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Welcome to the Hydroponics Hobby Thread! What is hydroponics? Well Person-Under-Rock, hydroponics is a method for growing year round plants through the use of nutrient enriched water and alternative growing mediums rather than soil and typically done indoors or a green house. Why? Indoor farming has the benefit of not being subject to the same general conditions of traditional farming. Due to being indoors (usually) the plants are less threatened by disease and aren't subjected to weeds, pests, or the weather. As all growing conditions can be monitored and manipulated, plants can happily grow year round as long as the farmer is diligent. What are the negatives? Due to the lack of soil, nutrients must be added to the plants' water in order to compensate. This requires monitoring the pH balance of the water as the lack of natural processes requires the farmer to pay close attention in case they start tipping one way or the other. Unless done in a green house or sufficiently bright window, most hydroponics set ups will probably also require grow lights. That means power consumption so the grower needs to be prepared for power bills. Luckily with the prevalence of marijuana grow ops and their desire to minimize losses for money and security sake (don't want to tip off police or the power company) the technology has been focused on high efficiency and lower power requirements. Luckily, you can use this tech for other things than just pot. What are you doing? I'm currently attempting to grow green peppers, beefsteak tomatoes, and Numex Twilight chilies for the time being. I'm also trying to grow oyster mushrooms as well. Part of the reason is that the city I live in, Saint John, NB, Canada, is really poor. We're basically the Detroit of Eastern Canada where over half our population has left for out west. Most of the produce here is imported from out of province. NB is really rocky and makes farming not the greatest. So a friend and I have decided we want to eventually start an indoor produce farm through hydroponics to hopefully bring the price of produce down here and maybe spur business growth around it (we'd supply restaurants, small value added produces, grocery, etc). We're going to do more than just those. I'm just doing them for my own amusement more than anything. But everything has to start with a beginning. I have never done this before. My family has done small vegetable plots and flower gardens but I've never really been too interested in flowers. But I've decided I want to help people and do a job that I won't dread waking up too. Apparently there is a lot of interest in this area for it; I just have to make it work. I started two weeks ago with the plants and have been experimenting with Oyster Mushroom spawn for a few months now. It's been a learning experience but I'm quiet enjoying it so far. I don't have the main hydro rig built yet as I'm still at the seedling stage. But I have a design thought up and already researched and bought components. My goal is to try and stay as low tech and simple as possible as there is less chance of a fault. Here are some pictures of my situation thus far. I apologize for the phone and its inability to deal with the colour purple. I'm using a pair of 120 W blue and red LED grow lights with the seeds starting in Miracle Gro Seed Starter. I'm using Advanced Nutrients pH Perfect Grow-Micro-Bloom in 1ml to a litre of water mixed. I'm also using General Hydroponics Bioroot in the same ratio. I also have a heat fan that I've set back about 4 feet that keeps the area around 24 C most of the day and blows air across the plants. I don't currently have sensors set up as I didn't have the immediate funds to invest in those at the moment. That being said, the ph Perfect group is "supposed" to help maintain a neutral pH but obviously I'm going to need to properly monitor. Everything all together. Off to the right in that plastic bag is my bucket with my oyster mushroom spawn munching on straw.  Here's a closer look at the plants.  As the seed packet in the back suggest, these are the green peppers. Unlike the tomatoes, the peppers decided to all rise from their graves at once. Spook peppers.  Tomaters. I have no idea why that one in the middle is so much larger than the rest. It germinated first and then basically hasn't stopped.  My Twilights. They are just now starting to sprout. These popped up a couple of days ago but no more have appeared since. I just want a couple so I'm ok with this for now.  Oh Nuclear Mayan, bless these crops.  I'm always interested in tips, feedback, suggestions, what ever. Discussion is always welcome. I really do want to learn as much as I can and want to progress this beyond the hobby stage. But I know baby steps are needed. I'm hoping in a week I can build the actual rig.
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Nov 26, 2015 19:30
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Eight chilies have sprouted by this point. I'm thinking I might try the dutch pot method for them and save the main rig for the others. See if I might be able to see a few of them here locally.
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Nov 27, 2015 19:27
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Woke up today to finding my main tomato with one of its leaves with white patches. I think that's leaf scorch which might have started since I just refilled the reservoir. Might have overfilled. Think I might try and lift the tray out of the water with a couple of shunts and I'm pointing the heat fan away from the plants for a bit.
