Hydroponics -Growing All Year Round Indoors

[vixylix]

Looks fab GG! Funnily enough I'll be doing a large Ikea trip some day soon so they might just fall into my trolley

[the big lebowski]

hi,wow that is some quick growth !! 400 cucumbers for crimbo then, what are you going to do if it keeps going at that rate ? cheers for sharing

[gardening_gal]

.....what are you going to do if it keeps going at that rate ?

I shall evict my son and give the cucumber plant his room.

Seriously though, I may have underestimated the expected growth. Perhaps my hallway will be forest like by the time it's fully grown. I shall just put fairy lights everywhere and say it's a homage to the Enchanted Forest.....About The Enchanted Forest, Scotland's Best Sound & Light Show

@vix, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it........ Bit of fresh lettuce in winter never hurt anyone. Congrats on the Momship btw, I didn't know until now.

[vixylix]

Thanks GG! I'll be interested to see how indoor winter lettuce fares with the blasted aphids. Keep us updated!

[gardening_gal]

Just thought I'd update ....Tiny toms (you can see the roots happily sitting in the water).



Small cucumber plant isn't so small now...



Fairy Lights chillis, they seem happy enough too.





Did anyone else ever start things off?

[the big lebowski]

wow looking good ,thanks for sharing and keeping us updated ,what lights are you using ? are you starting things off now for next summer ? that tomato plant will be the size of an apple tree ha ha great work they all look really healthy ,cheers

[gardening_gal]

Thanks tbl. The lights are Sunblaster T5 Propagation/Grow Lights (different lengths depending on what shelf unit they are on).

These plants aren't for next summer, they are for now. I intend to grow all year round. I have deliberately picked plants that are suited to grow in small spaces so I'm hopeful of eating fresh cucs and toms in the not so distant future. Time will tell.

[gardening_gal]

Wee update:

Unfortunately I had a lot of life stuff going on for a while there and things got neglected, especially the Ikea lettuce. Although I did manage to eat some of the leaves when small, I did lose a lot simply because I left it far too long to top up the water reservoir and when I realised it had been bone dry for ages, I then over filled it and the roots that should have been in the air space were actually all covered with water and the plants just all quickly withered. New ones are being started off today, useful learning curve I guess.

The other things I started in the Ikea cultivators and then moved to buckets have fared better, probably just because their water supply was so much bigger.

The cucumber plant is a bit mixed.The small cucumbers that were at the bottom started turning brown and limp so I feared the worst for the whole plant but I removed all the lower ones and also chopped the top off the plant to stop it growing any taller to see if the rest of the cucs would benefit. It seems to have worked as the remaining cucs are growing well and new ones are continuing to form so the plant is still going quite well. Fingers crossed it keeps going and I do actually get something edible from it soon (ish).


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The courgette plant seems very happy for now.




The chilli plants also seem happy as do the mini toms.

[the big lebowski]

hi ,looking good ,im sure the will recover and be fine ,thanks for the update ,cheers

[Snadger]

Heard on the radio yesterday that someone has started selling fully integrated hydroponics units..............in shipping containers!

[the big lebowski]

any chance of an update GG ?

[gardening_gal]

Your wish is my command tbl.

Sadly my cucumber plant died. One day it was healthy and had many many small cucumbers on it, the next day it was limp and struggling. I'm fairly sure the cold got to it. I had thought that being near the storage heater in the hall would be enough to keep it ticking over but I suspect it was also affected by drafts from the front door. I had thought I had it far enough away and there was also a door curtain helping block the cold but I think the very cold spell we had beat me and the plant regardless tbh.

The chilli plant is healthy and growing well. There are many small buds on it but as of yet none have produced anything. I have only just changed the solution to the 'Flores' type so hopefully that should help things along.

The courgette plant also seems happy enough but has only thrown out male stems so I'm not sure whether to call it a day with that or not. It's been flowering for ages and has still got flower buds yet to open but not one courgette to show for it.

The mini tomato plants have produced edible toms although again, I suspect the cold has had an effect on them as the plants are not as bushy as they were and several leaves had become discoloured and 'papery' and needed to be removed. I'm not sure I'd grow these again, I did read online that they didn't have a good flavoursome reputation and I agree. They do taste of tomato but I've tasted much better.

I've just started some lettuce off again so nothing to show in that department yet. I am really really bad at continuity. The intention was to grow lettuce all year round in successive batches but I'm never organised enough and one batch is done before I know it leaving me with empty trays for ages before I get round to starting off more seeds.