GrowLog
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Multi-Crop AeroGarden Room: Tomatoes, Peppers, Herbs, Strawberries, and Flowers

Grow log by maskedsonnet · Original thread

16 visual updates154 photos102 replies
View recap
CropTomato, pepper, cucumber, lettuce, strawberry, pea, herbs, sedum, spider plant
VarietyPot-a-peno jalapeno, Habanero, Candy Cane pepper, Fresh Bites pepper, Mini Red Bell pepper, Red Velvet tomato, Red Robin tomato, Dwarf Awesome tomato, Banana Toes tomato, Pixie Striped tomato, Lucky Leprechaun tomato, Super Bush tomato, Demidov tomato, Chile Pequin, Dragon's Blood sedum, Ozark Everbearing strawberry
MethodAeroGarden
EquipmentAeroGarden machines (Farm, Bounty, Harvest, Harvest Slim, Farm 24 XL, Farm 12 XL), Automatic watering tanks / water reservoirs (large tanks mentioned), Garden hose adapter connected from sink/bathroom faucet to garden room, Step ladder for reaching controls, String/trellis system for cucumber vines (bungee cords/trellis cords from AG), Nutrients feed schedule ("AG nutes"; feeding after 5 days; same-day nutrients), Hand cart for moving/hauling machines to wash/restart, Feeding/pH considerations mentioned (pH tracking advised by commenters; user sometimes suggested/asked), Home-brew AeroVoir with bigger capacity (later mentioned)
Plants20
AudienceExperimental

What you can learnUseful operational case study for running a room full of AeroGardens: filling logistics, synchronized feeding, crop rotation, reservoir support, pruning, trellising, propagation, heat management, and scaling back when travel makes maintenance unsustainable.

Actions:10 Planting5 Finished5 Equipment4 Harvest3 Pruning2 Transplant2 Watering
Useful practices
  • using a sink-to-hose adapter for bulk filling
  • moving gardens on a hand cart for cleaning
  • starting all gardens on the same feeding day
  • using external reservoirs for travel resilience
  • pruning dense pepper interiors
  • using Farm trellises for cucumbers
  • repurposing smaller units for low-maintenance decorative plants
  • reducing the number of active gardens when maintenance capacity falls
Problems encountered
  • heat stress
  • failed or weak germination
  • sudden plant deaths
  • overcrowding and shaded foliage
  • pump connection failure
  • water depletion during travel
  • limited maintenance time
  • strawberry decline
  • parsley and habanero underperformance

*The days were calculated automatically and approximately.

Day 306
UPDATE#16
Grower update

Update #16

Actions taken

HarvestCollected ripe tomatoes before removing the plant.
FinishedEnded most active gardens because travel and workload prevented adequate care.
EquipmentEmptied and scrubbed the inactive machines for future restarts.

M By maskedsonnet

Today I ended a bunch of gardens. I've been out of town too much, even with the reservoirs, and too busy when I AM home to take care of all of them. I've still got a couple going, but the majority have been emptied and scrubbed for easy starts when I have more time. I will say, the Dwarf Leprechaun tomato produces LOTS. It's not quite a full-sized slicing tomato, but they're about the size of roma tomatoes and very tasty. There were lots of green tomatoes to go with what I harvested before I ended the plant. The only farm I left running was the pequin, because the seeds I used were several years old and I was frankly amazed that they came up at all. I'm hoping I can at least take care of it long enough to get some more seeds, and lots of peppers!! The other machines I've still got running are the 2 bounties and the harvest slim, all with spider plants that I rooted in them. Hopefully in a few months I'll be traveling less for work, and less BUSY with work while I'm home, and can start them all back up again!! The early flame jalapeno was LOVELY and had lots of blooms on it before a long trip ran it out of water and killed it. I'm hoping to try that and the Leprechaun tomatoes again first when I start back up!!
Conversation
L
lynnee

Your Dwarf Leprechaun tomatoes are something that I MUST try! They look like the perfect size for someone's lunch bag or lunch plate, and they are beautiful! Caring for too many gardens does take the joy out of it--and of course it's great to have a garden free when you see something that you really want to grow. It's also nice to have seedlings for a while that don't need any attention.

M
maskedsonnet

The color is amazing! I love a nice, bright red tomato. While I do love the other colors too, especially the novelty of the black/purple-ish one you grew, the classic red will always hold a special place in my heart, since it's what I grew up picking and eating and wondering WHY ON EARTH there are people out there who hate tomatoes when they taste Like That Then I had store-bought tomatoes at a friend's house and no longer wondered

L
lynnee

They're like Red Delicious apples--tweaked to survive shipping, with near-total loss of flavor!

Day 267
UPDATE#15
Grower update

Update #15

Actions taken

PruningReduced multiple germinated seedlings in the Pequin pod.
EquipmentFixed the loose pump connection that had dried the first Banana Toes attempt.

