airscapes
AGA Bounty
Lettuce eat Cake!
Posts: 642
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Post by airscapes on Mar 7, 2021 13:09:16 GMT -5
Today I did my first drain and refill of the DIY Bounty. The unit holds 1.75 gallons so I am following the 12 pod amount of 24ml of nutrient. I use my drain pump made from mostly recycled parts including the battery, pump and switch. The pump is a bit slow as it was designed for a table top icemaker and was to be quiet so runs slow. May replace that to take less time. The process worked great, pumped water into bucket, put deck in a second identical box while I rinsed out the resivoure. While I had the deck off I separated catnip and thyme roots (only had to cut a few) an move the thyme catty corner to the catnip. Speaking or cats.. my little one Monkey, was bubble hunting as I transferred used solution from the bucket to the bottles the fresh water was in. I plan to use the old solution to water the onions and shallot seedlings. Hopefully the algae in the solution won't bloom too much before that water is used..    |
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airscapes
AGA Bounty
Lettuce eat Cake!
Posts: 642
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Post by airscapes on Mar 11, 2021 11:44:15 GMT -5
It has been 4 days after the first drain and refill of my garden. It holds about as much water as a 12 pod farm so I am using that as a first go on how much nutrient to add. First time had 16ml this time went to 24ml as bottle says. On day 2 after the refill the parsley started to get dead edges on some leaves and the got stiff and curled.. I went to check the PPM and found they had really sucked up the water and it was lower than I had ever let it go. After refill and keeping it full each day it looks like everything is ok, and growing like crazy! May reduce that to 20ml next time.. I had to raise the light and almost time to raise it again.  |
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Shawn
Administrator
Posts: 16,265 
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Post by Shawn on Mar 11, 2021 12:08:56 GMT -5
Just watch the looks of your herbs. I always find that herbs use less then recommended.
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Sher
AGA Farmer
Posts: 7,025
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Post by Sher on Mar 11, 2021 12:29:54 GMT -5
They are getting big! And they do look healthy.
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airscapes
AGA Bounty
Lettuce eat Cake!
Posts: 642
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Post by airscapes on Mar 11, 2021 13:21:49 GMT -5
Just watch the looks of your herbs. I always find that herbs use less then recommended. Yes, I plan to cut back on the amount used next time. I would rather them grow slower than burn themselves out. BTW you have mail!  |
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airscapes
AGA Bounty
Lettuce eat Cake!
Posts: 642
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Post by airscapes on Mar 21, 2021 10:54:55 GMT -5
Since the last update I move the catnip to a gallon jug with an airstone, just drained and refilled that as I had used the water from the past DIY bounty flush/fill. The bounty got fed 6ml of AG Nute and 2 ml Calmagic and 2ml of ph UP ppm of 725 and ph of 6.2 for a change. It was at 5 before I started and normally starts at 5.5 so I wanted to see how long it would take to drop again. The gallon jug with the catnip got 6ml of AG nute which has the ppm sitting at around 625 and ph at 5.5 as expected. Cut the center stem out of the catnip so the light can come down a bit and the cat could get stoned, he really love this stuff! Also move my Iceberg lettuce from my floating sponge germinator to the bounty so the roots can get established before I move it to a gallon milk jug to try it as a Kratky with no air stone. The Romaine finally germinated as well but is very slow compared to the Parks Iceberg.   |
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airscapes
AGA Bounty
Lettuce eat Cake!
Posts: 642
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Post by airscapes on Apr 12, 2021 12:38:54 GMT -5
This past Saturday I did a flush and fill on the DIY Bounty and the roots of the Sage and Parsley brought my boxes design flaw to the surface again and the water alarm probably woke up the neighbors and shaved a year off of my wife's life. The problem is the roots are up against the side of the box which is not sealed to the lid and the water finds it way down the roots and drips over the side. I thought I had it fixe until it went off again on Sunday morning. With the fact my wife never uses Sage and I have a lot of dried leaves already, I hacked the parsley and sage apart and with great difficulty ripped it out of the hole in the grow deck. I planted in a space between chives in the garden, just dug a hole jammed it in cage and spacer ring and all. We had torrential rain last night and it is in the 50s.. Looks better than when it was in the house almost!   |
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Shawn
Administrator
Posts: 16,265
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Post by Shawn on Apr 15, 2021 3:39:29 GMT -5
May be time to purchase a Bounty or Aerogarden!
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airscapes
AGA Bounty
Lettuce eat Cake!
Posts: 642
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Post by airscapes on Apr 15, 2021 9:27:16 GMT -5
Na, DWC is soo much simpler and with the Park sponges and sponge holder to germinate, all the added bells and whistles of the areogarden are not something I really need. With 2 AG 45W free standing lights panels and the VIPARSPECTRA P2000 200W light I would not want anything with a built in light, my free space has been fully consumed.
I may just rebuild this unit with a different box over the summer while the outdoor stuff is taking center stage.
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airscapes
AGA Bounty
Lettuce eat Cake!
Posts: 642
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Post by airscapes on May 4, 2021 10:41:21 GMT -5
I have terminated the first DIY Bounty to fix the water leak. I have built a new box and top, still in process of the build. Thyme is in the garden bed without issue. Parsley was a different story, had cut the cage and all the roots to get it out of the grow deck. Shoved it in the dirt, it's still kinda flat but we had a lot of rain so will see what happens!  |
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airscapes
AGA Bounty
Lettuce eat Cake!
Posts: 642
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Post by airscapes on May 6, 2021 10:19:43 GMT -5
And a couple days later, with mostly cool cloudy weather and an inch or more rain.. IT'S ALIVE!  |
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