Batch 3 - Summary

It's been a while since I last updated. Did Batch 2 seeding at the end of June, and continued on with Batch 3. Got a little lazy and just anyhow-seed-germinate in mini green house without recording lettuce types or when it was transferred to the system. 

The approach here to try and see how long the system can sustain continuous lettuce supply without flushing it. And thinking that the lettuce EC range are similar, I did not differentiate them on the tiers too. Could this be an issue?

As a result, the system responded with an interesting outcome. Some lettuce types seem to grow well but some dies after transplant, while some were stunted or grew quite poorly.

Case in point 👉 

This one had been transplanted like almost 3 weeks plus and look at the size and form. Stunted and with yellowing leaves.

Some of the poorly developed lettuces, showed signs of browning roots, leading to questions such as is it infected, or just caused by degraded seeds. 

Can't really find a definite answer to that due to haphazard process of not recording seed types and timeliness.

So learning points:

1. Keeping track of seed types and timeline is still important.

2. Crop rotation may be necessary due to nutrient imbalance caused by growing the same type of crop.

3. Getting steady supply may not be possible with this single rack.

So next course of action?

1. Flush the system to clear EC imbalance and decaying root detritus.

2. Top up with fresh water.

3. Seed directly onto black sponge. (Yup black sponge specially designed for hydroponics)

4. Keep track of the lettuce types.

And so on this ND eve, I will use the system and start new batch of lettuce before rotating over to hig EC types.