Deep Water Ebb-Flow System

6 days after seeding results. These are the Red Amaranth and White Crown Bok Choi. Little sprouts poking through the sponges. Will wait a few more days for true leaves to appear.  Bok Choi and White Crown Bok Choi seeded on grow sponges are doing much better. These were seeded on the same date as above - 6 Feb. The results look more promising. The baby roots are also growing into the leca and water layer, as planned for. Will wait for the true leaves and roots to grow a little more before transferring them to the pool noodles. Should take 2-3 more days before that happens.  

6th Day of the new Lunar New Year. A new start. Red Amaranth Did a final harvest and cut down all the 4.5 months old RA. It was seeded on 15 Sept 2021. Many have started to flower and bolt. As a result, the taste is earthier and the height of the RA has reached the bottom of the upper trough. Learning Points: RA is easy to grow on either leca or grow sponges. For this batch, black grow sponges are used. These are prolific, and an EC of around 1200 is good enough. RA leaves can be eaten raw. Taste just like any spinach, with a mild earthiness to it.  Looks nice too. The red stem and variegated deep red hues on the leaves liven up the system, and make it look New Year-ish. Seeded 6 sponges with about  3 to 5 seeds and placed them in a plastic container. White-Crowned Bok Choi Seeded 6 sponges of WCBC to top up the current batch. Baby Bok Choi Seeded 12 small sponges with BBC. Really like BC since they are easy to grow and produce multiple leaf harvest. The remains of the RA were...

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...