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Nov 28, 2015 13:22
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Dirty Beluga posted:this is really interesting! Thinking about getting a couple of those LED grow panels off ebay and starting our summer garden this way. Right now it's just a low res for the seedling tray. My pumps are currently off to the side waiting for the plants to get big enough. I'm monitoring the water level and mixing the nutrients in a separate bottle so I can maintain proportions and then fill the reservoir. The tote box under my seedlings is going to be the main reservoir for the full system. I plan on settling the tomatoes into it. I'm building a drip system that empties back into it for the peppers. Also, if you're looking to get LED lights you can get lucky sometimes on aliexpress.com. I'm using a pair of these which I got on sale at the time.. Here in Canada, any store selling those are basically asking for $200 a piece.
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Dec 1, 2015 02:08
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That's my other experiment: to see if I can purchase inexpensive lights. Because, honestly, I could probably make a LED light panel for far less than any professional light is offering. That being said, these seem to be fine with my current stock. Then again, they might be liking the nutrients more. I'll know more once I move those lights to the main rig. I'm going to have one facing forward and the other above. They don't put any real heat so I plan to keep them close as I can to maintain intensity.
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Dec 1, 2015 02:43
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Thinking I might purchase some mylar reflective film and sew a sheave to go over the unit like a bbq cover. -e- Actually after reading more about it, I think I'm going to get some poster board and paint it flat white as apparently it has almost as much reflectivity. No point busting the bank. Stretch Marx fucked around with this message at 03:41 on Dec 2, 2015 |
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Dec 1, 2015 15:24
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Made a stupid mistake this morning and forgot to go down and turn on the grow lights... I did go out and look at timer power bars but didn't buy one because I had been so diligent doing it.. Well lesson learned so I'm picking one up tomorrow. Now that I have some money, I'm looking into a digital pH metres and seeing what I can find. -e- Settled on this for now: VicTsing® Digital PH Meter + TDS-3 Digital Pocket Size TDS Meter Stretch Marx fucked around with this message at 04:04 on Dec 3, 2015 |
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Dec 3, 2015 03:42
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Flattened Spoon posted:All of the reviews about that meter are for a garden sprayer...? And maybe a few other things. Yeah I don't know why that is but I actually based the pH meter on its individual review which everyone seems to like. It's the ppm meter that seems to get mixed reviews. I just chose that since it was a bundle. We shall see when they arrive tomorrow on how accurate they are. -e- In more joyful news, none of the new leaves of my tomatoes are showing those white spots anymore, so I think I solved that issue. Also noticed that they're far easier to see under the grow lights than normal white light for some reason. Stretch Marx fucked around with this message at 18:10 on Dec 3, 2015 |
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Dec 3, 2015 17:38
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I had a coupon with the place that I got my nutrients from and after doing some research for the last couple of days I used it to buy a small bottle of this: General Hydroponics RapidStart. Been reading about various ones and they all seem to be effective so I figure I might as well give it a try. My situation requires more Science anyway. Might try some of the microorganism based later.
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Dec 4, 2015 17:43
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Picture update time: I've made some slight changes to the setup. I added foam board around the outside to help contain the light. I've sprayed the backs with black and fronts with flat white. Going to replace those once I make the main rig. I transplanted the tomatoes. Some don't look too great so I'm hoping being in their own trays picks them up again. Using expanded clay which is pretty easy to use. I've also added a low flow fan and a mechanical timer for the lights.  The top 6 of my tomatoes. Some looked a little wilted today. I was hoping to hold off a bit longer but didn't want to risk it. Hoping now that they have their water source they'll perk back up. Really like the clay.  My Twilights. My tenth just sprouted. I'm thinking they'll be chilling in seedling tray for a bit longer. So I've purchased a 300W LED grow light which I plan to put in the main rig. I'm going to then expand the seedling rig to better accommodate the 120W lights which I'll use primarily for seeds.  And finally, the peppers. They seem to all be doing well. All seem to be rooting and more or less the same size. Everything I've read indicates they should be good to transplant in another week or two.  At this point, I'm just waiting for my pay to purchase all the ABS piping and fittings to build the main rig. I'm going to try for 6 tomatoes and 6 peppers. If I can, if the 300W is as bright as I hope, I'll even try to install more peppers.
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Dec 6, 2015 03:32
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I've been looking into Vermiculture and Compost Tea lately and I think once I get my whole operation going that I'm going to set up a test lab where I can try some more natural fertilizer types without contaminating the main systems. In other news, I'm hoping to get my meters, the grow light, and the RapidStart tomorrow. Also since moving the tomatoes they seem to have perked back up thankfully.
