Shawn
Administrator
Posts: 16,265 
|
Post by Shawn on May 8, 2019 5:23:49 GMT -5
I am sorry the pepper never made it. I use the moisture control when I plant flowers.
So do you only use the AG for starting plants? Or do you keep plants in them to grow for their full term? Or a combination? Just curious.
|
|
|
|
Post by raynebc on May 8, 2019 11:59:31 GMT -5
So far I'm just using it to start plants, but up to now I've only used the Harvest model and the Ultra is quite a bit bigger. I had chosen plants based on what I wanted to grow more than what I thought would stay small enough to live in the Harvest. I could grow some plants in the Ultra permanently if I wanted to, but I still think I'll focus mostly on moving plants outside because the sun is free plant lighting. During the months where it's too cold to grow outside, I might do the same thing I've been doing since December and grow one or two pepper plants indoors.
I did get to eat my first three indoor-grown jalapenos the other day, which were pretty good. Several of the fruits are corking, but none of them have changed from their original green color yet. I don't know how much longer it would take, some of the fruits have been growing for several weeks. Maybe the heat/light conditions aren't right for the fruits to mature promptly, and I'll just have to eat them green so I can prompt it to produce more.
|
|
|
|
Post by raynebc on May 11, 2019 22:12:35 GMT -5
I finally set up my AG Ultra, it definitely is roomier than the Harvest. From left to right it's jalapeno, habanero, peppermint and tomato: The jalapeno's roots stick out a lot more so it was harder to move it from one aerogarden to the other. I'd move it to soil, but it's still in the 40's in the evening so I want to wait until it would be able to have a relatively prompt transition to moving outdoors. The roots on the tomato look great, but like the previous attempt, the leaves are a bit droopy, and some of them have some kind of deformities that look like warts: I did let the reservoir get a little too low once (not enough to trigger the add water warning), and perhaps where I've been keeping my AG Harvest, it doesn't get enough air circulation so maybe it got too hot and moist? Hopefully it will recover now that it gets some air flow from a ceiling fan, on my new plant shelf: I may even have enough space on that middle shelf to have both the Harvest and the AeroVoir set up. I got a plastic table outside which gets plenty of shady light, so it should be a good spot to harden plants: From front to back that's chocolate mint and orange mint (propagated from the plants on my desk), genevese basil (propagated from my AeroGarden herb pod), a morning glory, a speedwell, another morning glory, a salvia, another morning glory, pineapple sage (purple pot) and that grumpy old cayenne pepper (which isn't growing taller, presumably because I moved it outside while it was too cold, but it's growing flowers that I keep removing to try to trigger more growth) plant in the red pot. The speedwell and salvia are for my mom, since she wants more hummingbirds around her place. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep growing spearmint and basil in my room. The mint doesn't produce enough oil and the basil is choked for space. I've been converting the basil into cuttings and will probably keep one or two to grow outside. I already have enough spearmint that I'm not sure I need to keep this one, plus I ordered some scotch spearmint plants (the variety typically grown commercially for producing essential oil) to have at work and outside. Maybe I'll transplant the whole hydro spearmint plant into a bucket of potting soil, cut down the foliage substantially and put it outside after it's had a week or so to recover. If that sadistic treatment doesn't kill it I think it will thrive with all the sunlight and space it could want. That sunflower is still doing well: I keep forgetting to use a moisture meter to test the soil's wetness to see if the wicking is working properly. It's not hot out yet but it's not really losing much water from the reservoir, if any. For the next buckets I create I'll probably use a longer length of drainage sock so it may be able to wick more effectively to more of the bucket.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 12, 2019 12:53:02 GMT -5
Lovely variety of potted plants. I can't wait for that sunflower!
Every year I plant some, either caterpillar thingies or large critters get them at the stalk or before they open! I am looking forward to seeing your project in full bloom!  |
|
mike
The Pepper King
Posts: 3,661 
|
Post by mike on May 12, 2019 14:26:34 GMT -5
Interesting...
