Bananarama! 01/07/08

The banana plant has reached maturity and is bearing large well formed fruit. It looks very impressive in our greenhouse standing at around two and half meters with broad fan like leaves.

As you can see the bananas have begun to ripen on the plant, time to cut down. The bunch has quite a few bannanas on it all of a decent size too.

For the bananas to ripen i kept them in a cool dark place. I utilized the mini grow tent for this. Next time i do it i will use use an extraction fan in the tent for air circulation. You could tell there was a high humidity level in the room when you opened the door, this increases the chance of any mould ruining your harvest.

The taste test - These bananas were thick and fleshy, not the best for eating raw as it gets a bit sludgey in the mouth. Perfect for cooking as a desert though because they were really sweet.

All apologies 01/07/08

To all that follow this blog, i am sorry that i haven't been able to update my posts for a hell of a long time. This summer has been a busy time for the company with hollidays and staff change. Lots has happened in the greenhouse but i will try and update you with some of the more important stuff.

I will be allocated more time, more frequently to spend updating the blog too keep you more up to date with what's goin on.

Setting up an NEF Ebb and Flow / Flood and Drain system with Pablo Beetroot 05/05/08

I have chosen to grow a variety of beetroot called Pablo for its uniform shape, smooth skin, great taste and high yield. As you can see i have germinated the seeds in jiffy peat pellets. I like these because they retain moisture well and contain slow releasing nutrients that are vital for early growth. I have brought them on until they are well established and about 10 - 15cm in height. Their leaves are weighty so i have used sandwich bag ties to hold them up by tying a loop around the stem and sticking the other end in the peat pellet.

Sit the 45 litre nutrient reservoir on a level surface and place the flood tray on top so that it sits in the grooves. position the tank so the gap faces the front. This is where you check and fill the nutrient solution. There are two tubes that stick upright from the flood tray. The smaller of the two nearest the front is attatched to a microjet mc 450 pump and allows for the nutrient solution to flood the medium in the tray.


The second larger upright tube is an overflow drain so that the flood tray can never overspill into the grow room. Handy when theres electrics about. There are also small holes in the grooves of the tray which are for drainage too.
I have added a thin layer of large 8-12mm clay pebbles to allow for better drainage.


I have filled the rest of the tank with seramis that are smaller than the clay pebbles i have used and they also hold onto more water to prevent drying out between floods.
I dug a space in the seramis to fit the peat pellet, in a staggered arrangement for maximum growth space and covered it back up with the seramis.


After transplanting the plants look lifeless and limp. This can be normal as there are stress factors such as a sudden drop in humidity and temperature from coming out of the propagator. Also because the seramis was dry when i transplanted i felt that it sucked some of the moisture out of the roots and peat pellet by process of osmosis.


I took a jug and scooped the nutrient solution i pre-mixed from the nutrient reservoir and poured it over the medium. I then made a black and white cover to prevent loss of moisture from the medium, i cut holes in the right place and pulled the plants through.


After a few days when the plants had rooted in and become established i began to flood the table once a day using a grasslin segmental timer set to 15mins on at mid day.
After nearly two weeks the beets are showing rapid signs of growth.

Setting up an Amazon aeroponics system with perpetual spinach 20/05/08

The amazon took two years of development by company Nutriculture to bring to the market a reliable product of top quality that gives high end aeroponic results at an affordable price. Aeroponics offers an optimal ratio of oxygen, water and nutrient to the plants roots which allows for rapid growth, promoting high yields. It is simple to set up and i will show you how.
Lets begin with the base. Everything will be stacked upon the base so make sure it sits on even ground, do this accurately using a spirit level or by seeing whether water builds up at one end or is evenly spread in the bottom. The base is also the nutrient reservoir and has a 50 litre capacity. Make sure the lowered groove/lip is towards the back of the tank as this is where the next tier will sit, allowing you room at the front to mix your nutrient solution.

The next teir is the base of the root chamber. It has two holes at either end, the larger should be facing the back of the system as it is a drain hole. The smaller hole at the front is to allow the delivery tube to connect to the pump.

Next we sit the already assembled delivery tube and sprinklers in the raised grooved beds to hold the in position for an even delivery of solution to each plant site, it is raised to prevent root mass building up around them and blocking them.


