I have a lot of greenery growing, but not enough fruit… yet. Two weeks ago I planted some Strawberry seeds; the Temptation variety. I mean… I’m very tempted to eat strawberries… (bad joke, I know).
Growing Strawberry Temptation in Kratky Hydroponics, Week 2 Growth
Growing Strawberry Temptation in Kratky Hydroponics, Week 2 Growth
They don’t look like much, but these seeds are currently a 7 week effort to get growing!
A while back I learnt that some seeds won’t germinate at warmer temperatures, and in fact need to experience freezing temperatures in order to leave dormancy. You can mimic these temperatures by storing your seeds in the fridge. This process is called stratifying. So for the last month I have had a variety of strawberry seeds just chilling away in the fridge, literally.
To see the seeds actually germinating is really quite rewarding. I was beginning to think that I wouldn’t be able to grow any. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how these grow over the coming weeks.
Opps. The last time I shared an update on the Jalapeños was when they were four weeks old. I didn’t realise time was going by so fast and somehow I didn’t remember to write an update.
Well guess what: it flowered!
Growing Jalapeño Peppers in Kratky Hydroponics, Week 6 Growth
The very first flower opened today in fact. It’s so dainty looking; a stark contrast to the hot and spicy fruit that it’s going to produce.
Growing Jalapeño Peppers in Kratky Hydroponics, Week 6 Growth
There are plenty of other flowers growing on each of the branches, most at that point of about-to-open. Give them a day or two and the whole plant will be flowering, and in need of pollination. Domestic varieties of Jalapeños are self-pollinating, but they benefit from the electric toothbrush method.
Growing Jalapeño Peppers in Kratky Hydroponics, Week 6 Growth
I’m surprised at how small the plants are to be honest. They can grow to be 30in (or 76cm) tall, yet my plants are both around only half that.
My husband is very excited about the jalapeños growing, and his excitement is catching; I am looking forward to making some yummy meals like Jalapeño poppers!
Two weeks ago I planted some Strawberry Spinach in my Kratky hydroponic buckets. I didn’t do a week 1 update as I had guests at the time and was too busy, and they didn’t look like much (most germinated seeds look the same at one week old). Well now its been two weeks, so I thought I should show an update.
Growing Strawberry Spinach in Kratky Hydroponics – Update: Week 2
Unlike many of my other plants, I have noticed that the leaves appear much more yellow. I don’t know if this is a growth issue or that this species just has yellow leaves.
I am rather excited about this plant. I seem to be generating quite a lot of edible greenery, but I still lack fruit. Strawberry Spinach is meant to be that perfect compromise; the leaves taste like spinach whilst the berries they produce are reminiscent of strawberries. Sounds perfect, right?
Growing Strawberry Spinach in Kratky Hydroponics – Update: Week 2
According to my notes the strawberry spinach will take 6-9 weeks before they are ready to harvest (hopefully with berries). Fingers crossed! If they work out well, they may become a regular plant in our grow room.
It’s hard to believe that its been a whole month since I first planted the Jalapeño seeds into the rockwool.
Last week (photo below) we saw the Jalapeño forming much larger leaves and thickened stems:
Growing Jalapeño Peppers in Kratky Hydroponics, Week 3 Growth
So how have the jalapeñoes grown over rthe last week?
Growing Jalapeño Peppers in Kratky Hydroponics, Week 4 Growth
They have gone through that initial growth spurt that I have come to expect from most plants once their first leaves start growing. The plants have grown larger leaves, and what were once small leaves are now quite a decent size. They have also started growing new small leaves – will these be big next week?
One big change is that we have gone from 5 pepper plants to one! No they didn’t die. Jalapeño plants are quite a lot bigger than lettuces, and I want to make sure that they have enough space to grow. So I have removed all but one pepper plant from the bucket.
Growing Jalapeño Peppers in Kratky Hydroponics, Week 4 Growth
I did wait a tad bit too long to transplant them, but here they are getting ready to be moved outdoors. We have a family friend with a garden that’s ready for “winter” crops – most of the year in Kuwait is too hot to really grown plants, we tend to grow during “winter”.
Did you see that little sad looking Jalapeño at the front right in the photo? That’s what happens when a couple of the plants grow faster than others in Kratky; some plant roots start sucking up water before all plants have necessarily put out their roots, dropping the water level in the bucket. I should have maintained the water level with slight top-ups. Whilst the plant does have some green leaves on it, most fell off with the slightest of touches. I have given it plenty of water, but chances are that one seedling will die.
We still have 3 other plants, plus one growing in my Aerogarden Bounty. I hope we get a good harvest of peppers out of all these plants.
Kale isn’t the cheapest of green leaf vegetables since its harder to find at the shops, and I’m honestly surprised that it isn’t more easily available; it was so incredibly easy to grow, its so high in nutrition, and its delicious! My local shops in Kuwait sells it for 3KD/500grams. Thats US$20/kg r AU$30/kg!! To think that I have had multiple kilograms of produce come off my small bucket… Selling kale is like a get rich quick scheme!
Nero Toscana Kale Grown In Kratky Container, Week 8
I’ve been so happy with our kale plants. We’ve made smoothies and kale chips and salads, and without a doubt we are going to be making more in the future.
