Happy Holidays again and time for one more quick update. The aphids seem to be beaten and the pepper plants promptly responded by putting out a flush of new flowers. This may also be a response to adding a sprinkle of Osmocote 14-14-14 to the top of the soil as the plants looked like they could use a boost. A week later, they’re certainly boosted! I’m fighting some yellow leaves on one miracle fruit plant in my old set up but hopefully it is a heat issue and the small heater I have will keep the temp up a bit more over night. There seems to be a TON of new growth (pictures to follow) on the MF plant in my 55 gallon enclosure under the 150W HPS light. Not sure what did it but all of the sudden, it looks like there are new leave shoots (and possibly flower stalks!?! fingers crossed) coming out every which way. I have some new MF organic fertilizer on its way from Black Rivery Nursery so hopefully that will also help with fruiting. The non-traditional Christmas tree is mostly built and I’m waiting on my lettuce seedlings to get big enough that I can try transplanting them into the system. If the lettuce grows well, I’ll do a full write up. The hardest parts so far have been 1) keeping the water in at the grow sites; and 2) figuring out how to make my old Windows 98 laptop control relays to turn the pump, lights, and Christmas lights on and off. Please don’t try this at home (and don’t forget that GFCIs are your friend, especially when it comes to mixing home hydroponics and home made circuitry). The lettuce likely won’t be ready by the 25th but hopefully I will at least be able to transplant it by then and have it have some decent growth so that the white buckets look green and tree like. I’d forgotten how nice it is to have a lovely plant room with full spectrum lights and tropical plants all around you while outside, it is snowing and freezing!
