I may not have learned my lesson yet. The Harvest got cleaned out, and is now growing arugula.But I wasn't sure all my watercress cuttings would take, so added one more for a total of four. And here the plants are going nuts again, in a larger, old airstone garden:A salad with some watercress in it:
It seems Kratky is not as easy as it looks. I don't have a clue why this is failing. The plant grew, looked happy, was putting out roots, and then a week later, leaves started shriveling. I checked pH and that was A-OK. Maybe it hates being in the kitchen. Maybe something else is wrong. But it looks like it is going to die and I'll have to try again at a later time.Watercress in the Aerogarden is still going strong.
I agree that Kratky is a bit harder than it looks. Could it be that your water level is too high? My first mistake was not leaving enough space for air roots.My other Kratkys failed when too much sediment or plant byproducts built up in the water. I quit on Kratkys at that point, because one of the advantages of the method is that you don't have to change the water. Or so I thought. Maybe I got that wrong.
I do plan to try again, but I probably should do more reading on it first. At the moment, too darn busy. I had planned to take the mint pod that's sitting downstairs in the lettuce garden and transfer it straight to Kratky, but I think instead, I'll put it in one of the old AG units in the basement, let it get going, then try cuttings as Kratky.
Six watercress plants was a few too many! Yep, the garden got WAY out of control and there's tons of roots and I need to water it constantly. Also, the pH seems to drift faster. The plan now is to get some cuttings rooted, then clean it out and start over with three plants.I've got three cuttings down in the basement in an old air stone garden, but I may take a few more just to be sure of things, as those are showing a tiny bit of pH stress after two days, which hopefully, is corrected now.I enjoy having the watercress, but I don't need quite as much as the plants were producing!
Day 26
UPDATE#3
Grower update
Update #3
🔧Actions taken
🧺HarvestCut watercress most days for salads and juice.
✂️PruningTook another stem cutting for propagation.
🪴TransplantTransferred a rooted cutting to a Mason-jar Kratky setup.
2024-11-16: Day 37Watercress is a rambunctious plant! Once it gets going, it gets going! I've been cutting on it most days, just to have a pretty salad topping and giving hubby some too. I added a bit to a green juice this morning.Easy to take cuttings and start new plants. I took a cutting a few days back, put it in my little Gourmet Herb garden to get roots going, tonight it's been transferred to a Mason jar to try Kratky growing.What a tangled web we weave, when first we grow watercress!My first Kratky ever! (Don't tell my husband I stole a couple of his socks to cover Mason jars!)
Well, the little seedling looked happy this morning and still so tonight, so we'll see how this goes. If the Gourmet Herb mint ever germinates, I want to put it in a Kratky jar. But so far, nothing.
It wasn't my idea, I got it from shershegrows.com/kratky-mason-jar/I think it would be hard to make a profit off selling black socks for Mason jars, LOL! Maybe if you could knit ones with cute patterns that would still block light well. But I can't knit.I saw someone else saying they used black child's leggings for the larger Mason jars. I did buy a little kit with the AG pod lids for the jars, and it came with black covers for the quart-size jars. I may play with some of those too, but I figured the larger jars were likely going to be less hassle in terms of monitoring water loss.
Day 16
UPDATE#2
Grower update
Update #2
🔧Actions taken
💧SolutionChanged the reservoir solution.
🔧EquipmentCleaned a small amount of algae from the bowl edge.
✂️PruningCut a branch and trimmed leaves around air-root nodes.
🌱PlantingInserted the prepared cutting into a sponge and empty pod position.
2024-11-07: Day 28Rinse and refill. The watercress has taken off, and now it’s going to be a matter of keeping up harvesting! The plants on the right haven’t caught up to the earlier sprouts on the left, but it’s only a matter of time. Removed a tiny trace of algae from the rim of the bowl/deck edge, otherwise, no problem, the hydrogen peroxide is doing its thing.The empty pod bothered me, so I decided to try an experiment, I cut off a branch, with several air roots showing on different nodes, trimmed the leaves by the nodes, and placed it in a sponge and popped it in that spot to see if it can take root and thrive. The cutting immediately keeled over. Fingers crossed. I’ve ZERO experience with doing cuttings.Nutrients:2.0ml Cal/Mag12.0ml Ionic Grow5.0ml 3% food-grade Hydrogen PeroxideEC: 1.3pH: 6.0 (after adding 0.75ml pH Down)
I'll say this, watercress is an "interesting" taste by itself, but it tends to disappear into my salads. A little peppery, but just kind of "odd," at least to my taste buds. My cutting is still droopy, but does not appear lifeless, so I'm hopeful it can survive and root.Watercress is supposed to be high in vitamin K, so I won't mind using plenty of it in salads or even green juices.
Last night I lifted up the pod with the cutting and it already has roots growing through the sponge! It's looking very bright and happy these days, so propagation of this plant is likely to be easy.
Day 1
UPDATE#1
Grower update
Update #1
🔧Actions taken
✂️PruningReduced one pod from five seedlings to three.
2024-10-22: Day 12I think at this point I'm not going to bother trying again to get a 6th pod reseeded. Nothing sprouted in that particular pod AGAIN and I'm either tossing it or boiling it for reuse. One pod had FIVE seedlings, but the little watercress plants look so delicate that I didn't want to try to do any pod surgery and move them. I just thinned that pod to 3 seedlings for the time being.