Indoor container gardening

[maskedsonnet]

In the middle of re-arranging the plant room! The plants are doing well

[Sher]

Very nice! You apparently have a green thumb!

[maskedsonnet]

It took aaaaaalll day, but I moved the futon out of the plant room and moved the table and shelves holding my AeroGardens in there!! Also got the second drip system set up  The empty spaces on the shelves with the AGs are waiting for my home-made AeroVoir systems when I get the supplies in a few days

[Sher]

Beautiful organization!

[Shawn]

Your room really came together nicely.  KUDOS to you!

[maskedsonnet]

Thank you! It’s nice having everything in one room again, as well as room to walk through the guest room!

[maskedsonnet]

Everything's growing well, and I'm really loving the drip system! An unexpected bonus of the drip is that the DE doesn't wash off the way it did with regular watering, so I don't have to replace it so much!!

Cucumber, Eggplant, Tomatoes:




Zucchinis, and lemon balm that I think might be nearing the end of its life. I've had it in this pot for a couple years, so it's really had a good run!



Baby lemon balms that might get moved to the big pot, and baby pequins waiting for spring to get moved outside:



Pequin, sage, and rosemary:

[Sher]

I love the pots and the drip system. I also like your preparing plants to move outside already.

A 2 year old veteran lemon balm. Cool!

[maskedsonnet]

We have ~blooms~!!!!

Zucchini, really just buds but!! Still so exciting to see!!





Cucumber blooms!!!! As the vines get longer I'm going to have them climb the shelves.





The eggplant and tomatoes look pretty sad though and I'm not sure how to help them :( The soil is moist but not wet, but that room is HOT compared to the rest of the house. Tomatoes aren't usually that sad about that level of heat but I've never grown eggplant before and have no idea what temps it thrives at. To Google!!

Bonus photos because I can't resist cooing over my plants anymore than I can resist cooing about my dogs:

The originator pequin plant is blooming and the sage and rosemary are both healthy and happy



The baby pequins are trying to bud. Had a casualty in the lemon balms (probably transplant trauma, it hasn't been healthy since being moved) but the other two are thriving



Zoomed-out view of the two zucchini plants and the veteran lemon balm still soldering on

[Sher]

Zucchini, cucumbers... you are growing a staggering amount of food in that small space.

Eggplant and tomatoes love the same conditions -- hot and sunny.

What wattage are the lights they are under? Not equivalent wattage, but actual wattage. That could be the problem. They might need a stronger light, or they might need to be closer to it.

Can you do a closeup under natural light of the tomato and eggplant?  I can't tell from the picture if they are over fertilized or not.

[maskedsonnet]

The sticker on the light says 36W. Here are close-ups with the grow light off and the regular room light turned on:







I haven't added any fertilizer to any of the plants, I used Miracle Grow potting soil. I know I've seen advice against it in this forum but I've been using it for years to grow things indoors with no problems, other than the occasional fungus gnat, which can be killed off with the DE I always spread on the top (kills the larvae crawling out of the soil, interrupting their life-cycle to kill them off). Maybe I should feed them a little?

[Sher]

Although I can't tell exactly what's wrong with them, I would pinch off all the dead and dying leaves. Then I would mix up some aerogarden nutrients and hand water them with that, and see if there is an improvement.

I do that with my houseplants that are potted in soil and they love it.

[Sher]

Also, your tomatoes have bugs! I will copy one of your photos and mark the evidence.

On edit: you have apparently been fighting bugs with the DE. Have you already gotten rid of them all?

[Sher]

If you are not averse to using Sevin, now would be a good time to use it before bugs decimate your garden.

At this stage, I have never been successful using organic solutions.

Others may have better advice.

[maskedsonnet]

I had noticed some signs of bugs chewing on both the eggplant and tomatoes, right before I put the DE down on everything. I also spritzed insecticide soap on everything that I thought was old and hardy enough to survive it. As far as I can tell I've mostly eliminated the problem - I occasionally see a moth flying around and I don't leave that room until it's dead. The only bugs I've found the past few days were a couple little spiders, which I'm fine with having hang out in there. I went ahead and pulled off most everything that was dead/damaged (left a couple damaged on the eggplant because I don't want to risk over-pruning it), and I'll feed them tonight. The cucumber has a bit of browning on the leaves as well, so I'm doing to feed it too.





(as a side note when I looked closer they aren't just BLOOMS on the cucumber, they're teeny cucumbers (THREE OF THEM!!!!), and I'm internally screaming while doing a happy dance)

[maskedsonnet]

Feb 2, 2021 21:31:53 GMT -5 Sher said:

If you are not averse to using Sevin, now would be a good time to use it before bugs decimate your garden.

At this stage, I have never been successful using organic solutions.

Others may have better advice.

I’m not opposed to insecticides but all the Sevin products I’ve looked at are for outdoor use only. I’ll look around for things safe to use indoors!

[maskedsonnet]

While I'm thrilled to have everything in the same room now, I missed having a comfy place to sit with a glass of wine to look at the plants. There's no way to fit the futon back in there, so I scooted the turmeric and pomegranate over, moved their light, and stuck the papasan in there! It's good to have a cushy place to sit again, the floor wasn't doing it for me

[Sher]

You've created your own little jungle vacation paradise.

[Shawn]

Your garden sanctuary.

My dad had a papasan and loved it.  If I had the room I would get one.

[maskedsonnet]

Put some ties on the lower shelf to help the cucumber start climbing, it was making its way over to the eggplant, and I don't want it strangled. The eggplant has perked up quite a bit, but the two tomato plants next to it still look pretty sad. I may just stick with AG tomatoes, and put something else in their place. We'll see how they do in the coming weeks




The pequins and lemon balm are still doing great, but the larger containers are looking pretty dried out. I'm going to start watering them more separate from the drip system, see if they get happier with that. I don't want to drown the plants in smaller pots so not going to up the watering schedule on the drip system.



The zucchini plants are both still doing amazing! The rosemary seems a bit dry so going to water it a bit more separate from the drip system too.