refresh/sterilize? my first time doing monthly gardyn maintenance
It is hard to tell what the right effort level is. As mentioned in the last post, there are three levels of cleaning: refresh, sterilize, and deep. It would be nice if they were documented a bit more consistantly rather than picking and choosing the bits that seem to apply from each (and not assuming knowlege from the other). Added recomendations from a user, Tracey Mertens, that has posted her process, which has evolved from September in Gardyners to November in Gardyn. See my process below.
Overall: I found little biofilm, mold, or algae. There were a few bits of roots on the ypods and in the towers. I should have run a timer. I think it took more than the expected 40 minutes. Not sure how much more effecient it will be next time. See below for before pictures of roots.
Afterwards: This deep cleaning video has me thinking I should have just wiped the ypods, instead of trying to figure out how to do the roots. Clearly it uses the water from the tank to hold the plants over while cleaning the towers.
The process I followed the first time with observations:
- Moved plants out of the towers. Put them in a tub and ice cube holder as these had sides slighly taller than the ypods. This worked well to limit my trips to the bathroom with small plants. (I was not thrilled with my hanging shoe holder. The back looked like synth fabric that would not clean well. Plus it was hard to get all four hooks in and engaged.)
- Trim the roots to take up half the ypods and sterilize. Gloves! I never expected this to be something I did not want to do. When the growth seemed minimal I just stuck the ends back in the pods. The roots often followed water paths out of the ypod through the obvious opening and the little hole. Wiping this mass with a dilute h202 solution seemed inefficient at best. Hopefully the later wash in the tower will help. Might want to consider swishing in an h2o2 solution if I see browning in the future. Does is matter if the cube is put back in with the same corner down? I did not wash the ypods in the dishwasher at this time.
- (15 minutes) Clean towers with diluted h202 spray and 2" bottle brush. How do you keep water from getting flicked all over? I tried hanging a towel with the other hand, but it was awkward and did not block all angles.
- (15 minutes) REQUIRED Turn off gardyn , turn off unit, unplug, raise motor, and unclasp tank. Lift lid by towers and move onto towel. Drain tank, and clean with h202 solution and brush. Wipe floor around tank home. While there assorted pump out methods were mentioned, I just tried to coordinated with a lowering water level. What would optimal be? I started bailing with a plastic "beer" cup. I tried to recycle water into my houseplants and flower bed. Eventually I just dumped the tank outside. (I a recommendation about changing to manual through Kelby, but if it is off, this seems moot.)
- (15 minutes) REQUIRED Put 5G of water in tank and 5T H2O2 in the tank. Put lid on, latch, plug in, turn on, wait ~5 minutes to reboot, reset Kelby counter, manually pump water for 5 minutes through Kelby. (the H202 is not mentioned in the refresh instructions, but it is inexpensive and easy. Avoiding algea seem important.) If using something that would be neutralized (ie. hydroguard ), wait 3 hours. (I also read about a wait for the chlorine to disapate from tap water.) Coorinate that wait with the cooling of the fertilizer below. BTW Sterilizing uses 2C H2O2 and then empties the tank again.
- Add 50 drops grapefruit seed extract (GSE). While it is supposed to have lots of good properties, keeping the pH a bit lower is why I made the small effort to add to the system. I forgot the do any pH testing.
- REQUIRED Dissolve 3 spoons gardyn food in 1 gallon warm water and let cool before adding to tank. Rerun the motor manually. My quart measuring cup poors badly. I tossed the pitcher that poured better , but the handle fell off. Not sure how my camping water containers would work, but then I would have to figure out how to clean them. I have a month to figure a better solution out.
- measure and adjust pH
Here is a comparison of various Nutrients
ReplyDeleteVeg-Bloom - 8-5-13
Maxigrow - 10-5-14
Aerogarden 4-3-6
MasterBlend 5-11-26
Aerogarden(Playing it safe nutrient) - coming in as the weak link - You will need various extra products where it lacks in mature plants, had buffers and pH reducing formula
Vegbloom - Formulated with a great balance, buffers and pH reducing formula.
Maxigrow - very cheap to buy, high in nitrogen and a little higher P.
Masterblend 5-22-26, phew. You can probably get away with it for specific types of veggies you are growing, but not so great with others.
From James Arnold
DeleteIt's a pity it got censored:
ReplyDeletehttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pDzpMRCF9mBPuOsX1MqqNnnOkR8vbcUnqSiRmumCGd8/template/preview?fbclid=IwAR27wA8mVwgE5shtSrPjaZpH8lYKIxndVHVop6MZqDRtEePrM1x0BKIgW5Y
==================================================================
Taylor Brewer
t62hln42l3319h0df ·
***This was removed from the official Gardyn group after getting a lot of attention, so posting here:
--------Spreadsheet--------
It's finally done! For anyone unfamiliar, it's essentially a tool I created to track plants in the Gardyn. There's a ton of instructions within the spreadsheet link, as well as photos attached here on how it is used. Here's how it works:
1.) Crop Table:
This is data that's automatically generated based what you enter in the left-most four columns. For example, you choose a plant from the drop-down menu and the remaining columns will automatically populate. Some important data points here are the 'Plant Health', 'Replant, Harvest, and Die-Off Dates', and 'Suggested pH & Light Intensity', 'Number of Sprouts To Thin', and much more!
2.) Yields:
This is a visual that's based on the data that was generated in the Crop Table. Each green bar represents the dates a plant will be ready for harvest. There's another small graph here on the very, very left. This is the total number of crops ready for harvest based on the calendar. This will allow you to see any upcoming "gaps" where you'll have few plants available - or you can see months ahead at which you'll have a "surplus" ready for harvest.
-------yCube Etsy Shop-------
So, I've found that there's some of us who prefer to plant our own seeds in the Gardyn. The only hassle is finding the materials to do, so the plants can have a perfect fit into the system. For this reason, I invested into a 3D Printer and designed my own cubes to use. Just like this spreadsheet, I figured this would be good to share.
Below is a link to my Etsy shop where anyone can purchase cubes in bulk with rockwool preinserted. It's a perfect fit in the Gardyn, and I made sure to use food-grade plastic that's biodegradable! Just make sure to have your own seeds on supply.
Take care everyone!
Spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/.../1pDzpMRCF9mB.../template/preview
Etsy Shop:
https://www.etsy.com/.../gardyn-replacement-cubes-with...
Donate:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/taylrbrwr
short URL: shorturl.at/mzJWZ
ReplyDeleteEC conversions to PPM
ReplyDeletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SvksjH9gedQ
1 Tablespooon h202 per gallon every two weeks
ReplyDeletehttps://journals.ashs.org/hortsci/view/journals/hortsci/57/1/article-p32.xml