As you will soon see, I spent some time with the camera this week.  We've got some new items and some followups this week.  I'll start with a followup to an existing experiment.

I've been toying with outdoor aeroponics this season.  I'll admit that the first attempt was a dismal failure.  I attempted to start the season too early, and cold-shocked (and killed) most of my strawberry plants in the process.  Not to be deterred, I made a second attempt (with a single plant) to see if it could survive.  My original theory was that the overly warm reservoir would be detrimental to the plant's health.  I still think that's true.  However, the plant is still alive.  It's a life, but not a good one.  Take a look at the following photo:

Initially the plant seemed to suffer a fail amount of damage from the shock of the reservoir temperature (or so I believe).  At this point, it seems to have acclimated to the environment.  However, it's really suffering from pest damage.  Here's a closer look at the leaves:

The insects are literally eating it alive.  Although it looks like a strawberry will be forming shortly, it's having a hard time in the outdoors.  Perhaps my results would be better in a greenhouse... However, that isn't the point. The goal of this experiment was to see how well "tube" systems would work outdoors.  The goal was to make a very inexpensive growing system for the summer.  Although it's subsisting, I'm not overjoyed.

Secondly, we have a followup to the DIY aeroponic system.  I'm working on a slightly modified version now, which will house four small plants (I'm thinking about lettuce and basil).  It's built from the same Sortera container, but with a different drilling pattern.  Here's an overview of the new unit:

If you're wondering why it's "whiter" than the original Sortera containers... There's actually a good reason.  Following the advice of some regular readers, I've decided to try an experiment.  The new reservoirs have been spray painted with white plastic-bonding paint.  They transmit much less light than the stock containers, so algae growth should be much more limited.

Additionally, the sprayer system is similar, but even more simple than before.  The new spray system consists of a single "stalk" with double sprayers on the end.  Interestingly enough, I've found that the 180 sprayers are much more powerful than the 360 sprayers.  I think that the 180's are drilled out more than the 360's, and they allow much more water flow.  As usual, the holes are drilled and tapped at a 10-32 thread size to fit the threads of the sprayers.

Here's a shot of the PVC cap, with the sprayers installed.  Note the arrows on the sprayers.  The arrows indicate spray direction.  I've found that placing two 180's opposite directions will cause much more flow than a single (or even double) 360 sprayer.

Ok... Last we have a followup on our testing of the STG (Sure To Grow media.  We've germinated seeds in the small cubes.  They seem happy enough, so we've placed the small cubes into the larger rooting cubes.  The new STG product is much more dense than the original version.  It really does retain water very well.  Because it is very white, you should expect to see algae growth on it, as it's always retaining nutrient enriched water.  I suspect that stops being much of an issue once the plant in question has grown a canopy.  This is how it usually works with rockwool.  Normally, rockwool will get a small amount of algae on the top of the cube.  This algae tends to get killed off when the canopy cuts off it's light source.  I'd expect the same would be true with the STG.

The plant in question is a cantaloupe (in between two unrelated strawberry plants).  The cantaloupe germinated without any complications.  Although I mentioned it previously, the new "denser" version of STG is much better than the old formulation.  The new version doesn't "float away" anymore in the ebb & flow system.  I've been pretty happy with it.  I'll post new updates as we proceed.  Although I'm not able just yet, I'm planning on performing some STG vs. rockwool side-by-side tests at some point in the future.

On a side note, we hope to be expanding the hydroponics lab in the future.  At the moment, we are constrained by space.  If things work out, we should have more space available in the next six months or so.  Until next week... 

Since we've recently concluded the CO2Boost Study, there is a remarkable emptiness in the grow room.  We've in the process of preparing for our next round of experiments.  However, in the meantime, things look pretty bleak:

All three eggplants have been taken down to make room for new experiments.  One important thing to know... Some breeds of eggplant have thorns!  Black Beauty eggplant thorns are very unpleasant.  They are very tiny, hard to see, and very sharp.  You don't notice until they get you in the fingers.  They are surprisingly difficult to remove.  I highly recommend gloves.