|
|
|
|
Post by raynebc on May 15, 2019 11:35:26 GMT -5
Before I left on Mother's Day I saw my first morning glory flower: I haven't had the right timing to see the flower open since, it closes by the time I get home from work. When I was pruning my spearmint at work the other day, one of the stems had twisted itself unusually so that the leaves arranged like a spiral staircase: I finally got a jalapeno fruit maturing enough to change red: Is this size of peppers typical for the "Early Jalapeno" variety? They seem pretty small, but they're good eating so if they aren't meant to get bigger I'll pick them more promptly. I finally got all 23 sites of my AG Harvest seed starter tray loaded up with a selection of pretty much all the seeds I have (scallion, jalapeno, bell pepper, cayenne, tongue tickler, tomato, habanero, watermelon, green bean, passion flower) to replace plants I killed and to have a couple spares in case I accidentally kill my peppers or tomatoes again. I'd removed the deformed leaves from my tomato plant (from pictures I've seen it looks like edema which makes sense since it was in overly humid conditions when I was covering all four sides of the AG Harvest with reflective panels) and it seems to be doing better. I'd be interested to see if I can get the beans or passion flower seeds to sprout this time around. Since the seed starter tray isn't designed to use plastic domes, is there any kind of covering I should use with the seed starter tray or do I leave it uncovered? After a little research about storing seeds, I got an airtight plastic container, put all the seed packets in it, added a few silica gel packets to absorb moisture, closed it up and put it in the fridge. With any luck the seeds will be good for another year or two so I don't have to re-buy them every year.
|
|
Shawn
Administrator
Posts: 16,265
|
Post by Shawn on May 15, 2019 12:58:17 GMT -5
Very nice flower. The mint looks cool like that. As for the Early Jalapeno, mine are much larger (see my garden). Who was the vendor?
|
|
|
|
Post by raynebc on May 18, 2019 12:02:17 GMT -5
My seeds are sealed up in the fridge, so it would take a while to check because I'd have to take the container out and let it thaw to room temperature before opening it (to prevent it from sucking in moisture and lowering the seeds' shelf life). I can't remember if it's Burpee, but I'm sure it's just my growing conditions limiting the fruit size. My DWC bucket cabinet was way too crowded, so I carried out my threat against the spearmint plant. I cut back about half of the foliage and put it in a sub irrigation planter bucket (full of mostly Miracle Grow moisture control potting soil) like my sunflower: The water level in the bucket had gotten to about 1/3 so if I'm lucky, the roots had started becoming acclimated to air (ie. Kratky method) and will transition to soil well. I hit the transplant with about 3/4 gallon of a mycorrhizae water solution so hopefully that will help too.
That leaves much more space for my jalapeno plant: That leftmost branch is a bit heavy with peppers, but now it no longer has a mint plant to rest on so I'll have to see if I can think of a good way to support that branch. I might have to prune it back a little after I harvest those peppers on it. The jalapeno, peppermint and tomato are big enough to transplant now: I'll see if I get around to it this weekend. The Ultra is huge though so I can raise the light hood if I procrastinate. I'm going to try to be extra cautious this time and will put the tomato and jalapeno in a peat pot so I can have them sit in water and it will keep the soil constantly moist.
I got another plastic table that I put in a different part of the yard that gets full sun, which will be a better place for most of my smaller potted plants that have already hardened. |
|
|
|
Post by raynebc on May 19, 2019 3:03:27 GMT -5
While shopping, I spotted an adjustable height walking cane and it seemed like it would be about right for the jalapeno plant: I also got around to transplanting the peppermint, jalapeno and tomato plants. The Ultra puts out a good amount of softer light around the appliance when the hood is raised up a bit, I'm hoping it's gentle enough to help the plants recover from transplant shock: I'll see how well the plants fare in the peat pots. I'm confident the mint will be fine, my experience so far is that mint more rugged than pretty much anything else I've planted. I might have to set up one of my other grow lights so I can lower the AG Ultra light hood though, I don't want the habanero to stretch for light. |
|
Shawn
Administrator
Posts: 16,265
|
Post by Shawn on May 20, 2019 5:56:52 GMT -5
I just took another picture of my Early Jalapenos and while not long they are longer then yours. I will be posting pictures so you can see.
|
|
|
|
Post by raynebc on May 20, 2019 12:03:38 GMT -5
I saw the picture, thank you. I think I should probably prune my jalapeno plant a bit so it isn't strained so much by the weight of its peppers. The transplanted tomato plant is still a bit sick looking, but the jalapeno seems fine. As long as the temperature stays in the upper forties or above, is it fine to start hardening them outside, or should I wait for warmer weather?
