Many things are pending and progressing this week. Here is the first bit of news...
We've just published a review of the book How-To Hydroponics. In short, it's a great little book. The information is relevant and current. It's a short book, but a good one.
Secondly, an update on the new home-made aeroponics system: As much as I hoped to announce it's completion this week, construction has been delayed. The original model was going to be built from 4" square PVC. However, after much consideration, I've decided to start over using larger 5" square PVC. This should allow more room for irrigation and roots. I think the larger diameter is worth the effort.
For those of you considering building your own "Aeroflo-style" units, here is a bit of preliminary advice: Home Depot only seems to stock the smaller 4" stuff. However, Lowes stocks both the small 4" and the larger 5" stuff. We spent quite a while cutting and fitting the smaller stuff. Now we're going to start over with the larger stuff.
Additionally, if you're building your own aeroponic unit...
- Make sure to buy Botanicare's brand of 3" net pots. They are much better for aeroponics than the more cheaply-made ones from General Hydroponics. The ones made by Botanicare have a "solid ring" around the top, which will give you a much better water-seal around the pot.
I'm not sure yet what size pump will be required. Truthfully, I've already got a PU250 from ActiveAqua sitting around, so I'm going to see how many aero sprayers it can power before becoming overwhelmed. I don't expect that the PU250 will be enough pump for this project, but I'd love to know exactly how many sites it can power.
Also, in unrelated news...
I've been reseaching better varieties of strawberries to grow. Please do not take this as anything but rabid speculation. After doing a bit of reading, I'm looking forward to experimenting with Quinault variety strawberries. Quinault is a fairly recently developed hybrid strawberry, which is said to produce large yields. It's everbearing and self-pollinating. Self-pollinating is becoming increasingly interesting to me, as we garden indoors extensively, and pollination via paintbrush is quite tedious. We'll post results when we have some. Expect it to be about a month, as we haven't even ordered any yet.
Jessa's exotics are doing very well in the MegaGarden.
We are continually trimming back the Bambino Eggplant. We're getting about 10 little fruits each week. This will probably be the last time that I run eggplant and strawberries in the same reserveoir. I'd prefer to control the solution independently next time.
As always, here's the overview photo of the week:
| Plant | Type | Status |
|---|
| #01 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly. Sadly, the runner that we attempted to root did not fare well. It is in plant-heaven at the moment. |
| #02 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly. |
| #03 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly. |
| #04 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly. |
| #05 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly. |
| #06 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly. |
| #07 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly. |
| #08 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly. |
| #09 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | This fellow has had a hard life under the canopy of the eggplant. It's not strong, but it's surviving. |
| #12 | Bambino Baby Eggplant | The Bambino continually dominates the TurboGarden. Our constant trimming is all that gives the strawberries a chance. |
| #18 | Black Beauty Eggplant
| Strong sproutling. We'll probably move him in a week. This one will likely get the "single-site" aero all to itself. |
| #19 | Black Beauty Eggplant | Not as large as it's brother, but quite healthy. About 3" tall. This one will eventually find a home in a WaterFarm drip system. It's nowhere near old enough yet, so it will be staying-put in the MegaGarden for the time being. |
| #20 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Recently emerged as seedling. Happily living in the MegaGarden. Still small, but that is to be expected with strawberries. |
| #21 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Recently emerged as seedling. Happily living in the MegaGarden. Still small, but that is to be expected with strawberries. |
| #22 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Recently emerged as seedling. Happily living in the MegaGarden. Still small, but that is to be expected with strawberries. |
| #23 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Recently emerged as seedling. Happily living in the MegaGarden. Still small, but that is to be expected with strawberries. |
| #24 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Recently emerged as seedling. Happily living in the MegaGarden. Still small, but that is to be expected with strawberries. |
| #25 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Recently emerged as seedling. Happily living in the MegaGarden. Still small, but that is to be expected with strawberries. |