M By maskedsonnet

Hello fellow AGers!!! Back from a little bit of a break, work continues to send me scurrying all over!! Makes me gladder and gladder that I came up with a home-brew AeroVoir with bigger capacity!!! Tomatoes are up, to varying degrees!! Super Bush: Demidov Leprechaun, has several green tomatoes on it!! Pixie, has some blooms! Banana toes came up on the second try, once I got the pump issue fixed (dummy me forgot to plug it in lol)!! Peppers are also up!! Early flame jalapeno Candy Cane Pequins!!! Old as the seeds are MULTIPLE seedlings came up, I had to thin them!! The sedum bloomed!! The little pink flowers are soooo pretty!! Latest trip I took was a little over-nighter to Belen, for a meeting. The meeting didn't actually start until 0900 the day after I arrived, so I got up early and went for a drive!! Got to see the sunrise hit a mountain in a really cool way And found some cool rocks, the reason I went driving to the middle of no where in the first place!! I like to tumble polish rocks. Just getting into the hobby, going to start making jewelry out of it. Had to be very careful not to trip and show up to the meeting covered in dirt!!
Conversation
U
Unknown

Very cool pics! With all those tomato plants you'll be bottling some pasta sauce soon!

Day 242
UPDATE#14
Grower update

Update #14

Actions taken

FinishedEnded multiple tomato, cucumber, pepper, and herb gardens that had died or finished producing.
PlantingPlanted Early Flame jalapeno, Candy Cane pepper, Chile Pequin, Super Bush tomato, Demidov tomato, and Banana Toes tomato.
TransplantPlaced spider plant offsets in two Bounties and one Harvest to root.
HarvestCollected the first Fresh Bites peppers.

M By maskedsonnet

Ended and started up a lot of gardens today!! Some of them were actually ended a couple of weeks ago, I just didn't have time to clean and re-start them, and I only start gardens on feeding days or I'd go insane trying to keep with with different gardens on different feeding schedules. The dwarf awesome died, and only ever gave me 1 tomato. It was a very tasty tomato, but I still felt a bit cheated, so won't try again on that one for a while probably. The cucumber was also starting to look sad, after giving me MANY cucumbers as always, so I went ahead and ended that too. The candy cane pepper also gave me lots of peppers before wilting away to nothing, along with the 2 pot-a-penos. The lemon balm dried up and died too, and smelled AMAZING while I cleaned it up. Saved a bunch of the leaves, since they were already nice and dry for me. In place of all these, I planted: Early flame jalapeno, another candy cane pepper, a chile pequine (those seeds are HELLA old though, probably won't come up. If they don't I'll plant another early flame), a Super bush tomato, Demidov dwarf tomato (free gift with some other dwarf seeds I bought, I know nothing about this variety. I hope it's short), and re-planted the banana toes tomato that never came up (turns out I didn't have the pump wire on that garden plugged all the way in, think I dried it out). I've also decided to start using the smaller gardens for decorative plants, to give myself a little break on maintenance. The sedum in the short farm is DELIGHTFUL, and almost no effort - no trimming or anything needed, just nutrients and water. So the 2 bounties and 1 of the harvests are being used to root some of the babies my spider plant shot out. We'll see if that works!! Otherwise I may look into other succulents to grow in them. The baby spiders: The sedum!!! The dwarf leprechaun, which is about to start setting tomatoes!! The pixie striped dwarf tomato, not as big as the leprechaun but still looking nice: The red velvets, still putting out delicious little gems: And the fresh bites pepper!! I harvested my first peppers today, and they are very tasty!! Also a very fun orange color!
Conversation
M
maskedsonnet

Lol forgot to add: I also ended the mini red bell!! It gave me lots of peppers, and they tasted good, but I won't be growing them again. The number of seeds in those little peppers was unbelievable, and made them very annoying to eat.

P
pfunnyjoy

Your cucumbers are so nice looking! I still think a Farm would be difficult for me to manage, but I am a little bit jealous seeing those cucumbers!

M
maskedsonnet

lynnee has grown cucumbers in a Bounty, I believe. You just have to keep them trained around the trellis! I tend to be very forgetful, so cucumbers are easier in the Farm for me, because even if I come back after a week or more of not tending the gardens it's not much of a fight to tie the vines up. Not sure that'd work as well in a Bounty!

L
lynnee

Growing cukes in a Bounty is easiest for me, because the main vine is generally willing to go around and around the trellis. Sometimes it just stops growing at the tip, though. In a Farm, my cukes want to produce a gazillion side-shoot vines, and the vines get all tangled. Probably I'm giving them too much nitrogen.Soon I will be trying to manage pea vines in a Farm. At least one of my "Easy Peasy" seeds has germinated in a Bounty. Still waiting for a green shoot.

M
maskedsonnet

Ooh, I look forward to seeing how that project goes, I LOVE peas!! The snow peas I tried were very tasty, but way more of a pain to maintain than cukes. I hope your peas behave better!

Day 228
UPDATE#13
Grower update

Update #13

M By maskedsonnet

Only 4 days in, and it's already been a busy new year!! Finally got a chance to mess with the gardens a bit. The sedum!!! The Lucky Leprechaun tomato: Pixie Striped tomato: The lemon balm and sage: The cucumber: The fresh bites pepper, with several good-sized peppers on it!! A good harvest!!
Conversation
L
lynnee

Your room looks wonderful, maskedsonnet! I like the bungee cords you are using for the cucumber vines. Did you make those up?

