Farm 1 11/25/17 Toms and Cucs - Terminated

[MaryL]

Thanks! Added it to my cart.

[drbanks]

as did I

[serri588]

We are in full bloom/fruiting season at this point. I'm a little concerned as the cucumber plants are looking a little stressed and there are a LOT of flowers and baby cucumbers. I'm constantly picking up discarded flowers. The largest baby is about 3 inches right about now. The tomatoes also have quite a few green toms started, the largest being about an inch.

[drbanks]

I don't know what it is, but my cuke plants always look stressed like that.

If you figure it out, let me know.

Otherwise, great looking garden.

[Shawn]

WOW

[MaryL]

Your cuke plants look much better than mine.  

[serri588]

For better or for worse I had to terminate the tomatoes today without getting any fruit. I think they were simply too crowded. One of them got a patch of white mold in the back, and because I couldn't see it it got quite large. The other plant has been dropping leaves, though more slowly, so I went ahead and terminated them both rather than risk it spreading. I don't like tomatoes- I planted a couple because they came with the Farms, so I'm actually kind of relieved to be rid of them.

Now the cucumbers have around 33% more space, which should do them a world of good- things really were too crowded with both cucumbers and tomatoes in one bowl.



On a brighter note, I found this bit of loveliness once the tomatoes were out of the way. It probably could have stayed on the vine a bit longer, but I was getting impatient to harvest my first cucumber. Sliced with a bit of salt and dill and it may be the creamiest cucumber I've ever had- well worth the effort in my book.

[Shawn]

Sorry about the tomatoes but if you are good with it great.  Cucumber looks look.  I am glad it tasted better.

[MaryL]

Yay, her first cucumber!  And it was delicious, not bitter .

As always your plants look great. I used my meter you recommended for the first time yesterday when I did a Rinse and Refill.  I don’t really know what it’s supposed to say but I suppose I’ll get there.  And I’m still trying to figure out how much food my cukes need.  

[drbanks]

Nothing beats an aerogarden grown cuke!

[serri588]

Feb 4, 2018 11:34:13 GMT -5 MaryL said:

Yay, her first cucumber!  And it was delicious, not bitter .

As always your plants look great. I used my meter you recommended for the first time yesterday when I did a Rinse and Refill.  I don’t really know what it’s supposed to say but I suppose I’ll get there.  And I’m still trying to figure out how much food my cukes need.  

Here's a chart with the recommended EC's listed: www.growthtechnology.com/growtorial/target-ec-ranges/

The one I use does micro units so multiply by 1000 (or pretend that the decimal is after the first number). So for cucumbers, the chart says 1.6-2.4 which would read 1600-2400 on the meter. The ppm setting is just a conversion from EC, so its the same reading with different units. However, different meters use different conversion rates, so it's more complicated to work with PPM charts.

Full strength AG nutes in the farm (24ml) is in the 700s. A little low, but the plants seem to be doing okay if I feed every week. Flora series was 1800 I think? I haven't checked in a while.

You can test your tap water to see what that comes out to- probably 100 or less. Personally, I'm going to feed on the off week if the EC is 300 or less since that's not much more than tap water.

I think the nice thing about all this is that you don't have to be anywhere near perfect, just good enough. 

[MaryL]

Thank you for explaining that and for the chart.  I’m further along now.   So, I’m not getting why if it’s supposed to be between 1600-2400, why is the 700 AG nute level ok?  Does that have to do with the buffering (which I also don’t understand what that is)?

[serri588]

It has to do with the fact that I feed it that every week and the plant is doing fine.

What's on the chart is an ideal range. Generally feeding less is okay, the plant just won't grow as large or as quickly. Feeding too much is where you can damage the plant.

Buffering has to do with the ph. The AG nutes need less ph up/down than other types. I don't know much about how that actually works.

[serri588]

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics as these plants shut down, but the cucumbers are now done. I got probably 8-10 good cucs off of each plant. I think I may be able to get more now that I've had some practice with growing cucumbers.

My cukes are just starting and I hope my project is as successful as yours.

[MaryL]

8-10 per plant sounds pretty good to me - congratulations!