It's surprising how much the eggplants weighed.  They were really quite large.  It took longer than I'd care to admit taking them down.  Also, I will confess that I didn't save the 6" net pots for reuse.  They were so embedded in the root system that extraction just wasn't practical.  The root system actually had to be "torn apart" just to remove the eggplants from the aeroponic units.  I felt bad taking down perfectly good plants; but sacrifices much be made...

On a lighter note, our MegaGarden provides something much more attractive for photos...

The strawberries are continuing to thrive. No complaints there.  We've removed a few of the new sprouts, as they've been moved to new homes.  In the left-hand corner you can see a herd of little lettuce sprouts.  The lettuce sprouts are about a week old, and they look quite happy and healthy.

As a followup to our earlier post... We've started testing STG (Sure To Grow). Our first-round test is very basic... We planted three types of plants (cantelope, basil, and tomato) to see how they germinated.  Thus far, it all looks like a success.  I'm much more impressed with this second generation product than the original Sure To Grow.  This new generation is more "dense".  It holds water more readily and is less likely to "float away" like the earlier generation.  We'll probably start trying some one-on-one comparisons with rockwool once we have some more room in the MegaGarden.

Everything looks really happy in it.  I'm pleased.  We'll post more in-depth opinions as we proceed further. 

This week, we see the close of the CO2Boost side-by-side experiment.  I'm surprised at the results though...  As it turned out, the control plant outperformed the supplemented plant.  Both plants were healthy, but the control plant was larger and produced more fruit.  For me at least, this seems counter-intuitive.  I would naturally expect that additional CO2 could only help a plant.  In theory, even if the CO2 generator weren't working at all, you would expect a more equal result.

I have one issue with the study, but no real way to resolve it.  A sample size of 1 is never acceptable in good science.  There could easily have been a genetic difference in the plants that accounted for the differences.  However, with with such a small sample size, there is no way to tell.  Realistically though, we have limited space and limited resources.  An "ideal" study would have contained several plants in each catagory.  If we're speaking about ideal comparisons, I would have joined all the plants to a single reservoir (to avoid the careful equalizing each day).  Additionally, I would add airtight CO2 containment for a more controlled environment.  Although these changes would improve the scientific quality of the study, they would carry with them some significant expense.

In other news, we have some preliminary results from our outdoor aeroponics experiment.  The perfectly healthy plant that we placed outdoors last week isn't looking so good anymore.  The water chemistry for the outdoor unit is perfect.  My theory is that an uncooled outdoor reservoir is simply too hot to support aeroponic plants in the summer.  Although our plant is still alive; it's not looking as good as it once did.

This example doesn't necessarily defeat outdoor aeroponics, but it does show the need for greater reservoir control that we have at the moment.   In our climate, we don't typically have long periods of 60-70 degree weather, so reservoir cooling would almost certainly be required for any degree of success.

Also, we have just been provided with a stock of sample products from STG (sure to grow).  For those of you unfamiliar with STG, they manufacture a line of seed starting mediums.  Some of their products are direct competitors to rockwool, others are new and unique (like their roll-mats for growing wheatgrass and such).  We're starting testing.  At the moment, we're attempting to germinate three different kinds of plants in their "starting cube" product.  If we meet with success, we'll try some direct comparisons against rockwool next. 

Lastly, we're working on an update to the do-it-yourself aeroponic units.  We're making a small multi-site unit.  Updates to follow. 

Our first foray into outdoor aeroponics didn't end very well, and most of the blame resides squarely with me.  I'll admit that I put the young strawberries out into the cold world a few weeks too early.  We lost most of those first-round plants.  However, we did learn a few things from the experiment.