Twist the 'tail' end of the delivery tube so that it fits through the small hole in the base of the root chamber and hangs into the nutrient reservoir.
Here we connect the pump to the delivery tube. I have used an extra piece of standard 1/2" hose pipe to lengthen the delivery tube so that the pump sits flat against the bottom of the nutrient reservoir and gets the maximum usage out of the tank.

Now we can place the lid on top. Here you can see this is an eight site Amazon but there are 4, 8, 16, 32 site lids, and now you can double the ammount of sites with the brand new Twin Amazon that shares a nutrient reservoir (keep updated as i will post a blog on this new system soon.
Here is i have covered the amazon in black and white, this helps reflect light and heat to prevent an overly warm nutrient solution as the greenhouse is already warm. However you may want to add a water heater if you need to control your temperature.

There are two sizes of holes in the Amazon lid that hold either 1.5" net pots or 3" net pots. The 1.5" net pot sized holes are ideal when using an aeroponic propagator such as the x-stream aeroponic poragators as you can simply propogate and grow a fully mature plant without transplanting into a larger sized pot. However there is also a 3" net pot sized hole and is ideal for larger sized plants with greater root growth and stem size.
I will be growing a perpetual spinach in the amazon which i have germinated in 1.5" fleximix blocks, but for demonstrative purposes i will show you a simple method of how to transplant either a 1.5" net pot or grow cube such as rockwool, fleximix or jiffy peat pellet.

Simply insert the 1.5" net pot, fleximix, rockwool, jiffy into the 3" net pot and fill the side gaps with seramis (as pictured) or small 4-6mm clay pebbles as these are small enough to fill the gaps without spilling out of the net pot. They also provide excellent drainage preventing any rotting around the stem.
This is a picture of the sprinklers in action, they spin round supplying an even spread of nutrient solution to the roots keeping them moist but allowing maximum aeration for a fresh supply of oxygen to the roots.

Keep updated as i will post new blogs on the spinach's development.

Wind burn 03/05/08

The chilli plants have grown real tall now, so tall infact that the upper leaves are in the direct pathway of one of the circulatory fans at the top of the greenhouse. The force of the air movement causes an extreme case of evaporation of water from the leaves. Transpirational pull cannot keep up with the moisture loss and so cells in the leaf dry out. At such a level of water evaporation from the leaves it leaves behind the nutrient salts that cannot evaporate making them more and more concentrated until they reach a toxicity level.
Leaf burn usually starts with signs of upward curling of leaves. Then there are similar signs to nutrient burn with browning patches and around the edges of the leaf, deformed growth patterns. To stop further wind burn effects i am going to move the fan to another area of the greenhouse. To prevent anything like this happeneing predict the growth of your plants when deciding on positioning of a fan.

Aphid pest problem 12/04/08

I have noticed some curling and deformities in the new growth leaves of the chilli plants. These deformities have come from toxins in aphid saliva that cause mutations of plant cells, they cells around these mutated cells grow and expand, resulting in a curling effect.

When the leaf matures it fully expands and flattens out, where the mutated cells were there is now a hole because the imbalance of growth hormones of these cells don't allow the cells to form properly.






I have seen a few aphids on the lower leaves of a few chilli plants. This is not usually a problem as we release parasitoid wasps as a control regime for preventative measures.

A few aphids soon became a load of aphids, aphids are asexual this means they don't posess male or female sex organs. Infact they are born pregnant with an exact clone of themselves. You can tell which ones are mature and are ready to give birth by their size. A population of aphids can grow at an alarming rate. Our prevntative measures do not seem to be working.

Under closer observation i was able to identify the species of aphid as a glasshouse-potato aphid, they have long legs and the mix of parasitoid wasp that we were releasing were ineffective at ovipositing their young into the aphid. I ordered the correct parasitoid wasp, opened the bottle in the room and gently tapped it releasing the wasps around the plants. I noticed a difference within days.

The parasitoid wasp injects (oviposits) its fertilized eggs into the aphid which will live inside the aphid in its larval stage and will emerge from the host aphid as an adult. The aphid dies but its body remains intact but in a mummified form which is a pale colour.