M
maskedsonnet

They actually came with the farms! They're part of the trellis system that AG sells, and they sent 2 of them with every Farm that I bought, so I've got lots. They're really nice for the cucumbers!

L
lynnee

Maybe I'll order some. All of my Farms came with the magnetic wire cords that the plants hate. They won't grasp them.

M
maskedsonnet

Honestly the cucumbers don't really grab these, either. I just drape them over the bungies, and they seem okay with staying there. The tendrils haven't been grabbing at anything this time around, other than its own vines.

Day 198
UPDATE#12
Grower update

Update #12

M By maskedsonnet

Dec 4, 2023 23:28:34 GMT -5 lynnee said:As always, I love your photos, maskedsonnet ! Your plants always look so wonderfully healthy. Whereabouts is the Dwarf Awesome tomato? Bottom, middle, top? I'm really interested in how the DAs grow and set fruit, because I have two seedlings in Farm12s that I'm hoping to turn into regular producers.One of the DA tomatoes on the Bounty plant just started to change color today. This will be the third from this plant, with a few more to come. It's towards the lower middle of the plant.
Conversation
U
Unknown

Oh, they aren't ready for harvest yet. The largest ones are about 1 and 1/2 inches long. They are suppose to ripen to a bright yellow. They plant should be very impressive if all goes well. About another month, I'd say.

Day 197
UPDATE#11
Grower update

Update #11

Actions taken

PlantingStarted rosemary in the Harvest formerly used for Red Velvet tomatoes.
PruningHarshly trimmed the dense pepper after interior leaves began wilting and dying.
PlantingStarted Banana Toes, Pixie Striped, and Lucky Leprechaun in separate Farms.

M By maskedsonnet

Hello fellow AG'ers!! Been a while, between vacation and flipping to the night shift!! The cucumber has gotten huge and given me 2 cukes so far, with many more on the way!! The sedum looks AMAZING!! The sage is doing great! Lemon balm is healthy, but has stayed weirdly short. I've never seen it grow so tight to the "ground" like this!! The oregano needs a trim. I've got that next up on my to-do list!! I've started rosemary in the Harvest that used to hold the red velvets! I've finally got a habanero plant that set peppers!!! I'm looking forward to the ripening up! The 2 pot-a-peno plants continue to provide plentiful jalapenos!! The fresh bites has lots of flowers buried under those wonderful green leaves!! The candy cane gave me LOTS of peppers, and still has some ripening up on it. I've given it a harsh trimming, because the mass of leaves through the middle had started to wilt and die. The Dwarf Awesome has gotten HUGE and has a tomato ripening up on it!! The remaining red velvet is still going strong And, last but not least, I've started three different Dwarf tomatoes in three different farms!! The Banana Toes that @fsullom mentioned a while back, Pixie Striped, and Lucky Leprechaun.
Conversation
U
Unknown

Glad to hear that everyone has had some success with the Dwarf Awesome. FYI, Here's the banana toes at 66 days. It's staying under 2 feet and has lots and lots of tomatoes! They are suppose to be a roma type but I don't see them elongating like a roma.

M
maskedsonnet

your plants look loaded up!! That's fantastic, I hope I have good luck with them too!!

L
lynnee

As always, I love your photos, maskedsonnet ! Your plants always look so wonderfully healthy. Whereabouts is the Dwarf Awesome tomato? Bottom, middle, top? I'm really interested in how the DAs grow and set fruit, because I have two seedlings in Farm12s that I'm hoping to turn into regular producers.One of the DA tomatoes on the Bounty plant just started to change color today. This will be the third from this plant, with a few more to come.

L
lynnee

Your Bananatoes look fabulous, @fsullom! How large are they? How do they taste?

Day 173
UPDATE#10
Grower update

Update #10

M By maskedsonnet

Been a while since my last update!! It's been busy as always around here. Tomatoes!! The sprout is still doing great The second Dwarf Awesome looks GREAT. The first Dwarf Awesome looks Terrible. I think it's time to admit that the first seed was a dud. It's spindly and has dropped most of its leaves. Might be time to just take it out and plant another one in its place!! The Harvest Red Velvet plant is also doing great! The ones in the Harvest slim finally died out. They had a good, long, productive run!! Haven't decided if I'm going to plant more or something else in there yet. Peppers!!! The pot-a-penos are still doing well and producing lots!! The candy cane pepper is still big and bushy and producing well too!! The red mini bell is growing well so far! The fresh bites is also growing well! Herbs!! The rosemary and sage are both doing alright The oregano is doing great! The lemon balm is doing alright, parsley is starting to wilt and never got that big The cucumber's doing great!! And the sedum is doing great!!!!
Conversation
P
pfunnyjoy

Absolutely blown away by your garden room! Wonderful!I guess that means it's time to make mine into a garden room instead of miscellaneous, piled to the ceiling, storage!

