes, I know sugar snaps seem to have a lower germination rate than other peas. Hopefully, if it is troubled, it won't hurt my other plants!

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

Eh, lessons learned

So I think I murdered the cucumber. I had stupidly sowed it so that it was lodged in the rooter strangely, and when I went to adjust it, I saw it had roots down. So I most likely damaged that guy beyond repair, but that's alright. Many of the other seeds have germinated, and I took down the weaker of the 2 tomato seedlings.

So, I learned to get your seeds how you want em from the start, and once they're in there, DON'T #*$% with them!

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

Another taproot.

Okay, we've got our second sign of life here in the dome! One of the pepper seeds from the sweet rainbow mix has popped.

That little tomato is rolling.

Well, I was afraid that our water supply here in southern Nevada was too vicious for plants, but if this guy is any indication, it may not be as bad as I thought. Here's hoping this becomes a healthy plant!

And 36 hours later, we have our first sign of life!

Well, we've got a taproot in the system. The Black Sea Man Tomato seed looks like he's ready to get growing. Here's a couple of pictures as best as I could get them!



As you can see, we've got some root activity here, so it won't be but a couple of days til we can expect to see a sprout. Here's hoping the rest of our seeds follow suit.

I'm really glad this one germinated. I've never seen or heard of anything like a black tomato, and I am excited to see what these guys are all about!





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

The setup.

Here's the hydroponic setup I've got. I have the 7.5 gallon Hydrofarm Megagarden system. It has 15 planters, and it set up for ebb and flow operation.

The light is a Hydrofarm 400W HPS/MH Switchable system. I mounted it on a metal garment rack. The distance from the top of the planters to the bottom of the reflector is 4' even.

The planters will be filled with Hydrotron Expanded Clay Pellets. But that's not until we have some plants to put in them. For now, it's all about the seeds!

This is what I have to germinate my seeds, or take care of the seedlings from seeds germinated elsewhere. It is the General Hyroponics Rapid Rooter 50-planter. It has the dome to keep the humidity up, which is oh-so crucial in our dry desert climate.

I've only dropped 15 seeds in so far. I've got 15 planters, along with some materials for a small 1 or 2 plant setup. I can't assume a 100% germination rate, but whatever does sprout will go into the system. One of each of the following were put into the system: sugar nap pea, jaltomate berry, huckleberry, everbearing strawberry, black sea man tomato, banana pepper, garden salsa pepper, sweet red karma pepper, and cool breeze cucumber. There are also 6 random pepper seeds from a rainbow pack.

So that's what's in. I also put some pepper seeds in a wet paper towel in some foil to germinate, in case it doesn't work in the dome. I will transplant those guys in here once they pop a little root. I have read everything I can find about germinating seeds. So much contradictory information is out there, even on the same plants. I've decided to go with the MH lamp, on from 6am until midnight daily. I figure if I give the plants the lights they're going to get as adults, that makes sense. Also, because of the different temperature needs of the seeds, when the light is on the dome is about 80°F, which is good for the peppers. The rest of them like the lower 70°s, which they get at night. I figure the light and temperature difference will give them some idea of day and night. Maybe I'm wrong, I'm sure many seasoned gardeners could set me straight, but only one way to learn. So here we go, let's hope for some sprouts!

Grow it, cook it, eat it, love it.
The Green Guisador

Lets get this started!

Welcome to the Garden of Eatin'!

My wife and I both love to cook, and have a passion for nature as well. We've been learning how to prepare many different dishes from all parts of the world, and have been enjoying the process immensely. We have started up a new hobby as well, to further our quest for great food; Hydroponic gardening.

Here, we hope to share our food's journey from seed to plate. Whether it gets canned, pickled, broiled, boiled or eaten fresh, we're here to document the journey. Our dream is to one day live on a ranch, and be totally self-sustaining. While the ranch may be off in the future, we strive to get as close as we can.

In time, we hope that this will become a resource for gardeners and cooks alike. Food production and preparation go hand in hand, and we'd like to illuminate how.

So join us on our journey of trying to feed ourselves. Start small, think big. That’s what we're trying to do here. Bear with us as we get this blog rolling!

Grow it.
Cook it.
Eat it.
Love it.