Although it feels like forever, we finally have a radish growing. It’s a bit disheartening because only one seed seems to have taken off. Further investigation revealed a second radish that sprouted leaves but refuses to push through to the surface. There is some concern that the water-logged grow bed (during the fill cycle) allows the Hydroton to float too freely and doesn’t support the plant. We will be continuing to monitor the plants. No lettuce seems to have taken. We can’t find any germinated seeds in the bed. Also, we recently added 12 Nightcrawlers to the grow bed to help process the fish waste. Our hope is that they will better distribute the waste product so that the plants receive the nutrients they need to thrive.
Your system is so cool to look at. It has technology, biology, and hydroponics all built into it. Which is what we were going for in this project. I wish I could have gotten our syphon set up to take as long as yours. It is good to see that your fish are doing well and seem to be happy. I hope that by the end of the semester you will have a couple more plants coming up through.
How has the rock wool helped? Have you noticed the plants staying in place better?
I agree with Rachel’s comment. It might be worth it to test out the concept, especially on the side of the tank that doesn’t have any plant growth yet. It’s not too late to plant new seeds.
Your system is really interesting to watch. I am “rooting” for you to have success!
This message is being posted on behalf of RACHEL TETER. (Rachel cannot post directly due to some log in issues.)
I really like how your group set up your growing bed because it almost looks like a garden (in other words it’s pleasing to look at). However, I was wondering if it would have helped to hide plastic cups (with holes) in the growing bed so the seeds had more support and didn’t move around as much?