M
maskedsonnet

Garden room is *always* a good idea!! Relaxing, fun, and always amusing to see the surprised and confused expression on workers' faces when I have to lead them in there for something

U
Unknown

Yea, I had the piano tuner over yesterday. I tipped him half a dozen freshly picked peppers!

U
Unknown

My garden "room" turned into Garden room A and Garden room B... Soon, I'm afraid, I'll be referring to my addiction as the "Garden House"

L
lynnee

In February, the rehab facility brought me home briefly to find a document. When we went into my office/ garden room, the first comment was, "Is this real?" I had a plant full of bright red Pot-a-Penos right by the doorway!

L
lynnee

Always love your updates, maskedsonnet! I'm envious of your healthy Dwarf Awesome! How many days has it been planted? They take about 80 days to harvest. So far only one of my five tomatoes has actually even started to ripen, at 85 days.Agreed that it's time to give up on the other DA. Does it have different environmental conditions than the healthy one?

M
maskedsonnet

I would turn mine into a garden house if Flower didn't insist on putting everything in her mouth!! Although when I'm in the room working on the plants she mostly stays away from them now, and when she starts sniffing at one comes away willingly enough when I tell her no. But also when I first brought her home she dug up one of my potted plants that I had on a table, don't want a repeat of that!! All the plants outside of that room are either hanging or on high shelves now!!

M
maskedsonnet

It's at 42 days, I'm half way to harvest sounds like! Not really on the different conditions - the air vent in that room is closer to the unhealthy plant, but last time I checked the air flow because I was worried about drafts, it doesn't hit the machine at all.

Day 145
UPDATE#9
Grower update

Update #9

Actions taken

PruningRemoved dried and withered lower leaves from the larger Dwarf Awesome plant.
EquipmentTook the dome off the rosemary after it emerged.

M By maskedsonnet

The gardens are still mostly doing well!! The sedum pods are all up, though still very small But all of them have tons of teeny sprouts!! The large dwarf awesome is getting taller, though the bottom leaves are getting a little dried and withered. Trimmed those. Sage is doing good, rosemary is up enough that I took off the dome. Cucumber is up!! Red Robin tomato still going strong, basil is in bad need of trimming. Will do that tonight probably. Oregano also needs a trimming tonight. The bottom red velevet is doing great, will end the top right ones that have finally croaked tonight and re-plant with more red velvets. Both of the pot-a-penos are doing well!! The mini red bell looks great so far! The candy cane pepper still doing great, very bushy!! Second dwarf awesome is up! Lemon balm looking great as always, parsley seems a bit sickly. And lastly, the fresh bites pepper is up!!
Conversation
L
lynnee

How big will the mini bell peppers get, maskedsonnet? All of your plants look great, even the parsley! Is that curly parsley? It looks like it may be in a draft. I hate it when leaves dry out for no obvious reason.

M
maskedsonnet

The plants are supposed to get 24-30 inches tall and the peppers 1-1.5 inch in diameter! Really mini, sounds like a nice little bite! I dont actually remember what type of parsley I bought!! I think it’s curley, I’ll have to look when I get home.

Day 131
UPDATE#8
Grower update

Update #8

Actions taken

FinishedTook out the drying strawberry plants and the dead habanero.
PlantingPlanted Mini Red Bell, Fresh Bites Orange, Red Velvet, and two Dwarf Awesome tomato gardens.
PlantingPlanted Dragon's Blood sedum and a new cucumber crop.

M By maskedsonnet

Took out the strawberries, which were drying out and starting to die. The habanero also died suddenly. The rest of the gardens are doing well!!! Plenty of jalapenos to pick The candy cane pepper has been producing well, and are very tasty!! The mini red bell pepper is up! Fresh Bites Orange pepper planted The tomatoes are largely healthy!! The red velvets I planted in the pink harvest are coming to an end. I don't remember when exactly I planted those, but they've been there a good long time, and have given me lots of tomatoes!! The red robin is still big and healthy!! And the tomatoes are getting tastier the older the plant gets. The dwarf awesome is growing nicely!! The other red velvet is still doing great And planted a second machine with dwarf awesome Planted Dragon's Blood Sedum in in the Farm 24 that the strawberries were in. I've never grown a succulent of any kind from seed, I hope they do well!! All the herbs are doing great!! Oregano Sage and rosemary. It's still small, but the rosemary is up too!! Parsley and lemon balm Basil!!! New cucumber planting
Day 99
UPDATE#7
Grower update

Update #7

Actions taken

WateringWatered every garden that was not scheduled for replacement.
NutrientsFed all retained gardens.

M By maskedsonnet

The gardens are doing well!! Yesterday I watered and fed everything I wasn't going to replace. Today after I get some sleep will pull some gardens out and replant!! Going to have a nice salad later Tomato plants all still look good Both seeds of the dwarf awesome sprouted!! Will let them get a tad bigger then try to transplant one The strawberries are still very thick and pretty, but I've decided to go ahead and move them to soil in order to plant other things: The habanero apparently sensed its danger and EXPLODED Pot-a-penos had some ready to pick this time!! The candy cane plant has some peppers that are very very close And the herbs are doing great!!
Conversation
U
Unknown

Super nice looking gardens, maskedsonnet! Maintenance must be a full-time job!