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Dec 9, 2015 11:15
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This actually my main goal. I want to learn the ins and outs with my little test bed as much as I can. I'm making an effort to research any conditions I'm not sure of and what to do. I thinking on getting some milk cartons and using those as control growers for some of the plants to see if there is a big difference. I have to say that one of my tomatoes has a massive tap root. Like twice as long as the plant. It's not the biggest tomato but it definitely looks the healthiest. My large tomato that was wilting pretty badly seems to be coming back and I can already see new roots popping out of the stem below the clay ball mark. Fascinating stuff. As for the compost tea, the biggest issue I've read so far when doing it indoors is that the nitrite and nitrate concentrations tend to be really high and harder to counteract. In the ground, however, it seems to do better which is probably due to the ground being able to leech.
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Dec 9, 2015 19:32
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Ok, so this is a going to be a bigger update as toys have arrived. So close now to getting the main rig up. So to start, we have the new pH meter. Batteries already in, just turn on and go. Uncalibrated it says my well water is somewhat neutral.  Sorry about the blurry picture. A packet of powder the company provides to help calibrate.  Uncalibrated the solution reads 3.8 so it's not that far off.  A little twist of the screw driver and there we go.  New 300W LED Grow Light. GRUNT GRUNT GRUNT   The chilies seem to love it.  As do the peppers.  The tomatoes are having a hard time. They've all lost at least one branch.  I was feeding them with the measurements for 3 branched plants per the bottle (2ml per ltr), but I've started doing the full feeding instead to see if I can save them. Now that these are bigger, I'll be moving them over for now.  Now for the first testing. Let's check the tomato tray... Hmmmm... well then. Unfortunately I have to wait till pay day to do something about this unless I can find a fix online. Apologize for the thumb, missed with the spray paint.  Now the seedling tray. A bit better. Still need some pH down.  Now for the TDS meter. The instructions indicate that it's factory calibrated so away we go. Temperature in Celsius first with the tomatoes. This seems right for the area.  And for our foolish silly American friends.  Here is the ppm function. Not sure if this is high, but compared to the other it's double. So this might explain why the water is so alkaline. Probably doesn't help that I'm using well water.  Now for the other tray. This was surprisingly hard to get a picture off because of the glare. Matches the other water so I would have to say it seems accurate.  Again for the DIRTY IMPERIALS.  Now this is half the other water which I'm basing partly on the number of plants and the seedling mix. Will watch the next time I do a feeding.  Anyway, hoping to get my drat pipes next tuesday. I was messing with some pop bottles to see if I can get them to drip consistently by drilling small holes in the caps and while it works it does require the water tension to break before it drips. Even with the clay pellets in, it still manages to hold the water in the bottle. My hope is to get the pump on the lowest flow and let the intermediate spurts of water to get the drip going.
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Dec 12, 2015 04:45
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A kind of neat/messed up thing is that once you walk into the room, everything is bright reddish purple, including the plants. However there's a single white LED in the middle that once your eyes adjust, all the plants turn green again. It looks so weird.
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Dec 12, 2015 04:56
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Checked the tomatoes since I upped their nutrients and they're back to budding more branches again. I am really surprised I haven't killed any of these yet. -e- In other news, my RapidStart arrived. However, inside the box was also a bottle of ArmorSi from GH. Which is weird since the guy doesn't sell it on his site. Didn't charge me for it either. Stretch Marx fucked around with this message at 18:28 on Dec 14, 2015 |
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Dec 14, 2015 17:21
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So after giving the peppers their feeding the ph was sitting at 6.5. However, the tomatoes had risen again to 8.2. Pay hasn't come in yet so I had to look up alternative methods. After doing some reading I settled on white rice vinegar since it was available. Put 1 ml into the water and after 2 hours the water was sitting at 6.6. Going to monitor to see how long it maintains that buffer. If it lasts the night, I might try phosphoric or sulfuric acid next.
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Dec 15, 2015 23:10
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DreadLlama posted:The pH should be 5.8. Phosphoric acid is your friend. I do and I didn't notice any slime on the roots. I'm going to hook up the air stone to the tray and see if that helps. I've been constantly topping off the water but I suppose I can't do much for oxygen. Just hoping it doesn't make a mess. Hehe Also, apparently finding Phosphoric Acid in Canada is tough if going by retail. Will have to look online.
