Arugula Flood and Drain Table

Unfortunately my arugula didn't do as well as I had hoped with the floating styrofoam ebb and flow system. So I'm trying something different this time around. I filled one 4x4 flood table with approximately 60 liters of expanded clay pellets. I adjusted the water level so that I could just sprinkle the seeds over the top so they would get wet but not float. You can see how already, at day 4, the seeds have grown tiny roots that are attached to the porous lava rock.

Day 4

The arugula is getting 12 hours of light per day from a 1000 watt metal halide grow light. The light is about 3' above the plants. They are only a little over a week old today and are growing nicely. I will have to thin them out when they get a bit larger. Arugula sprouts taste amazing so I will just add them to dinner.

Vertical growing!

The beginning of my A frames, prior to the addition of top horizontal 1x2 braces

I began building this on a very limited budget. So although I could have made a fancier version, I opted for the practical one. The boards are joined at the top using hinges. This will allow the table to be collapsed and moved if necessary. It also made it much easier to cut and measure without worrying about angles and trigonometry. I then cut and attached 6 inch 2x2's to support the nft channels.

NFT Channels on the A-Frame

Each NFT channel is 10' long and will grow 15 plants. I purchased the channels, end caps, and lids from Crop King for around $35. each. Although it was a costly upfront cost, I should be able to use them for at least 30 years. They will also transfer nicely into a commercial greenhouse.

The almost complete system. I need to hang more lights on the left side.

Currently, I am running 2 400 watt metal halide grow lights and 4 of the 4' fluorescent fixtures with one warm bulb and one cool bulb each. I still need to add the fluorescent fixtures to the left side because the top two rows were not getting enough light. I am very pleased that the bottom row was able to grow really beautiful basil plants. Which I used to make fifteen quarts of spaghetti sauce, and the most delicious blueberry basil lemonade. I have to say I also grow a pretty amazing head of lettuce too!

New System

Take a look at my newest system. It is just about finished and will be able to grow 300 heads at a time.

Growth, Growth, and more Growth!

So much growth has happened since my last blog. First of all the plants look amazing they are growing so fast I ran out of room for them. This, along with the fact that I need to sell more lettuce to pay the bills, has prompted the addition of three more tables. I may be changing the set up of the new tables to the NFT system in order to better understand it. The NFT seems to be the best option for commercial level sales, and will work well for lettuce and strawberry production.

We also purchased two 400 watt metal halide grow light systems off of Craigs List, which has turned out to be the most cost effective place to find them. The lights made a world of difference to the transplants and the seedlings. There growth has accelerated and there is absolutely no stretching. The best part is that I don't have to raise and lower my fluorescent lights. That always made me nervous especially when water is involved.

400 Watt Metal Halide Grow Light

I learned a few things this week about organic and hydroponics. First I learned that there is not very much information on the web about this subject. The second is that the local hydroponic stores, who sell organic nutrients, have no idea how to use them. The third and most important thing I learned is that there is no need to mess with your pH. There are no synthetic chemicals in the nutrients so therefore there is no increase or decrease in the hydrogen ion potential in the water. My pH is always very close to neutral 7 and my plants are doing amazing. I guess there is potential to lower the pH and get "better" results. I think for now I will stick with what works and doesn't add any unnecessary chemicals into my lettuce. Despite my lack of organic nutrient pH knowledge my plants look and taste amazing.

Classic Mesclun Salad Mix 30/45 Days

I am currently using one 4' X 4' flood table to start my seedlings. I start about 3 trays a week. That is almost 300 heads of lettuce a week. The plan is to be able to have at least 140 finished heads a week to sell at the farmers market, and restaurants. Our local farmers market begins June 30th, and I plan on being there with my second crop of fresh, local, naturally grown, living lettuce! I absolutely love going to the farmers market every Saturday. You get to meet the best people, eat great local food, and listen to live music!

Seed Starting Table (holds 780 seed starts)

My Favorite Mustard Mesclun Mix ( 2 weeks)

Lettuce Begin



Classic Mesclun Mix
2 weeks

     After much forethought I finally decided the best way to go about my planting arrangements. My goal is to have enough in quantity and type of lettuce to give a good representation of my product. This way I can take samples to the local restaurant's when I go to do my market research. So I planted a tray of arugula, 1/2 of spinach, 1/2 rainbow chard, 2 trays of classic mesclun mix and a tray of cos romaine. Each tray is about 90 plants with germination rates taken into consideration. The plants are all  2 weeks old as of May 16th. The classic lettuce has grown large enough that it should be transplanted into the finishing table within the next week. The rest of the plants that wont fit into the finishing table will be transplanted outside into the garden. 

 

Arugula



Russian Kale

     I've decided the best way to do market research is to call and make an appointment with local chefs, to talk face to face. This way I can ask questions like; Do you currently incorporate any fresh, local, naturally raised produce in your menu? Approximately how many cases of lettuce a week are you currently buying?, Who are you buying those from?. Last year when I did this I was overwhelmed with how many chefs were interested. The majority of them asked to be faxed once a week with a list of what I had available that week. What I am really looking forward to is building relationships with the chef's so that in the future I can grow specialty items specifically  for them.



Mustard Greens



     Thus far, my hydroponics set-up has been self sustained with timers turning on the lights 18 hours of the day, and flooding my table 3 times a day. The only maintenance I do daily is check TDS (nutrients in the water) and pH (acidity/alkalinity). That being said I only had to ad nutrients 1 time, and that's when I added about 15 gallons of water. Since I am using all organic nutrients the pH seems to be keeping itself stable. If things keep going this well I may be adding another table before summers end. I currently have space for 4 more. Doing that will expedite my ultimate goal to financially sustain my household with lettuce/vegetable sales.



Pre-planting thoughts

Peas Shoot

So I have two days to come up with my planting strategy. I have decided that I will be growing baby lettuce mixes, with edible flowers, and shoots. The perfect trio for a mind blowing salad mix that the chefs will love! I will be growing about 250 lettuce plants per 4' x 4' table. I ordered my favorite spicy mustard mesclun mix from FedCo seed company. I grew this in the past and had great success selling it at the farmers markets.I will also plant a classic lettuce mix, spinach, and arugula.



 



Borage



Chive





  



My edible flowers will consist of nasturtiums, purple garlic chive cone flowers, and possibly some borage outside. Im thinking sunflower and pea shoots. I need to pick a third but haven't yet. I really need to focus on timing out the rotation so I can completely utilize my two tables. The plan is to have a weekly rotational harvest indoors and out. This way I can send out a weekly fax with what I have available. So tonight I will sit down and think numbers and space. Im sure I wont get this perfect right from the start. It will probably take at least a couple rotations to get the timing worked out, but at least there is a goal in mind.





Nasturtium







Building the hydroponic table

Growing in water is somewhat new to me. I am a soils girl at heart. However that being said, there are many advantages to hydroponics indoor growing. My yields will be more stable, I can control watering, light exposure and feeding with a timer, much easier to control and treat diseases and pest control is virtually non-existent. That stability, consistency and predictability will make it much easier to please customers.

I am starting out with two 4' X 4' flood tables which I made the stands for myself. I'm so proud. It felt amazing using the drill and saw. I used 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe with side outlet elbows for joints. I purchased L brackets to secure the elbows to the pipe for added security. My table height is 3' in order to allow room for my 100 gallon water reservoir. In total with flood trays and stand I have about $160. invested in each table. The trays were $90. each. Which, I'm sure could be found online for less. My lights are just normal fluorescent 4' two bulb fixtures. I am using 8 of these per table, with one cool and one warm bulb per fixture.