New Grow On Strawberry Crown

Spotted some new grow on one of strawberry crowns today. Good sign that they all will all grow this season. With all the over cast and rain the past 2 weeks, I was afraid they might rot. Also based on garage roof over hang above the vertical NFT tubes, there will be be very little sun light reaching it. There fore it's time moved it to the sunny side of house next week .

New Ph Meter

Purchase my first pH meter today. With all rain the past several weeks, I was sure that the pH level would be running high in nutrient tanks. Normally I don't bother with adjusting the pH level of water. I had borrow a pH tester from a friend last year and found that my tap water ran a pH of 6.0. Good enough for me to use without making adjustments. Upon checking all my tanks, found their pH was running 8.1. Now the trick will be to keep the pH level down around 5.5. Its been raining here ever other day now for the past 2 weeks. I highly recommend that you check the pH level of your nutrient tanks after each heavy rain.

Cantaloup Added

Found a couple cantaloup plants at Jewel to today. Just for fun I added them to one of the spare buckets, on the second set t Hydro buckets.

Strawberries Plants In

Planted 18 strawberries plugs, or the center two tubes. Also threw in in two impatients or fun.

Vertical NFT Tubes Up And Running

Decided to buy a pump from from my local hydroponic store instead of Lowes. Fill up the nutrient tank with water. Connected the new pump to supply line and dropped it into the tank. Fill up all the tubes perlite. Turn the pump on and began looking for leaks. Almost ran the tank dry before any water started returning to the tank. Did not realize how much water the perlite would retain. In this case, about 8 gallons water. Added another 6 gallons of water to the tank. No leaks were found. Will be putting strawberries plants in this Saturday.

Vertical NFT Will Need A New Pump

Connected nutrient tank to the vertical NFT system today. I was going to use the pump I had on the Hydro buckets last year. Ran a simply test on the pump to make sure it was still running OK, but found it only has a pumping head height of 4 feet. I need 7 feet. So starting up of the vertical NFT will have to wait until can buy a new pump. Been using pumps purchased from Lowes. However, this year they switch to a different brand. Which I'm not sure if like the style of yet.

More Photos

Rhubarb, cucumbers and zucchini

Current Photos of NFT and Hydro Buckets

Here are current photos of both the Hydro Buckets and NFT tubes. Most of the plants have more than double in size.

First Rhubarb Leaves

First leaves on the rhubarb are visible, just three days after placing the plant crowns in the bucket.

Planted Rhubarb and Cucumber

Place three rhubarb root crowns and four cucumber plants in Hydro Buckets today.