Rats Nests and Jungles

Well there are ten tomato plants in this float system and they are getting pretty crowded about now so they need some sort of support and expansion system. So today I bought some of those wire supports that can be used with tomatoes. Generally they are mounted as triangles, but I just stuck-em in the ground and tried to surround the pond but giving me access at the near side in this view. You can also see the electrical hook up to the two pumps. One pump is the fountain which is hopefully supplying the oxygenation of the water, and the other pump is just in there providing circulation in the hope that they will deter any mosquitoes that come by.

Here's the garden, well a portion of it anyway. These tomatoes were planted in rockwool at the same time. They are flourishing well enough, although it is hard to see them clearly with all the weeds that are starting to flourish too. This is why I call it "The Weedless Garden" when I use hydroponics. I am not, repeat not, going to go crawling around in there digging up the weeds. The tomatoes were all planted in a cup with the bottom cut out to head off any cutworms and also gives you a target if you want to fertilize which I have to confess I have not done so Jessica was on my case today because she doesn't think it is fair to the plants in dirt not to fertilize them when the plants in the float system have total access to nutrients. So I'll probably do that.

It will be fun to compare the tomatoes when they come off the vines and see if there is any difference. Anyway I'm going to be trying to get the tomatoes in the float system to come out and so that they are not so crowded, get them to grow into the supports. We'll see how well that works. Overall I'm quite happy with the system. The plants are growing well despite being crowded. CF=22 right now. I've added water only once or twice since June 4th and maybe a total of a cup of nutrient (cup of both white and blue). I have not been logging it. I should but this system has been so easy I just haven't been.

What A Difference a Week Makes!

I was a little concerned about how taking a trip to Groton, CT for a week would work out. We went up there to see our youngest son graduate from Sub School. That was quite cool! We also visited the U.S.S. Nautilus and an active duty Los Angelos class attack boat, the U.S.S. Providence.

The whole while though I was a bit concerned about the float system. I had topped it off and left it completely full of water and with the nutrient running at CF=22. So when we got back late on Tuesday I ran back into the backyard with a flashlight (we got home after dark) and looked at the system. All seemed to be fine. It was about two inches down and the CF was 22. Today, the 10th, I took a picture to put up here. As you can see the plants have grown quite a lot. I still don't have a support system set up or even thoroughly worked out, but that is next on the agenda. The plants in the float system are more robust, larger and more vigorous than the plants that are in the tilled soil in the backyard. (See Below)

Morning Ministrations

Well this morning I went out and turned on the sprayer (a little fountain kind of thing) to water the small garden plot. While I was at it I went over and measured the conductivity factor of the float system and was quite surprised to find it at CF=18, down from the value of 20 which I was expecting it to be at. So I added another half cup of blue and white nutrient concentrate to bring it up to a robust CF=22.

Maintaining the System

First addition of water occurred today. I'm quite curious to see how well the system responds to neglect. So far, with the plants being quite small as yet, the system has required little attention. Today I topped off the liquid in the pond taking it up close to capacity adding something like 2 inches of water. Before the water was added the CF=21 and after the water was added it had fallen to about CF=17 although I didn't wait for it to gain full equilibrium. I added a half cup of blue and white Total Gro Steiner concentrate and that appeared to return the pond to nominally CF=21. I'll check tomorrow to see if that is what it is at when it reaches equilibrium.

I've not yet mixed up any new concentrate so I'm using up the last gallon of concentrate that I had from last year. I'll probably have to mix up more before long. To mix my concentrate I mix one pound of blue nutrient power into a gallon of water and then a pound of the white mix into a different gallon of water producing one gallon of blue and one gallon of white nutrient concentrate. One ounce of concentrate (both blue and white) added to a gallon of water produces a gallon of nutrient at CF=24 (roughly).

So far the plants look great and somewhat healthier than the similar plants planted in the rototilled patch (about 15'x15') in the back yard. I've added no fertilizer to the backyard patch which may contribute to the fact that they look a little more anemic and have some yellowing of the lower leaves. I'm thinking of that patch as something of a control against which to measure the progress of the little float/pond system.

Memorial Day Perking Up!

Memorial Day is for remembering our loved ones fallen in combat in our nation's conflicts and also those who have served in the armed forces, especially those sent in harms way. They used to plant tree, still do I expect, to honor and remember.
I thought I'd put up a picture of the float system today. As you can see if you compare this picture with the one from a couple of posts ago, the plants have grown a bit. I'm still running the system at a CF=19. The next time I fool with it I'll take it up to about 22 or so. There are two pumps in the system. One is driving the central fountain which is there to cause water to drop into the pool and oxygenate the water. The other is just circulating the water to keep it moving. So far it is working well.

Quick Post

Not too much to say. I rototilled a patch about 15'x15' in the back yard and planted all the rest of the stuff a few days ago. The float system is working well. I checked the nutrient level a while ago and it was CF=17 so I added a quarter cup which should bring it up to about CF=19, but was too lazy to check. The tulip tree keeps dropping blooms and these little strips onto the system where they either get into the nutrient and mess up the pumps by getting stuck on the intakes or they settle on the top of the floats. I take them off but I need to come up with a better strategy for this.

I'm still thinking about the support structure for when the plants start to get large. Right now I'm thinking about tapping thin wall conduit into the ground as a post and then using T-fixtures in PVC make a little PVC fence that the plants can grow out to and hang over. I'll show it in a photo when I get a round to actually building it.

Rototilling and Floating

We have a little baby rototiller we got to do some conventional gardening. I assembled it yesterday and fired it up and tore up some of the back yard to plant some corn and squash and such, mostly the "such" will be the rest of the tomato plants that are currently still in rockwool cubes since I planted ten tomato plants in the float system.

It rained some today, not too much. I checked the system this afternoon and except for the darn tulip tree flowers dropping off and onto the system everything seems to be flourishing. The CF was 17 without adding any nutrient, so all is well. I'll probably take it up to about 20 soon. And take it up higher later. I've usually run at a CF of about 24 when the plants are mature.