maskedsonnet
AGA Farmer
Without the burden of comparison, everything is beautiful
Posts: 1,610
|
Post by maskedsonnet on Dec 19, 2020 20:12:24 GMT -5
Had to leave for work before I could get started but when I get home in the morning going to attempt a Kratky setup! I'd never heard of it before seeing it on this forum, and got curious. Pre-pandemic, the local brewery would host some really wonderful beer-pairing dinners, and at the end of the night would send everyone home with a half-growler of their favorite beer from the night. (32oz). I have half a dozen of these just gathering dust on a closet shelf, because I hate throwing away nice glass bottles. The aerogarden pod baskets fit nicely in the mouth of these bottles:  If I end up liking this I'll put all my bottles to work, just going to start one and see how it goes for now! Using seed that I got for free with an order from Baker's Creek:  Because I have nothing invested in it. I've never had or even seen kohlrabi in person, but from the picture I assume that a mature plant isn't actually suitable for a Kratky setup in the bottles I've got. I'm really just doing this as practice to see if I can get it to sprout, and if I can I'll buy some lettuce seeds to put in there. I know a couple people on here do Kratky, I'd love any tips/advise you've got! |
|
|
|
Post by ERR0R1755 on Dec 19, 2020 21:42:13 GMT -5
Kratky is pretty easy - just don't refill it all the way, and don't let the water completely run out. If you're interested in taking a look, I grew those same seeds from Baker Creek (although not to maturity) using the Kratky method, and I'm also growing them in my Harvest. |
|
maskedsonnet
AGA Farmer
Without the burden of comparison, everything is beautiful
Posts: 1,610
|
Post by maskedsonnet on Dec 19, 2020 21:55:21 GMT -5
Thank you!! The leaves on those are very pretty, I bet they're great in salads!
|
|
maskedsonnet
AGA Farmer
Without the burden of comparison, everything is beautiful
Posts: 1,610
|
Post by maskedsonnet on Dec 20, 2020 8:28:59 GMT -5
Started and shoved in with the herb starts. We shall see   |
|
|
|
Post by clumsythumbs on Dec 20, 2020 12:31:20 GMT -5
How exciting! Will be following...
I am about to start some Kratky set ups as well in the coming week or so. I am planning to transplant a tomato seedling that I started in my Ultra...and maybe an eggplant to another container.
Did you use AG 'nutes?
|
|
maskedsonnet
AGA Farmer
Without the burden of comparison, everything is beautiful
Posts: 1,610
|
Post by maskedsonnet on Dec 20, 2020 18:44:38 GMT -5
I did! Though I may have used too much, for indoor plants it says to use 2mL (1/2 cap) per gallon of water. For my 32 oz bottles that'd be 1/2 mL (1/8 cap). That didn't sound like enough for the plant to grow and be healthy? So I went ahead and poured 1/2 cap of AG nutrient in there. So may have poisoned the poor thing before it ever got a chance to sprout :|
|
|
|
|
Post by clumsythumbs on Dec 21, 2020 10:23:13 GMT -5
I did! Though I may have used too much, for indoor plants it says to use 2mL (1/2 cap) per gallon of water. For my 32 oz bottles that'd be 1/2 mL (1/8 cap). That didn't sound like enough for the plant to grow and be healthy? So I went ahead and poured 1/2 cap of AG nutrient in there. So may have poisoned the poor thing before it ever got a chance to sprout :| Oh no!! 2ml does not seem like a lot? I ask as I am curious how folks calculate the nutrient needs for Kratky...Hopefully it grows! |
|
Sher
AGA Farmer
Posts: 7,025
|
Post by Sher on Dec 21, 2020 12:52:09 GMT -5
maskedsonnet and clumsythumbs , I believe that means if you use AG nutrients on your potted houseplants as a supplemental fertilizer. The general (ballpark) rule for Kratky is start with 5 ml (1 teaspoon) of liquid nutrients per gallon of water.
|
|
|
|
Post by clumsythumbs on Dec 21, 2020 17:20:06 GMT -5
maskedsonnet and clumsythumbs , I believe that means if you use AG nutrients on your potted houseplants as a supplemental fertilizer. The general (ballpark) rule for Kratky is start with 5 ml (1 teaspoon) of liquid nutrients per gallon of water.
