TERMINATED: Cilantro "Pokey Joe"

[pfunnyjoy]

2023-12-13: Day 0

Seeds: Uprising Seeds “Pokey Joe” Cilantro
Planted: 2:20 PM
Aerogarden: 2023 Harvest Elite Slim
Location: North 40, kitchen counter
Water: tap, filtered, Big Berkey
Grow Medium: 2009 AG Grow Anything sponges
Preferred PH: 5.5–6.7
Preferred EC: 1.2–1.8

Nutrients:
GH MaxiGro: 0.25 TSP per gallon
GH CALiMAGic: 0.50ml per gallon
3% hydrogen peroxide: 1.0 TSP

Nutrient mix PH: 6.0
Nutrient mix EC: 0.6

CONCLUSION: Successful once moved to my office. Grew until they bolted. I will, in the future, plant fewer plants, and probably just use a Harvest 360. 3 plants would give me sufficient cilantro, I'm pretty sure! THE END

I cracked the cilantro seeds in two and soaked them in warm water overnight. Then germinated them on a paper towel in a Ziploc baggie. This took 2 or 3 days, can't remember exactly when I started them.

With the previously terminated garden, I had used a 0.5 TSP of MaxiGro and got burnt seedlings. So I've gone to 0.25 to see how that does for starting a garden. I'd really like to see if I can make the MaxiGro work from start to finish.

[pfunnyjoy]

2023-12-17: Day 4
Sprouts up in four pods, hoping the other two show soon. 

[pfunnyjoy]

2023-12-19: Day 6
Sprouts up in all 6 pods!

[pfunnyjoy]

2023-12-21: Day 8
First true leaves developing.

[tdse]

Dec 21, 2023 17:56:40 GMT -5 pfunnyjoy said:

2023-12-21: Day 8
First true leaves developing.

Looks fantastic!

[pfunnyjoy]

Let's hope! I think my first try was just too much nutrient. MaxiGro is strong stuff! 

I'd been watching the Aerogarden Experiments guy on YouTube, and he is always putting a whole teaspoon of MaxiGro in after his sprouts come up, including his cilantro video. But that's EC of like 2.2! Beyond what cilantro supposedly likes! I have no idea how he gets away with that!

So I went cautiously on the first try and used a 1/2 TSP. And still got nutrient burn! The EC was something like 1.1, which should be fine for established cilantro plants, but apparently was too much for seedlings.

These guys have barely any nutrition at all, LOL! EC of 0.6.

And gosh, that reminds me, I need to get my parsley seeds for the other Harvest Slim into paper towel and ziploc baggie. Hopefully the extra long soak didn't hurt them, forgot all about it this AM.

[slw]

I love watching the Aerogarden Experiments guy (and sometimes I mimic his voice when talking to myself while working on my gardens...haha.   I love the way he says "al-gea.")   BUT... I don't agree with some of his methods.   For one thing, I think he leaves cucumbers on the vine far too long; he waits until they start turning yellow to harvest.   Nooooooooooooooooooo. 

He's interesting to watch but when all is said and done, "YMMV". 

I'm aggravated with my cilantro right now.  I cracked seeds, soaked, planted 4 pods and only got one measly seedling.  Of course I don't use much cilantro so there's that. 

[pfunnyjoy]

Dec 22, 2023 13:02:03 GMT -5 slw said:

I love watching the Aerogarden Experiments guy (and sometimes I mimic his voice when talking to myself while working on my gardens...haha.   I love the way he says "al-gea.")   BUT... I don't agree with some of his methods.   For one thing, I think he leaves cucumbers on the vine far too long; he waits until they start turning yellow to harvest.   Nooooooooooooooooooo. 

He's interesting to watch but when all is said and done, "YMMV". 

I'm aggravated with my cilantro right now.  I cracked seeds, soaked, planted 4 pods and only got one measly seedling.  Of course I don't use much cilantro so there's that.

