Nutrition

Befor cleaning and pruning.  Is it the extra week between cleans or the maturity of the system? Had extra deposits as well as a serious root effort. Not suprised the tomato roots were a challenge to get out and had escaped at least two holes away I guess you have to expect a plant as big as the amarynth to have big roots too. Had to rip it out too. I've never grown savory before. I guess this is it. My next scramble will have some. Then what? The tatsoi has really long stems. I don't think its bolting from flavor and the lack of flowers. Maybe it just does not like the tomatoe's shade. The tomato is taking over the world. While the kale crop has me questioning the user group wisdom, I took off two big branches and stuck them in a gallon of water out side. Unfortunately I accidentally took off a little one too. Will they root? Should I add fertilizer or hydraguard? Spray deer repellant? (sigh, I hate doing that to my food.) I have apparently been hiding 3 mustard plants in t...

 Another two weeks or so has passed since the last refresh. Have been adding augmented water every several days. The water was kinda middling with a bit of surface scum and stuff in the water. Pruned tons of roots. Had troubles pulling out the tomato plant. It's root had gone both up and down. Used a toothbrush to attempt to get them out of the system. Looking on facebook, it had big roots last time too. Maybe I need to prune the roots for this thirsty plant more often. I tried to be proactive on root trimming - at least on my last harvest of 2 green mustard, 1 red mustard, and 2 curly kale. The tomato has not produced a harvest yet.  I may be over my hesitation on root trimming. The mint will be prohibited from the bottom and free water. (What was the other plant I thought that about? tatsoi?) The mint had a fine runner with new plants every inch or so. The other, not quite thinned to one , buttercrunch bolted. Not sure why. I took off the collars. Having them on the peppers ...

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 pla...