Watercress - Harvest Slim - Take Two

[pfunnyjoy]

2024-10-10: Day 0

Seeds: Baker Creek Watercress Aqua Large Leaf
Garden: AG Harvest Elite Slim
Location: North 40, office
Water: tap
Grow Medium: Park Seed sponge
Preferred pH: 6.5–7.0
Preferred EC: 0.4–1.8
Nutrient: GH Maxi Gro 1.5g/gallon

Nutrient Mix pH: 6.0
Nutrient Mix EC: 0.6

My first attempt was in the kitchen and while I got germination and sprouts, they quickly looked unhappy and died. Either the presence of the nearby air purifier bothered them or the nutrients were too strong, or both, I’ve no idea. Or maybe I didn’t watch pH closely enough!

This time I’ve planted 5 pods, leaving the pod over the pump empty. This might be crowded, but I may as well, in case I don’t get sprouts in all pods. I can always take a plant or two out later. One empty pod will make a good place to insert my EC meter, since the water fill opening is not large enough on a Slim unit.

[pfunnyjoy]

We have sprouts coming! All 5 pods have action, though nothing is showing above the covers yet.

[pfunnyjoy]

I goofed and thought I had only water in this garden, so added Ionic Grow because I was anxious to try it out.

I quickly realized my mistake and did a rinse and refill in order to avoid burning the little plants.

Started by adding 4.0ml of Ionic Grow, that brought the EC to 0.6, I decided to add another 1.0ml which has brought it to 0.8 EC. Tested pH, added 1.0ml of pH Down and we are at pH 6.0 presently. Excited to see how this goes.

EDIT: And in testing the EC, I moved a pod to open a hole and clumsily pulled the sprout out when the TPU cover came off unexpectedly. I think there is another sprout coming in that pod, if not, I'll toss in a couple more seeds.

The worst is I found that I still didn't have good access and had to just lift up the deck anyway to get the meter in, because pulling up the lamp hood and trying to use the open pod hole still didn't give me enough room. Lesson learned. It's the one thing I don't like about the Harvest Slim units. 

[pfunnyjoy]

After my goof, I decided that if the grow space I left unplanted isn't going to do for checking EC, I might as well plant it. So I dropped in a pod basket, a dampened sponge and added 3 seeds. Plus, on the one pod that seems to have a very slow sprout that I don't know if it's going to thrive, added another couple seeds to that. I think. Darn seeds are so tiny, who knows? I used a folded post-it note to sort of pour them in.

I need to go look at the Aerogarden Experiments guy's grow, I don't think he thinned his out, and my inclination is not to for this grow. I do have three sprouts in one of the pods, and can see a slower sprout peeking up in another pod to make two for that pod.

Everything looks well so far! No sign of true leaves yet.

[pfunnyjoy]

Checked all my gardens pH tonight. All were holding at 6.0 except the watercress.

That was a surprise. It wasn't drastically out, about 5.0, but enough that I added a tiny bit of pH Up. I'll check again in the AM.

It's got to be the Ionic Grow, so I'll keep an eye on things. I may need to adjust less with these nutrients if they like to drift pH downward. It's sure the opposite of what normally happens in my gardens! 

The plants look happy and growing, except two pods where one seedling doesn't look like it is doing anything further and another is rather deep in the pod and I'm not sure if it will surface above the cover or not. Both pods had a few extra seeds tossed in, so hopefully I get something in them. If not, three pods will hopefully do. 

[pfunnyjoy]

2024-10-19: Day 9
Seedlings in two of the three right-hand pods. Only the furthest right pod is showing nothing. Wondering if it’s just something about that particular sponge. I’ll check tomorrow, if I still see nothing, I might replant, or just move the other two pods right to be further away from the pump. pH is holding.

[pfunnyjoy]

2024-10-22: Day 12


I think at this point I'm not going to bother trying again to get a 6th pod reseeded. Nothing sprouted in that particular pod AGAIN and I'm either tossing it or boiling it for reuse. One pod had FIVE seedlings, but the little watercress plants look so delicate that I didn't want to try to do any pod surgery and move them. I just thinned that pod to 3 seedlings for the time being.

[pfunnyjoy]

2024-11-07: Day 28
Rinse and refill. The watercress has taken off, and now it’s going to be a matter of keeping up harvesting! The plants on the right haven’t caught up to the earlier sprouts on the left, but it’s only a matter of time. Removed a tiny trace of algae from the rim of the bowl/deck edge, otherwise, no problem, the hydrogen peroxide is doing its thing.