We have a few more strawberry plants now, and I thought it was time for a new experiment.  I've taken a single healthy strawberry plant, and placed it back outside in the tubular aeroponic unit.  Here's a photo of the little guy in his new home:

In the past, I've always heard that root-zone temperature is critical for strawberries to survive.  This experiment will serve as a test.  For reference, we've had a real streak of hot weather lately.  Our daily high temperatures are between 95 - 100F each day.  The water temperature is about 85F, as the reservoir is buried about 18 inches into the ground.  I'd like to see how strawberries survive with such a warm root-zone.  We'll find out shortly.  Admittedly, if they survive at all, they will likely require frequent hydrogen peroxide cycles to keep down the extra bacteria growth.

On to other issues...

Our "food" eggplant continues to thrive.  Here's a photo of one of the upcoming fruit.  None are ready for harvest yet, but about five are in the works.

The "food" eggplant has been great.  No complaints at all.  It's doing very well, living in the original DIY aeroponic unit.

Also, the CO2Boost Experiment is still underway.  At this point, both plants are roughly equal size (but different shapes).  It looks like the control plant will be the first to deliver fruit, but the supplemented plant isn't far behind.  Be sure to take a look for the latest updates.

Lastly, a brief discussion of our strawberries and their runners.  Here's a quick photo for reference:

That confusing jumble of strawberries actually serves a very valuable purpose.  Our Fort Laramie strawberries produce runners (much like any strawberry that I've ever met).  These runners typically don't find many places to root in a hydroponic system, so we give them a little assistance.  When we see a runner begin to produce roots, we place the little fellow into a rockwool cube.  We leave the runner connected to the parent plant until roots have fully formed (and begin to escape through the edges of the cube).  Once the runner plant has roots, it's strong enough to be cut free from it's parent plant.  The process is much easier than cloning, due to the naturally convenient habits of strawberries.

We've got a list of people waiting for the little fellows, and I expect that we should begin deliveries sometime in July.  The runners reproduce fairly quickly, and all seems to be going very well. 

I'll be the first to admit that this week's post is a complete digression from our usual discussion of indoor gardening.  This week, I've decided to mention something that doesn't get a lot of coverage around here... soil gardening.

Admittedly, we don't do a lot of soil gardening anymore.  We've switched to almost exclusively hydroponic growing... With one notable exception.  We have a strawberry patch on the property.  It's fairly old at this point (about five years).  Additionally, the plants are very strong and rooted.  Most people don't think that strawberry plants can survive the winter; but this myth is highly overrated.  Our strawberries winter every year.  For reference, we live in Delaware.  Delaware is a small northern state.  Although our winters aren't Siberian, they certainly aren't Florida either.  Freezing temperatures are the norm, with lows in the single digits.

Valiently, our strawberries return every year.  We really don't make a lot of accomodations for them. They stay in place, uncovered, through the winter months.  The only real attention that the strawberries receive is some hydroponic nutrients and some sugar precursors (Sugar Daddy) to make the fruits sweeter.

Here's a recent photo of some of the fruit, taken by the wife:

Additionally, one more angle:

Do remember though... Soil gardening isn't without troubles.  Thus far, our two biggest problems are slugs and small dogs.  Our dogs have decided that they like strawberries, and sadly, our dachshund lives at exactly strawberry level.

A photo of the usual suspect:

Lastly, I've recently added a new article...   Wheatgrass Yield Calculations.  If you've ever wanted to know how much you need to plant; this one's for you.

This week met with some disaster and some progress.  I'll start with the bad news, and some friendly advice.

We've discovered a rather critical weakness in the do it yourself aeroponic system.  The system has spray-heads that are threaded into place.  Normally, these spray-heads are directed at the roots of the plant.  However, we've made an unfortunate discovery recently.  Under constant pressure, one of our sprayers eventually rotated a wee bit.  This rotation caused the spray to sneak through a gap in the lid of our Sortera (the body of the DIY unit is an Ikea Sortera).  This was no fun at all, as it put about two gallons on water onto our bamboo floors.  Don't run your hydroponics on hardwood floors unless you're brave or stupid.  I'm a little of both.