Nero Toscana Kale Grown In Kratky Container, Week 8
And it’s been growing really well; the leaves are absolutely massive! As you can see, each leave is about the length of my entire hand and forearm.
Nero Toscana Kale Grown In Kratky Container, Week 8
As the leaves get older, they get wider.
I’m not sure how much longer this particular plant will last; I am probably going to harvest the entire plant and start some seedlings fresh again. Kale will survive for roughly two years per plant, but as you harvest it will grow taller and taller. Unfortunately for me I have a limited height on my shelves, and when plants get too large they have been be harvested and replanted.
The biggest question is… will I plant only one box, or multiple boxes of kale? Is there ever a problem of too much kale?
Here is another crop that seems to be growing faster than I can possibly eat; my Edible Red Leaf Amaranth.
Growing Edible Red Leaf Amaranth in Kratky Hydroponics – Update: Week 5
Until a few weeks ago I don’t think I have ever eaten Amaranth. Supposedly it goes great in stir-fries and sautés, but I haven’t tried it like that yet; instead I have been eating them fresh as a lettuce substitute. The leaves have the same texture of a very tender lettuce leaf, like a baby lettuce leaf, with a very subtle spinach taste. The older leaves do tend to get a bit more crispy with a slightly stronger spinach taste. They are super delicious! So good that I have been picking leaves off every time I walk past just to nibble on.
Growing Edible Red Leaf Amaranth in Kratky Hydroponics – Update: Week 5
The leaves are about the same size of many lettuces, if not even larger. I tend to harvest when they get to be about the size of my hand… but they have definitely grown much larger if you leave them.
It’s growing so well that even when I make a cutting new sprouts are starting to emerge from the cut sites. On top of that its growing taller daily!
Growing Edible Red Leaf Amaranth in Kratky Hydroponics – Update: Week 5
The amaranth is a very prolific grower. A lettuce just grows taller, so a cut-and-come continual harvest can be matched. This amaranth is easily putting out two to three times the amount of leaves…
I have five plants growing, and its out-growing how much my husband and I can eat (even when we are picking at it every day and having green smoothies just to try and not be wasteful…). I think I am going to be giving away some cuttings over the next couple weeks…. If you want a plant that grows well, then I really suggest growing your own amaranth.
Have you grown amaranth? Was it for the leaves or the seeds or the grains? Let me know in the comments below!
First impressions upon seeing my Swiss Chard this week you might think “they look kind of pathetic”, but don’t be so judgemental! These poor Swiss Chard have been harvested, and harvested… and harvested – to the point where if I didn’t like Swiss Chard as much as I do I would probably be sick of it.
Those droopy leaves you see are just the older leaves that are needing to be harvested. I also did accidentally let my water get a bit too low for a day or two, so I suspect those leaves were partially sacrificed in order to preserve the younger growth.
Bright Lights Swiss Chard Grown In Kratky Container, Week 5
I stopped weighing how much produce we were getting after about 1kg of leaves… yeah, thats a lot. Most people will only use 1 cup of greens in their usual salad, which is 75g or 2.6oz. That comes out to about 18 salads… We were eating it in everything – salad, green smoothies for breakfast and lunch, just by itself… and we have a surplus!
Bright Lights Swiss Chard Grown In Kratky Container, Week 5
It’s also still growing. Even from the sections that I cut the Swiss chard is beginning to put out new leaves. It’s like a never ending plant of deliciousness…
Swiss Chard takes about 30-60 days to reach maturity when growing in traditional soil gardens. I’d say my plant definitely reached maturity last week at 30 days old, but the continuous growth will let me keep harvesting from it for at least another few weeks.
I suspect that I will probably do a final harvest in about a week and start a new batch, at least in one bucket (I currently have 1.5 buckets of Swiss Chard growing, a total of 7 plants). In the future I would space the plants a bit more, with 3 plants per bucket rather than 5. They did survive and grow fine, but they were just a bit too crowded. It all just depends upon how large you let the leaves get before harvesting.
I just realised that I forgot to write a post for last week, oops. Sorry about that. Guess the jump of growth between the last post and this one is going to be significant. This post is going to be big (not just plant growth), but because I discuss edema, flowers and fruiting too.
Lets look back at week 4 growth:
San Marzano Tomato 1 Month, In Kratky Hydroponics
I was so proud of how big they were growing… and how fast – each day seemed to produce another branch, another leaf, or another inch or two of height… little did I know that the plants would keep growing at such a speed, even two weeks later. I have created a monster; a gorgeous, hopefully soon to eat yummy, monster:
San Marzano Tomato 6 Weeks Old, Grown In Kratky Hydroponics
Its getting huge! We have two of the trellis supports already installed, and tonight I will be putting in the third. Thats a trellis each week…
The Curious Case of Edema
Would you believe that I have actually been cutting branches off? We’ve actually been having a problem with how fast this plant is growing. So fast that it’s actually becoming a serious problem and risk, for the plant itself.
