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Post by lynnee on Sept 10, 2023 18:10:29 GMT -5
slw , your banana pepper looks fabulous, and is a great advertisement for the Kratky method!  I terminated my AG banana pepper that was in a Bounty Elite, because it refused to grow tall and refused to set fruit. First time that I've had problems with a banana pepper!
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slw
AGA Bounty
Posts: 840 
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Post by slw on Sept 10, 2023 20:34:28 GMT -5
slw , your banana pepper looks fabulous, and is a great advertisement for the Kratky method! I terminated my AG banana pepper that was in a Bounty Elite, because it refused to grow tall and refused to set fruit. First time that I've had problems with a banana pepper! I'm actually surprised that it did so well, Lynnee. As I have said before, I just hate tossing the little culls when I'm thinning seedlings, so the Kratky jars are an easy solution.
So far my banana peppers and the Fajita peppers are doing well; I have a lot of little peppers! I got some of the culls mixed up since I didn't ID them so I'm waiting to see which type some of them are.  |
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Post by scarfguy on Sept 11, 2023 10:22:35 GMT -5
Today I harvested my peppers!
These horns aren't as big as bell peppers but I think they are big enough that we can stuff them for dinner.
There are 2 plants in each of 4 bounties for a total of 8 plants. A quick count, I see about 50 more peppers across the 4 AGs. We'll be eating peppers for quite awhile!
These are the varieties, all are sweet:
Upper left: Lesya: a heart-shaped pepper from Ukraine
Upper right: Ajvarski: from Greece (very sweet)
Lower right: Red Marconi: from Italy
Lower left: Doux d'espagna: from Spain (still green but I wanted to try it)
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Post by lynnee on Sept 11, 2023 11:47:16 GMT -5
Gorgeous pepper harvest, scarfguy!  I like to grow green bell peppers for use in HelloFresh meals when the included green pepper has seen better days. Plus you never know when a recipe will require a green pepper. |
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Post by lynnee on Sept 11, 2023 15:47:09 GMT -5
Today I relocated the two Dwarf Awesome seedlings. One went to a vacant Bounty Elite. The other went to a soil-filled pot outdoors. The latter was probably the stronger plant. I saved it when it was time to separate two germinated seeds. It had barely any roots left after the separation, so I didn't expect it to survive. It has a strong will to live, and hopefully will survive outdoors.  |
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Post by scarfguy on Sept 11, 2023 16:11:16 GMT -5
lynnee , speaking of your Dwarf Awesome. Do you have any flowers yet?
I was surprised to find the first flower was a double flower and thought it was just a quirk BUT, BUT,....
Every flower clump always starts with a big double flower! and then there are 3-5 regular flowers that form the group.
Very strange indeed!
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patlab
AGA Sprout
Gardening is cheaper than therapy…. And you get tomatoes!
Posts: 80
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Post by patlab on Sept 11, 2023 16:14:12 GMT -5
Well even though it’s still hot here I pulled out my harvest seed starter to get going on my fall / winter garden. I’ll be starting Chinese cabbage, kale, Kalettes, head lettuce, Swiss chard, and possibly fennel to transplant in about a month. Hopefully it will be cooler by then.
Has anyone ever grown bitter melon, inside or out? I’ve been wanting to try that but I hear they are very hard to germinate.
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Post by scarfguy on Sept 11, 2023 17:02:39 GMT -5
Had to google "bitter melon", patlab.
Never heard of it. Do you eat them? How do you prepare them?
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patlab
AGA Sprout
Gardening is cheaper than therapy…. And you get tomatoes!
Posts: 80
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Post by patlab on Sept 11, 2023 17:37:16 GMT -5
Had to google "bitter melon", patlab .
Never heard of it. Do you eat them? How do you prepare them?
It’s actually an edible gourd that looks kind of like a cucumber with warts. Popular in Japan and China. It’s quite bitter… definitely not for everyone. There are two types.. white and green, the white being the milder. They are used in stir fries, soups, rice and egg dishes. They are supposed to lower glucose for those with diabetes. I enjoy them in small amounts.. but then again I also eat cactus pads! |
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Post by ricksgarden on Sept 12, 2023 15:47:54 GMT -5
Today did an R&R on my day 47 Little Sicily and Homeslice tomatoes, quite a few flowers on both and one mater!  |
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Post by lynnee on Sept 12, 2023 23:53:35 GMT -5
lynnee , speaking of your Dwarf Awesome. Do you have any flowers yet? I was surprised to find the first flower was a double flower and thought it was just a quirk BUT, BUT,.... Every flower clump always starts with a big double flower! and then there are 3-5 regular flowers that form the group. Very strange indeed!
No flowers on my Dwarf Awesomes yet. They're only about 4" high. |
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Post by lynnee on Sept 12, 2023 23:58:02 GMT -5
ricksgarden, those are great-looking tomatoes! In a Harvest, yet! Are they cherry tomatoes? Slicing tomatoes? If the latter, you may have hit on two great varieties for Aerogardens.
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Post by ricksgarden on Sept 13, 2023 7:14:40 GMT -5
ricksgarden , those are great-looking tomatoes! In a Harvest, yet! Are they cherry tomatoes? Slicing tomatoes? If the latter, you may have hit on two great varieties for Aerogardens. Hi lynnee, they are slicing tomatoes, each are considered *container* plants, 18 to 24", Little Sicily should produce 3 to 4oz tomatoes and the Homeslice 5 to 6oz. I'm just not sure what to do with 3 "branches" (2 on the left side and 1 on the right) with bigger darker leaves, do I need to prune them. |
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Post by lynnee on Sept 13, 2023 12:45:45 GMT -5
ricksgarden, you should be able to remove the lowest dark-colored branches with no issues, because the leaves aren't getting much light. I think that I would keep the upper dark-colored branches a little longer. Removing those now probably won't hurt the plants, though.
