Post by @tinker@infosec.exchange

I gave four heads of lettuce away.

2x Butterhead
2x Gold Rush

I used the Olio App to do so. Right now, not a lot of local folks are using the Olio app for food swaps. So I cheated and got friends to pick them up through the Olio app. Figure we have to get some engagement first before others come along.

As I help more and more folks build out hydroponics, I'll continue to encourage the use of the Olio app to coordinate food swaps.

Here is WHAT IS LEFT OVER!!!! Note: This is just what I'm keeping for myself! This DOES NOT include the four heads of lettuce that I gave away.

Also it's packed in tight. So there's a lot here. I can't really capture it well on the camera, though I tried from different angles (including using the 5 gallon bins for scale).

This is a lot of lettuce. You can see the Kale and Arugula. There's a LOT of butterhead and Gold Rush.

#solarPunk #mutualAid #hydroponics #urbanFarming #indoorGardening

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#urbanfarming #indoorgardening #hydroponics #solarpunk #mutualaid

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Tinker ☀️

@tinker@infosec.exchange 3 years ago

Thoughts for the next crop....

1) I'm going to plant directly into the grow bin... I don't need to do a separate seeding phase and then move it over. I think it'll germinate / sprout right in the bin and then grow roots down into the nutrient water.

2) I'm going to harvest a week earlier this go around... at about five weeks. The leaves seemed fuller then.

3) I'm going to move the Kale and Arugula to more light and keep the light the same for the leafy greens.

4) I'm going to try to grow some spinach and bok choy this go around as well! Maybe swap out the gold leaf for some romaine lettuce. I did four bins this go around. I'll get two more for the kitchen shelf.

5) I really don't like using the rockwool. I mean.. it works GREAT. Like its awesome. But it's 6 cents a cube (expensive, right!?!?!). But I also don't like having to clean it off the plants when I harvest. I'm going to experiment with soil and hydroponic cups and see if that works. Dirt is... dirt cheap. Like... fractions of a cent per plant and much easier to clean off. I'll start a new thread on that. (note: I might still use up some of my rockwool this next go around, but I'll be phasing out of it)

6) I need to expand. Need to grow more. I'm going to build some more grow shelves. Maybe put them in the garage or spread them around the house.

7) I really want to grow two more types of items. Beans and Fruit Bearing Plants (Peppers, Tomatos, Cucumbers, Squash, etc.) - To that end, I'm going to start experimenting with Kratky reservoirs - Still cheap. Still passive. Still automated. Still hands off.

8) I'm going to get more people to use the Olio app for decentralized food swapping. Gonna push the idea that we give away at least 20% of our crop to our neighbors. We can feed everyone. We have the means of production here. We have localized coordination and distribution here. We are building post-scarcity food.

Alright... Lastly, I have enough photos and notes, I can build out a DIY How-To. Once I get that written, I'll add it to this thread and close it out. Cheers all!

#solarPunk #mutualAid #hydroponics #kratky #indoorGardening #urbanFarming #postScarcity

Tinker ☀️

@tinker@infosec.exchange 3 years ago

Next crop planted!

30 crops planted:

5x Buttercrunch
5x Romaine
5x Pak Choy
5x Arugula
5x Kale
5x Spinach

I'm not seeding separately. I planted right in the grow bins. We'll see if that works.

Using Kratky method. So I've poured as much water and nutrients as each plant needs and I'm leaving it alone for a couple of months. No pumps, no aerators, etc. Just a food safe plastic 5-gallon bin with water & nutrients and nothing else.

I also added more light. So before I had three LED T5s on both levels. Now I have four on top and five on the bottom.

I'm using rockwool held in with pool noodle sections (the light green circles on top). I'm going to be looking into using other mediums here in the future.

(See thread for previous build information and crop)

#solarPunk #mutualAid #hydroponics #kratky #indoorGardening #urbanFarming #postScarcity

Kitchen garden hydroponic grow shelf. Six 5-gallon grow bins with five shoots per plant.

Lovely bird motifs in the corner brackets. So that's pretty. — Kitchen garden hydroponic grow shelf. Six 5-gallon grow bins with five shoots per plant. Lovely bird motifs in the corner brackets. So that's pretty.

Tinker ☀️

@tinker@infosec.exchange 3 years ago

Trouble with my hydroponics!!! Oh noooo!!!!

So, two of my crops failed to germinate in the bins (I'm seeding directly from the bins and not germinating separately / planting into bins after they've sprouted).

This was weird. - Four of the other crops germinated just fine.

So what's going on?

Got to thinking. I put water in from a different tap. Same water... right. So it's not a pH issue, etc. But the water was COLD from this other tap. Like really chilly. Whereas the four bins were filled up with warm water.

So I'm thinking, maybe the temp was too cold for the seeds to germinate.

I've started over, this time with warm water. Will watch if that helps. We'll see!

#hydroponics #solarpunk #indoorFarming

Six bins. Four have germinated. Two have not. WHY?! OH GAWD WHY?!

xyhhx :merveilles:

@xyhhx@merveilles.town 2 hours ago

@tinker these are all leafy vegetables, but have you tried similar experiments with other vegetables?

Tinker ☀️

@tinker@infosec.exchange 1 hour ago

@xyhhx - Yes. The short answer is that anything that can be grown can be grown hydroponically - you just have to have the right system and configurations.

Concerning the kratky methods shown above, generally you give the plant as much water as it would need for its entire life cycle.

So the leafy greens here take about a third to a half gallon of wafer to produce one head of lettuce for example. (I put five plants into five gallon bins and each head of lettuce grows twice in a cut-and-come-again method).

But a tomato plant, for another example, might need 40 gallons of water for an entire cycle. While you certainly can put a single seed on top of a 40 gallon drum, weight and space make that not feasible.

So you might use something like kratky+ and have a gravity fed reservoir feed down into grow bins and use a float valve with it.

See more info here: https://kratky.weebly.com/bigger-plants.html

Of course, you're not limited to kratky and you can use other hydroponic methods to grow.

As an anecdote, I have a good friend that grows small pepper plants right out of mason jars, so you find what works.

#hydroponics #solarPunk #kratky

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