slw
AGA Bounty
Posts: 846 
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Post by slw on Jul 12, 2023 20:23:21 GMT -5
The strawberries look awesome. I am so jealous as I have not been able to find any plants. Swimmom--I just noticed that Amazon has several offerings of strawberry plants. They are mostly "bare root" shipped and all have pretty good reviews. CLICK!! |
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Post by lynnee on Jul 12, 2023 22:26:00 GMT -5
FWIW, strawberries don't fruit until their second year. So seed companies sell "strawberry crowns" ("bare root" plants) instead of seeds. When I grew strawberries, the smallest number of crowns I could order was 25. I planted half of them in a Farm, and kept the rest in the garage. A month or so later, I put the "reserved" crowns into a couple of Bounty AGs, but none of them grew leaves. They either dried out in the garage (even though I kept them in the original packaging), or they just up and died because they needed to be planted promptly after overwintering.  |
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slw
AGA Bounty
Posts: 846
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Post by slw on Jul 14, 2023 16:30:06 GMT -5
Just when I finally got all 8 gardens somewhat on the same light schedule, we have a power blip.  Besides the fact that I thought the buttons on my new Slim Elite weren't working. After pressing them and resetting the clock about 9,058 times and just before drop-kicking the garden into the backyard, I finally googled and discovered that they are "touch" buttons... not "push" buttons. GAH. Why do they look like push buttons? 
Honestly, the plain little Harvests are the best machines for me... SIMPLE. I like simple. |
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Post by scarfguy on Jul 14, 2023 17:11:38 GMT -5
Haha, I did the exact same thing when I got the first elite. Yup, they look like push buttons!
As for your power glitch, I have all of my AGs plugged into a bunch of these:
Because of the size and shape of the damn power block, you can only power 2 AGs with this model. The larger model will power 3.
I don't know how long of a power outage they will continue to provide power.
I only need them to keep the AGs from losing their clocks while my whole house backup generator comes on. (YES! it's true! I got so angry having to reset the clocks on 15 active AGs every time the power glitched, I just spent $12,000 for a whole house generator. I love it! well worth the money! Now I have air conditioning during a summer thunderstorm and my furnace keeps running thru the winter snow storm!)
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slw
AGA Bounty
Posts: 846
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Post by slw on Jul 14, 2023 17:41:59 GMT -5
I hear ya, scarfguy. I'm retired and I don't like waking up at 5 a.m. to reset AG programs. We priced whole-house generators after the Great Texas Freeze and Power Outage of 2021, but there were so many people on a waiting list that we finally gave up. I wish we could have gotten one for $12k... our estimates started at $17k and went up to $22,000. YIKES. |
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Post by lynnee on Jul 15, 2023 11:22:46 GMT -5
Today I reconnected a Farm 12XL that has been offline for quite a while because of AG server issues. Reconnection details are here. |
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Post by lynnee on Jul 15, 2023 15:44:52 GMT -5
I'd love to have a generator to deal with power outages, but am very hesitant to mess with a gasoline engine. How is your generator powered, scarfguy? |
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Post by gingercat on Jul 15, 2023 15:53:12 GMT -5
I got my first strawberry bud! I was so excited to see it that it really took some effort to pinch it off.
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Post by scarfguy on Jul 15, 2023 16:04:26 GMT -5
I'd love to have a generator to deal with power outages, but am very hesitant to mess with a gasoline engine. How is your generator powered, scarfguy ?
Natural gas. They run a gas line from the house to the generator. I don't have to do anything.
When it senses the power dropped, it powers up and generates 14kw within 5-8 seconds.
When the power comes back, it waits 2 minutes to make sure the power is stable and then switches back to line power and shuts down.
I have a little app to start it and stop it if I wish. It starts offline and runs diagnostics once a week for 20 minutes.
A lot of people deal with these little portable generators. They just seem more trouble than they are worth. Also, to save money, a lot of people buy smaller stationary generators that only support a few circuits. Like the fridge, and the furnace, and the air conditioning. It's not a whole lot more money to get one large enough to power the whole house that way the power outage is a minimal disruption to your life.
I'm all about minimal disruptions in my life!
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Post by scarfguy on Jul 15, 2023 16:07:58 GMT -5
How exciting, gingercat! you are enticing me to try growing some strawberries! |
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slw
AGA Bounty
Posts: 846
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Post by slw on Jul 16, 2023 21:28:12 GMT -5
I have to terminate one of these Izniks. Can't decide which one goes.
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Post by scarfguy on Jul 17, 2023 5:54:34 GMT -5
The one on the right looks a little bigger. I always keep the biggest of the litter.  |
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Post by swimmom500 on Jul 17, 2023 10:52:48 GMT -5
Can’t you just move one to a different garden or plant one outside?
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Post by scarfguy on Jul 17, 2023 11:54:49 GMT -5
Can’t you just move one to a different garden or plant one outside?
Yea, that's the best idea slw! Buy one more (or 2 or 3) AGs just to move the extra cucumber to!  |
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Post by gingercat on Jul 17, 2023 13:40:50 GMT -5
Can’t you just move one to a different garden or plant one outside?
Yea, that's the best idea slw ! Buy one more (or 2 or 3) AGs just to move the extra cucumber to!
I might have done something like this...
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slw
AGA Bounty
Posts: 846
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Post by slw on Jul 17, 2023 17:41:55 GMT -5
Y'all so craaaazy.  |
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slw
AGA Bounty
Posts: 846
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Post by slw on Jul 18, 2023 18:58:04 GMT -5
So today I noticed the Harvest 360 Elite for $79, plus an additional 6-pod seed kit for free. You all know where this is going. |
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Post by swimmom500 on Jul 18, 2023 19:19:01 GMT -5
I see where it’s going! You are taking my advice and buying another unit. Or did you buy 2 or 3? After all lol at all the free seed pod kits you will be getting!
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slw
AGA Bounty
Posts: 846
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Post by slw on Jul 18, 2023 21:17:34 GMT -5
I only bought one.  
Centerpoint Energy is going to put a BOLO out for me; we are supposed to be conserving electricity in the heatwave. My dining room looks like the Griswold's house at Christmas.
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slw
AGA Bounty
Posts: 846
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Post by slw on Jul 21, 2023 22:11:17 GMT -5
Reporting on the "lettuce with fan" experiment. Thumbs down on the breeze making any difference in the wimp-ability of AG lettuce. I started using the fan for 5 hours a day as soon as the lettuce was 2" tall. A month later it's gorgeous but still wimpy so I wasted electricity for nothing. I'll just stick with romaine varieties.
I'm getting ready to start fall (outside) garden seeds so the latest AG is arriving just in time... tomorrow. I don't have a seed starter for the 360 so I'll need to move some plantings around.
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Besides the fact that I thought the buttons on my new Slim Elite weren't working. After pressing them and resetting the clock about 9,058 times and just before drop-kicking the garden into the backyard, I finally googled and discovered that they are "touch" buttons... not "push" buttons. GAH. Why do they look like push buttons?
