Batch#01 - 16 Jan - Day 38 (Reseeding Cos and transplanted Genovese Basil)

A Busy Day - Harvesting, Clearing, Reseeding Cos and Transplanting some Basil 

Started off by harvesting fully 8 Cos lettuces for brekkie and tomorrow's night dinner! The long roots of the cos, still crisp to the touch. A good sign. Left 4 more for a few more leaves harvest over the next few days. Removed a couple of Grand Rapids and Butterheads each from the bottom tier too.

After some further RO and BH leafs harvest, the total weight is 183.6g.

Sustainable Crop Cycle

The idea here is to stagger the crop cycle in order to have a sustainable supply of lettuce. Another aim is to see how long this Batch 1 of nutrients last before the need to flush and clean the systems becomes a must.

Cleaning

Cleaning is actually very easy. The process I took:

1. Remove the roots by hand.
2. Pour out the leca and remove the stem and remaining roots. (of course there are left-over roots and some debris)
3. Thankful for the sink filter. Keeps the leca together, and prevent the larger left over roots from getting into the tank.
4. Replaced the leca to about 3/4 full.
5. Placed seed and top up the leca to the brim.

Seeding

Placed one pelleted Cos seed per pot in Tier 1. So seeding date is 17 Jan 2021 for this batch.

Placed about 4 to 5 Grand Rapid seeds into the 4 tier, next to the adult Butterhead.

Transplanting the Basils

Transplanted 2 rooted Sweet Genovese Basil (from school's Click and Gro unit), and 2 stems of Strawberry Mint from Bootle's Farm visit. The mint was after a week of rooting, while the basil has started rooting from the stem over the last few days. 

A side note. Managed to save a stevia (out of 5 from Citiponics), 

How long it took me?

From harvesting, to clearing, seeding and topping up of water, it took me about 2 hours. Not too bad considering I was taking my own sweet time to take pictures and did a little bit of maintenance on the water outlets.

Clear the debris!

An important learning point for me today, is to remember to clear the debris from the outlet of each tank. The torn roots are all blocking the mesh net, and slowing down the water flow. This can cause an imbalance of water level, such as the flooding I encountered at Tier 2 a few days ago.

To remove the debris is rather easy. I used the reverse side of a tweezer (so that the sharp end won't tear off the mesh net) to remove the old root.

Another learning point is to leave the pot nearest to water out flow empty. This allows are easy and convenient topping up of nutrients in the different tiers.

Data

After the whole process, the data is:

EC1552

- due to the CaNO3, and still above 1200. Will continue to monitor.

pH5.77

- within range.

WT28

Water level: below mid level.

Just topped up with 2L of water, and moderated by 5 ml of down.