Our disaster did lead to a discovery though... A plastic washing machine tub (bought at Home Depot) is an almost perfect fit.  Take a look at the trays underneath our two experimental eggplants:

The trays provide a level of safety that I now feel is critical.  We've always used large black rubber-backed commercial rugs; but they have an admittedly limited capacity.  The new trays are a great way to go.  They've slightly larger than we need, but they're a commodity item purchased from Home Depot.  Thankfully, the entire light stand fits inside them pretty easily.

Disaster behind us, we've got some tasty news to discuss.  Our eggplant in the original DIY aeroponic system has just given us it's first eggplant.  It's spectacular.  It's absolutely perfect.  In fact, I liked it so much that I decided to turn it into a white-matted stock photo.  I thought it was the perfect specimen; so I spent about an hour on the following photo:

Sadly, perfection has it's price.  It has departed this world, after such a short career.  Here's the last known photo of our beautiful eggplant:

Silliness aside, this plant is a great succeess.  I'm very happy with the flavor of the eggplant, and I'm looking forward to the other ones (which are still babies).  The House and Garden nutrients did a great job, and it ended up with a very smooth and mellow taste.  I'm really pleased, as some other nutrient solutions have given eggplants a bitter taste during previous trials.  I've been rather lax in my attention to the "food" eggplant, but the results are still great.  I'm going to start using House & Garden more frequently in the future, as it's very effective.  My greatest praise for House & Garden is the pH stability.  I'm not sure how they do it, but I barely ever touch the pH in the solution.  Truthfully, I don't even measure it very often anymore, it's so stable.

As some of you may recall, we tried a new experiment a few weeks ago... Outdoor aeroponics, mounted on the outside of one of our sheds.  We have good news and bad news.  However, the bad news is mostly due to me being too aggressive.

I'll readily admit that I started the experiment too early in the spring.  Additionally, the plants that we used were too young.  No excuses here... I blew it.  The temperature swings have been too severe.  Originally, I'd intended on heating the reservoir; but it never materialized.

Here's a photo from this morning: 

Although most of the strawberries are still alive, they're not in good shape.  They are certainly not as healthy as their indoor brothers.  The indoor plants might go outside eventually.  However, Fort Laramie strawberries are difficult to obtain.  For the moment, I'll be using them for breeding purposes primarily.  Here's a closer view of the sad outdoor strawberries:

Although my personal stupidity has caused the experiment to be... less than satisfying... all is not lost.  We've learned a lot from the experiment thus far.  Here are the observations:

• The unit itself is performing wonderfully.  We have been able to run it for weeks using the smaller ActiveAqua PU550.  We're not losing much water at all.  The return-drain is working very well.
• The nutrient mix has been very stable.
• It's certainly not as convenient as the indoor gardens.  Perhaps it's just me, but I end up spending less time on this unit.  Out of sight, out of mind.

Back to the indoor experiments... Our eggplant in the original DIY aeroponic system has grown qutie massive.  It's got loads of flowers, and one really beautiful eggplant going.  Here's a very close photo, at roughly life-size.  It looks a bit orange, as the HPS lights are very intense.  It's really shiny and very healthy.

Sadly, this week offers more questions than answers.  We've got a number of experiments going at the moment, with some puzzling conclusions.

The CO2Boost Experiment has taken a very surprising turn.  The control plant is now larger than the supplemented plant.  I'm not sure how to explain it.  However, I'll give it a shot...  As much as I attempted to keep the experiment fair and balanced, there is a difference in the plants.  When the experiment started, we grew 12 seedlings.  From the 12 seedling, we selected the two that were the most equal.  Although these plants were as similar as possible, the difference may be explained by the variations in the plants themselves.  Additionally, I've got one other unproven theory... I don't know enough about eggplant biology to say for certain, but I suspect that eggplants may not get much extra growth from CO2 supplementation.  My "food" eggplant (in the "mark 1") is doing very well, without any CO2 supplementation of any kind.