S
slw

I'm in awe of your garden room, MS! Your salad fixin's look wonderful.

L
lynnee

Love your photos, maskedsonnet!

S
Shawn

Love your Garden Room!

Day 71
UPDATE#6
Grower update

Update #6

Actions taken

PlantingPlanted a second dill where rosemary failed.
PlantingPlanted lettuce after the peas died.
HarvestCollected the first orange Fresh Bites peppers and a pile of tomatoes.

M By maskedsonnet

Haven't had a ton of opportunity for photos and whatnot, but the gardens are doing really well!!! The strawberries are doing incredibly well, though I've only gotten 1 berry so far: The 2 pot-a-peno plants both have peppers on them! The tomato plants are all doing really fantastic, and provide lots and lots of tasty snacks: The oregano is going absolutely wild, but the rest of the herbs aren't really exploding like I'd hoped. The dill is still pretty stunted and the rosemary never came up at all, planted a second dill in its place. The basil is doing what basil does in that room, I'm sure that soon I'll have more than I can handle again!!! The peas died randomly, so I planted lettuce there instead. It's just started to come up The Farm 24 is doing very well, I've harvested my first orange fresh bites peppers (you can see them in the bottom right on the table). They are tasty!! And the lettuce on the other side is doing really well too!! You can also see the nice pile of tomatoes I harvested on top of the water bottle lol. The habanero is still really thin and kind of sickly-looking. I'll give it some more time, but I think that batch of seeds just isn't any good. This is the second time growing it has been kind of a bust The red candy cane peppers are doing extremely well though!! Not any ripe ones yet, but lots of greens on there!!
Conversation
S
slw

WOW! Everything looks fabulous, maskedsonnet!! I have Farm envy! Sorry the peas didn't make it; I was thinking about peas but maybe I'll just put them outside in an EarthBox. Thanks for sharing the pictures... I will stare at them all afternoon.

L
lynnee

maskedsonnet, You won't have to buy retail tomatoes and peppers for a while, that's for sure! What kind of tomatoes are those on the plate atop the water supply? They look too fat for cherry tomatoes--and I'd like to grow some that look like that! Are you giving the tomatoes anything other than AG nutes? The plants look wonderfully healthy,Your strawberries have really expanded to fill up the Farm bowl. I think you planted the crowns in every other space. Would you space them out even more now? Are you checking the pH at all?How did your berry taste? It's so exciting to harvest full-size strawberries from an AG or Kratky! 🍓My Swiss chard germinated but kicked the bucket after about a week. Go figure, because the lettuce in that AG is doing fine. Love your photos!

M
maskedsonnet

lynnee the tomatoes are Red Robin Cherry Tomatoes from Park Seeds. They are big and beautiful, but not nearly as flavorful as the Red Velvets, which is what all my other tomato plants are. The Red Robins don't taste BAD, they just don't taste as good. I think the Red Velvets are the best cherry tomato I've ever tasted, just an EXPLOSION of wonderful, sweet-tart tomato flavor in every little bite. The flavor of the Red Robins may be improved with the introduction of other nutrients, but I haven't been feeding it anything extra, just the AG nutes. I did do every other space on the strawberries!! The one I harvested was small but delicious. I love strawberries so much, I hope more grow With how BIG these plants have gotten, I think spacing them out more would have been a good idea, to make it easier to see and manage them. I like the way they vine out and drape over the sides though!! I might try to very carefully pull some out and put them in soil around the house, still thinking about that.

M
maskedsonnet

The lunch box peppers were killed when I turned my thermostat up to 75 (usually kept at 73) because I'm always cold on night shift. I didn't think 2 degrees would do that much damage, but it does get really hot in that room with so many machines. May have to invest in a window unit in there to help out. The other plants got a bit limp for a day or so but recovered just fine. I've cleaned up the machine and planted the Dwarf Awesome tomatoes in their place!! I'm going to enjoy watching them, trying new seeds is always the best. The habanero seems to be determined to prove itself. Still thin, but with very large, healthy leaves. I'll leave it alone for now. When I harvest the lettuce next to the new Dwarf Awesome I'll re-plant the lunch box peppers, they were really tasty before I murdered them!!

L
lynnee

That's a shame a out the lunch box peppers. By my count, there are now four of us growing the Dwarf Awesome. That's @fsullom, slw, you, and me!

M
maskedsonnet

Surely one of us will have success with it!!

U
Unknown

Oh, boy,... Oh, boy... I'm gonna have a lot of people mad at me if Dwarf Awesome turns out to be a dud! NOTE that dwarf tomato plants are not micro-dwarf. Micro-dwarf are no larger than 12 inches BUT dwarf can be as big as 3 feet! The dwarf awesome may outgrown a bounty.

M
maskedsonnet

Lol well for my part I’m never mad about duds, that’s part of trying new plants!!

