Deep Water Ebb-Flow System

3 days after flushing the system. Learning Points: 1) For kang kong, must place the seeds a little deeper as the seeds expands 2 to 3 times the size when wet. 2) 

Pump trouble! Initially I thought it may be caused by root debris. So did the usual clearing step.of turning off the Pump, unplug the top inlet pipe and then blow into it to clear any detritus. Unfortunate this didn't work despite a few attempts. So decided to do a whole system clean up. Spent a total of 2.5 hours dismantling, hosing down, cleaning, and reassembly. And that's where I found the issue. Instead of root detritus, there were signs of calcification over the Pump metal net. Wondering if it was caused by the addition of H2O2. Anyways brought a hard sponge to it and removed the caked up solids. Afterwhich I tested out the Pump after cleaning the inlet and outlet. That's when the cotton bud I used, got caught and the cotton ball was stuck inside the Pump! So I did what any self-respecting trained ex-mechanical engineer would do. Unscrewed the housing, and cleared the Pump turbine. Did a thorough clean up as well. After reassembling the pump, I tested it out in a cup ...

Day 3. Two days after seeding. The results as seen below. Right side is KK and RA on the left.  The KK seeds have gnown bigger. Likely from absorbing water. The first sprout. Wonder how will the rest do. RA sprouts. Lots of root hairs seen. Interesting to see the red cotelydons. Quite beautiful. And lastly the BC. Tiny sprouts appearing too. Feeling optimistic at this point. Looking forward to tommorow.  On the side, I harvested fully the BH and GOL. Dropped in 80mI of H202, to clean the system overnight. Planning to seed more KK and RA and BC. On leca balls. Aim is to see if there any difference in growth vs sponge.

Day 1 of Crop Rotation Trial Seeded 3 types of high EC greens. Kang Kong (KK), Red Amaranth (RA) and Bok Choy (BC). These are in the range of 1.5 to 2.5k. Will aim to maintain a 2k EC through out, before rotating back to lower EC lettuces. Cut extra slots into the sponge, for seed placements. Seeding in wet sponge in container of water. The KK seeds are pretty  in about 3mm is diameter, so it's pretty easy to place. As for the smaller BK (1mm) diameter, I just placed about 10 seeds on the surface and gently rub them into the slits. These were from Sing Crop. A gift for purchasing their AB solutions. As for the even smaller RA seeds, I just spread a pinch of 20+ seeds over the slits and rub them in. Quite challenging of the size and they do get stuck to my wet fingers. Placed the containers with cover closed under grow light.

Day 33, harvesting BH and GOL for lunch! 1 BH and GOL each. Chose the heaviest bunch each. Roots looks crisp and pale yellow-white. Signs of healthy roots and therefore growth. With the alternate spacing, observed very little or no signs of yellowing. No signs of bur t tips too. So sponge is great for direct germination  on the system and we spaced out, can really produce good lettuces. Downside is that the sponge are no-reusable. Next, to experiment with ways to reuse sponge. Question is how to direct the roots to grow downward and not sideway into the sponge wall.

Day 27 - with Grow Sponges Growing fast after additional 5ml AB with just 2L of water top up ytd.  A close up of BH and the GOL. Looking green and healthy with little signs of fungal infection. The partial system reset a month ago seem to have helped. Harvested the first GOL for brekkie today, and to my surprise it tasted good. Not bitter at all despite the recent addition of EC. Can consider adding more EC earlier at say 20 days. Should have spurred the growth better, making for thicker produce.