Secondarily, the outdoor strawberry experiment isn't going very well.  I didn't take any pictures, but things aren't pretty.  Most of the plants are very weak, and don't seem well acclimated at all.  I don't have a better explanation at the moment, but my theory is that they are too young to tolerate the temperature swings in the cold nights.  Their indoor brothers are performing much better.  Here's a photo of the indoor group:

Lastly, here's a quick photo of the "food" eggplant in the "mark 1".  It's performing very well, with lots of fertilized flowers.  It's huge, and very happy.  I think I'll be using more House and Garden (Van de Zwaan) nutrients in the future.

I've recently made a new discovery about the "mark one" aeroponic unit... It's rather tall height makes lighting a bit more complicated.  Take a look at the photo below for reference:

Our eggplant is flowering now, and it's grown pretty tall.  The added height from the aeroponic unit brings it closer to the light than I would prefer.  Although our lights run somewhat "cool" for high intensity lights, I've found that you want to keep the lighting reflector at least 18" from your plants.  If you position the light closer than 18" from your plants, you're very likely to burn the leaves with the heat of the light.  Don't forget... Reflector type makes a big difference.

A HydroFarm Radiant reflector distributes heat much better than the smaller Hydrofarm Daystar.  Both the larger size and different shape allow the Radiant to distribute heat more widely (unlike the Daystar's "death ray" heat pattern.

Regardless, our eggplant is growing larger than I would prefer, and it's closer to the light than is probably good.  However, we're limited by our ceiling; so we've got to make the most of the situation.

Now, for something completely different...

I'm puzzled by the CO2Boost Experiment...  Although I don't have a justification, the "control" plant has gained a lot of ground on the "supplemented" plant.  I need to do more research on eggplants.  I'm not a plant biology guy... For that matter, I'm not a biology guy at all.  All I ever took in school was chemistry and physics.  My running theory is that an eggplant may not respond to CO2 supplementation...  We'll be bringing in some sophisticated testing gear later in the week, so we'll have fresh information for the next post.

We just finished performing a water change, and we've made an unexpected discovery...  When I looked at the pump-return on our large eggplant, I didn't see much flow.  However, I did see a large mass of roots.  I thought that the roots might have overgrown the drain.  This has been known to happen, so we watch out for it.  Here's a photo of the big guy:

We decided to take a look under the hood, at the root system beneath.  We released the latches on the top bucket, then lifted the lid (and whole eggplant with it).  Take a look what we found:

The odd-looking shape is perfectly understandable.  The roots grew until the filled the entire bucket.  Next, they started to form a root-mass on the bottom of the bucket.  Finally, they discovered the drain into the reservoir (the tube-shape on the bottom).  The roots literally grew "down the drain".  I've never seen roots that are so uniformly white and healthy.  I'm really starting to love House and Garden (Van de Zwaan).  Their stuff is really spectacular.

Secondly this week, I'd like to answer an ongoing question from several of our readers.  Frequently, I'm asked about aeroponic sprayers and nutrient clogging.  I'm amazed that people ask so much, as I've never had a problem.  I frequently use products from Botanicare, General Hydroponics, House and Garden, Technaflora, DNF, and Grotek. None of them has ever given me a problem at all.

I just changed out the aeroponics sprayers in my the CO2Boost Experiment, which gave me a unique oppotunity to show you the sprayers.  These sprayers were photographed about two minutes after them left service.  They had been spraying an 1800 PPM mixture for 29 days, under 24 hour spray.

The sprayers only show very slight and superficial nutrient. None of the "working" surfaces had any buildup at all.  I'm genuniely not sure why other people are having the clogging problems, but none are happening here.