U
Unknown

Yes, and over time with trial and error, you build an inventory of species and varieties that grow well in AGs AND in your particular environment. It's ideal to have a mix of plants that have proven to be successful as well as new experiments. Having some proven successes growing along with the experiments makes the duds easier to accept.

L
lynnee

It's fun watching anything grow in an AG, but watching something entirely new to you is the absolute best!

L
lynnee

Tomatoes have surprisingly shallow roots. Judicious pruning may be enough to keep the Awesomes down to the 24" maximum height for a Bounty. Depends on the individual plants, I guess.

S
slw

I'll be watching from the sidelines for a while; I don't have my seeds yet!! Does anyone have seedlings yet?

U
Unknown

slw, do you mean seedlings of the dwarf awesome plant? I posted a pic of my seedlings two days ago in the "slicing tomatoes" thread.

S
slw

Duh! Thanks for reminding me, SG. My brain is like swiss cheese but since you reminded me I do recall those two sturdy looking plants! How long ago did you plant them?

U
Unknown

27 days ago

L
lynnee

That is why I love my Aerogardens!

M
maskedsonnet

Everything springs up so much faster, it feels like!! AG is amazing I hit up the Seed Needs sale, re-stocked some herb seeds that were several years old and not germinating well (or at all, in some cases), plus a mini bell pepper and a new batch of habanero seeds. I also got myself at *~*treat*~*.When those show up I'll make a final decision on the thin habanero plant, will probably end it and replant with the new Habanero seeds since I've already had bad luck with the old seeds. I actually threw those away when I purged a bunch of super old seeds in my collection a couple days ago. Had some from as far back as 2018!!The strawberries have not bloomed again since that first time, where I only got a couple of berries. They are thick and green and beautiful, just not setting blooms or fruit. I'm thinking about pulling them to put outside, and putting those machines to other use. In their place will put my new seeds to use!! I've got some nice big pots I can plant the strawberries in that I've been wondering what I want to do with.For the new - 1 machine sage and rosemary1 machine parsley and lemon balm that I will try and entirely fail to keep under controlThe short Farm 24 will contain the treat. I bought some Dragon's Blood sedum seeds, which I've always wanted to grow but never gotten around to.I also have a Farm 12 XL with lettuce in it, will harvest that and put the Mini Red Bell in there.The rest of what I bought is for later - got a new batch of thyme, basil, and oregano seeds because I'd run out of them. Right now all three of those are doing extremely well, but we all know they don't last forever!!

L
lynnee

maskedsonnet, before you ditch the strawberries, you might want to check the pH. I found that strawberries' pH levels go high very quickly, so I started doing weekly R&Rs and pH adjustments (with a General Hydroponics testing kit) every other day. That way I got more blooms and berries.Also, you might have purchased the type of strawberry that only produces one crop, as opposed to blooming continuously.I'm looking forward to your photos of all the new stuff!

S
Shawn

You always have such nice gardens

M
maskedsonnet

Thank you!! I wish I could devote more time to documenting and tending them. They are still well-tended, but I don't get time to take and post photos like when I first started!! It's been a way-too-eventful couple of years for me, I hope things calm down soon!!!

Day 43
UPDATE#5
Grower update

Update #5

M By maskedsonnet

She is a beauty queen!!A constant harasser of Prince!!And an adorable little beggar
Conversation
L
lynnee

Oh, she's gorgeous!

S
Shawn

Beautiful and precious!

Day 42
UPDATE#4
Grower update

Update #4

Actions taken

PlantingReplanted herb pods that had failed to sprout.
FinishedEnded the cucumber planting.
PlantingPlanted basil and chives where the cucumber had been and lettuce where a tomato died.

M By maskedsonnet

It's been a busy several weeks, but the gardens are mostly doing well!! Tomatoes: Re-planted the dill and rosemary, as the pods never sprouted: Ended the cucumber and planted basil and chives: The tomato in the Farm 24XL died, so planted some lettuce in its place: The oregano is thick and lovely!! Peppers are all doing well!! Red Candy Cane: Fresh Bites: Habanero: The 2 jalapenos: The peas are a bit pale and sad looking: And finally, the strawberries and both healthy and pest-free!!!
Conversation
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lynnee

Those all look terrific, maskedsonnet! Especially the strawberries!

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Shawn

It all looks wonderful

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Unknown

WOW! I see maskedsonnet has a full time job tending to the garden room.

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maskedsonnet

The best thing about AG is how low-maintenance it is!! Especially now that I can string a watering hose from the bathroom faucet to the garden room instead of carrying the water bottles, that’s been a huge improvement for me. Once a week I check and refill water, trim plants, and harvest. Plus I always start my gardens on feeding day so I’m never worried about forgetting one of them, they all get nutrients on the same day! love the garden room so much, the weather here’s been especially hot lately, the “weather” in the room is so much nicer than outdoors lol

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lynnee

Good to hear that your garden hose idea is working as expected. I bought one for my Garden Room aka Office, but haven't set it up yet.For right now, I'm sticking mostly to AG pods, because they do so well with minimal maintenance. I just planted three of five gardens, so don't have much AG work right now. Sometimes I wish I had more to do, of course.

