LKABudMan grows a Salad! Growing Hydro Lettuce

I still haven't started any new lettuce, but I plan on putting a tray on the heat mat tonight. We had to harvest the top row, and none too soon. I almost couldn't pull the root mass out through the holes! The bottom row needs to be harvested soon, and the middle two rows are much newer but coming in nicely.
20230426_100221.jpg


I got rid of two tomato plants to my father-in-law today, and I'm giving four to my parents tomorrow. This weekend we'll start uppotting the ones going into containers on the deck. Next weekend everything goes outside, with the remaining plants going into raised beds in the back yard. Then I need to catch up my peppers (in the tray on the right), I was late planting them. Oh, and I have a mother that needs to go in here. The floor of this tent is prime real estate, and the lettuce just keeps growing ;)

#Vivosun #LoveWhatYouGrow
 
With the tomatillos and that one yellow squash flowering, what a beautiful morning in the salad tent ;)
20230430_074122.jpg

20230430_074202.jpg


Those pictures were taken yesterday morning. Shortly after that I harvested the bottom row of lettuce and finally started another tray of lettuce.
20230430_112603.jpg

20230430_113002.jpg

They're on the heat mat at 76f under the aerogarden. Meanwhile these veggies better enjoy live in the tent while they can. Some will be going into larger SIP type containers this week. The rest will go into raised beds outside this weekend or next. Then it will be time to see what I can do with these my peppers (bottom right)!

20230501_064519.jpg

#Vivosun #LoveWhatYouGrow
 
LKABudMan said:
The salad tent is out of control! I've had to run down to answer the water alarm a couple of times this week. I ended up pulling the heads nearest the drain and turned it back on. It's working for now, but I really need to start some more for the top and bottom row. Instead, I'm starting tomatoes and other veg. I have seeds on my heat mat for my next grow, so it may be a week or two before I have new lettuce sprouts. If you go this route, don't forget the water alarm ;)
20230402_095634.jpg


20230412_104325.jpg


20230412_104417.jpg


20230412_104424.jpg
Click to expand...
I was there when Andrew hit, we were barely effected by it but I was down there driving a dump truck. Worked unbelievable hours, lived in a Hotel room and made a lot of $$$. I never liked the EastCoast of Fl. Too much traffic, expensive and Hurricanes. CL🍀
 
CaptainLucky said:
I was there when Andrew hit, we were barely effected by it but I was down there driving a dump truck. Worked unbelievable hours, lived in a Hotel room and made a lot of $$$. I never liked the EastCoast of Fl. Too much traffic, expensive and Hurricanes. CL🍀
Click to expand...
Andrew must have been a hell of a hurricane, over 30 years later and it blew you over to my salad thread :rofl:
 
CaptainLucky said:
Wow! I must’ve been really baked, I don’t know how I ended up on it but my sincere apologies Bman. CL🍀:cheesygrinsmiley::sorry:
Click to expand...
No problem, I do it all the time. You go to click on 'like' and accidentally click on a signature link and wind up somewhere else.
 
It's pepper time! 4 Jalepenos and 8 mixed sweet peppers. These seedlings act just like cannabis, and they love their wet-dry cycle. They'll be ready for outside in a week.
20230516_171537.jpg
 
LKABudMan said:
I love a nice fresh salad. The problem is that it's getting harder and harder to get good lettuce. I'm tired of over-priced lettuce in a bag that goes bad in a day. I love fresh lettuce from the farmers market, but that doesn't last much longer and can get really expensive. I want to have fresh lettuce and I want it year round. I find myself with an extra tent and extra lights, and I really don't need more weed right now. So, I've decided to grow my own hydroponic lettuce.

I have a 4x2 tent, but I'd like to grow tomatoes in the tent as well. I'm not sure if this will work or not. To maximize the space, the lettuce will be grown in a @VIVOSUN wall-mount hydroponic grower mounted to the back of the 4x2 tent. The seeds were started in "The Playpen", my 32x32x60 tent.

Equipment:
Strains - 6 heirloom varieties of lettuce (Prizehead, Bibb, Buttercrunch, Iceburg, Parris Island Romaine, Red Oakleaf ) + spinich & kale
Grow space - 32x32x60 tent in basement
View media item 1877010
Medium - Hydro sponges in domed tray
Propogation trays with domes
VIVOSUN heat mat with controller
Nutrients - None (then light MC)
Light - 100w LED @ 30" (<8000 lux)
Extraction - 4" extraction fan
8" corner fan + 6" oscillating fan
Water - Carbon-filtered well water (100ppm/8.0pH)

8/20/22

I started with two trays of 24 hydro sponges, 48 sponges in total. First I wet all the sponges in plain water, making sure they were fully soaked. They'll only hold as much moisture as they need.

There were 8 rows of 6 sponges, so we planted 6 sponges of each type. To increase the odds each sponge got two seeds. Next time I'll only do one seed in each sponge, as most of the sponges ended up with two sprouts. For now, I'm leaving both of them. Since this is hydro, the roots shouldn't really compete with each other. Eventually I'll probably need to cull one just for space in the system.

All of the trays got a little bit of water in the bottom and then were placed on the heat mat set at 75f. I think the heat mat + dome makes all the difference to seed germination. Not only does the heat mat keep the seeds warm, but it also heats the water in the bottom of the tray and causes condensation/humidity in the dome. The seeds are kept at 75f and 99% humidity, but still have plenty of oxygen.
View media item 1877011
View media item 1877012
Seeds were already sprouting the next day. Within 2 days you could see roots coming out of the bottom of the sponges. One the third day the whole tray sprouted so I took the dome off. At that point I had to add water every morning. Toward the end of the week I was adding a light nutrient solution (250ppm). I added about 100ml every morning.
View media item 1877013
View media item 1877014
View media item 1877015
View media item 1877016
View media item 1877017
After 6 days more had an inch of root. For some reason the spinach didn't germinate at all. I'm not sure if the seeds were bad or if they take longer. Each sponge was separated and put into a netpot. Since the lettuce grower wasn't yet set up, we put the netpots in a propagator dish and filled halfway with a light nutrient solution. At the end of the day we had 4 dishes of lettuce, ready to go into the system.
View media item 1877018
#VIVOSUN #LoveWhatYouGrow
Click to expand...

Hello LKA.

Could you please provide a link to the @VIVOSUN wall-mounted hydroponic grow kit? I can't find it on Vivosun's website.

TIA
 
HashGirl said:
Hello LKA.

Could you please provide a link to the @VIVOSUN wall-mounted hydroponic grow kit? I can't find it on Vivosun's website.

TIA
Click to expand...
I don't see it on the Vivosun site anymore either, just the vivosun legacy site. I do see it on sale (10% off + 15% coupon) on Amazon right now.
 
Back
Top Bottom