The empty pod bothered me, so I decided to try an experiment, I cut off a branch, with several air roots showing on different nodes, trimmed the leaves by the nodes, and placed it in a sponge and popped it in that spot to see if it can take root and thrive. The cutting immediately keeled over. Fingers crossed. I’ve ZERO experience with doing cuttings.

Nutrients:
2.0ml Cal/Mag
12.0ml Ionic Grow
5.0ml 3% food-grade Hydrogen Peroxide

EC: 1.3
pH: 6.0 (after adding 0.75ml pH Down)

[LoveSalads]

looking good. 

[pfunnyjoy]

Nov 7, 2024 17:37:17 GMT -5 LoveSalads said:

looking good. 

I'll say this, watercress is an "interesting" taste by itself, but it tends to disappear into my salads. A little peppery, but just kind of "odd," at least to my taste buds. My cutting is still droopy, but does not appear lifeless, so I'm hopeful it can survive and root.

Watercress is supposed to be high in vitamin K, so I won't mind using plenty of it in salads or even green juices. 

[pfunnyjoy]

The little cutting has perked up overnight, so I'm hopeful that it can root and grow.

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Last night I lifted up the pod with the cutting and it already has roots growing through the sponge! It's looking very bright and happy these days, so propagation of this plant is likely to be easy.

[pfunnyjoy]

2024-11-16: Day 37
Watercress is a rambunctious plant! Once it gets going, it gets going! I've been cutting on it most days, just to have a pretty salad topping and giving hubby some too. I added a bit to a green juice this morning.

Easy to take cuttings and start new plants. I took a cutting a few days back, put it in my little Gourmet Herb garden to get roots going, tonight it's been transferred to a Mason jar to try Kratky growing.

What a tangled web we weave, when first we grow watercress!


My first Kratky ever! (Don't tell my husband I stole a couple of his socks to cover Mason jars!)

[LoveSalads]

pfunnyjoy The pics are all looking good. Nice creative light block for the jar. 

[scarfguy]

Nov 17, 2024 9:14:53 GMT -5 LoveSalads said:

pfunnyjoy The pics are all looking good. Nice creative light block for the jar. 

Hmmm... sounds like a business opportunity... Handknit Kratky Cozy!

Market them as "Kratky Kozies" 

[pfunnyjoy]

Well, the little seedling looked happy this morning and still so tonight, so we'll see how this goes. If the Gourmet Herb mint ever germinates, I want to put it in a Kratky jar. But so far, nothing. 

[pfunnyjoy]

Nov 17, 2024 9:59:04 GMT -5 scarfguy said:

Nov 17, 2024 9:14:53 GMT -5 LoveSalads said:

pfunnyjoy The pics are all looking good. Nice creative light block for the jar. 

Hmmm... sounds like a business opportunity... Handknit Kratky Cozy!

Market them as "Kratky Kozies" 

It wasn't my idea, I got it from shershegrows.com/kratky-mason-jar/

I think it would be hard to make a profit off selling black socks for Mason jars, LOL! Maybe if you could knit ones with cute patterns that would still block light well. But I can't knit.

I saw someone else saying they used black child's leggings for the larger Mason jars. I did buy a little kit with the AG pod lids for the jars, and it came with black covers for the quart-size jars. I may play with some of those too, but I figured the larger jars were likely going to be less hassle in terms of monitoring water loss.

[pfunnyjoy]

It seems Kratky is not as easy as it looks. I don't have a clue why this is failing. The plant grew, looked happy, was putting out roots, and then a week later, leaves started shriveling. I checked pH and that was A-OK. Maybe it hates being in the kitchen. Maybe something else is wrong. But it looks like it is going to die and I'll have to try again at a later time.

Watercress in the Aerogarden is still going strong.

[lynnee]

I agree that Kratky is a bit harder than it looks. Could it be that your water level is too high? My first mistake was not leaving enough space for air roots.

My other Kratkys failed when too much sediment or plant byproducts built up in the water. I quit on Kratkys at that point, because one of the advantages of the method is that you don't have to change the water. Or so I thought. Maybe I got that wrong.

[pfunnyjoy]

Nov 28, 2024 10:40:45 GMT -5 lynnee said:

I agree that Kratky is a bit harder than it looks. Could it be that your water level is too high? My first mistake was not leaving enough space for air roots.

My other Kratkys failed when too much sediment or plant byproducts built up in the water. I quit on Kratkys at that point, because one of the advantages of the method is that you don't have to change the water. Or so I thought. Maybe I got that wrong.

I do plan to try again, but I probably should do more reading on it first. At the moment, too darn busy.

I had planned to take the mint pod that's sitting downstairs in the lettuce garden and transfer it straight to Kratky, but I think instead, I'll put it in one of the old AG units in the basement, let it get going, then try cuttings as Kratky.