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Dec 16, 2015 21:42
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Hooked up the air pump and stone into the tomato tray. Man it's gunna be some fun balancing circuit timers... Redid the mix for my nutrients: in a 2L water bottle I added 4mL of Micro and Grow, 2mL of Bloom, 1mL of Bioroot, and 1mL of Rapid Start. It was suggested in some things I've read that it's best to let the nutrients sit for a day before checking the pH to make sure it's settled. So I'll check it in the morning and I might have to throw some vinegar in. It's actually been snowing here off and on the last couple of days. I'll take a picture of the area in the morning. Part of the reason I want to do this actually is to help get produce prices down in the territories where it's ungodly expensive.
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Dec 16, 2015 23:58
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Honestly, if I ever get a house I'm replacing a lawn with a below frost line green house. Unfortunately, that's not possible at the moment as the ground is frozen. But I would like to have one to save on power in the summer months. I have another guy who wants to go in on this with me and he's thinking on getting lettuce and kale going. My biggest obstacle to expansion is the fact that I'm living at home. My Crohn's blew up at the start of the year and lost my job due to sick days. Had to move home until I finally got my NB Drug Plan card so I'm now getting my $2000 Humira needles for $16.50 a month. I'm on EI, so I've been funneling all my money into my rig while I'm not really paying expenses. There is a company here that helps the disabled find work and they mentioned that there is a government small business program for these sorts of ventures. I basically need to get a prototype up to show that I can do it. I've personally given myself the goal of growing the most plants in the smallest space possible (mostly because I don't have a choice at the moment). I would love to be in a bigger area. I would have 3 or 4 of these rigs going if I could. But I gotta work with what I got. 
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Dec 17, 2015 00:38
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I've been getting most of my stuff lately from Wholesale Hydroponics. Best prices on pH Perfect and gave me free poo poo so I'll keep them on bookmarks. I'll check out that site. Sackville is about 2 hours from here so shipping shouldn't be too bad. Thanks for finding that. I've heard of DNF while looking through various weed growing forums. I haven't seen too many places sell it online so you might be on to something. There's only one store here in Saint John that sells anything hydroponic and their selection is not very large. Considering how much is on the market, it kind of sucks for me. -e- Think I found a place to get phosphoric acid: www.ingredientdepot.com. Pricey but I would only need the one pail as it would basically do me for years. Stretch Marx fucked around with this message at 03:18 on Dec 17, 2015 |
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Dec 17, 2015 01:18
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Checked the nutrient mix this morning and it was sitting at 6.5. Maybe the pH Perfect actually works? Lost a few more tomato branches but the rest of their branches are stiff like their stems so I'm still holding up to hope. All my peppers (chilies included) seem to be doing well though. Also, because I said I would, here's a picture from my window:  Welcome to New Brunswick: Land of Hills and Trees. And Valleys. Also filled with trees. Our rednecks cut sections out of the pine woods to put their trailer homes. Main reason why agriculture doesn't work too well here. That and the weather from the Bay of Fundy which changes every 20 minutes. Stretch Marx fucked around with this message at 15:41 on Dec 17, 2015 |
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Dec 17, 2015 15:37
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Thanks for the bubbler suggestion. Just checked and most of my tomatoes are opening up their leaves again. I feel kind of dumb as I knew this would eventually be an issue. I just figured it wouldn't be a huge issue until they were larger. Live and learn. Had to add more vinegar. The rest of my money this pay is going to getting the pipes for the frame so I'm hoping to have it all set up and ready this weekend.
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Dec 17, 2015 18:59
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Maybe someone here can help me with this. So I have the main rig built. Everything is wired and the tubing has been run and plumbed. The problem I'm having at the moment is two fold. 1 - I have a 1/2 HP pump set to the lowest settings. It gets water to the top of the system fine, however the pressure is still too high. The top of the system is 5 to 6 feet tall. I'm using 1/4 inch tubing for the water. 2 - I have a t coupler that then feeds two lines that go to the drip system. For some reason the water hitting the coupler splits for a bit but then starts completely flowing out one side and ignores the other. The Tee is fine since I can flow water through it from any direction and it flows and there's no regulators on it. I'm thinking maybe installing a valve if I can find something that will couple onto plastic tubing. All I want is for the water to barely make the top of the system and then either flow slowly or trickle/drip but I don't want to cause a pressure backlog that might pop the tubing. Any ideas?
