Wednesday, February 25, 2009

8" tomatoes? no way....

So here we are several weeks I believe into this indoor growing session and it's time for an update. I am now operating, if you want to stretch to call it that, 3 different setups. The setup here is at home, using 2 standard CFL's like you get at any hardware store, except the package claims 6500Kelvin; well into the range of sunlight. At the University I have an LED setup over a small container with tomatoes and cucumber, then above the shelf that's under I have a shelf built with a window box containing a variety of seeds lit by a standard 2x T12 shop lamp using daylight bulbs.

After transplanting part of the crop into a larger window box I found the plants I moved to be doing well. I was surprised to find the roots of the tomatoes and the peppers to have taken over most of the pots they were in. The tomatoes as you can see have flourished and grown considerably since they started as seeds one at almost 8" and the rest between 6-7".


The cilantro on the other hand I have not transplanted but I did thin it out some to give the rest more room to grow. Although I fear the cilantro may not be doing so well. One plant has given up completely and many of the others have yellowed quite a bit. From what I read online it could several things. Not enough light, soil too cold for nutrient pickup, soil lacking enough nitrogen, or santa clause isn't someing to town. I don't think that lack of moisture is an issue, I water the plants nearly daily and the cilantro about every other or every couple days, as per previous information of the plant not liking the water a little here and a little there. Guess time will tell, I would assume since I used potting soil that tends to be high in nitrogen maybe it has to do with temperature. (apt stays around 68-70)The Basil is having somewhat of the same issue. The plants are strong and sturdy, smell good and have sprouted their second leaves but I notice a strong yellowing tenge in these as well.

At least the peppers seem to be doing ok. I have thinned most the plantings to encourage growth and prevent over crowding. The peppers may be a little close but I'm hoping this will encourage root growth toward the front and back of the box.

I'm thinking it is about time to start some kind of matrix to track productivity, and hopefully next week I can get the light meter to measure these lights.

1 comment:

  1. Oh I guess I should add that I added a few more seeds given the space, the planter box has cucumber and another variety of tomato. Then the 2 pots that were left empty I planted lettuce in the one with the vertical support (don't ask why it makes no sense) then I actually don't remember what I planted in the other. So I guess it will be a suprise to us all. That being me since no one else reads my blog.

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