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patlab

My “garden room” is actually my kitchen! It’s large and I call it my greenhouse. I’m glad I have water easily available but I’m running out of outlets!I have 7 harvests, 7 bounties, 3 farms, 1 grow light.

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patlab

Maskedsonnet… you are so organized. I just do whatever whenever, but since the gardens are all in the kitchen I always see what needs tending.

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maskedsonnet

I wish I could keep mine more out in the open!! The kitchen/dining/living area is certainly big enough, and greenery always cheers me up. But before she died Aurora was a gremlin that ate every plant she came close enough to, and Flower’s turning out much the same. I had to put fences around my backyard trees to keep her off them. Prince doesn’t really seem to notice plants, because they can’t pat him, take him for walkies, or offer him treats. Anything that can’t do one of those is beneath his notice lol

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lynnee

maskedsonnet, you haven't posted a photo of Flower since she was a puppy. Is she growing up to be a beauty, as expected?

Day 12
UPDATE#3
Grower update

Update #3

Actions taken

TransplantInstalled the strawberry crowns in the prepared hydroponic gardens.
WateringWatered the newly planted crowns.
NutrientsAdded nutrients after planting the crowns.

M By maskedsonnet

Crowns showed up today!! Managed to get them planted, watered, and fed before having to hustle into work for the night
Conversation
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lynnee

Yessss! I hope these do well for you. If they fail to thrive, you may want to track the pH level. Also, strawberries love their R&Rs.

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Shawn

I love this setup!

Day 7
UPDATE#2
Grower update

Update #2

Actions taken

EquipmentInstalled a sink adapter and garden hose to fill gardens and reservoirs more easily.
EquipmentWashed and restarted several garden units.
PlantingPlanted Pot-a-peno jalapenos, habanero, Candy Cane pepper, peas, dill, rosemary, and oregano.

M By maskedsonnet

I held off until today to plant everything, got my adapter for the sink to garden hose!! Made filling the gardens and reservoirs WAY easier than lugging them all back and forth between there and the kitchen. Restarted a few gardens as well, and those did have to be hauled in order to wash them. I used a hand cart to roll them instead of carrying SO!!! The strawberry crowns still aren't here but the gardens are ready to be filled up and planted when they get here!! Planted Jalapenos (Pot-a-peno variety) in the 2 Bounties: Planted a Habanero and a Candy Cane Pepper in 2 of the new farms: Planted 3 pods of Peas in another Farm and Dill and Rosemary in another (was originally going to do Dill and Parsley, but I'm out of Parsley seeds and didn't feel like going to the store, plus I've got Parsley outside right now anyways). And replaced the Thyme with Oregano!! I'll add nutrients to everything in 5 days when it's time to feed the other gardens!
Conversation
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maskedsonnet

Stark Bros pushed shipment of my strawberries back a second time this morning, so I canceled it and FINALLY found someone else with crowns in stock that didn’t look shady. Went with Holland Bulb Farms and they shipped the same day I ordered from them!! They actually sell theirs in packs of 10, went ahead and bought 2 packs to fill up all 4 of the spots I had prepared for strawberry plants. Soon I’ll have berries to grow!!

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lynnee

Can't wait to see your strawberries! What variety did you order, maskedsonnet?

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maskedsonnet

Ozark everbearinrg! I really wanted to try the Tristar but Holland didn’t have it. I’ve read good things about Ozark too though!

Day 1
UPDATE#1
Grower update

Update #1

Actions taken

HarvestCollected a good roasting-pepper harvest before ending the plant.
FinishedRemoved the roasting pepper after its harvest.

M By maskedsonnet

I squeezed all my new farms in there!!! I haven't planted them yet, I go out of town tomorrow and won't be back until Friday, which is probably when I'll plant the new gardens and re-plant several others. The Habanero plant suddenly died without ever producing peppers. I'll re-plant that, I think I may have let that room get a little too hot and shocked it. Ended the roasting pepper after a good harvest. The peppers are very tasty, and have good-sized pods!! The flower garden only had 1 flower germinate, so will re-plant the pods that didn't come up. As for the rest - not sure yet!! I have some vague ideas that I'm going to write down and ponder while I'm gone. The cucumber is doing great, as are almost all of the tomato plants. The sweet pepper in the Farm 24 XL is very healthy, but the tomato plant doesn't look great, may end and replant that too. Haven't decided yet. I got a lot of work done yesterday and tonight, but still have a lot of work ahead of me!!
Conversation
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tompepper7

The only thing unimpressive is that the farms are not all on the ground with another farm stacked on top.

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maskedsonnet

I thought about doing that!! But it would have made the extra water reservoirs harder to set up for them.

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Shawn

The room looks great!!!!

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Unknown

Nice pics! Really nice grow room! I see you have the necessary step ladder for reaching the farm controls. How many electrical circuits do you have feeding these gardens? You don't want to overload it and blow the breaker.

