Herbs in Bounty

[Sher]

45 watt Bounty

AG pods

AG nutes

I went back and forth on whether to plant romaine or herbs this time.  But since I have been having bad problems with tip burn on the romaine, I decided to play it safe and go with the herbs.

Here's the layout for now.  When the dill gets larger, I will pot it in soil and move the mint into its space.

BTW, does anyone have any advice regarding romaine tip burn?

Attachment Deleted

[clumsythumbs]

Hi Sher, looks like it will be a great garden! The romaine tip burn...was this on the newer/baby leaves? Or the older/bigger ones? I have only grown Romaine once (from an AG) pod, and it grew well, but I do recall as it grew back, some of the baby leaves had some tip burn and were really tightly bunched and a bit crunchy. 

I think it is related to the nutes. How much were you using? I like to start with the recommended amount, but add less at the 2 week intervals. I find the longer the garden goes, the less nutes it needs. I would just try experimenting. I have several salad greens threads in my Garden Patch if you wanna see some of what I did and how I handled issues. 

Growing lettuces is my favorite thing to do (so far) in AGs, and I can usually get a clean first round, but once harvesting begins they start to get messy, so I just see this as an inevitability. And even with tip burn, all you have to do is snip off the browned edges when you eat. So it is more aesthetic than anything.

Good luck!

[Sher]

Thank you, clumsythumbs.  The tip burn was on the smaller  newer leaves, but it kept getting worse and worse. I had been using slightly less than the recommended amount of nutes  but did not decrease them.  A bad case of not reading my plants!

I will definitely check out your gardens.

My sister and I are both having this problem, so I'll share your suggestions with her, too.

[clumsythumbs]

Jan 31, 2020 12:39:05 GMT -5 Sher said:

Thank you, clumsythumbs.  The tip burn was on the smaller  newer leaves, but it kept getting worse and worse. I had been using slightly less than the recommended amount of nutes  but did not decrease them.  A bad case of not reading my plants!

I will definitely check out your gardens.

My sister and I are both having this problem, so I'll share your suggestions with her, too.

I would definitely try using less nutes. I have done as little as 3 or 4 m/l in a Bounty and saw good results. Once lettuce gets going, I think the key steps are keeping enough water and keeping the water cool. If the plants have water that is cool enough, they seem to grow well, not bolt, and the edges usually get be healthy for a while. 

[Sher]

Great news!

I have just spent several enjoyable minutes going through your garden thread.

[clumsythumbs]

Jan 31, 2020 13:20:08 GMT -5 Sher said:

Great news!

I have just spent several enjoyable minutes going through your garden thread.

Good to hear. Hopefully there is some helpful stuff there!

[Sher]

7 Days In....

Not too much showing.  The dill and thai basil are up.  There are two tiny thyme leaves just topping the pod.  Chive roots are showing. I think I see a hint of mint.  The curly parsley is invisible.  And since Genovese basil is usually a fast sprouter, and nothing is happening in that pod. I think it may be a dud.

[clumsythumbs]

Looks like things are moving along! 

[Sher]

The herbs are popping.  I replaced the Genovese basil pod that didn't germinate, and the new one is almost ready to have the dome removed.

I wasn't sure the curly parsley would germinate, so I added a second pod.  Now they both have germinated.

The dill was sprawled flat on the deck.  It dawned on me that they didn't have enough nutrients.  I had only used 4 ml.  So I added 2 more ml and the dill is starting to stand up again.

[clumsythumbs]

I was noticing this morning that my Dill is also laying pretty low...

[Sher]

I cut the dill down to one stem as I use very little dill.  The trimmings are in the freezer to use in deviled eggs.

My thyme was to the top of the dome.  I took the dome off first thing this morning and fried them.  The tops turned brown in a couple of hours!  So the dome is back on.  If they recover, I will take the dome off after the lights go out next time so they can recover overnight before the lights blast them again.

Oh, I also thinned the thai basil to one plant as I am not crazy about it.

[clumsythumbs]

Feb 19, 2020 11:20:42 GMT -5 Sher said:

I cut the dill down to one stem as I use very little dill.  The trimmings are in the freezer to use in deviled eggs.

My thyme was to the top of the dome.  I took the dome off first thing this morning and fried them.  The tops turned brown in a couple of hours!  So the dome is back on.  If they recover, I will take the dome off after the lights go out next time so they can recover overnight before the lights blast them again.

Oh, I also thinned the thai basil to one plant as I am not crazy about it.

Hi Sher, one tip about removing domes. AG suggests removing them later in the evening or after the lights go off. So, if you are worried about frying them, you can always remove for a few hours, put back on, or wait until later in the day a few hours before the lights go off. This may be something you already know, but I wanted to pass along. 

[Sher]

Thanks,  Mike.  I had kind of learned that the hard way! 

I'll wait till lights out from now on.

[Sher]

A lot has changed since I originally planted this garden.

I didn't think the curly parsley was going to come up, so I planted another one. They both came up.  I just took the dome off the second one today and arranged a thai basil leaf over it to shield it from too much light today.  I don't know what I will do with it yet. I can't leave it there!

Next, when I bought the new Bounty, it came with an Italian parsley pod. I stuck it between the thai basil and the dill.  It has not germinated yet.

The dill does not look too healthy.  I cut it to one main stem to keep it from taking over the Aerogarden.

It looks to me like the basils and dill need nutrients.  But I am afraid to add them right now in case I burn the smaller plants.

The mint, chives and thyme are doing well.

I discovered I do love thai basil and dill.  The fresh herbs are so mild compared to dried!

I'm still dealing with messing up the pump settings when I moved the herbs from the Elite and they ended back in germination mode. To compensate, I have the pump running 24/7 which I am sure is overkill.

So this project is turning into a real adventure, and evolving as I go along!

[Shawn]

From here they all look good.  How much nutes are you giving them? 

[Sher]

Feb 27, 2020 14:30:06 GMT -5 Shawn said:

From here they all look good.  How much nutes are you giving them? 

I started with 5 and went up to 8.

[Sher]

The herbs are looking good so far.  I have to cut chunks of the thai basil off twice a week to keep it from shading everything out. I also have to keep the mint severely pruned.

The dill was seriously failing to thrive, so I took it out.  It had small roots that were brownish at the top.  I moved the new Italian parsley (behind the mint) to the dill's old spot.  It looks like it will do well.

I took the extra curly parsley out and put it in soil, just because I didn't want to to throw it away.

I really love having the herb garden in the kitchen!

[Shawn]

They freeze very well if you are not going to use them.  Just know that they can not be used as garnish but work great in meals, cooking and salads.

[Sher]

Do you mean the Italian parsley?  If so, I do plan to use it only in cooking.

[Shawn]

Any of it.  I freeze it all.