Tracking mistakes 2

Today following Zachary Jones and Jeff Edwards advice I checked pH level of rockwool that I used submerged in water. Result was unsatisfactory - about 7.5.

Such environment is too alkaline for spinach. As I mentioned in my last post optimal pH level for spinach is 5.6 - 6.0. It means that if I'll try to germinate spinach on rockwool in future I'll have to add some acid to it.

Spinach germination - stage 2

8 days yet passed since I planted seeds. 3 seeds out of 10 germinated and started growing, 2 more germinated but don't grow yet. Mineral-wool cubes became too small for those seedlings which started growing. But yet I didn't want to hurry with replanting them to hydroponic setup because they were still too small in my opinion. I made decision to replant them to larger mineral-wool cubes.

I made cutouts in large cubes for small ones. Before replanting seedlings I impregnated mineral-wool with nutrient solution. This time I dissolved fertilizer in proportions written in its manual. I thought that seedlings are ready for full dosage of fertilizer. I put box with seedlings to growhouse which I described in my last post. Every following morning I turned light in growhouse on and turned off every evening. Besides I regularly sprayed mineral-wool with fertilized water.

1st experiment - spinach germination

I have a keen interest in topics about hydroponics for a long time. A while ago I have decided to try it by myself. At first, I have chosen spinach for this experiment, because I have read that this plant does not require special care and attention. I put together a simple hydroponic setup that will describe in my next post. Before the cultivation of spinach I need to germinate the seeds. In markets I've seen special outfits for this, but I thought that I can design it by myself as well. I used a package of egg, garden box, and mineral wool. In order to proceed nutrient solution, I made holes in the bottom of each cell of egg-box and put a mineral-wool cube for each cell. Here is the result:

The next step was planting the seeds. Not recommended to plant the seeds of spinach immediately. They should be kept in water for at least 2 days, dried off and only after that you can plant them. In any case, I kept the seeds in water for three days and during these days it turned to the substrate. Before planting the seeds a substrate should be impregnated with solution two times lower concentration than is necessary for the cultivation. For the first experiment I used universal concentrated liquid fertilizer Vito for vegetables and flowers. The required proportions I dissolved it in water and poured substrate. After that I planted a seed in each mineral-wool cube. Germination takes place in living room with natural lightening. Once a day the room ventilated, I sprayed substrate with fertilized water. Also I follow up the green box to be always filled with water. On the 7th day the first result emerged.

On the 8th day first seedling germinated a little bit. In addition two more seeds germinated but unfortunately it is not visible on photo.

Now I am waiting until seedlings will grow up, so I can replant them to hydroponic setup and let them to grow under the artificial light.