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Post by ricksgarden on Sept 13, 2023 13:07:22 GMT -5
ricksgarden , you should be able to remove the lowest dark-colored branches with no issues, because the leaves aren't getting much light. I think that I would keep the upper dark-colored branches a little longer. Removing those now probably won't hurt the plants, though. Thanks so much  |
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Post by scarfguy on Sept 14, 2023 16:40:19 GMT -5
I thought you guys might like to see another pic of my gerbera daisy!
Today it's in full bloom. The flowers are long lasting.
They are quite animated, closing up at night and opening in the morning.
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slw
AGA Bounty
Posts: 840
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Post by slw on Sept 16, 2023 11:35:27 GMT -5
Not much going on with my gardens this week. I did harvest a few banana peppers to have with our dinner last night. They were sweet and delicious!
I think I'm going to terminate the Spider Farmer cherry tomatoes, though one Red Robin variety is loaded with unripe fruit so I might leave it for another week or so. I'm expecting some flower seeds from Etsy in the mail today so I might try some of those or just a different variety of tomatoes. I only have one out-of-service machine right now, though one Harvest has two pods of chives which I could move to Kratky jars or to a windowsill herb pot to clean out that machine for a restart.
Speaking of Etsy, I ordered three more light pole extensions... two for the Harvest Elite models and one for the Bounty. The guy making the Bounty extensions sent me a 15% discount code plus Etsy is having a $5 off weekend deal, so I got it for $37.50 (normally $50). I know several of you have the Bounty extension so let me know if you have been pleased with it.
I took the light hood off a Harvest 360 Elite yesterday to see how challenging installing the extension will be. It appears that the spiral wire in the light pole doesn't extend very far so I hope it will be sufficient without putting a stress on the light connection. I will wait on the complete instructions to see if there's a trick to it.
I'm hoping I will have success with cucumbers. Right now I have a litte Iznik sprouted in a Bounty and two AG cukes in my Farm. None of them have started climbing yet but I'm anxiously awaiting some action!!
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Post by swimmom500 on Sept 16, 2023 15:17:31 GMT -5
Not much going on with my gardens this week. I did harvest a few banana peppers to have with our dinner last night. They were sweet and delicious!
I think I'm going to terminate the Spider Farmer cherry tomatoes, though one Red Robin variety is loaded with unripe fruit so I might leave it for another week or so. I'm expecting some flower seeds from Etsy in the mail today so I might try some of those or just a different variety of tomatoes. I only have one out-of-service machine right now, though one Harvest has two pods of chives which I could move to Kratky jars or to a windowsill herb pot to clean out that machine for a restart.
Speaking of Etsy, I ordered three more light pole extensions... two for the Harvest Elite models and one for the Bounty. The guy making the Bounty extensions sent me a 15% discount code plus Etsy is having a $5 off weekend deal, so I got it for $37.50 (normally $50). I know several of you have the Bounty extension so let me know if you have been pleased with it.
I took the light hood off a Harvest 360 Elite yesterday to see how challenging installing the extension will be. It appears that the spiral wire in the light pole doesn't extend very far so I hope it will be sufficient without putting a stress on the light connection. I will wait on the complete instructions to see if there's a trick to it.
I'm hoping I will have success with cucumbers. Right now I have a litte Iznik sprouted in a Bounty and two AG cukes in my Farm. None of them have started climbing yet but I'm anxiously awaiting some action!!
Keep us posted on the light extensions! I have looked at those several times on Etsy but couldn’t figure out what you would do to extend the cord. Also I was just looking at my cuke seeds today to see if there is anything I can try in the Aerogarden. I replanted my Harvest 360 with more lettuce. I still have a regular harvest I can put something in. I tried an experiment with rooting cuttings in it but it looks like it was a bust. So I need to take those out and put some seeds in the sponges. |
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Post by lynnee on Sept 16, 2023 16:22:34 GMT -5
slw, I'd like to hear how the light extensions work with respect to the overall stability of your gardens. AGs are designed to be stable when the grow bowls are filled with water and plants. I find that fully extended lights are kind of tippy when I remove the bowls for R&Rs. Be patient with your AG cukes. The one I relocated from Farm to Bounty grew very slowly at first. It was finally starting to flower when I moved it, and it is happily producing cukes now! (70 days)
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slw
AGA Bounty
Posts: 840
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Post by slw on Sept 16, 2023 17:30:43 GMT -5
Keep us posted on the light extensions! I have looked at those several times on Etsy but couldn’t figure out what you would do to extend the cord. Some of the light cords have plenty of "play" in them. I bought an extension for a regular Harvest a couple of months ago and there is no problem with the cord. When you take the light hood off you find the electrical cord looks like this...
Unfortunately with my Harvest 360 Elite, that spiral cord is very short. I may have to take the assembly farther apart to see if it's hung up somehow or if it's just not long enough.
ETA--Forgot to add that the Bounty extension has USB-type connections to fit the existing pole. I suppose that's the reason it's so much more expensive than the other type. They are just plastic pieces.
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