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maskedsonnet

That whole room and part of my living room is on the same circuit, which does make me nervous sometimes because it’s the only wall of the living room that my entertainment center will fit against without blocking the front door or the windows. It’s supporting a lot of machines!! But frankly I don’t even know how to calculate how much load I’m putting on 1 circuit, much less how to tell how much it can handle before it trips.

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Unknown

The easiest way to tell if you are overloading your circuits is to wait til the breaker trips and you'll know that is too much. If it helps, I can give you my limit: I had 5 bounties, 2 harvest XLs, 2 harvests, 1 harvest slim, and a copy machine. I was blowing the breaker when my wife turned on the copy machine. I now have 2 circuits in each of my grow rooms. Depending on how your house has been wired and whether there is room in the service box for additional circuits, it may be quick and inexpensive to add a couple of circuits, OR it may be quite expensive.

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lynnee

What a fabulous Garden Room! I particularly love the big 5-gallon automatic watering tanks (under the printed cloths). And the stepladder, of course! Aerogardens don't pull a lot of electricity, though they pull enough to make a difference on my electric bill. (Electricity is VERY expensive in California.)The pumps don't matter much--it is the lights you need to consider. Each of the Farm lights uses 60 watts, and each Bounty uses 45 watts. So you can do some Googling to find out how many lamps are supported by a normal 15-amp household circuit. (My living-room circuit handled a 150-watt lamp, a 60-inch QLED TV + peripherals, some printers, an Amazon Echo and Echo Show, a Farm Plus, an AG 45-watt grow lamp, and three Bounties. I didn't plug them all into the same outlet.)Your circuit breaker box should give you information about how many amps each household circuit has.You can also Google for information about how much load can be carried by one outlet, surge protector, or extension cord. The cords and appliances have labels that say how many watts they use or can handle, and you simply add up the watts of the appliances to make sure they don't exceed the total watt capacity of the cord, surge protector, or outlet.

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Unknown

SO... maskedsonnet, Have you decided what you are going to grow first in your new farms?

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maskedsonnet

Yes!! I’m trying again on strawberry crowns in 2 machines, from a different company that hopefully doesn’t send me infested plants like the last one. A bushing variety of sugar snaps in 1, the vining variety I tried before produced well but were a pain to take care of so thought I’d give a bushing one a shot. Dill and parsley in 1 machine. A new habanero plant to replace the one that died in 1 machine. One of my bigger tomato varieties in the last machine, I don’t have my seeds handy and don’t remember the name.

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Unknown

Looking forward to following your new farm plants. Please post pics of your progress... I had a dill fascination about a year ago. I tried about half a dozen varieties. The one I liked best was "teddy" dill. Fernleaf dill came in second. Both are a lot fuller and "bushier" than the aerogarden variety.

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maskedsonnet

I never used dill much, but I love the way it smells! The variety I bought was fern leaf I think. Tomorrow I’ll be back home and planting everything but the strawberries, since I won’t have those for a few more days. I’ll document as things come along! Gotta get back into the habit, been a weird few months for me but seems things are finally settling down for a bit!! (Knock on wood)

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lynnee

Keep your strawberry crowns as clean as possible by trimming off lower leaves and stems that are turning brown and soft. My strawberry crowns weren't infested upon arrival, but they developed a gnat problem in the dead material after they began producing berries. Also, don't plant them too close together. You can easily fit 12 crowns in a Farm, but then it's hard to keep track of the flowers and berries, and to prune out the dead stuff. That many plants also need a lot of R&Rs, because they're heavy feeders and the water gets dirty fast.If I were to grow strawberries again, I think that I'd try 6 crowns in a 12-pod deck. Do keep us posted on your strawberry progress in particular!

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maskedsonnet

That’s good to know!! The smallest bundle I could get was 25 plants. May plant some either outside or in other machines now that I know it’s best to space them out like that!

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Unknown

Speaking of strawberries, have you guys seen these climbing strawberry plants??? www.etsy.com/listing/1302221899

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lynnee

Climbing strawberries look like they would be fun to grow, @fsullom! No more vines for me right now, though.

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lynnee

maskedsonnet, 25 crowns is apparently the minimum bundle at all of the seed companies. It kind of broke my heart to only use half of them in a Farm (and even 12 was too many, as previously noted). I tried saving the surplus crowns in the garage for planting later, but they dried out and died.

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maskedsonnet

It's too bad that 25 is the minimum everywhere. But I guess it makes sense if they think they're only selling to people who are gardening outdoors. Maybe I'll use the Farm 24 where only 1 flower pod sprouted for the overflow!! That'd use them all up, and I'm growing flowers in pots outdoors so it's not like I'll be totally without blooms!! I'm also working on a plan to make filling water significantly easier, with this!! So I can run a hose from the bathroom right next to the garden room, with a spray nozzle attached to it to keep water from getting everywhere. No more hauling bottles to and from the kitchen!! That project will have to wait until this weekend though, I won't have it for a couple days and couldn't find anything like it locally to speed things up.

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lynnee

The garden hose adapter is a great idea! I'm now thinking about how I might use one to cut down on carrying water to my garden room aka office AGs.

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