Bountiful Greens 2021 Garden [11/30]

[clumsythumbs]

So... I finally getting around to replanting. As I had previously reported, I have been deep in my Summer/Fall outdoor/container planting and had not replanted my AGs since moving in early October (had so much outdoor stuff I had transplanted).  

My new set up will all be in the basement which I am a little nervous about (critters, dust, etc.) but happy to have a huge space to set up.  

I planted my usual rotation of greens in my Bounty.  


2020-11-30_11-03-41 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr


Writing the names on the old labels has not been working....once the plants are going I cannot read and trying to write in my scrawl.... so I had the idea of using medical tape and writing...not sure you can read.


Sponges: Park Seeds; all seeds from Park's as well. About 4 seeds in each (except the chard I only do 2).

Varieties: Kale (Lacinato, Red Russian, White Russian); Mustard; Bright Lights Swiss Chard; Spinach Blend; Speedy Rocket; Arugula; Cress).

Planted: 11/30. 

Will update once things get going. Here is the Bounty and Ultra Lettuce in the basement.


2020-11-30_12-01-21 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr


As an aside: I have been growing the Park Cress and Rocket for sometime and I have not been impressed. The Cress often dies off. The Rocket grows well, but the plants are not very leafy (lots of stem) and they seem to bolt really fast. They do, however, produce pretty small flowers. I have been growing the Arugula as well, and love the flavor, but it is also not as lush. Once these all run out, I will likely try some other varieties. I know many folks on here do not like Arugula (or at least find the AG grown ones too strong), but I seem to recall at least a few other lovers out there. I am eager to try a new type of Arugula. This one had large, pungent leaves (which I love). A lot of great flavor. It produces for a long time, but is very stemmy. 

[Shawn]

Glad to see you back in action ...  Looking forward to seeing them progress

[clumsythumbs]

Thanks! Me too! I have been itching my AG greens and lettuces. 

[clumsythumbs]

Day 4:

Everything has sprouted except the Chard (which always takes way longer...if at all) and the Cress (which also is spotty with germinating).  Looking good! 

[clumsythumbs]

Day 7:


Took the domes off most of the pods. Still no life in the Chard or Cress, which is pretty normal compared to past experience.


20201208_113420 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr

[clumsythumbs]

Day 14 ~

Nutes added this morning. The cress and chard still have not germinated. As with my other gardens, sliced the sponge open some to let the seedlings emerge. The chard I find to be very wonky and only germinate about 50% of the time. It is also slower, but catches up. If nothing happens in the next few days, will replant/replace. The chard seeds are also getting old by this point, so I expected this. May be on the hunt for a different kind of Chard seed....what do you all use?  (These are the Park's Bright Lights Chard. I love the output, but they do not germinate always.)


2020-12-14_01-06-49 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr

[Sher]

I love the Bright Lights, but they don't have a great germination rate.

I soak my seeds overnight. They get soft. Then I plant them in sponges. Usually less than half germinate, but those that do often have two or three plants per pod.

I carefully and slowly pull the extras straight up out of the pod, slit a wet sponge all the way down, open it up, lay one of the extra seedlings in it, close up the pod, stick it in a basket, then into the Aerogarden.

If there is even a small piece of root attached to the seedling, it will grow.

In all the times I have done this, I have only lost two seedlings.

It is worth the trouble to me to have lots of beautiful chard.

[clumsythumbs]

Dec 14, 2020 14:55:29 GMT -5 Sher said:

I love the Bright Lights, but they don't have a great germination rate.

I soak my seeds overnight. They get soft. Then I plant them in sponges. Usually less than half germinate, but those that do often have two or three plants per pod.

I carefully and slowly pull the extras straight up out of the pod, slit a wet sponge all the way down, open it up, lay one of the extra seedlings in it, close up the pod, stick it in a basket, then into the Aerogarden.

If there is even a small piece of root attached to the seedling, it will grow.

In all the times I have done this, I have only lost two seedlings.

It is worth the trouble to me to have lots of beautiful chard.

Thanks for that, Sher. I had considered soaking them beforehand, but am impatient lol. I usually plant 2 per pod and plant two pods, from there I will usually get 2 or 3 to germinate. But often less. With the Park sponges, I usually cut slits in two sides and lay each seed in the "slit" and sometimes one in the middle. This seems to help some. The last few times they have been more persnickety, because at this point I believe the seeds are about a year and a half old. 

[clumsythumbs]

Day 35~

Things are growing well! The cress never sprouted (which is par for the course) and the chard took a while but is finally showing something. The rest is growing well, if not slowly (see other posts re: suspected air temp). My kale and arugula are way more purple than normal? Not sure what this is all about. But overall looking good. 


2021-01-04_03-52-45 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr

2021-01-04_03-52-02 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr

Nutes will be added next Monday, so will likely harvest some this week beforehand.

[Shawn]

Looks really nice and full!  Kudos

[Sher]

They look great!

Some varieties of kale are naturally purple. I don't know about arugula.

If they are not supposed to be purple, they have a phosphorus deficiency. Sometimes upping the nutrients a bit will help. When any of my plants unexpectedly turn purple, I add a little bit of bloom nutrients. It has more phosphorus and cures the problem.

[clumsythumbs]

Jan 4, 2021 16:11:11 GMT -5 Sher said:

They look great!

Some varieties of kale are naturally purple. I don't know about arugula.

If they are not supposed to be purple, they have a phosphorus deficiency. Sometimes upping the nutrients a bit will help. When any of my plants unexpectedly turn purple, I add a little bit of bloom nutrients. It has more phosphorus and cures the problem.

