26/12 Bok Choi, Red Amaranth and Swiss Chard update

It's Boxing Day, and it's time for an update on the Bok Chois and Red Amaranth. Also a little on the Swiss Chard attempt.

Since the last update, the BC has been harvested twice. Now for the 3rd harvest in 3 days time. Still waiting for the leaves to put on some mass. Possible to go for 4th?

Regardless, contrary to advise that BC is a single harvest green, for a small home hobbyist set up and with 12 BC growing healthily, it can be harvested as a multiple green. The volume is just nice for a family of 4. No issue thus far with the cut stems.

So far, 3 harvest rounds seem the case. BC doesn't produce many crown leaves, compared to Red Amarath, for instance.

As long as the right EC is maintained and water is topped up regularly, these BC ate happy and will Co tinge to gain mass and size.

And there is no doubt, that RA can be a multi harvest green. Has been harvesting the leaves as salad for the last 3 months, and have yet to see signs of bolting.

Time to seed new batch of BC, Basil and Cos Romaine.

Also trying with Swiss Chard.

The last attempt at seeding SC together with other BC seeds failed. There were some strange orange algae growth, which may have affected not only the SC germination but also other seeds, even the pelleted ones.

Suspect that this could be caused by the SC being soaked for too long. What happened was that the SC seeds was left in the germination container for about 1 week with no signs of germination. Thinking that it may just need more time, I added other BC seeds, and even pelleted CR. Of the 20 sponges, only 3 germinated!

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21/11 Bok Choi update

21 Nov, marks the 22 days after transfer of BC sprouts to the system. Growing well with EC ars 1400. Simple to maintain and seems to be pest free. Spacing them out also allows the lower leaves to get enough light to grow well with little yellowing and hence waste. It's a no wonder that many hydroponics producers are into bok chois. Easy to grow and taste pretty sweet and crunchy. My helper mentioned an interesting observation when I said that the BC are ready for harvest in 2 days. From someone who cooks regularly and with longer experience handling greens, she observed that sometimes the BC she purchased from the shop has a not-so-good smell to them. She suspect that this could be due to the freshness of the supply. And it's hard to tell from the packaging cause the green "look fresh" This suggested the need/importance of having microfarm model, similar to that of energy microgrid, to ensure fresh produce is accessible to everyone. How this w...

Batch 2 - Transplanting L211

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Batch 2 - Transplant Cycle 2

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Deep Water Ebb-Flow System

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