Edema on San Marzano Tomato Plant Leaves
See those little green spots on the tomato leaves? That’s edema. Its what happens when the plant is absorbing too much liquid… Is that even possible in a hydroponic system? Yeah it is. Edema causes the cellular structure on the leaves to swell up as they absorb moere and more liquid, to the point that they will rupture, often killing that leaf. Often you will also see crusty spots on the leaves from dried sap and water.
In mild cases its not usually an issue, but more and more of our tomato branches were becoming effected. It tends to effect the lower branches or leaves first, slowly effecting more of the plant if the environment remains unchanged.
There are a couple reasons why it can happen:
There isn’t enough airflow around the plant and the plant isn’t transpiring enough (sort of like you getting hot and sweaty without a cool wind). This can also happen if the plant leaves is too dense and thick, restricting airflow around inner branches. This is the most common reason.
The nutrients are unbalanced; the plant is sucking up too much liquid to try and get enough of one or more nutrients.
The water is too warm whilst the leaves are cooler, causing the plant to activate drinking mode. Sort of like when a plant is growing in a hot region – when it rains the upper plant becomes cool and signals to the roots that fresh water is being supplied.
I will write a blog post covering edema bit more and ways to resolve this. It affects all plants, not just tomatoes.
In our situation, the foliage was becoming too dense. The constant but small airflow that we had in the room wasn’t reaching the inner branches and leaves, so the plant wasn’t able to lose the excess liquids through sweating.
Over Dense Foliage on San Marzano Tomato, Week 6 Growth in Kratky Hydroponics
For now our solution was to maintain a slightly more average temperature in the grow room rather than cooler at night and warmer during the day. We are still researching the ideal fan for our grow room as some people have had issues with the common oscillating fans causing leaf burn due to overexposure of wind.
Fruitful Endeavours
Flowers on San Marzano Tomatoes at 6 Weeks, Grown In Kratky Hydroponics
It’s not all bad news; our “hard work” is paying off. The tomato plant is only 6 weeks old, and yet we have been getting flowers now for nearly two weeks!
Flowers on San Marzano Tomatoes at 6 Weeks, Grown In Kratky Hydroponics
San Marzano are an indeterminate tomato plant variety, meaning they will continuous flower, fruit and grow indefinitely as long as the environment is ideal. So it makes sense that not all the flowers are opening at once. I did a count of the flower buds that I could see – both opened and unopened. There was over 35 flower buds!
Flowers on San Marzano Tomatoes at 6 Weeks, Grown In Kratky Hydroponics
The average San Marzano tomato weighs around 120-140grams (4.2-5oz). Assuming all 35 flowers produce tomatoes, thats a minimum of 4.2kg (9.2lbs) of tomatoes! I’m so glad that I have bought some canning equipment so I can bottle up these delicious tomatoes.
Have you preserved your home-grown or store bought tomatoes? Whats your favourite way to use tomatoes? Mine is definitely pizza sauce. Let me know in the comments below.
Three weeks ago I got some Jalapeño seeds as a present from a friend; thank you friend! My husband is a big fan of Jalapeño poppers recipes; I’ve only tried them once and enjoyed them a fair bit too. Biggest issue was finding jalapeños large enough to easily stuff. So it makes sense that we planted some Jalapeño pepper seeds into some rock wool to grow our own (hopefully large peppers).
It’s now time to do the three week update!
Growing Jalapeño Peppers in Kratky Hydroponics, Week 3 Growth
The peppers are taking off! I wanted to say that they haven’t grown that much, but looking back at week two they were only little seedlings:
Growing Jalapeño Peppers in Kratky Hydroponics, Week 2
The week three jalapeños have clearly grown much larger leaves, and are now growing their third and fourth true leaves.
Growing Jalapeño Peppers in Kratky Hydroponics, Week 3 Growth
I am concerned about the size of the bucket that I am growing it in – ideally I would have only one or two plants in this sized bucket long term, and I am growing five! I think that I will give some seedlings away to family (to plant traditionally in soil) and keep one or two for myself.
Have you grown Jalapeño peppers before? How long did yours take to fruit? How big were the peppers? Let me know in the comments below.
The last time I tried to grow Amish Deer Tongue Lettuce , it didn’t go so well. It wasn’t a total disaster; I still got a harvest out of my lettuce, but I transplanted too late in their growth and as a result I stressed the lettuce out way too much. They just never really recovered.
Last (failed) attempt: Week 3 Deer Tongue Kratky Lettuce
The failure was mine. I was brand new to hydroponics, and growing lettuce in general, so mistakes were made and learnt from…
So I have decided to reattempt my first grow experiment, this time seeing just how big my plants will get. One week ago I planted seeds in some rock wool and my new hydroponic buckets:
Growing Amish Deer Tongue Lettuce, Week 1
They don’t look like much at the moment, I know. They have barely broken the surface of the rock wool, and have only just put out their first true leaves (in some cases they haven’t even gotten that old).
Growing Amish Deer Tongue Lettuce, Week 1
See? The lettuce seedlings are still very small. Once they start getting a bit bigger, and one sprout becomes dominant, I will thin them out to one plant per net cup.
Have you grown lettuce hydroponically before, or in soil? What’s your favourite lettuce variety? Let me know down in the comments.
