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content/Hydroponics Aphid War.md

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+Title: War with Aphids and Mould
+Date: 2022-07-29
+Category: Notes
+Summary: I lost a war against aphids and mould.
+Wide: true
+Short: hwar
+
+[TOC]
+
+My [[Hydroponics#Home Round 3 | hydroponic strawberries]] suffered from aphid and mould infestations. This took me by surprise because one of the advantages to growing plants hydroponically is that you don't get pests from growing indoors.
+
+The aphids and mould probably came from the strawberry starters I bought from a plant store. I didn't bother rinsing the leaves when washing away the dirt. If one aphid egg or mould spore was still on the plants after transplanting into my hydroponics system, that would be enough to infect them all.
+
+Lesson learned: Wash starters thoroughly with soap (including leaves) to prevent aphids or grow from seeds. Don't let plants grow so dense that airflow is blocked.
+
+## Aphids
+While maintaining the garden, I noticed small white flecks which I just assumed were somehow part of the plant. I later noticed a sticky substance on some of the leaves which I thought might have been water that got mixed with something. I was in total denial until I turned over a leaf and saw a bunch of aphids crawling around.
+
+The white flecks turned out to be eggs the aphids were laying. The sticky substance was honeydew, a sugary liquid that aphids secrete.
+
+![[hydro-war1.jpg]]
+
+I bought a bottle of Safer's insecticidal soap to use against them. I have a walk-in shower in the downstairs basement bathroom beside the grow room, so I moved all the plants into there. I then sprayed the leaves as much as I could, top and bottom. I let it drain for a while and then rinsed thoroughly with water.
+
+![[hydro-war2.jpg]]
+
+Three days later I noticed the aphids were still alive. So I bought five more bottles of aphid spray and emptied them into a bucket. I then took each plant out of the system and dunked them in the bucket, covering all leaves and the net cup. I pushed the plants in and out of the bucket forcefully, to make sure all the aphids were flushed off. I then rinsed the plants in the shower thoroughly like before.
+
+![[hydro-war3.jpg]]
+
+Three days later I did this all over again, just to make sure they were gone. This seemed to work but I noticed the aphids returned a couple months later. It was one of the reasons I decided to end this round of growth experiment.
+
+## Mould
+A few weeks after the aphid dunking I noticed some kind of mould or powdery mildew on the strawberry crowns, right in the centre of the plants.
+
+![[hydro-war4.jpg]]
+
+I assumed this was because I let the plants' leaves get too dense and they were blocking airflow to the crown. The airstone bubbles air into the water reservoir and the only place the humid air can escape is through the net cups and strawberry crown.
+
+I rinsed all the plants off like I did with the aphids and set up an extra fan to try and increase airflow. This worked well for a couple months until I noticed it had returned and started making the plants unhealthy. This was the other reason I decided to end the experiment.

content/Hydroponics Log 1.md

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+Title: Grow Log, Home: Round 1
+Date: 2022-07-29
+Category: Notes
+Summary: Grow log for my home hydroponics setup, round 1.
+Wide: true
+Short: hlog1
+
+2022-02-21: Started germinating  
+2022-02-24: First noticed sprouts  
+2022-02-26: All sprouts are through except spinach  
+2022-02-27: Put grow light on top of dome set to minimum  
+2022-03-02: Checked inside. cress's roots have reached the tray below. accidentally squished front lettuces while trying to put it back. sprayed more nutrient solution on mineral wool. probably could have transplanted already. turned light off before bed, opened blinds.  
+2022-03-03: Plants look very sad. connor suggested more light. put light on max and went for coffee. light ended up cooking the plants.  
+2022-03-04: Plants look worse. Terminated.  
+
+## Germination
+- index is top left in tray
+- rinsed all equipment with water
+- shake plant food
+- 1 L growth solution prepared
+	  - 1.3 mL plant food
+	  - 0.4 mL pH Down for 5.8 pH
+- 12 mineral wool cubes each soaked for 10 seconds
+- three seeds of each, except two of Spinach because they are large
+- hole was opened with a broken toothpick
+- seeds tamped down the hole with the toothpick
+- 1 cm of fresh water added to the bottom of the tray
+- remaining solution was strained and put in spray bottle
+
+### Result
+(columns left to right)
+
+- iceberg lettuce LT541
+	  - 2 cm root below mineral wool
+	  - same
+- arugula MS483
+	  - 7x 2 cm roots
+	  - 10 roots, 1x 10 cm
+- romaine lettuce LT470
+	  - 3x 1.5 cm roots
+	  - 4 roots, 1x 6 cm
+- cress MS495
+	  - 2x 12 cm roots
+	  - 5 roots, 1x 12 cm
+- butterhead lettuce LT458
+	  - 2 cm, 5 cm, 8 cm roots
+	  - 4 cm, 2 cm roots
+- spinach SP705
+	  - never germinated
+	  - never germinated

