Sadly, it's going to be a short post this week.  We've got a good portion of the growing units out-of-commission, so we don't have all that much to report.  However, we do have some good news to report... Our own Max Parker has returned from the recent Maximum Yield expo.  We'll be posting a full write-up in next week's post.  We're still gathering our material.

However, we do have some news from the garden this week... I'm the first one to admit that I have no experience with growing melon; so this is all new to me.  We're growing a cantaloupe at the moment, and it's really growing. It's growing about 9" each and every day.  I never knew that cantaloupe was a climbing vine...  Shows what I know.  Take a look at this fellow climbing the light stand:

I'm not sure how far it's going to go... We're training it along the light stand, and then across some support twine.  Here's a shot from a different angle:

As you can see from last week, it's gotten to be a very big plant in a hurry.  Updates to follow.  I expect that next week should be pretty busy. 

We don't have anything earth shattering to report this week... Rather, we simply have stable progress to show.  If you're read our previous posts, you may have seen our recent experiments with STG (Sure To Grow) media.  At the moment, we have a tomato and a cantaloupe growing in the media as an experiment.  Both plants are growing aeroponically, in our own home-built units.

When compared to last week, you can see that our cantaloupe has grown quite a bit:

Also, the tomato is progressing as well...

We're growing both plants in independent reservoirs.  Both plants are using House and Garden nutrients.  I've always been pleased with House and Garden.  It has very little "fall out" when compared to everything else (except possibly Technaflora).  House and Garden and Technaflora are the best on the market, when it comes to "staying in solution".

The photo above gives a good detail of the Sure to Grow media... We've packed the fluffy "loose fill" media around one of their standard cubes.  Thus far, it's been very good as an aeroponic medium.  The top stays dry, and the plant seems happy with it.

I took a quick look under the hood, just to show the root growth thus far... Take a look:

The small white roots are growing down into the chamber.  Despite appearances, the "loose fill" has done a really good job at staying in position.  We can't offer a full report yet, but thus far, we've been pretty happy with the results. 

I've recently become intrigued with STG (Sure To Grow) media.  It's been featured in the last few posts.  Interestingly enough, it's the primary focus of this post as well.  Thus far, our results have been good.  We're trying something totally new this week.  As far as I know, we may be the first people using Sure To Grow as an aeroponic growing medium.  We've set up two single-site aeroponic units, both loaded with Sure To Grow media.  Here's a photo of a little tomato, nested in Sure To Grow:

The tomato plant started in a very small cube, which in turn was placed into a larger (roughly 3"x3" cube).  We've placed the larger cube into the aeroponic pot, then filled the surrounding space with Sure To Grow's loose-fill media.  The loose media works well as a filler in the pot, and has worked well thus far.  It's lighter weight than hydroton by a good margin.  Additionally, it doesn't put off any of the "sand" associated with hydroton.  Hydroton is a clay media.  When hydroton is disturbed, it sheds a sandy clay from rubbing.

Here's a closer view:

Here's the really interesting part... The top layer of the Sure To Grow has stayed completely dry... Although the lower part is continuously sprayed, the top is dry.  The tomato seems happy.  So far, so good.

Our second plant is a baby cantaloupe. I'll admit that I have absolutely zero experience with cantaloupes, but we're giving it a try anyway.  Our second unit is a DIY aeroponic system, prepped for a single site.  We've followed a very similar process...  The cantaloupe is planted in a large cube.  The large cube is placed in the net pot, surrounded with the loose fill material.  The loose fill has contained the water nicely.

No signs of algae yet... We'll see what happens as the plants grow up.  Both plants are under an 400W HPS light at the moment.  They should probably be under a Metal Halide, but since I don't have any available at the moment, HPS will have to do...

The growing room is up to full power again... We're pulling a LOT of amps. 

I've been working with STG (Sure To Grow) media lately, and I have a few new thoughts to relay on the subject.  For those of you not yet familiar with Sure To Grow, here is a brief introduction:

Sure To Grow is a growing medium for hydroponics that somewhat resembles a cross between cotton and fiberglass insulation.  It comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, but all of them are fundamentally the same material.  It is somewhat unique in construction.  Although it is dense enough to retain water, it still has a large amount of air-space in the medium.  It's interesting stuff.

A few weeks ago, I started some seeds in the small (roughly one inch) cubes.  They work similarly to rockwool.  In fact, I'd suspect that rockwool is the biggest competitor for Sure To Grow.  Just recently, we've transferred the small cubes into larger cubes.  Sure To Grow offers a unique "stepping" size.  Take a look below for an example.  The small cube in the center is where each plant was started initially.  These days, the roots are speading into the larger blocks.

The larger blocks behave a bit differently than their smaller counterparts.  The larger cubes manage to retain water in their lower half, but the top remains dry.  For reference, my samples are sitting in an ebb & flow system with a one inch flood.  I like that the top stays dry.  This should cut down on any algae growth.

The larger cubes have a "hole" in the center.  This makes it very easy to move a small cube into a larger home.  Although it's not as obvious as I would like, you can see the small cubes in the center.  The new generation Sure To Grow has a denser construction, and is much improved from the first version.

In other news...

I've recently finished a minor modification to the DIY aeroponic system. This isn't a replacement as much as a new variant.  The sprayer system is simpler to construct than the previous version; and the overall cost should be roughly equal.  This one is intended to grow four relatively small plants in a compact unit.  

You may notice that the color of the unit is "whiter" that in many previous pictures.  There's a very good reason for this look... I've done some painting.  In an attempt to keep out more light (and in turn prevent algae growth), the exterior of the reservoir (and lid) has been sprayed with a plastic-bonding paint.  I'm pretty happy with the results.

We used some Krylon Fusion paint that we purchased at Home Depot.  It lives up to it's name.  We're very pleased with the way it bonded to the plastic of the Sortera container.

Upcoming Event:  The Maximum Yield expo will be in San Francisco on July 26th and 27th.  It's a very educational and useful show, if you happen to be in the area.  We'll be sending a correspondent, and details will follow after the expo. 

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...