Ripening tomatoes 08/04/08

The tomatoes have begun to ripen, the green chlorophyl in the fruit begins to dissipate allowing the red pigments to show through. As well as red pigments coming through, i noticed some yellow speckaling. It is not well understood why this occurrs but it is known that increasing the difference between potassium (K) and phosphorous (P) from nitrogen (N) will reduce the speckaling. I added a bloom boost additive that is made here called vitalink buddy, i applied it at 1ml per litre then added my general bloom nutrients till i reached the correct EC.

Hormones control the fruits ripening process, a hormonal gas called ethylene is released as the fruit ripens, this gas promotes ripening in the plant. As more fruit begins to ripen more ethylene gas is released and so becomes more concentrated until there is a flury of ripening fruit. Bananna plants release alot of ethylene gas and are commonly used in commercial fruit crop production to speed up the ripening process. We have our own bannana plant in the greenhouse and it seems to be doing the job.

In the later stage of ripening sugar production (brix formation) is concentrated in the fruit. The sugar attracts water to the fruits cells by process of diffusion, this causes the fruit to become ripe, juicy and sweet tasting. As the fruit matures, the pectin which holds the cells together begins to break down, the cells are not so structurally strong and so the fruit feels much softer.

This bunch of tomatoes are fully and evenly ripe, they are big, colourful, sweet and juicy.

Chilli and Pepper Training 23/03/08

The chillies and peppers have grown to a decent height now and will need to be supported. The reason most chillies and peppers need supporting is because they have been selectively bred for the heaviest fruits despite not being able to support themselves naturally.

When supporting chillies and peppers i use string made from polythene as it doesn't absorb or hold any moisture. This quality prevents any micro habitats for bacteria and mould to breed in increasing the likelihood of plant infection.
I start off by looping the string around the stemp of the plant just before the bification of the stem where it splits into two. I tie a knot around the string itself rather than tight up to the plant. This way of tying allows the loop to expand without coming loose. This means as the stem thickens the loop will not restrict growth.

The other end of the string is tied to a beam at the top of the greenhouse. The support lines are strung up in a 'v' shape, this means as the plant branches out towards the top the foliage will not cross over each other and become a dense canopy. I've strung up two support lines for now but will increase this to four as they grow bigger. Like the tomatoes i will use the plastic clips to train the branches along the support lines as these will bear the weight of the large fruits.

Tomato training 20/03/08

With day length, sun light radiation and warmth increasing as the season moves into spring, the plants in the greenhouse have had explosive growth rate to say the least.
The picture of the floridity tomatoes in the NFT system shows how vigorous the growth has been. In order to cope with the rate of growth from the plants they need to be maintained and trained.

When the tomatoes have grown too tall for their support they are lowered by releasing the spool of string they are attatched to for support. A plastic clip is attatched to the string at the hinge and clips around the stem to support the plant without being too tight restricting the expansive growth of the stem.

As i lower individual plants i also move the support spool to the next hanging site. In effect this causes the plants to coil round at the base. With the lowering of the stem foliage at the bottom of the plant builds up at the base of the plant, this foliage is removed by cutting leaf stems as close to the main stem as possible, this will allow the plant to heal most efectively reducing the risk of infections.

Setting up an IWS Flood and Drain system - 20/02/08

This 'Flood and Drain' system is very popular with hydroponic growers who like the flexibility of growing in pots with the added benefit of an automated irrigation system that recirculates the nutrient solution. The system is made up of 4 main components, the reservoir, the 'brain', the timer and the pots. The system works by periodically filling and draining the pots from the bottom with nutrient solution. It does this by switching on a pump in the reservoir that fills the brain unit. All the pots are conntected to the brain so as the brain fills so do all the pots. When the brain is full a float switch is activated which turns off the pump. Once all the pots have been flooded a pump in the brain is activated which drains all the pots by pumping the solution back into the reservoir. The IWS (Inteligent Watering System) is made by Direct Garden Supplies in Sheffield, UK. This pot based flood and drain system has been around for many years and was originally brought to the UK market by 'Highlight Horticulture' in Nottingham which they call the 'Multiflow' System.

The IWS system is very easy to set up. First thing i do is set place the pots in position. The pots are made up of 3 parts, the stand, the outer pot and inner pot. The stand has small inbuilt slope that allows the pot to fully drain. The inner pot has loads of holes the the bottom, this is placed inside the outer pot.

