It’s Been Fun!

Well, this will be my final post for the hydroponics blog. Thanks for following along!

The plants are doing pretty well…here is one final picture….

Lookin’ good, right?

Tomorrow we shall harvest and present to the class!

That’s all folks! Have a great break!

Amanda–Over and Out

Basil Plants Are Coming in Nice and Full

Okay, so I didn’t get a chance to check my pH on Monday, but today I checked and the basil is doing well. It’s really full!! Take a look…

pH today was 7.2–up from 7.0. The water temperature was at 67 degrees.

They grew upwards about 1/8 of an inch making them 7/8 of an inch tall. They didn’t grow much taller but they did get much fuller!

We’ll see what we get on harvest day.

The Little Plant That Could

Hey guys,

So I checked my pH and temperature again today after I added about a cup or so of nutrient solution.  The pH was still 7.0 (I tried both pH testers this time-same thing-7.0) and the water temperature was at 65.6 degrees. The plants grew about one sixteenth of an inch (so the biggest is now 13/16 in height). I also took the top part off of our system and found the slightest trace of mold at the very top so I cleaned that off (it was too small to see on camera).

Here’s one plant. The plant that I have been measuring at least. The other one has comparable growth and the 3rd I will talk about in just a minute.

Now I would like to make mention of the little plant that could. This last plant is still from the first batch of seeds that was planted. It started to wilt (it was about half dead) and now it seems to be doing okay. I wanted to be sure it looked like it was going to live before I posted this. It is smaller than its brothers but it is still alive. I’m happy that at least one plant lived from the beginning, even if he is the runt of the litter.  🙂

And now ladies and gentleman, without further ado…May I present–the little plant that could…

I believe he is going to be just fine.

Well, that’s all for now!

All is Well so Far

Hey there guys!

Told you I would be back! Okay, so today marks the 15th day since the seeds were planted. (Happy 15 Day Birthday little basil babies!)

They have grown a bit more in height. I decided to measure them today and will track their progress in this way. I checked the pH and temperature of the water in the beginning of class today and the pH was still at 7.0. Nice and neutral. The pH of the water in the big system was at 7.8 but the plants seem to be doing well so I think I will leave the pH be. The temperature was at 65 degrees again. I added half a gallon of nutrient solution and checked again toward the end of the period. The pH was still 7.0! The temperature had risen just a bit to 66 degrees. The basil is 3/4 inch above the rock wool at this time. Here is a picture from today…

Good luck to everybody. I see some healthy plants around the class. The plants smell very nice too.

TTFN….ta ta for now!

November 26

Hey everyone,

So I checked the plants on Monday and the pH was 7.0 just like last time. The temperature   was at 65 degrees. I also attempted to stir the nutrients that had settled at the bottom of the tank back into the water. It worked, kind of. Anyway, here is a picture of those little guys….

Best of luck to these little guys! I will post about today in just a minute.

One Last Check Before Break

Hey all,

Just checked the plants before Thanksgiving break. I didn’t get a chance to do the blog until now. Anyway, the plants seem to be doing okay. I checked the pH which was at 7.0 (a bit higher than the last time I checked it) and the water temperature which was at 65 degrees just like the last time I had checked. Gonna check those seeds tomorrow! I hope those little plants are doing well!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving break!

That’s all I have for you for right know! Check back later. I will post tomorrow about the condition of those baby basil plants!

New Seeds Have Begun to Germinate

The new seeds I planted on Wednesday the 14th of November have begun to germinate. When I checked them yesterday (Friday the 16th) the pH was 6.7 and the water temperature was 65 degrees fahrenheit. I did not change anything further. I remain hopeful for these little herbs. Good luck little ones!!

Mayday, Mayday! Basil Plants Down!!

Today, the plant that was growing and looking healthy started to wilt. The others, sadly have shriveled up. I replanted and started again in class today. The one that started to wilt I decided to leave. Hopefully that one will be okay. I think our pH system of keeping the water at 5.0 is not doing so well. Dr. Brusic suggested testing the pH of the thriving basil from the big system in the corner. The pH was 7.8! Therefore, I raised our pH to 6.0 and I guess we shall see what happens. We originally had it set for 5.0 to keep algae from growing. Our system has a pretty steady/heavy flow of water however, so I think we might just get away with raising our pH.  I also made our timer so that it waters twice a day for a full half an hour.

Here is one of the first seeds planted. It is dead. Poor thing. There is some mold in there. Not good!!

Remember those fresh seeds I was telling you about? Here they are! Grow little ones! Grow!

This is the timer. It is set for 11 in the morning and 11 at night.

Well, that’s all for now!

Amanda

 

An Over-Hauling

Hey Bloggers,

Unfortunately, the basil in the system was wilting–who wants to eat wilted, under grown basil right? So, to fix this problem I gave our system an over-haul…

The problems were (1) the hose from the pump was getting pinched which cut off the water supply and (2) whenever the hose was not pinched and water flowed into the system freely, it would overflow. A delicate balance needed to be found. First, I drilled a hole in the bottom of the 4″ PVC to accept the hose from the pump solving problem number 1 (the pinching problem) then I drilled two more holes in the bottom to let water drain. I started small and went bigger. Here’s the cool part. I put our tank into the sink along with the pvc system however I put them in separately as shown in the picture. The pump went into the tank and pumped water into the pvc system and I was able to see it overflow, stop the system and drill a bigger hole right there in the sink (I put a cup under each hole to catch the pvc scraps) and started the system and tested again. This test system worked like a charm! I also changed the side outflow hole by adding a rubber hose and directing the water back into the tank out of fear that it would flow right out of the tank.

The last thing I did was change our timer so that it was getting fed more often (3 times a day) but for less time.

Only time will tell I guess! Here is the finished over-haul….

Our system has life!!

We planted our seeds on Friday the 26th of October just before the hurricane. When we checked them the following Wednesday the seeds had begun to grow. Our creation has life!

Upon checking the pH I was a bit startled that our system’s pH had risen to 8.6! We quickly added some pH down and got our water to 5.1. We also added more nutrient solution because our water level was low.

That’s all for now!

Disregard my comment. I figured out how to edit. This blog system is a bit challenging in my opinion.