That's why I like crack/soak/damp paper towel in Ziploc baggie method over the crack/soak/plant direct in AG. That way, when you plant a pod, you know you are putting a seed in that has, at least, germinated. So far, I've not failed to get a sprout as long as a cilantro seed was showing germination when I planted it in a pod. And I'm impatient, so I often do it when only the tiniest bit of root is showing.

Yes, I've gathered the YMMV part of the AG Experiments guy. I love listening to him though! He's always growing some interesting green or other, and fun fruiting veggies as well. I think he'd have fewer algae problems if he used some 3% hydrogen peroxide, but each to his own, I suppose.

I'm hoping to get enough cilantro to put small bunches in juice and maybe occasionally on salads or to make cilantro lime rice. But it's been years since I've grown it and never an entire Aerogarden full, so I have no idea what the yield will be like and my memory isn't telling me diddly. I'm even now wondering if I should have tried doing TWO plants per pod instead of one.

[pfunnyjoy]

2023-12-27: Day 14
Rinse and refill. GH MaxiGro + CALiMAGic is hard to measure at low EC levels. I have 5ml syringes on order, but meanwhile, I’m switching to GH Flora series.

Nutrients:
2.0ml CALiMAGic per gallon
2.5ml Flora Micro per gallon
2.5ml Flora Gro per gallon
2.5ml Flora Bloom per gallon
5.0ml 3% hydrogen peroxide

Nutrient mix PH: 6.5
Nutrient mix EC: 1.0
The EC is slightly high. I diluted to 0.8 when filling the reservoir.

One leaf on the left-hand side is showing some edge browning. I raised the lights an inch. The two leftmost plants had longer roots; I trimmed them to be the same length as the other plants.


There's a tiny touch of edge browning on these right-hand plants.


Hoping for the best!

[lynnee]

That's some tasty-looking parsley!

The edge-browning (can't really see it in the photo) may not show up on the later leaves. Seedlings are more sensitive to drafts than mature plants.

[pfunnyjoy]

Dec 29, 2023 11:03:35 GMT -5 lynnee said:

That's some tasty-looking parsley!

The edge-browning (can't really see it in the photo) may not show up on the later leaves. Seedlings are more sensitive to drafts than mature plants.

The edge browning is showing up more today, plus hints of leaf curling. I'm hoping if they can just get past the point of being seedlings, they'll manage to grow successfully. PH has risen slightly to 6.5, but still in range.

I'm wondering if my light hood is too low. It is currently 4" above the plants, I just raised it slightly this morning.

[pfunnyjoy]

I'm hoping that once these plants get a little more mature, the leaf edge browning will stop. It's hard to believe an EC of 0.8 is causing nutrient burn. I'm wondering if it's something else.

They are growing, and drinking a bit, so I'm hoping this resolves. Here's a closeup of what they look like:

[lynnee]

That fan in the background may be causing the leaf browning. My plants look like that when they're in a draft.

[pfunnyjoy]

The fan is not running! It's just still sitting there from my first two failed gardens in that spot and has not been turned on since. I didn't see a reason to take it away, since if the cilantro/parsley gets thick (crossed fingers) it might be needed.

So I think we can rule that out as a suspect in the crime, LOL!

[lynnee]

Okay, the fan is innocent!

Is the room air very dry? I would still suspect an environmental factor.

[pfunnyjoy]

Jan 2, 2024 10:29:11 GMT -5 lynnee said:

Okay, the fan is innocent!

Is the room air very dry? I would still suspect an environmental factor.

The house is kept around 40-50% humidity because I have severe dry eye syndrome and my eyes can't take much less than that for very long, unless I want to be putting in eyedrops nearly non-stop. It's been a relatively warm winter, with most days around or above freezing. It's dreary as all get out, but nothing extreme, so the humidifier is keeping up nicely.

The Acurite hygrometer in the kitchen is currently reading 51%, so it shouldn't be too dry for plants.