Once the pots are put together the sealing gland needs to be attached. This has 2 parts, the nut and rubber sealing gland. The gland on the outside of the pot needs to be very tightly screwed to the nut on the inside of the pot. Once the gland is in the connection tee or elbow needs to be inserted through the gland and tightened. This will form a water tight seal through which the pot will fill and drain. The same glands needs to fitted onto the brain and straight connectors need to be fitted. This will enable the brain to be connected to the pots with flexible 16mm pipe.

When connecting the brain to the pots i always heat the pipe in hot water before pushing onto the barbed connection pieces. Also, i always lay some extra pipe between the pot and the brain which i loop betwwen the pots as shown in the picture. I do this for a reason, when the plants are small i group the plants close together and as they get bigger i pull them further away from each other. The extra pipe work allows me to do this. If i knew the plants were staying in the same position i would cut exact lenghts to join the pots to the brain. After all the pots are connected i attach the timer to the brain and mount the timer on the wall in an easily acessible place.

Now the system is ready i get the clay pebbles ready for planting into. The pebbles im using have already been used last year so i have soaked them for 24 hours in a water with hydrogen peroxide(aka Oxy Plus) added at 50ml per L. Although i didnt have any problems last year the peroxide should kill any nasties that may be lurking around. After the soak i lift them out using the inner pot and then rinse them thoroughly with tap water.

Once the clay pebbels are thoroghly rinsed i fill the pots three quarters full. Then i fill the 220L reservoir with water and add 22ml of Vita-Link Bio-plus and Vita-Link Max Grow A+B nutrient to a EC of 1.5, i then set the pH to 5.8. Now the nutrient solution is ready i turn on the timer and start a flood cycle. As the soultion slowly fills the pots the clay pebbels will take in the pH balanced nutrient soultion and the beneficial bacteria (from the Bio-Plus) preparing them to be planted into. If you only wash them with tap water and plant straight in the pH will be too high in the pebbles which could cause some inital nutrient uptake problems.

I want the maximum flood height to be the same level as the clay pebbles so i watch the pots filling untill i can see the water level raising to the surface. As this happens i push down on the pebbles with the palm of my hand to make sure the pebbles arn't floating. As the water rises i keep adding pebbels utill the water level is the same height as the pebbels. When the the brain stops filling and all the pots have the right amount of clay pebbles and solution in, i leave them soaking in the nutrient solution for 1 hour.


After the 1 hour soak i initiate the drain cycle on the timer. Once the drain cycle is finished i get my stop watch ready on my phone. I start another fill cycle and start my stopwatch to time how long it takes for the pots to fill back to the max flood height. It took 4 mins to reach the desired height and i want the flood height to remain steady for 1 min. This allows the rockwool block to draw up nutrient solution by capilary action. This means i should set the timer to 5 mins. Now i know the desired flood duration i plant the blocks into the pots by placing them 1 pebble deep in the pebbles so the flood height will reach the bottom quater of the block as shown in the picture.

Once they are planted in i fill the top of the pot with pebbles and set the timer to 1 flood a day for a 5 miute flood duation.Once the plants are settled in I'll support them with strings. Hopefully all will go well.

Setting up an 'Autopot' system - 19/02/08

This hydroponic system is one of my favorite systems to use in the greenhouse because its so easy to set up and takes very little care and attention to maintain it. 'Autopot's' come in 2 variations, the 1 pot system (pictured left) and the 2 pot system (i will set up later this month). The 1 pot can be set up to one small reservoir or you can link up multiple pots to one larger reservoir as i will be doing here. The one pot module consists of a square 15l pot, base tray and lid, one 'aqua valve', 1.5m 4mm flexible tubing and 2 root control mats.

The autopot is a simple yet clever method hydroponic growing. The 'aquavalve' lets nutrient solution fill the base of the pot to a depth of 20mm, once it has filled to 20mm the valve shuts off. The plant will then use the solution in the base of the tray until there is none left, once all the solution is used the valve refills the tray to 20mm again. The is all done without the use of electricity and you dont need any pumps. This system is described as 'plant driven' as the plants uptake drives the irrigation.