content/Hydroponics Log 2.md

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+Title: Grow Log, Home: Round 2
+Date: 2022-07-29
+Category: Notes
+Summary: Grow log for my home hydroponics setup, round 2.
+Wide: true
+Short: hlog2
+
+2022-03-05: Started germinating  
+2022-03-07: Just barely noticed germination  
+2022-03-08: Noticed all leaves except spinach again  
+2022-03-10: Transplanted into tote  
+2022-03-12: measured pH: 6.0  
+2022-03-20: thinned out weak plants  
+2022-03-25: lettuces have no roots below net pot. others have lots of roots in the water. some leaves have a weird film on them, some have white stuff.  
+2022-03-28: Three lettuces wool dry on top. No roots below net cup. Roots are growing a bit out the sides. Dropped wool to bottom of net cups, topped water up to 1 cm above bottom of net cup. This might harm the other plants? The lettuce roots grew through a lot of the clay balls but not enough to reach the water.  
+- I assumed the clay balls would wick up enough water that it wouldn't matter.  
+2022-03-30: EC measured 1.1. trimmed oldest leaves, lettuce roots now good in water  
+2022-04-01: pH measured 6.7. brown tips on lettuce.  
+2022-04-06: Harvested first salad, arugula and cress taste horrible like paint thinner. Lettuce was good.  
+2022-04-14: Terminated.  
+
+
+## Germination
+- index is top left in tray
+- rinsed all equipment with water
+- 1 L growth solution prepared
+	  - 1 L tap water
+	  - 1.3 mL plant food
+	  - 0.5 mL pH Down for 5.5 pH
+- forgot to shake plant food
+- 12 mineral wool cubes each soaked for 10 seconds
+- three seeds of each, except five for arugula and cress in X pattern
+- hole was opened with a broken toothpick
+- seeds tamped down the hole with the toothpick
+- remaining solution added to the bottom of the tray
+
+### Result
+(columns left to right)
+
+- iceberg lettuce LT541
+- arugula MS483
+- romaine lettuce LT470
+- cress MS495
+- butterhead lettuce LT458
+- spinach SP705
+
+
+## Growth
+- used 102 L HDX tough totes
+	  - sides bow out quite a bit, try duct taping
+- 100 L growth solution prepared
+	  - 100 L tap water (estimated)
+	  - 117 mL plant food (needs more?)
+	  - 10 mL pH down to 6.0
+- cut six holes into Foamular
+- transplanted sprouts into net cups
+- layer of clay balls under and around sides of starter plug
+- filled tote pretty much to brim
+- tote sides bowed out quite a bit. maybe it's 110-120 L full of water?
+
+### Layout:
+(reading order)
+
+- iceberg lettuce LT541
+- romaine lettuce LT470
+- butterhead lettuce LT458
+- arugula MS483
+- cress MS495
+- arugula MS483

content/Hydroponics Log 3.md

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+Title: Grow Log, Home: Round 3
+Date: 2022-07-29
+Category: Notes
+Summary: Grow log for my home hydroponics setup, round 3.
+Wide: true
+Short: hlog3
+
+2022-04-14: Planted strawberry starters.  
+2022-04-21: Observed fresh white roots shooting out horizontally.  
+2022-04-23: Cut flower buds off BCDEF.  
+2022-04-24: Measured EC at 1.2 and pH at 6.8. Added 20 mL of pH down.  
+2022-04-25: Measured pH at 6.2.  
+2022-04-28: Cut a bud off of E.  
+2022-05-01: Cut buds off BCDF.  
+- too many buds, no longer tracking  
+2022-05-05: Noticed some young leaves are brownish. Turned grow lights down to 50%.  
+2022-05-22: Noticed sticky leaves and white flecks. There's tons of aphids.  
+2022-05-24: Sprayed all plants liberally with aphid spray and rinsed off after.  
+2022-05-27: Noticed aphids are still alive. Ordered more spray.  
+2022-06-01: Dunked plants in aphid spray, rinsed off with water.  
+2022-06-04: Dunked plants in aphid spray again, dunked in freshwater, transferred plants back. Measured pH at 4.0. Added more water to bring it up to 5.6. EC at 0.8  
+2022-06-19: Swapped nutes for General Hydroponics. (2nd preparation below)  
+2022-06-20: Noticed some sort of powdery mildew at base of leaves on a couple plants. Rinsed all with water and removed dead leaves.  
+2022-06-??: Started hand-pollinating with a q-tip. Breaks cotton up.   
+2022-07-05: Measured pH at 4.4, EC at 2.1. Added 5 gal water to bring it up to pH 5.5, EC at 1.4. Tons of flowers, pollinated with small brush.  
+2022-07-19: Measured ph at 3.8, EC at 1.8. Added 5 gal water. Measure later.  
+2022-07-20: Ate first strawberry. It was delicious.  
+2022-07-23: Way too much mould, aphids, and dead leaves. Terminated.  
+
+## Preparation
+- boiled clay balls to sterilize
+- rinsed dirt off 6 strawberry starters
+	  - three normal
+	  - two pulled thick roots out and broke away rest
+	  - one washed with Method hand soap
+- 90 L-ish growth solution prepared
+	  - up to bottom of net cups
+	  - 100 ml plant food to 1.2 EC from 0.3 EC tap water
+	  - 20 ml pH down to 6.0 pH from 6.5 pH with food
+- holes cut in net cups, roots thread through
+- remaining space filled with clay balls
+- tote lid covered with aluminum foil
+- air stone added to one side
+- 16 hours of light
+
+## 2nd Preparation
+- drained tote with 5 gal buckets, washed out with water
+- transferred 20 gal with 4 x 5 gal bucket trips
+- measured plain water EC at 0.2
+- added 132 mL Bloom, 94 mL Micro, 94 mL Gro
+- measured 1.7 EC, 6.5 pH
+	  - difference of 1.5 EC
+- added 15 mL pH down to 6.2 pH
+- ** stole 5 gal for Protospace