Before getting some organic slow release fertilizer, I bought some water soluble ones (normal Miracle Grow and a tomato variety Miracle Grow). The normal Miracle grow is high in nitrogen, so I figured it would be a good way to give my foliage-only plants (like mint) a kick, but would it be helpful for young tomatoes/peppers or should I stick with a more balanced tomato variety fertilizer for my fruiting plants? If I transplant into a container with slow release fertilizer, should I also give some water soluble fertilizer at transplant or would that be too much?
|
|
|
|
Post by raynebc on May 28, 2019 12:03:32 GMT -5
The tomato plant isn't thriving, but it's still alive. I think I'll go ahead and re-pot it (peat pot dries out too quickly) and see if it will survive outside in partial sunlight. The jalapeno plant is doing just fine, and is starting to grow some flowers that I'll have to remove. It looks like one or two seeds are about to sprout in the AG Harvest's seed starter tray, but it's been about two weeks. Since these don't have domes that will fit like on the normal AG trays, I imagine it would take longer for them to sprout, but is it typical that they'll take this long? I'd hate to think the seeds are molding or something. The sponges are staying moist and I'm keeping the reservoir water level up. I re-potted the scotch spearmint plants I bought online. One is staying inside under grow lights until it gets big enough to take to work. The other is on my shade table with a peppermint plant. They're both probably ready to get full sun. The spearmint plant came from a nursery so I assume it's hardy enough, but it spent a couple weeks inside. Should I harden it again by giving it gradual amounts of full sun or just throw it back into the light? I built my third sub irrigation planter, and even though it still takes about an hour or so to do one (lots of drilling, de-burring, etc) I think I'm getting the hang of it. I transplanted the cutting I made from the orange mint plant at my desk at work: This design does seem to be working. The last couple of these I made, I left the drainage sock length (encompassing the net pot of soil) extra long, so it adds extra wicking ability by having fabric lead from the water reservoir to several inches into the bucket. I am able to tell that the water reservoirs are being consumed, because when I watered the plants the other day, I had to pour a good 0.5-1 gallons of water into each of the reservoirs (via the PVC pipe) before it drained from the hole in the outer bucket. The normal spearmint bucket (converted from DWC) is still alive, if not a bit rough looking. I moved it into full sun, so if it's going to survive, it will probably thrive. I'm harvesting a few jalapenos every several days, but the plant in my room finally has lots of red peppers: |
|
|
|
Post by raynebc on May 31, 2019 14:23:06 GMT -5
It's been a couple weeks and I'm still not seeing any germination in my AG Harvest seed starter tray. Although this isn't an abnormal amount of time compared to seeds I sprouted in the standard 6 site tray, it still makes me a bit nervous. I don't expect I did anything wrong, I took the water pump's spout out and the tray fits on well, all sponges are partially submerged (the fill line in the reservoir is higher than the bottom of the sponges) and the sponges are staying moist. Were there any other considerations I should make?
|
|
Shawn
Administrator
Posts: 16,265
|
Post by Shawn on May 31, 2019 16:01:31 GMT -5
May I ask what you have in the starter? Also take a flashlight and look in each hole. It may be that the seeds are too far in and can not see the "growth".
Also, Are these custom (your own) seeds? If so did you read to see how they should be planted? For example, some seeds are to be placed on top of soil with a light covering. When I read this I use a pointed tip tweezer to push or place the seed in the hole but right near the top. Or I will place or push a few on the top. It it says plant and cover in a 1/4" dirt. Then I place the seed in the middle of the pod by pushing the seed in or at the side.
Also I will place a few seeds on a sheet of paper. Dip the tweezer point in some water and pick up the seed. This helps the seed stick to the point for easier placement. Lastly, I also soak my sponge so the wetness acts as a "glue" to help the seed stick to the inner sides when placing near the top or middle.
|
|
|
|
Post by raynebc on May 31, 2019 23:27:39 GMT -5
I planted all sorts of different seeds, basically some of everything I have (scallion, jalapeno, bell pepper, cayenne, toothache plant, tomato, habanero, watermelon, green bean, passion flower). Generally I just planted a seed at the bottom of the sponge's hole and wet the seed with an eye dropper. On some but not all of the sponges, I'd torn a tiny piece of sphagnum to cover the hole in the center of the top of the sponge to prevent the seed from drying out.
Previously, the only seeds of these I couldn't get to sprout were the beans and passion flower seeds, all I had to do before was drop the seeds into the sponges and use an eye dropper to saturate the seed while it's in the sponge. I didn't even use to soak the sponges in advance like what is recommended and they all sprouted just fine. That was when using the grow domes of course, but the seed starter tray's design doesn't allow for using the domes.