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Dec 20, 2015 18:24
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Ended up buying two 1/4'' pressure valves. Unfortunately due to the holidays and my location, they won't be arriving until Jan 6th... Hopefully everything survives till then.
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Dec 22, 2015 16:45
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Because I haven't flooded this thread with enough pictures, here is the current situation. So here is my rig as of now. Water starts in the res and is pumped up by a 1/2 hp water pump to the top where it is supposed to split in two and flow down to the first bottle top. Each bottle top is filled with clay pellets that settle into position which breaks up the water well. The water flow down from cup to cup where it meets the bottom which has a hose to 1/4'' coupler which then empties back into the res. Or it would if the water pressure wouldn't cause it to avoid the right path. When it works, the pressure is fine. But once it triggers the pressure spikes and that's all she wrote.  Here are the tomatoes. They are slowly unfurling their leaves but it's been interesting trying to keep their water below 6 ph. Going to buy some pH Down from the local Hydroponics place and maybe order that phosphoric acid.  The chilies. They seem to be enjoying the nutrient mix. Hoping I can keep the water level up until the valves arrive. Going to buy another air pump when I get a chance.  Peppers... They hunger... They're also bending around each other which will make putting them the bottles easier. Again, supposing they make it.  And finally, I almost dropped the phone and it took a picture of my portable sun. 
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Dec 23, 2015 20:24
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Noticed slime in the tank with the tomatoes, so I took them out, cleaned their roots, and disinfected and cleaned everything. I culled out the weakest tomatoes so now I"m down to six. I really need to move the peppers soon as they keep basically draining their tank every few days.
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Dec 25, 2015 01:52
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Not sure. It wasn't on the roots, just sort of floating in clumps in the water. The last week it has been really hard to get the drat pH to go down. I'm probably going to go to Halifax Seed and pick up some pH down since house hold acids aren't holding the pH.
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Dec 25, 2015 18:40
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Tom Smykowski posted:Is there any light getting to the water? That might be a cause. Not a lot since I was trying to cover any open areas of the tray, but apparently not enough. The tomatoes looked worse again so I've decided to end their misery and moved my equipment over to the peppers.
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Dec 28, 2015 01:50
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Picture time I guess. So here are the peppers, doing their thang.  Chilies still going strong. For some reason, one of them has yellowish/green leaves. Doesn't look burnt and none of the other plants are doing it. And it's only a couple of lower leaves. The newer, top leaves seem fine.  The green peppers are a giant green mat at this point. Can't wait to move them to the rig.  And while I was looking through my plants the other day for issues, I found this:  Bizarre the sprout appeared after almost two months, but there you go. I'll see if it can handle the nutrients.
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Dec 28, 2015 03:34
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Fozzy The Bear posted:Is that white mold on the soil? Might need some fans to circulate the air. I have a fan but I unplugged it when I was building the frame. Good catch, I'll go plug it back in. Not sure why I didn't notice that. Also the peppers are showing yellow leaves on the lower branches. Research seems to indicate that this is a magnesium deficiency. I'm going to try and pick up some mag supplements tomorrow. Supposing it doesn't snow storm again.
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Dec 28, 2015 23:50
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Put roughly 10ml of epsom salts in the tank (5ml per gallon). Hopefully by tomorrow some of the leaves will be looking better. Unfortunately the drat hydro place had everything except any CalMag mixtures. Yet another thing I might need to order... I'd prefer to make my own.
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Dec 29, 2015 19:40
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Thanks for the info! I've been seeing the same thing regarding temp and the water has been sitting at around 22C at the moment. Since I just put the epsom salts in, I'm going to wait till tomorrow and do a flush of the res. Canada Post indicates that my valves should be in tomorrow. If they are, I'm going to run the main res and if everything pressurizes correctly I'll be setting that up. My main res has its tote box cover and the mesh cups will be full of clay. So hopefully I'll have an easier time keep the water clean.
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Dec 29, 2015 22:12
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Currently it is well water. I was hoping it would be able to handle the calcium/magnesium situation, but apparently not.
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Dec 30, 2015 02:09
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DreadLlama posted:You're just on limestone, right? This isn't my house so I'll have to see if they put softener in the water. I don't think they have, but no harm in checking. Completely emptied and cleaned the res since I think the problem is nutrient lock out since the epsom salts didn't make a difference.
