Our plants seem to be doing better now that we cut some of the other leaves away. The temperature was 69.1 degrees Fahrenheit and the pH 5.5. There is some schmegma (that’s Pa. Dutch talk for gunk) on the inside surfaces of the cherry box. We don’t know what this is, but it doesn’t seem to be harming the plants – or the cherry, which is a good thing.
This past Monday and Wednesday we checked our plants to find that both the temperature and the pH level were at normal as they have been for the past few weeks. To our surprise a bunch of the leaves were starting to wilt. This confused us because there was no change in anything except that we cut a few leaves off from harvesting a few weeks ago. We think maybe we harvested too late which effected the whole system but we aren’t sure. So we took off the wilting leaves and are hoping for the best next visit.
We checked our system and it is doing great! Except for the solution, that was a little on the low side, so I added some more in. After that was done, I check the temperature and pH. The temperature was 69.1 degrees Fahrenheit and the pH was 6.8. I didn’t add any pH down to the system because lately the pH has been holding steady. Have a happy Thanksgiving and an even better break, and see you next Monday!
It’s been about a week since we last checked up on our system due to the cancellation of class this past Monday. To our surprise the baby romaine lettuce has grown significantly, which called for us to perform our first harvest. We weren’t too certain on where to snip the leaves off at, so we made a “guessed-imation” and snipped them 3/4 the way down the stem. The pH and temperature were at good levels too, 6.5 and 68.4 degrees respectively. Overall today was a success. We look forward to see if and how our plants will grow back. Only time will tell!
Today was another no-check-on-plants day because of the TEECA conference at Virginia Beach. We are, however, researching on when to harvest our lettuce. We hope everyone does well at the conference and we will be updating our blog again on Wednesday with plant information.
Good afternoon, or morning (depending on when you’re reading this) all,
We have checked out our lettuce that appears to still be healthy, it is green and getting long. The pH was around 6.2, which is a good thing, and the temperature dropped a few degrees. The temperature was 70.5 degrees Fahrenheit this morning around 10 o’clock. The water level seemed to be alright too. Ok, stay tuned for more information!
Hey everyone! So it looks like our system has been doing well so far. The leaves have grown quite a bit since the last time we checked up on the system. The temperature has been a steady 71.3 degrees today and the pH was at a 6.3. We noticed that the water level went down quite a bit like one of the times we’ve checked up on it before, so we added more nutrient solution. We intend to look up information on when and how to harvest for when the time comes. Until then, lettuce hope that everything stays healthy!
This is a picture of our system that shows the roots. The lettuce plants looked healthy as of last Wednesday. They looked to be about 3-4 inches high and very green. Surprisingly, the pH remained around 6.5. This was really good because Sandy prevented us from checking the system for a whole week. We were concerned that the pH would get all out of whack, but it didn’t. The temperature of the solution was 71.5 degrees.
Due to Hurricane Sandy that rolled in over the weekend and part of Monday, we did not have classes for the past two days. As a result of this, we were not able to check on our system. This worries us a little bit because not only did we not get to check the water levels, but the pH and temperature as well. Hopefully the pH didn’t shoot up too much before we can check on it today. Thankfully, the campus did not lose power and our oxygen pump should be working fine. Our fingers are crossed that the lettuce is healthy and growing!
Hello all,
When we checked our system, we noticed the water level was a little low. To correct this problem, we added some water. After adding water, we checked the temperature and pH. The temperature has stayed around 72 degrees Fahrenheit steadily, and today is no different. The temperature was measured at at 71.5 degrees Fahrenheit. The pH was too high again, so we added about 1/4 of pH Down solution. The new pH is now 5.2. We left it at that because we are estimating that the pH will rise again.