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Post by drbanks on Dec 13, 2017 7:10:21 GMT -5
Although, one place where the Farm Plus is superior to a pair of Bounties is that the reservoirs are about twice as big.
I've had two Basil plants create a solid root mass shaped like the inside of the Bounty's reservoir, so I assume that with the Farm Plus, you'll have the capacity for a much larger root brick.
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Post by serri588 on Dec 13, 2017 7:34:24 GMT -5
I measured when they first came in. The spacing on the Farm is the same as the Bounty. I think they got more in by squaring off the deck. Fortunately, with spacers, we can adjust.
I'm not surprised they don't support net cups. Like many products sold this way, they likely are dependant on having us buy seed pods to make a profit. Supporting net cups would be a big blow to their profitability. Any ingenuity on our part to avoid this isn't that much different from buying 3rd party printer ink.
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Shawn
Administrator
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Post by Shawn on Dec 13, 2017 8:37:31 GMT -5
serri, I purchase the Park Seeds 60 Cell Sponge You get 120 of them for a lot cheaper then AG sponges. I recycle the cages that I can and do a lot of custom seeds. |
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Post by serri588 on Dec 13, 2017 9:22:34 GMT -5
I have a CamelCamelCamel price watch on the Park sponges as well as the Aerogarden ones. I did pick up several packs of the Aerogarden sponges when they were $5. My GrowGrips also fit in the Aerogarden baskets, so if I can find a way to sprout in those I'm good basically forever because they can be sanitized and reused. If nothing else, the GrowGrips are great for cloning if I can get the hang of that. So far I've only cloned Basil successfully.
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Shawn
Administrator
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Post by Shawn on Dec 13, 2017 9:34:19 GMT -5
Yes I looked at your grow grips but you can't put seeds in there  |
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Post by serri588 on Dec 13, 2017 9:54:45 GMT -5
Correct. You have to sprout elsewhere or use clones. That is the downside to most reusable grow mediums- I also have coco grow and clay pebbles and they both suffer from the same challenge.
I've sprouted in dirt and transplanted, and it worked alright with the GrowGrips. I might try wet sand or small pebbles and see how that goes- the key is to transplant without damaging the roots, and it's hard to get all the dirt off without killing the seedling.
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MaryL
AGA Farmer
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Post by MaryL on Dec 13, 2017 12:42:35 GMT -5
AG created a farm to grow more however the footprint is the same as two bounties next to each other, But they put more holes in. Why not expand the unit to keep the holes spaced out   That’s what I was thinking too. |
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MaryL
AGA Farmer
Posts: 3,532
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Post by MaryL on Dec 13, 2017 12:46:11 GMT -5
Although, one place where the Farm Plus is superior to a pair of Bounties is that the reservoirs are about twice as big. That’s a very important improvement, I agree. |
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Post by serri588 on Dec 13, 2017 17:01:10 GMT -5
With the extra grow space, the cucumber plants now have their own separate rooms. The two root clusters had grown together, so I definitely did some damage pulling them apart. I did salvage a large (and I do mean large) chunk of roots for each one, so they might be set back a bit, but I'm thinking they'll survive.  |
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MaryL
AGA Farmer
Posts: 3,532
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Post by MaryL on Dec 13, 2017 20:53:02 GMT -5
I do think they will be ok. I think the only kind of root you have to worry about is one of those thick tap roots. Don’t cut that. I think most other is ok.
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Post by serri588 on Dec 17, 2017 9:19:08 GMT -5
A few more leaves have made it out from the protective canopy- there are several more underneath.  There is some yellowing along the edges and a few spots on the older leaves. They both have large root masses and plenty of space for more so I don't think that is it. You can see the hose in the back of the right bowl for the air stone I added to that bowl. If the roots aren't getting enough oxygen that side should recover. However, I think I may have spotted the issue. The water on the right is at about 3 weeks now, left is only a week. Next weekend I'll empty and refill both to get them back on track. However, the ph in both was around 4.0- waaaaay too low. I know it's not my water, and the toms are AG standards, so something about how the cucumbers grow has to be messing with the ph. At that low a decent amount of nutrients would be unavailable to them. Its only been a week for the left bowl, so had I lett it go along the normal AG schedule without checking, that would mean the plants would be starving for three weeks until I changed the water. I'm going to be keeping a close watch on the ph and see if it starts dropping again. It may be that cucs are just one of those crops that need a ph adjustment once or twice a week. |
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Post by drbanks on Dec 17, 2017 13:02:21 GMT -5
Interesting. Never measured the pH of existing nutes.
Have you thought of trying to bring it up to 5.5 with some pH Up?
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Post by drbanks on Dec 17, 2017 13:05:07 GMT -5
This, btw, is why I try to dump & refill at every 2 week feeding interval.
Just finished dumping and refilling my 13 gal EcoGrower, albeit with the aid of two submersible pumps (one to drain, one to fill).
The rest of this weekend's chores to be done with an AG jug, a siphon and a bucket.
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Post by serri588 on Dec 17, 2017 14:49:19 GMT -5
I definitely added some ph up to get it up over 5.5. If it drops again I'll start doing a dump and refill every two weeks for these as well. It might still need an off week adjustment if it really did drop that much in a week.
I broke down and bought a PPM meter as well so I can tell how fast they are going through nutes.
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MaryL
AGA Farmer
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Post by MaryL on Dec 17, 2017 15:14:39 GMT -5
Wow, if you’re right, you’ve just found the culprit for my cucumber woes too. I’ll have to test mine (I’m lazy and never do).
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Post by serri588 on Dec 22, 2017 20:42:37 GMT -5
The left cucumber definitely has a magnesium deficiency. Tomorrow is dump, refill and feed, so I'll add some Floragro to try and correct it. The ph definitely drops quite a bit as the cucumbers eat. Now that they are pretty much out of nutrients the ph has stabilized. I think these are going to be feed once a week and dump and refill biweekly. Now that I have my new EC meter, I can watch and see how fast they finish off their nutes.  |
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Post by drbanks on Dec 22, 2017 22:31:11 GMT -5
Hmph. I'd been wondering whether magnesium additives are appropriate with cukes.
Now I know. Thanks.
How can you tell it has a magnesium deficiency? Brown thumb asking.
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Post by drbanks on Dec 22, 2017 22:32:11 GMT -5
And I just did a double-take when I realized that that's a picture of both halves of the farm. Boy, those cuke leaves get huge!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2017 8:30:26 GMT -5
Quite a lot of work, but in the end, if the results are nice crispy salad additives, it is well worth it. Following and learning.
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Post by serri588 on Dec 23, 2017 8:59:36 GMT -5
This is the article I'm gathering my information from: www.maximumyield.com/why-are-my-leaves-turning-yellow/2/1182Has a lot of info on figuring out specifically what is wrong based on what part of the plant is turning yellow. I added a bit of floragro to the left one, and that big leaf in front does have some color back, and they've really grown since I started correcting the ph every few days. Still super new to this, so I'm completely relying on my Google-foo here. |
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