Garden restart!

Sorry it has been so long! It is difficult to rush Mother Nature!! As I said before we lost everything and tried new water levels,new plants and some seeds' This experiment seems(so far) to be a success! You can see in the picture that the new plantings are getting to the point where it appears to be readying itself to blossom!

The tomato plant appears to be growing also

and the seeds that were placed right aat the waterline in the straight gravel appears to be sprouting also.

All in all-so far-so good!
I admit that as far as scientific controls go-well-not so much! But I have segregated seeds from seedlings and grown starter plants that We purchased. I have some "heritage seeds" that I am saving to make sure this works with the store-bought stuff..
The plants that we purchased were carefully removed from their containers and I gently removed the soil from the roots,then placed them in the gravel at the high waterline....This seems to be working as you can see from the picture.

All in all it is encouraging to see GREEN!
Just in case all fails (not expecting it too,mind you) I have planted a garden in REAL DIRT anyway-only because I am an impatient sort and am really looking forwad to fresh tomatoes,cukes and peppers!

Hydroponic Garden Update

Well the news isn't real good folks.....I have not figured out if it is lack of light or the water level is to high-but We have started to lose some plants.
As I told you all before,we felt the water level was to high and the roots were not allowed to dry and breath between waterings so I added gravel to raise the potds-this in turn (due to the weight) mad the shelves sag and 2 days ago Bob noticed the whole shelf was leaning!!!! ARGGG!
The solution???? Bob went out and got a HEAVIER duty shelf(5 tier) at Lowes(love that store...) So you all can add 44.50 cents to the tab.
I transferred all from one shelf to another and found the shelves were just a bit closer together and because of the "Grid" design of the shelves,it was alot easier to wire-tire the lights and they are closer to the plants.....I am going to try omitting the incubator stage and just put some seeds in the gravel to see if they germinate and grow all in one cup. Meanwhile I will start another tray of seedlings and see if the changes help any.
Sorry it is so long between postings,but you know the say "watching the grass grow"????? Well mother nature will take her course and either let us know things are fine-or I we have "Messed with her" in all the wrong ways!!!

If anyone has suggestions,ideas to improve anything that will assist in this experiment of ours,feel free to comment !!!!!

Days 9,10,&11

Just a quick note to let you all know that ALL of the vegetable plants in our garden are getting bigger! I suspect it will be awhile before any noticible difference takes place. I can report ,however, that we have not lost any!!! All are looking healthy- We keep an impatient watch and will report when anything new developes!

Days #8 & #9

WHOOPS! We found a wee bit of a glitch! When we put the gravel in the bottom of the tubs,we found the drain holes got plugged!
Thankfully, Robert was there to report the overflow so we caught it before there was to much of a flood!
This is where I reiterate.......Place the entire hydroponic garden a a container that the shelving will not only fit in,but one that will hold ALL the water in case of a similar glitch!

To rememdy the situation,I merely pushed the gravel back away from the drain! (duh) We hadn't realized that the suction from drain would pick up the pea-gravel.
Once,we made sure the gravel was appx 6 inches away from the drain and all worked smoothly and without further incident. Monday will be another trip to Lowes (or Walmart) to pick up some window screen. Our feeling is that if we cut the screen to fit over the pebbles in the tubs and keep the gravel from sneaking into the drain when we are not looking......

Morning #8(Monday)

I have the timer set for the circulation pump to go off at 6:00am...Because the tubing makes a bit of a slutping-gurgleing sound I was alerted to it's start-up.
I noticed that the murky water(from adding the pea-gravel yesterday) had cleared up and the gravel had stayed put! Still,like a Mom with a new-born,I checked it every 5 minutes to make sure it cycled through with no problem, which it did!
I am still going to get the screen to cover the gravel(for my own piece of mind) but I am thinking it is not vital. If we had drilled the holes closer to the bottom all of this would have been a moot point anyway! Ah-but hindsight is ALWAYS 20/20!

Later today I have more seedlings to transplant...All of the plants appear to be growing quite nicely......My biggest problem now is maintaing PATIENCE!

DAY#7 OF ROBLAUR'S GARDEN!

This morning I made the command decision to transplant the seedlings! Lazy,that I am, I did put a few into plastic cups (with hole poked in them) filled with gravel,then a bit of gravel gently placed on top to prevent floating. But after a bit decided to transform the nursery into a garden bed.

I accomplished this by using a dremel and drilling drain hole through each "pocket" then placed the entire tray on top of gravel.. I will amend this entry if the whole thing floats and ends up greeting me at the studio door!
I did find that we had drilled the Drain-holes a bit high on the end of the plastic tubs. Although the top tier drained very well due to the syphon action of the pump when it shut off,the lower tiers left to much water remaining. This can be remedied with your own by drilling the drain-hole right at the base of the tub-wall.
Because I am a cheapskate,I merely poured enough pea-gravel in each of the lower tubs to raise the cups above the residual water-hopefully this works-time will tell!

Day #6!

I got out of bed around 5:30 this morning and checked the garden! The light is functioning as designed and still no leaks !

I noticed that the dome on the incubator was askew.(figured the cat had been up there checking things out(he can be a bit klutzy at times).Upon closer inspection, I found my seedlings had grown enough overnight to push the dome off! I am a bit surprised as all the seed-packets said 7-10 days for germination.
This afternoon,I will transfer the larger seedlings into their respective gravel-filled cups and place them in their "Bath"!

The pictures remind me of an old Sci-Fi movie!! Now the (hopefully) the growing begins in ernest! We shall see.....

Day 5# of the hydroponic Garden

It is day #5 of the hydoponic garden experiment! I got a we bit antsy and pulled up a tomato plant from the outdoor garden and placed it root-ball and all in a cup of pea-gravel ,also a cutting from a wisteria and strawberry plant. Time will tell on those,but as far as the incybator goes-SO FAR_SO GOOD!!!! As you can tell from the pic-the seedlings are sprouting and growing like-well-WEEDS!!!!

We had a slight problem yesterday evening(one you can avoid should you try this at home). A peice of plastic from cutting the hole in the side of one bin(for a fitting) was left in the bottom of the bin before I filled it with water. The drain sucked it up and clogged the drain-hole.
We were alerted by the pump that we purchased at Lowes, as it has a kight that is attached and blinks frantically when the water gets to low.
Honestly, I didn't think I would need this little extra, but I admit it came in handy and now I recommend it! I know it saved us from a MASSIVE water clean-up!!!
It has also taught me a wee-lesson; If you put this garden in your living area,build the entire project inside a larger bin than you use for the water-recovery bin. in other words;if you use a 30gal bin for the garde water-recovery-set that bin in a 50 gal bin (or larger)-just in case!
HAPPY DRIPPY GARDENING!