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Dec 30, 2015 14:01
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Welp, I'm a moron. Apparently I bought 1/4'' valves instead of 1/2''. I'm going to keep them for future spaghetti line, but gently caress I feel dumb. Now I have to order more...
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Dec 30, 2015 19:35
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This morning, checked the plants and water and everything seems much better. pH is hovering at 5.8 and 13000ppm. The yellowing stopped and the previously yellow leaves have toughened up again. Looks like the flush helped a lot. Also trying different brands of white rice vinegar and the Kikkoman version seems to holding better.
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Dec 31, 2015 15:15
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This feeding I put some of the Armor SI in to see if I can boost their heat tolerance up a bit.
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Jan 2, 2016 14:29
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Man, I didn't realize the business was this serious. 
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Jan 3, 2016 01:08
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B33rChiller posted:Hey Stretch, thanks for the thread. Interesting stuff to read. Can you tell me a little about your oyster mushrooms? What medium are you growing them on? Did you get a kit, or did you put everything together from scratch? Where did you get your supplies from? I'd like to start growing them on used coffee grounds, but am having trouble tracking down grow bags and either spawn or spore syringes. The one lady I found advertising them on Vancouver Island is (Surprise!) incredibly flaky. Thank you for showing interest and Incoming  Oyster mushrooms are one of the easier mushrooms to clone. All you need is to go to your super market and look for whole mushrooms, as fresh as you think you can get them. The important part is that the stems must have a little bit of the mycelium still fuzzing around it. That's all you need to clone, which is what I did. Cost me maybe $3 for the mushrooms. The main fruiting bodies aren't needed so you can eat those portions. Kitts obviously go faster to colonize a substrate but they usually cost over $30. As for coffee grounds as far as I'm aware it doesn't matter what type of coffee is used so there's no advantage to using more expensive coffee. Running the coffee through a coffee maker is enough to sterilize it so what I get people to do is once they're done to put the coffee grounds in a plastic bag and immediately freeze it. Mold is the biggest killer of your mushrooms and, as I've learned, not properly sterilizing the coffee can make you waste a lot of time. I have Crohn's and coffee actually triggers flares, but my family drinks it and gives me the grounds. I would be cautious of other people giving you them unless you plan to sterilize them again. I actually sent emails to Tim Hortons, Mc Dicks, and a couple of local coffee places and most just told me to ask at the counter. I have a french press that lets me make large batches really quickly. For starting, all you need is a mason jar (doesn't matter what size though obviously the bigger the jar the more mycelium you can grow) and some way to sterilize it. I've seen a few methods, but the easiest I've found is to get 99% Rubbing alcohol and scrub the jar with it. You can also steam or pressure cook them. Once the jar is clean and sterile, put in about an inch of coffee grounds, then a few pieces of mushroom stems, then more coffee, then more stems, etc, until you reach the top. Mushrooms breath oxygen and thus need an air source. However, you must also project the coffee from mold since mold grows faster than the mycelium. What I do is take a coffee filter, take a small plate and cover the bottom in rubbing alcohol, sit the filter in it to absorb a bit, then put it over the opening of the jar and screw on the cap. I'll post some pictures of the Mother Jar in a bit. To clone a future jar, just break up the contents of the first and put them in new jars with fresh coffee. As long as everything is sterile, after a week or two they should have a good grip on the jar. For the mushrooms themselves, you then use your spawn mycelium and spread it through sterile straw in a bucket, like I have been trying. I'm still working on the actually flush portion of it. My bucket got hit with black mold and wiped out the mycelium. Luckily I still have mother jar. I'll probably go about setting up a new one here in the next couple of days.
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Jan 3, 2016 04:35
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Forgot to mention that Oyster Mushrooms are more or less indifferent to light but do like to be somewhere warm. They don't have to be overly moist as I've found if you freeze fresh made coffee grounds it'll retain enough of the water than when you put it in the jar for the mycelium to use. Here are a few pictures of the Mother Jar: First a side picture. I need to top the jar off with fresh grounds. I think I'll let it chew on that first before starting a new jar, though I could easily do one right now.  I've noticed that mycelium likes to gravitate towards the bottom of the jars. Tends to eat everything below before heading up.  Finally a shot of the plants with regular white light on.  I'm hoping monday the new valves arrive. I'm really getting antsy over then still being in the tray. I could move them to the 3 inch trays but I don't want to shock them especially if I might have to move them again.
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Jan 3, 2016 05:01
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