Has it really been only a week?
I don't know if anyone is still following along. But since I am have having fun doing it I am going to keep updating this post.
Like I said in my last post I decided to bring my MH lamp back to life. I bought the rather expensive bulb after I found some evidence that the symptoms my light was displaying were the EXACT thing one would see when a MH bulb is at the end of its life. To make a long story short my MH light is rocking and even my big noisy shop vac can't make it kick off. So my $50 MH light ended up costing me $82 when I put a new bulb in it. Not a big deal.
What IS a big deal is the astonishing growth that has occurred since I:
Re-potted everything in net pots.
Switched the nutrients to the GH "Agressive" formulation.
And most importantly brought this monster HID light back to life!
So probably the the net pots and the
nutrient strength helped quite a bit. But I think a fully functional, 16 hours of
metal halide light blasting down on my plants has made a HUGE difference.
I started the second 20 gallon tote and it is sporting lettuce, two peppers (which are pathetic!), and strawberries. I planted it all on last Saturday (04/09/2011) and the lettuce has easily tripled in size, and the strawberries have already put out flowers!
The real story however is the tote with the Tomatoes and Cukes. The Tomatoes are nothing short of enormous since just a week ago. And the cukes that had just put out some wimpy flowers last Thursday have now got actual cukes on them! I have hand pollinated the female flowers and it is working great. Cukes in my basement, from plants that have never seen the light of day and have NO dirt underneath them. It just boggles my mind.
More to come next week. Can it keep up like this? I can't imagine it, but who knows!
A good shot showing my MH lamp with its new lease of life. My homebuilt
cfl fixture and the joke of an
led panel are gone. As I am sure most everyone knows there is no replacement for HID
lights. Some of us just are slow learners. Note that the DWC on the left is fully planted and kicking butt!
Look at that Romaine! And the strawberries, they have doubled in size since I brought them home from Lowes last Saturday as sad little things. The only thing that has me stumped are the peppers, and to be honest, after the tomatoes they are the things I wanted to have the most. Well, I'm not giving up yet. I did see some growth on them today, but only very little.
And what is this? I know, not very exciting, but it is to me! A cucumber, growing in my basement. I should mention I did the cukes so I could have homemade pickles when I wanted them. I am a pickle FREAK. I could live on them. And here is the start of my next batch of pickles, just grown in my basement!
And finally I have saved the best for last. Compare the photo below of my cukes and tomatoes to the one above that was taken only a week ago. I have it here in my basement and I can hardly believe it.
What will next week bring? I am continually amazed by my own hydro grow!