I keep thinking there's something about the nutrition it isn't quite happy with. EC of 0.6 it was relatively happy, no browning, but the leaves were on the pale side. Maybe the plants just need to stay at the lower EC until they get a bit bigger. Maybe I don't have the cal/mag balance right. The plants are growing, but I can see tiny brown tips on some, but not necessarily all of the new growth. 

I'm going to let it ride for now. Don't really know what else to do. I don't have a place to move the gardens to, so if cilantro doesn't grow well in this spot, I'll just have to grow something else in the Harvests. But I know I grew it in the past in the kitchen as that's where I've always grown herbs.

[pfunnyjoy]

2024-01-09: Day 27

Rinse and refill.

The little plants did not like the GH Flora mix I previously gave them. Lots of browning and what looks like nutrient burn. Didn’t have time until now to attempt rescue. I’ve checked the EC on my tap water again, and it’s risen slightly to 0.4. Perhaps I do not need the cal/mag or I need less of it.

I’m giving them MaxiGro again, with NO cal/mag. I’ve cut all the damaged growth off, which is practically everything. Lowered the light slightly. I also cut the hydrogen peroxide amount. I’ve had no algae problems.

If I’m going to use MaxiGro for seedlings, I am going to have to get a more accurate scale, one that can measure partial grams. My normal kitchen scale isn’t going to cut it. A ½ teaspoon is too high EC for seedlings (been there, done that) and I can’t level out smaller teaspoon amounts accurately; the powder is too coarse.

Here’s hoping I can save the cilantro, which smells rather good, as damaged as it is.

Nutrient mix:
2.0g GH MaxiGro (as best as I could measure it)
1.2ml pH Down
3.0ml hydrogen peroxide

Nutrient mix PH: 6.5
Nutrient mix EC: 1.0

[pfunnyjoy]

2024-02-05: Day 54
I haven't been updating, because frankly, the cilantro garden has been depressing to look at.


Rinse & refill a day early. I’m trying out a location change. The cilantro has been drinking, growing, and the roots look OK. But the leaves come up green, then go brown and crispy shortly thereafter and I don’t get any usable cilantro. I've trimmed all the brown stuff off.



I shouldn’t think they’d be getting nutrient burnt as 54-day-old plants, and if they were, they'd probably stop growing, right?

They’ve been moved to a table in my office. I used to grow herbs successfully on the kitchen counter where these were, but that was back before the air purifier. Could be there’s too much draft from that. Unfortunately, though there is another outlet further down the living room wall, it’s in a very inconvenient spot to get at the air purifier for the monthly cleanout, so it needs to stay where it is. Note: The fan pictured in the background is not and has not been on! 

I did goof and accidentally hit “Start a new garden” somehow, ugh. Oh well, can’t be any worse than this garden already is!

Nutrients (per gallon):
1.0ml GH CALiMAGic
3.0g GH MaxiGro (approximately a half teaspoon)
5.0ml 3% hydrogen peroxide

Nutrient mix pH: 6.0
Nutrient mix EC: 1.1

[pfunnyjoy]

2024-02-07
Plants still not happy. Checked pH, it was up to 8.0! In two days! EC still at 1.1.

Took a guess, added 0.6ml of pH Down, and later in the afternoon, the pH was back to a more reasonable 6.0. Trimmed the leaves that had issues. Back to wait and see again.

[lynnee]

pfunnyjoy, my cherry tomatoes get crispy leaves like your cilantro leaves from time to time. I've been unable to isolate the cause.

This morning a previously healthy plant has crispy leaves, and the most likely cause is the weather. It got very cold overnight, so that (1) the location near a cracked-open window got colder, and (2) the furnace ran more often (although the vent in that room is closed).

Another possibility is that the plant ran out of nutrients. It was 2 weeks past its R&R date.

R&R happened this morning, so we'll see whether lack of nutes caused the dried out leaves.