Hi Sher, yeah I knew the AG on houseplants was as a supplement. That is helpful baseline! I had heard/seen that in some videos, but am always curious as to variation with different plants... |
|
maskedsonnet
AGA Farmer
Without the burden of comparison, everything is beautiful
Posts: 1,610
|
Post by maskedsonnet on Dec 21, 2020 19:08:44 GMT -5
Thank you! I'll admit my research into Kratky wasn't very thorough, I gave up and decided to wing it with the instructions on the bottle because nearly everything Google came up with was a video. I can't stand instructional videos, though I tolerate them better if there are subtitles to watch so I can mute the person talking. The few written guides I found all said to follow the instructions on the nutrient bottle, which in the case of AG nutrients wasn't very helpful lol. The bottle I'm using is 32 oz, so 2 mL was still a little too much, but not by as much as I thought  |
|
Sher
AGA Farmer
Posts: 7,025
|
Post by Sher on Dec 21, 2020 19:35:58 GMT -5
Thank you! I'll admit my research into Kratky wasn't very thorough, I gave up and decided to wing it with the instructions on the bottle because nearly everything Google came up with was a video. I can't stand instructional videos, though I tolerate them better if there are subtitles to watch so I can mute the person talking. The few written guides I found all said to follow the instructions on the nutrient bottle, which in the case of AG nutrients wasn't very helpful lol. The bottle I'm using is 32 oz, so 2 mL was still a little too much, but not by as much as I thought 
That's close enough. AG nutrients are not overly strong.
|
|
maskedsonnet
AGA Farmer
Without the burden of comparison, everything is beautiful
Posts: 1,610
|
Post by maskedsonnet on Dec 23, 2020 17:48:46 GMT -5
We have sprouts!!   |
|
Sher
AGA Farmer
Posts: 7,025
|
Post by Sher on Dec 23, 2020 19:57:53 GMT -5
Yay! WooHoo!!! |
|
maskedsonnet
AGA Farmer
Without the burden of comparison, everything is beautiful
Posts: 1,610
|
Post by maskedsonnet on Jan 6, 2021 13:51:28 GMT -5
Grew quite a bit, water levels are still looking good!.I'm going to start some more plants in Kratky soon, just gotta shuffle through my seeds and make some selections!  |
|
Sher
AGA Farmer
Posts: 7,025
|
Post by Sher on Jan 6, 2021 16:10:19 GMT -5
I love the fact that Kratky lets you grow more plants than you have AG space for!
|
|
maskedsonnet
AGA Farmer
Without the burden of comparison, everything is beautiful
Posts: 1,610
|
Post by maskedsonnet on Jan 8, 2021 16:11:38 GMT -5
Planted some more Kratky since the Kohlrabi's doing alright! Planted a Genovese Basil, Siam Queen Thai Basil, Thyme, and Oregano.   |
|
Sher
AGA Farmer
Posts: 7,025
|
Post by Sher on Jan 8, 2021 16:58:55 GMT -5
Herbs and Kratky just naturally seem to go together.
|
|
maskedsonnet
AGA Farmer
Without the burden of comparison, everything is beautiful
Posts: 1,610
|
Post by maskedsonnet on Jan 8, 2021 17:12:10 GMT -5
Herbs and Kratky just naturally seem to go together. They seemed like good, compact plants to pair up with the Kratky!  I actually have several larger bottles that I don't use too, and decided to go ahead and use my last three aerogarden grow baskets with the large bottles for a Parsley, another Basil, and a Valerian. They filled out the rest of that shelf nicely |
|
maskedsonnet
AGA Farmer
Without the burden of comparison, everything is beautiful
Posts: 1,610
|
Post by maskedsonnet on Jan 21, 2021 14:01:52 GMT -5
All the kratky bottles have sprouted!  |
|
maskedsonnet
AGA Farmer
Without the burden of comparison, everything is beautiful
Posts: 1,610
|
Post by maskedsonnet on Jan 26, 2021 12:30:04 GMT -5
Got new lights to replace the horrible blurple lights over these, and the whole room feels much better! Everything's really coming along well, except for the parsley and valerian. I had to re-seed those two, didn't quite put enough water in the bottles and the sponges dried out, killing the poor little sprouts :|  |
|
I actually have several larger bottles that I don't use too, and decided to go ahead and use my last three aerogarden grow baskets with the large bottles for a Parsley, another Basil, and a Valerian. They filled out the rest of that shelf nicely