Pinto Mix Coleus in a Kitchen AeroGarden Harvest
Grow log by maskedsonnet · Original thread
What you can learnA useful ornamental AeroGarden diary covering pod mold, peroxide treatment, rapid vertical growth, light adjustment, and pruning.
Useful practices
- treating pod mold with hydrogen peroxide
- adding peroxide to the reservoir
- raising the grow light as plants gained height
- cutting back coleus before it reached the light
- placing cuttings in water after pruning
Problems encountered
- mold developed on one grow pod
- plants grew into the fully extended light
- dense growth required pruning
*The days were calculated automatically and approximately.
Very nice. With you ending this, what will you plant next?
I’m going to transplant my kratky herbs into the machine, I like the thought of having fresh-grown herbs right there in the kitchen
Update #9
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They are gorgeous! Also, they need to spread. They tend to get tall and skinny when they are crowded instead of full and bushy. I predict that you will have coleus taking over your house soon! What a lovely dilemma, huh?
They are very pretty and look good on the shelf
Update #8
maskedsonnet , they would have benefitted from being pinched back when they were small. Now they need a drastic trimming. I would pinch the stems back to the lower leaves and let them start over. Anytime you pinch a stem or leaf off, it will bush out. Coleus need continual trimming to shape them. Here's an article that may help.
Update #7
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Update #6
They are beautiful!
Never two exactly alike
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It Reminds me of Macy's. Many decades ago when I would go to Macy's their handbags would be in shelving like that with plants or decor next to each handbag LOL....OMG am I dating myself
Update #4
I am in love with them, too! The colors will continue to develop and change. Always so exciting to watch!
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They are beautiful little babies!
Looking good. Why do you not use labels? It does help keep algae away.
I feel like the labels give me more trouble than benefit. The algae dies out on the sponge once the plants get big enough to block the light, and until then it can be controlled well enough for me by peroxide. Doing that annoys me a lot less than trying to unstick the label from plant leaves without damaging a delicate sprout that got stuck to it instead of pushing past the opening. Maybe it's just the lot of labels I got, but the entire thing is sticky, not just the edge where you stick them to the grow basket, and the first (and last) time I used them I had a bunch of sprouts stick to the labels instead of pushing past.
I actually have a ton of the labels before they were sticky backed. I cut a slit in one side so I can easily take them off and on with no damage to the plant. I even reuse them.
Update #2
Is that bottom left pod forming mold? Might be a good idea to toss it if so (if it's the standard hair-like AG mold then it's fine)
Yeah it looks like the same stuff that grows on AG pods but the pods are a different brand, don’t remember which one. But there’s nothing sprouting in it with the mold either so I was thinking about chucking it and planting something else there. I used all the coleus seeds so was trying to decide what to put there, or if I should just put a cover over that hole.
That pod might just be a late starter. I hope. You can put hydrogen peroxide on a q-tip and touch it to the mold to slow it down.
I took the pod out today ready to replace it with a lemon balm and it was just a late starter! The mold may have kept it from getting as much light as all the others. Swabbed it off with some peroxide as recommended, and added some peroxide to the water for good measure! Excited to have all the pods germinate, and some of them are starting to show spots of color! Having this in my kitchen to fawn over after work is already improving my mood
That's great news! It's so much fun to watch the colors develop.
Great news!
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I love coleus! I grew some indoors last spring, then when they got too big, I planted them outside. They delighted me all season until cold weather killed them.
I love having flowers, it makes me smile when I see them.