Good to know, Sher!  The Russian Red does have a tinge of purple on the edges (usually) and the arugula can sometimes as well. I was thinking because it is growing more compact, the color is more concentrated. I may add a bit on next feeding (next Monday). Any idea how much you might add? I have never really had issues with my greens before...and use the same machine/seeds/nutes...unless the temp of water is too cold and is impeding the nutrient transit (or whatever the term is). Given I am starting some containers, I ordered a ppm meter, which I can also test the water temp with. Thanks for the info! 

[Sher]

If they naturally have some purple, I would just keep on doing what you are doing.

[clumsythumbs]

Day 43~ and the R&R and nute action continued.

The Bounty is full of mixed greens-- spinach, arugula, mustard, 3 kales (white and red russian and lacinato), rocket, and chard (that never really germinated).  The growth has been slow and stunted. After raising the hood and taking the deck off to do the R&R, I noticed the "purpling" I had previously mentioned is/was pretty abundant. Sher mentioned may a phosphorus deficiency (maybe from the cold temps). So, I trimmed a lot of the plants away to see if a feeding and new water (and the new mylar tenting) will help these look better.  I harvested about 4 oz of greens.  Here is a before and after and the harvest.


 

2021-01-12_12-06-13 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr

2021-01-12_12-06-57 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr

and after

20210112_133524 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr

and the harvest:

20210112_133530 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr

Recall the TDS readings were also low for this one (about 108-111ppm/.2EC), Again, I usually do not measure nor care about this, but wanted to investigate. Nutes have been added so we will see what happens. If continues to under perform, I may terminate and replant in 2 weeks (I like all my gardens to be on the same cycle). Interestingly, although I try to be careful when planting, I apparently must have mixed some seeds (or some jumped into pods). The spinach had some arugula growing in it and the mustard pod some spinach. No complaints from me!

[Sher]

clumsythumbs, what abundance!

It does look to me like nutrient deficency based on the yellowing and purpling leaves.

I do know that my bok choy, fed the same nutrients as my lettuce, developed extreme yellowing and purpling until I realized they needed stronger nutrients, and that purpling indicated phosphorus deficiency (on varieties that are not supposed to be purple).

Why don't you try significantly upping the nutrients and see what happens. I also discovered that established lettuce can take stronger nutes without hurting them.

[clumsythumbs]

Jan 12, 2021 22:43:05 GMT -5 Sher said:

clumsythumbs , what abundance!

It does look to me like nutrient deficency based on the yellowing and purpling leaves.

I do know that my bok choy, fed the same nutrients as my lettuce, developed extreme yellowing and purpling until I realized they needed stronger nutrients, and that purpling indicated phosphorus deficiency (on varieties that are not supposed to be purple).

Why don't you try significantly upping the nutrients and see what happens. I also discovered that established lettuce can take stronger nutes without hurting them.

Yeah, I seem to recall the Bok Choy needing/taking a healthy dose of nutes. My greens (other than lettuce) I USUALLY feed at the recommended dosage. I find Kale can also be a greedy feeder at times. When I grow mixed greens (which is always) once they get established I up the nutes to the recommended (or near) amounts. I find too much nutes early on slows down the chard. I am going to watch this one as it grows back. My suspicion is that the too cold temps maybe were inhibiting phosphorous uptake. Now that the gardens are insulated, I will watch and wait. If they start to come back with the purple...or develop, I will add some extra nutes maybe next week. The red Russian does usually have some purple/reddish on the edges, but not to the degree. The arugula was also real discolored. The other thing (and I do not know if this would happen) is that these seeds are getting older. The nice thing about greens is that they are a) cheap seeds; b) grow fast; so I do not feel too upset if I have to replant or mess around. 

[clumsythumbs]

These are looking MUCH improved after the last feeding and with the tenting over the machines to insulate:


20210123_122031 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr

No purple!!  They are still a little smaller than I am used to it, but now that I have figured out what they like/need down there, I think they will start to kick into gear. The Arugula and Rocket are not doing great, but are managing. Both are very "stemmy" (which has always been the case) and are not growing as full as usual. I am stubborn so instead of buying different seeds, I have committed to growing them until they are gone. I am all out of the arugula seeds; the rocket and cress...I may abandon and not grow again. I recently bought a different brand/variety of Arugula that I will try next time around. 

I have noticed some stickiness on the deck. This has happened before when the plants get old and want to bolt. Does anyone else experience this?  These plants are not old (by my standards) as I have kept greens going for months. Feeding tomorrow, will see how the next few weeks go. I may terminate in the few weeks or months and start fresh-- goodness knows I have plenty of seeds. 

[Sher]

I don't know what the stickiness could be clumsythumbs.

Are the plant leaves wet near the inside of the plant? If so, they might need more air circulation.

[clumsythumbs]

Jan 25, 2021 16:22:12 GMT -5 Sher said:

I don't know what the stickiness could be clumsythumbs .

Are the plant leaves wet near the inside of the plant? If so, they might need more air circulation.

Yeah the mustard (on the end that has it) had sticky leaves and tiny "seeds". This has happened when it gets dense. With the cover I made to keep warm, there is very little circulation. Oddly this is on the open end of the cover!  It happens often near the end of a grow cycle so in my mind it is the plant bolting/releasing seeds? It comes right off, but it weirded my fiance out who kept insisting it was larvae. 

I will not worry too much about it as it has never harmed me or anything else.

[Sher]

The mustard produces many tall yellow flowers before it produces seeds. So if it is not flowering, something else is going on.