Deep Water Ebb-Flow System

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 se

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

Bokchoi seems easy to germinate and grow. The picture below shows the result after about 14 days. Both in sponge with pool noodle and in leca are doing pretty well. EC 1200 only. And have harvested the BC at least 5 to 6 times by just cutting off the lower leaves. Stir fried, its still sweet and crunchy! The result.of last harvest. Planning to remove these and convert them into compost. So in short  bokchoi is a relatively easy Chinese green to seed, germinate, and grow. It produced at least 5 yields over 3 months. EC requirements are pretty easy to maintain. Kept between 1200 to 1600 only although literature suggests best between 1600 to 2000. As for the Dwarf Green Kale, no signs of sprouts over 2 weeks plus. This came from Singcrop, a freebie with the purchase of AB solutions.  Just gonna chuck them away and try the Swiss chard from BLH.

Trying our seeding and germination in sponge. The germination of BC is pretty fast in a simple greenhouse set up. Did not wait for true leaves but the emergence of roots from the sides and bottom of the sponges prompted me to consider an early transfer to the system. Tried out 2 methods. Pool noodle Cut Out Cut the pool noodle to accommodate the square sponges. Concept here is not to exert to much pressure on the sprouts and to have the elasticity to allow for growth. Also at this early stage placed the sponge deeper into the pool noodle to allow the bottom to touch the water in the troughs. In leca The concept here is not to waste the leca. The thinking is that if the sponges are placed deep enough in the leca, they should be able to absorb the water from the trough. Comparing both methods after just 2 days, don't seem to show much difference. The only observation is the the sponges in leca is dry on the surface, but not

Harvested batch 2 after just 1 week!  Didn't manage to weight them in time, before these were thrown into the sink for a wash before dinner stir fry! 🙃  My guess is between 260 to 300g though,  going on the optimistic side of things. The result... not the stir fry which I forgot to snap between these babies went into the tummy! Good enough for 4 pax dinner consumption. But the "botak" shelves! Will go for one more cycle before rotating back to lettuces.

Pleased with the harvest from the first batch of high EC greens (Bok Choi) based on crop rotation concept. This is 5 weeks after germination. The previous crop cycle were lettuces. Did not flush the system. Simply added water and more A and B. Kept EC to about 1600. Harvested only the leaves, yielding a modest 230g from 2 tiers. Leaving the bok chois to grow for next yield. And the next and... Will see how many times of yield before they bolt. 😁 And recycling plastic packaging to store the leaves for stir fry tmrw! Found these Envy apple bags that comes with zip lock super handy! #hydroponics #sustainableliving #greenhobby #recycle

Trying out Green Curly Kale (GCK) from Singcrop. Interesting to observe that the seeds come in different colours. Mixed species? Placed at most 2 seeds into the grow sponges. The 5 on the right has only 1 seed.