05-11-2025, 11:30 PM
I already have new tomatoes started so eventually those crazy ones will get replaced. We use Root Riot starting plugs that you can find on Amazon. They are made for starting cuttings but for seeds I just use alongside the center holes. They fit very nicely in the little grow basket that then goes into the lettuce grow. Each section holds 6 baskets. Those not being used, you plug by putting practice golf balls into the grow baskets. This way no light gets inside so no algae build up happens. That way I can adjust different seeds to whatever depth they require.
We can start harvesting lettuces by removing the outer leaves. Lettuce usually sprouts in 10 days. So, we plan around that timeframe. Spinach takes longer to germinate, but we use spinach and broccoli leaves in our salads.
Pumps run for 15min every hour, the lights are on for 16hrs a day. We did have many lights fail at the connectors as they run inside where the water is. Jeff's sister who has the same set up never had this happen to hers. They're supposed to be waterproof. After the 3rd time it happened, we needed to come up with a solution. We did. and haven't had failure since. But now our lights are done externally instead. It's hard to explain this, I can post a few pictures of the failures if you're interested in doing this. I will say to their credit, customer service was very good at replacing our failed light rings each time. It will require simple electronics work and I can give you our solution if interested. We got the parts from Amazon of course, but they are not expensive. Luckily, we both have the background for doing this, so it wasn't too big of a deal to do it, maybe a little soldering is the toughest thing. Note - I do stained glass work, so we have great soldering irons, and flux access.
We can start harvesting lettuces by removing the outer leaves. Lettuce usually sprouts in 10 days. So, we plan around that timeframe. Spinach takes longer to germinate, but we use spinach and broccoli leaves in our salads.
Pumps run for 15min every hour, the lights are on for 16hrs a day. We did have many lights fail at the connectors as they run inside where the water is. Jeff's sister who has the same set up never had this happen to hers. They're supposed to be waterproof. After the 3rd time it happened, we needed to come up with a solution. We did. and haven't had failure since. But now our lights are done externally instead. It's hard to explain this, I can post a few pictures of the failures if you're interested in doing this. I will say to their credit, customer service was very good at replacing our failed light rings each time. It will require simple electronics work and I can give you our solution if interested. We got the parts from Amazon of course, but they are not expensive. Luckily, we both have the background for doing this, so it wasn't too big of a deal to do it, maybe a little soldering is the toughest thing. Note - I do stained glass work, so we have great soldering irons, and flux access.