Day 50

Plant growth is every where. Good things are happening to our plants. Unfortunately, I feel we won’t be able to eat any banana peppers by the end of this project. Had we used more sunlight from the beginning or the project we might have a much larger plant growth outcome.

Day 45

In an attempt to temporarily lower the water temperature we mixed new solution in cold water. After adding the new cooler water and emptying the old water in the span of a couple hours the water is remaining at a much cooler temperature than before. The water was around 101 F and is now, at the end of class, around 68 F. We’ll see if this lasts more than a couple hours and if it helps the plant growth any more.

Day 43

We have a little bit of time before speeches to check the systems and ours seems to be working well, there are no leaks, no algae, the mister is hitting the correct areas, the rockwool is remaining damp, the plants are growing upward, and the plants look healthy. The only real problem again is the heat of the water. the pH is at a healthy number and the sunlight seems to be plentiful.

Day 38

The lettuce is at about the same height, but the main thing I’m happy about is that it’s not dropping. The water temperature is still our biggest problem at about 96-101 F. Though our plants around growing well now we’ve been shooting around the idea of taking the water jet out of the water and solution somehow or maybe by coloring the clear containers we’re using in a darker color to allow more shade.

Day 36

There is some plant growth in what seems to be in a non-droopy manner in the lettuce. Nothing is really happening with the banana peppers yet. The pH is at a steady 6.5. The water temperature is around 98 F. the water seems to be clear and algae free so far. The mister at the end of the pump is working fine. The rockwool seems to be maintaining a moist condition.

Day 31

After all the changes have been made to our system we’re now just waiting to see what happens. With having to replant our plants entirely, we haven’t seen any noticeable growth yet. The water heat still remains high. After taking the temperature is seems it’s dropped about 5 F which isn’t anything special because it was at about 99-102 F, which is ridiculously high. We thought about putting ice in the system, but it’s not long term enough to maintain a cooler water temperature.

Day 24

We are still really confused about what to for these droopy plants. We’ve noticed that everyone under the light we’re under is having the same problem. All of ours look very droopy, but green. Almost everyone on the other side of the room has a fair amount of growth.

Day 8

We have some new plant growth, but it is very tiny. the others around us seem to be at the same level. The top cup is starting to leak a little so we shut the machine down and were forced to make some changes. We removed both the top cup and the bottom lid. Then we applied hot glue around the bottom of the top cup and attached it to the bottom lid. After letting it dry we put the system back together and turned the water pump back on. The system doesn’t leak anymore.

Day 3

No real signs of life yet. The system seems to be working fine. The rockwool has been staying pretty moist, so the plants should have enough water and solution to grow. The pH is around 6.5 so it’s in a good range for plant growth. The water temperature seems to be a little high around 80 F, but nothing crazy yet.

Day 49

Today we first checked our pH level which was around 7.5. The pH was a little higher than we wanted so we added the pH decreasing solution to the water and let it run for a little. At the end of class we checked our pH and it was more leveled out at around 6.5, which is what we want for better nutrient absorbtion. Teh plant growth, though not as much as those around us, is huge compaired to what we were getting in the old location. Algae growth is pretty small, but our temperature is still really high at almost 100 F. We have yet to figure out any good long term cooling technique, hopefully that doesn’t kill the plants.