I also use tweezers, but I keep them dry and drop seeds one at a time into the sponges. This time I didn't put any nutrient in the reservoir, since I often see it recommended not to do so until they at least grow a set or two of true leaves. For the first several months I've planted seeds in AeroGardens, I would just use the full strength AG liquid fertilizer and generally never had any problems. I have to assume the nutrients may helped the seedlings emerge faster once they actually began to sprout.
|
|
Shawn
Administrator
Posts: 16,265
|
Post by Shawn on Jun 1, 2019 3:24:08 GMT -5
I have never used a seed starter. But I guess you can cover the pods with plastic wrap lightly to cause a humidity effect. I know some of my seeds have died off when placed too far in the pod especially if it should have been closer to the top. As for covering the hole. I have no clue.
I know the instructions say to fill with water and let the pods soak for 24 hours before adding seeds. Also stating to add nutes. SO that may be an issue in late or non-germination.
|
|
|
|
Post by raynebc on Jun 5, 2019 23:46:01 GMT -5
It looks like another seed may be close to sprouting, but no actual sprouts yet on the seed starter. I hope it's not a bust, there certainly won't be enough time to start from scratch with seeds if I want to get much out of this growing season. If nothing else, I've got an herb garden (5 kinds of mint, a sage plant, several potted basil plants), a flower garden (sunflower, morning glories), a jalapeno plant that's in good shape and my habanero plant is looking ready to transplant, just in time for the start of Summer weather: That tomato plant may even pull through, but I think the cayenne pepper plant may be permanently stunted. I'll see if it decides to react to the warm weather. |
|
Shawn
Administrator
Posts: 16,265
|
Post by Shawn on Jun 7, 2019 3:25:16 GMT -5
The plants in the picture are nice looking.
|
|
|
|
Post by raynebc on Jun 8, 2019 3:09:36 GMT -5
The scotch spearmint plant I had in potting soil turned out to be covered in aphids, they had just been subtle up until just recently as I hadn't noticed any. The leaves had been getting a sticky residue on them, which seems like it's a symptom of aphids, but I hadn't encountered them enough to recognize it. I was trying to remove them by stroking a wet qtip along the plant, rinsing and repeating, but there were just too many. After a quick Googling, I figured I should go the faster route and used a solution of isopropyl alcohol and water sprayed on the plant and the soil. I then pruned the plant a bit and allowed it to sit in a dark room while the alcohol evaporated off. I bottom fed it with some water soluble tomato plant food hoping it would help with a quick rebound. I'll probably have to repeat this spray treatment several more times to make sure the aphids are all dead and gone.
I'm pretty sure they were on the plant when it arrived in the mail, I haven't seen aphids or sticky leaf residue on any of my other plants. The other scotch spearmint plant I ordered has been outside, but I didn't immediately see any aphids on it. Presumably both plants would have had the same pest on them, but exposure to sun, rain, wind and predatory insects probably dealt with them naturally on the outside plant.
The transplanted jalapeno plant appears to have a flower, I should probably remove it because it isn't even fully hardened off yet. I'll see if I get around to it later today. I'll cover the jalapeno and tomato plants in a layer or two of cheesecloth for added protection and give them a couple hours of full sun. After they can take the sun, I'll build sub irrigation planter buckets for them and make a wire cage for each.
The transplanted habanero plant is doing very well, no noticeable transplant shock even apart from one single leaf that appears to have fallen off. Should I give it more time to adjust before putting it outside on my heavily shaded plant table? I transplanted it from the AeroGarden a mere couple days ago, but if it was going to go into shock I would have thought it would have visibly begun to do so by now.
|
|
Shawn
Administrator
Posts: 16,265
|
Post by Shawn on Jun 8, 2019 3:28:34 GMT -5
From what I have heard and read, when hardening off plants, you place them outside in the shade for a few days (as long as the night temps are above 55 degrees). Then you place them in the morning or evening sun for a few hours a day for several days. Every 4-5 days increase the sun exposure a couple of hours until it is fully hardened off.
That is what I did with my reaper which is VERY sensitive and has the most delicate flowers and stems I have seen on any plant to date. My reaper is flourishing and has three peppers that I can seer with many flowers now opening.
Keep in mind this is the FIRST plant I have ever planted in the AG to be grown outdoors, my first plant I have ever hardened off and my first real grow outside.
|
|
