next crop

[Mandy Onderwater]

I rarely see people use bulbs. Would that lessen the chance of leaves burn against the bulbs compared to the bars?

 

[daveb]

I rarely see people use bulbs. Would that lessen the chance of leaves burn against the bulbs compared to the bars?

these bulbs dont get hot in sense of heat but the light spectrum would be so intense it would cause issue to leafs. that is why most bulb had reflectors and many of the led bulbs dont have a high enough output to be affective for growing home depot and a few others sell one the look like a regular ulb misleading people the it will grow plants affectively k tested them and their number are less then an inch from the end of bulb so have very little coverage area.

these cob lighs i am testing have 360 degree around to outside to the affectively radiate they need to either screw in vertical or mount in a reflector horizontally, the refector with the end opposite the socket cupped to also reflect light from end of bulb is the type reflectoos i am building

Flat is the easiest and least space consuming for height aboove the grow beds and allow plants to be stacked more in height so allowing hight yield per sq ft of floor space used

 

[daveb]

your lettuce need to be picked Mandy and dont forget to grab some tiny tim tomatoes



it will be a bit before strawberries ready, have a dozen i dug last nove just before had health issues i finally got to put in to set roots
once the get showing decent root i will move some to hydroponics

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Haha tease!
I haven't been doing much in the garden as there's a cyclone coming. Too busy doing other kinds of prep

 

[daveb]

the egg plant is in bloom now and as can see the plant does not get huge

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Perfect for small spaces. It looks wonderful

 

[daveb]

Perfect for small spaces. It looks wonderful

yes its a pretty compact plant even in a patio planter the ones i saw at froends place were only about 16 inches tall and as big across as this one

 

[daveb]

so ended up taking most of the basil out i got way too much to dry at moment and farmers market not open. starting a few extra lettuceto put in.

so herbs ive been cutting sprigs off to cook with the thyme oregano and specially the marjoram are thriving nice under the new light test


since last photo ive take 5 salads out of this lettuce at back its doing extreme growth in new lights. bottom of the light at back is about 13 or 14 inches above the top of tubs

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Your plants look awesome! And that looks like a refreshing salad.

Is the farmers market closed due to the weather?

 

[daveb]

Your plants look awesome! And that looks like a refreshing salad.

Is the farmers market closed due to the weather?

ya they close down about thanksgiving time here and wont reopen until late april

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Oh my, that's quite some time. I think we're "lucky" that here they only close down if the weather is too bad. Only crazy people go to farmers' markets in a Cyclone.

 

[daveb]

Oh my, that's quite some time. I think we're "lucky" that here they only close down if the weather is too bad. Only crazy people go to farmers' markets in a Cyclone.

chuckles well might be a tad hard growing cropsunder foot of snow , there are a few greenhouse that grow but they do very limited and the cost is a bit crazy

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Haha fully understandable

If we'd get snow here the world must be burning down lol. There was already huuuuge shock we had hail here 2 or so years ago! And it was the size of a softball. Caused a lot of damage and was honestly terrifying.

 

[daveb]

so we have been chowing down on this test bed lettuce and herbs and tossed a few new plants in the back. the thymes seems to be just growing in a loop around and around looking for new places to se down roots, left to right thyme - oregano - marajoram - red romaine lettuce and parris island romaine behind it



we've been cutting the herbsfor use in salads , dressings and general cooking otherwise they would be considerably bigger

oh and so far Mandy no visible leaf burning from excessive light and these screw in cob lights are nasty bright , i converted a friends older aerogrow from the cfl bulbs to a smaller version of these cob light and they are experiencing almost double the growth

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

So good!!!!

 

[daveb]

moving some things around prepping to grow a few plant for out in plant beds but figured you would love the two crazy herbs Mandy
oregano and maragoran and behind it a thyme that got left withopout water the other plants did well because long full roots the thyme
is a shallower root so the nutrient did drop down a bit and it got dry and not as aggressive as other herbs at present and there is a rosemary
just behind it coming up

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Yes, you were right! I do love them

Looking so good

 

[daveb]

so been pruning the tomato plant and its a jungle in itself, the plant was started begining of oct 2023

the top of that lid is 12 inches wide its loaded heavy with tomatos ia bit difficult to hold up and snap photos,
i prune it to about half its size , you can see a 1/4 in ( 6mm) dowel i had stuck down through pot to try and supoport the plant ha ha ha

over next couple bins are some herbs still growing, and new batch of lettuce started mid april

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Oh wow- they've grown like mad! It looks very heavy, haha.

The herbs look like they are begging for a trim
The greens look so healthy and crisp, yummm!

 

[Nick Freeman]

Oh wow! I'm always so impressed with your growing @daveb !