The autopot comes with very clear instructions that are easy to follow. One very important factor in setting up is making sure the aquavalve is set properly. The picture shows 2 valves, the one on the right is set correctly while the one on the left is not. You can tell by the the way the float is sitting lower on the left valve than the right. To set the valve simply pull back the top float and remove the yellow rubber, clean it and push it back in firmly. Job done.


Once the valves are set attach the 4mm tubing to in and fit the valve in the base tray by allowing the raised tee on the base to sit in the half moon recess on the valve. This will allow the valve to sit securely in the tray. I'm connecting 4 Autopots to one 1ooL reservoir although this size reservoir could feed up to 10 pots without a problem. The reason i use a large reservoir is so i can leave if for long periods without having to keep topping it up. To connect to 4 Autopots to the tank i use 3m of 13mm flexible pipe, a 'Hoselock' tap connector, two 13mm>4mm 'X connectors' and one 13mm flow control tap. In the picture you can see the Hoselock connector attaches to the tap on the reservoir which is attached to the 13mm pipe. The 13mm pipe runs between the pots with the 'X connectors' in position to connect the 4mm tubing from the aquavalves to the 13mm pipe. At the end of the pipe i fit a flow control tap and keep it closed, i will occasionally open this tap at allow and residue build up in the pipe to be flushed out. Notice the reservoir is raised on a stand to use gravity to increase the pressure to the valves.

Now the pots are connected i place the root control mats in , the copper one goes in the tray copper side up and the black one goes in the pot. On top of the black mat in the pot I put a layer of clay pebbles about 3cm deep. This will stop the very base of the pot from getting waterlogged. On top of the clay pebbles i use a mix of coco coir and perlite (20% perlite to 80% coco coir). I am growing a variety of chilli in the autopots called Joe's Long. These have been propagated in rockwool blocks. On planting I bury the bottom third of the block in the coco/perlite mix as shown in the picture.



To finish it off i fill the top of the pot with clay pebbles and cover the rockwool block with a block cover. These pebbles on the top of the pot will help to insulate the pot and will stop the top layer of coco/perlite mix getting dried out by evaporation from the sun or grow lights. Once the plants are in i hand water them from the top with Canna's coco A+B at an EC of 1.6 and a pH of 5.8. These plants will get hand fed from the top for the next 2-3 weeks until i'm sure the roots have made their way throughout the entire pot and the plant is ready to be fed through the valve at the bottom. If you start by feeding from the bottom straight away quite often the plants small root system cannot cope with the saturated growing medium and will get off to a slow start. By hand watering every 2-4 days for a few weeks you will get the plant ready quickly for bottom feeding. I have filled the tank with nutrient solution but have kept the tap on the bottom of the reservoir closed, this way i can top feed the plants with a jug out the reservoir when they need it.

Cant wait till I've got some lovely long hot chillies in a about 3 months time. I find chillies and peppers the best plants to grow in Autopots, although I've had good success with melons, and tomatoes too.

Hydroponic Pineapple- 17/02/08

I have been growing this pineapple plant for nearly 2 years and in November it finally started to produce a fruit. it has taken another 4 months for it to extend out from the center and mature on its stem. Its has been quite an effort to get it to this stage because its so difficult to tend to as the spikes on the edges of the leaves rip my hands to shreds. It is growing in a small 'Flo-Gro' system which it has now outgrown. It was in the greenhouse for over a year but i moved it into the corner of the upstairs shop area has i couldn't stand getting scratched all the time.


This particular variety of pineapple is not edible and mainly grown for ornamental purposes. Some people use the small colourful fruits in flower arrangements. I think I'll try to grow an edible type next and try to find a type that doesn't have such spiky leaves. Pineapples are fairly easy to propagate from the leaf set on top of the fruit so next time you buy a pineapple give it a go!

NFT Cucumber Progress 16/02/08

In 11 days these cucumbers on the NFT Gro-Tank have more than doubled in height. They are well established onto the system are i have emptied the reservoir and replaced the nutrient solution with an increase in strength up to and EC 1.8. I think I'll be picking my first cucumber in about 25-30 days!







This picture of the roots shows how well they are extending from the rockwool block. Soon there will be a thick mat of roots all over the tray.