Adding lettuce to the indoor garden. Giving the Subterranean Irrigated EarthBox a try. I bought two of them. Started this lettuce box with hand watering. Will switch to SIP mode (fill and maintain the reservoir) when plants get big enough to require that amount of water. Large EarthBox; Planted 30 July 2022 Home made soil Center Strip of Down To Earth 3-3-3 Two Rows of 4 each (2x4) Planted 30 July 2022 Day 8 Hand watered DLI = 15 @ 18 hours (started at DLI 8); 14” from reflector to soil level 1x3 side room; tent by ACInfinity (larger side room is for drying herb) Fixed (no dimmer) 32 watt Spider Farmer SF-300; $57 at Amazon No fans; 74 F @ 51% rh Zipped up sides DOUBLEs the PPFD at seedlings Bibb 2x (first to germinate; 4 days) Butter Crunch 2x (second to germinate; 6 days) Romaine 2x (third to germinate; 7 days) Tri color Romaine Mix 2x (nothing yet) Strawberries in box #2 when starts are available….
Day 14 Last hand watering today. Will fill res on Monday. Potatoes to collect sow bugs (rolly-pollys). Big plant is stray black oily sunflower from bird feeder. Top row, 2nd and 3rd, pulled and replanted thinned butter crunch because tri-color romaine didn’t germ. Surprised how well they transplanted.
Day 16 15 AUG 2022 Filled the reservoir for the first time today, took barely shy of 2 gallons. Reservoir cork float works OK I guess. Res level empty: Full:
Day 22 This lettuce is rockin!!! Bibb 2x (first to germinate; 4 days) Butter Crunch 2x (second to germinate; 6 days) Romaine 2x (third to germinate; 7 days) Tri color Romaine Mix 2x (FAIL) Smaller plants on top row were pinched out during planting and re-planted there because the tri color romaine never germinated. I think I probably placed the seeds too deep. Bell Pepper cutting in the bottle (don’t know if this works experiment). watering 3/4 gallon every two days thirsty!!
Thanks @dobro49 It was probably you that turned me on to the EB. Almost everything I am doing indoor is because of a few of the super people (you included) here on the forum. I'm amazed at the growth rate of this lettuce. Day to day you can see the growth. And it's almost entirely hands free, just add water in the filler tube. Knocking on wood...... The EarthBox site is essentially no help unless you are following their "formulas" and but their soil, nutes. lime and other shit they sell. Their target market is the gardening impaired. Most of their blogs, articles, and information is targeted to those that buy the EB soil, nutes and liming agents. I guess its a brilliant business model, for making money. I don't think they know their customer...... I filled the box with my regular grow soil and added 1/2 cup of dry organic 3-3-3- amendment down the center. THe fill indicator works better than nothing but the Home Depot corks are water logging. Need a better float material. Maybe will try a small fishing bobber and smaller piece of wire...
This site is full of good info and people. You explain the stuff you are doing well as others do and it makes it great for all of us. I have those float levels with the 5 gal SIPs but I just watch the overflow. I have cardboard for mulch around the EBs and that overflow will show quick so it isn’t a waste. I just make a habit of topping them off too. I used the stuff that came in the box but I looked around for other info on running it tho the directions were simple enough. I’m not sure if it’s active or just saved but I found some good discussions on that EB forum they had too. I like the system and have some much needed luck with them.
I found some small, weighted, Styrofoam bobbers in my tackle box. I'll give them a whirl.... My strawberry plants should ship in several days. Can't wait to get those started.
Day 27 This EB is in the side 1x3’ “clone room” of a small two room 3x4’ tent. It’s overfilling the space. May have to move it! The other side is used for drying. Guess it could do double duty? Would the lettuce smell like weed?
Wish I had started a Grow Journal with this. The journals allow “show all pictures”. It’s amazed me how fast this is growing.
THe Earthbox Lettuce project was wildly sucessful, and I would recommend the Earthbox to anyone. We have been eating off those 8 plants for 4 weeks now. It grows fast, keeps putting on new big leaves as we harvest. The lettuce is pretty tall now, one actually fell over. They look like lollipoped plants with a tall, bare-bottom stem from harvesting. The bib lettuce is very very tender and not very crunchy. Several people didn't like the tender soft texture, ok, more for me! Also, 8 plants is too many for my tent's 12"x36" side room, so Im cutting it back to six plants, 2. We found that the lettuce leaves will stay good for 7+ days in a 1 gallon zip lock in the fridge! On a final note, my strawberry plants haven't shipped but will on Monday, or so I am told. I am going to start a Earthbox Strawberry grow journal for them.
Nice thread my friend. I just keep that one journal for most of my stuff. It's easier for me to keep track of things and for others to follow along.
THank you @TimJ. The GC search function sucks with my PC platform, and I have an almost impossible time finding my old posts. Even the bookmark function is hit or miss with my PC. I find the "Journal" function to be reliable and easier to find if I want to review my notes. Is the search just me or does it suck universally?
The search feature does take some getting used to. If you double click on your avatar, it brings you to your personal details. Use the column on the left to navigate to your watched threads/forums. That is a single place that you'll find most of your commonly used features. You can also single click your avatar and open your profile page. Then click on recent activities. As for the search feature, you need to be more specific in what and where you want to search for it. Hope that helps. Again, excellent thread my friend.
A year later- I'm consistently knee deep in Butter Crunch lettuces. Romaine won't hardly germinate, I dont know why, but I have a rolling supply of Butter Crunch.