content/Hydroponics.md

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+Title: Hydroponics
+Date: 2022-07-29
+Category: Writing
+Summary: My experiments growing food with hydroponics.
+Wide: true
+Short: h
+
+[TOC]
+
+Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil by delivering nutrients via water. In theory, it offers many advantages over soil: no dirt, no weeding (or herbicides), no pests (or pesticides), no mould, no root rot, year-round growing indoors, less space required, 90% less water usage, and 30-50% faster growth. Downsides include electricity consumption if using grow lights or water pumps and the need to hand-pollinate flowers from the lack of bees.
+
+## Home Experiments
+I'll outline my hydroponics experiments here, describing what I tried, what worked, what didn't, and lessons I learned. I have a small storage room in my basement that I use for hydroponics. It's about 5' x 10' large with unpainted drywall and a concrete floor.
+
+### Home: Round 1
+Started: 2022-02-21, ended: 2022-03-04.
+
+[[Hydroponics Log 1 | Grow Log]]
+
+I tried germinating iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, butterhead lettuce, arugula, cress, and spinach seeds inside a germination dome. I used rockwool starter plugs soaked in growth solution. Everything except spinach sprouted. I placed a grow light on top of the dome set to minimum. Apparently this wasn't enough light since the sprouts got really leggy so I blasted them with light instead. An hour later they got soft and fell over from their own weight. I decided to restart.
+
+Lessons learned: what leggy sprouts look like and to use enough light.
+
+![[hydroponics1.jpg]]
+
+### Home: Round 2
+Started: 2022-03-05, ended: 2022-04-14.
+
+[[Hydroponics Log 2 | Grow Log]]
+
+I tried germinating the same seeds as last time but with more light. Everything except spinach sprouted again and I transplanted them to a large tote. They sat in net cups put into 4" holes drilled into pink hard foam insulation called Foamular. Arugula and cress grew roots much faster than the lettuces and drank the water level down below the rockwool. This caused the lettuces to dry out, stunting their growth, making the problem worse. Everything eventually grew and I was able to harvest a salad that tasted bad. I ended the experiment because the lettuces were so stunted.
+
+Lessons learned:
+
+- Make sure all the roots make it into the water.
+- Start cress and arugula later, they grow fast.
+- Don't rely on clay balls to wick water up to the rockwool (it won't).
+- Don't bother germinating in a dome, just do it straight from the net cups.
+- Don't use Foamular to hold the net cups. It requires a higher water level, doesn't index for time-lapse photography, and drops pink foam bits into the water.
+
+![[hydroponics2.jpg]]
+
+### Home: Round 3
+Started: 2022-04-14, ended: 2022-07-23.
+
+[[Hydroponics Log 3 | Grow Log]]
+
+I bought six strawberry starters and rinsed all the dirt off of the roots. Things were going well until I noticed they were covered in aphids. I sprayed them with aphid spray but it wasn't enough, so I went to [[Hydroponics Aphid War | war with aphids]]. I ordered five bottles of aphid spray, drained it into a bucket, and dunked each plant. I let the plants grow too big (by pruning buds) and the leaves started blocking airflow to the crowns. The crowns became humid and started growing mould which I had to rinse off. I used a small paintbrush to pollinate the flowers by hand. After returning from vacation, one strawberry was ripe for me to eat. But the aphids and mould had returned so I ended the experiment.
+
+Lessons learned:
+
+- You can be fairly rough when washing dirt off of starters' roots.
+- Wash starters thoroughly with soap (including leaves) to prevent aphids or grow from seeds.
+- Boil all equipment before using it to sanitize.
+- Don't let plants grow so much that the leaves block airflow.
+- Wash hands before hydro gardening.
+- Hand-pollinating flowers is tedious.
+- Strawberries drop tons of pedals all over the floor.
+
+![[hydroponics3.jpg]]