My First system

[jamromhem]

I figured I would give an update on my system. After some inspection I found that the humidity in my root zone was WAY too low. It is probably a no brainer being in an air conditioned house with one of the ends wide open.

I sealed off the open end with the end cap that was supposed to be there and I just never got around to putting back on. I also opened more holes on the pipe running through the main tube. to provide water from more angles. The pump is barely providing enough preasure so I might have to think about some new ways to deliver the water to the roots.

I am thinking about either adding a fogger or perhaps changing out the water delivery tube with one that I can place landscape misting emiters. I am also considering replacing my current lettuce system with a continuous flow WC. Similar to commercial lettuce production.

I will just have to think of a way to get it all built and prevent water leaks, and collect any water leaks that do occure.

[jamromhem]

Well Seems I have another problem that is creeping up. I am guessing it is over watering maybe? I really cant tell. There is no warning and it happens over night (this is the second plant to do this)

They get soft and then turn into what is on the pic. Any ideas?

I was running a 24/7 watering and there were no complaints. I have moved back to the 15:15 onff cycle. I am hoping it is adiquate.

See the attatched image to see what I am talking about.

[GpsFrontier]

Being that I'm not familiar with that growing medium, nor can I actually feel it for dampness, I just cant say if your over watering or not. I think your system is the one with a tube running through the square tubing to spray water on the baskets/roots, but again without being familiar with that growing medium, and not being able to feel the growing medium. I just cant tell how saturated it is. Though I have a couple of questions:

1. How strong is your nutrient solution?
2. What is the air temp?
3. What is the nutrient solution temp?
4. Are you covering the seedling to keep in humidity?
5. What is the plant/s (lettuce)?

[jamromhem]

Well I found what the problem with that one was. The top half of the medium became dry. It was not established enough for it to maintain moisture from just the lower half of the medium. And the others that are thriving are doing great in comparison. But the medium is moist on top. My current solution is just to put a little solution over the top of the medium when I check the system. It is a manual fix, but one that works.

The nutrients are at around 1/4-1/3 right now still. And I am cycling the nutrients on a daily basis. After filling to normal levels (not much water needed for that) I will a gallon out to use elsewhere, and replace with a fresh gallon of 1/4 strength.

I will add some pictures of the other lettuce plants. They are a loose leaf lettuce. probably 2-4 weeks old lol I will have to look back at the date I said I set up the new seedlings.

I have been clipping lower leaves on any sign of the plant aborting them (They still end up touching the medium for now so the plant won't keep them too long). That will stop when the leaves gorw out a bit larger.

Just a kinda disapointing update for me. I put some of my tomato plants in dirt. I will see how they like the STG cubes being in there with them.. But they were growing out of the germination tray and had some 4inch long roots, and I am still a bit away from getting my tomato system set up. Not to mention I still havent decided how I want to build it.

Another thing that has changed. The staining of the medium has gone away and it is white on the bottom again (small traces left) I guess whatever was collecting went back to the water lol..

[Stan]

Are you keeping those plants that low in the basket all the time? I would worry about light being able to shot through the basket and reach the water.

[jamromhem]

They are sitting that low right now. The problem with moving them higher is that the water doesnt wick up enough to reach the roots if I set them higher. Some light does get in but with how I am growing there is no way for anything to grow in the nutrients lol.

I think there might be an advantage to it with using bleach (it works like a PH up). I set the PH a bit higher than optimal with the bleach and in 2 days it scales through the entire range the plants take the nutrients in.

I would like to get the plants higher, but with my current methods I am stuck with what I am stuck with. I am wanting to change it up a bit, but that will have to wait a little while until the money is a bit more available to let me do so.

[jamromhem]

They are sitting that low right now. The problem with moving them higher is that the water doesnt wick up enough to reach the roots if I set them higher. Some light does get in but with how I am growing there is no way for anything to grow in the nutrients lol. I have it maintained to pool standards and also have UV lighting in the res to ensure nothing tries to grow. The water is still crystal clear after a few weeks.

I think there might be an advantage to it with using bleach (it works like a PH up). I set the PH a bit higher than optimal with the bleach and in 2 days it scales through the entire range the plants take the nutrients in.

I would like to get the plants higher, but with my current methods I am stuck with what I am stuck with. I am wanting to change it up a bit, but that will have to wait a little while until the money is a bit more available to let me do so.