Our water level, pH, and plants are still hanging in there. I have yet to decide whether or not to pull out some of our smaller growth. We added some more nutrient solution to our water and checked our pH again.
Day 47- April 2, 2012
Month: April 2012
Day 42 – March 28, 2012
Our peppers growing pretty rapidly.
Our plants are still growing. Our pH was pretty high today (basic) and so we added some pH down solution. We decided to add some water to our system before leaving it for the weekend. Our water level has been easily managed because of how deep our system is.
- View from above
As you can see by looking at the picture to the left, two of our plants are growing obviously faster than the other two. We have yet to figure out why, but are still experimenting with our tubing. I the water from the tube was pouring more directly into the two smaller plants, while “leaking” into the two larger plants. So, I backed the rate of water flowing directly into the plants down.
Day 40 – March 26, 2012
Our system has been maintaining a steady pH between 5.5-6.5, which is pretty awesome- we’ve been lucky with that. Our plants are growing slowly but surely. On average, peppers can take anywhere between 70-90 days to harvest. Unfortunately for us, this means they may not be ‘harvestable’ until after the semester ends.
Richie here is modeling our pH level. Notice he’s holder the ‘older’ pH testing solution. We found that using the older of the two available solutions caused a different pH reading every time we tested. Since then, we have switched to using the newest of the two for a more accurate reading.
We planted a couple different germinated seeds into each support group (the rockwool and our recycled laundry caps) as to not rely on just four plants. In doing so, we’d be able to remove the weakest of the plants and allow strong growth of the stronger one. So far, our two adjacent plants are fairing the best.
I am unsure why this is happening, but I suspect differences in rate of flow through the tubing at its different exits. We will have to experiment with our valves to see if we can find a solution to provide proper nurtrients to all of our plants.