Hydroponics: The Summer of Lettuce

It's time to start harvesting Kale, as my experiment is coming to an end. I think I will have one more big harvest before the project is over.

Table 1
Kale - 358 g
Broccoli leaves - 113 g
mustard leaves - 57 g
yellow chard - 25 g
smooth lettuce - 73 g
rough lettuce - 57 g
total - 747 grams

Hydro Table
Kale - 364 g
Raddicio - 105 g (first harvest too!)
boc choi - 68 g
smooth lettuce 72 g
Total - 609 grams

Lots of lettuce and greens were harvested from the Table 1, 553 grams in greens and 129 grams in lettuce. In the Hydro table, I harvested 537 grams of greens and 72 grams of lettuce. Pretty close!

Within the week, the hydro water levels went down significantly. I had to add 512 ounces (4 gallons) of water. I watered Table 1 3 times in 1 week.

My Kale harvest from the hydro table was dense, however I do not think we will be eating this crop.

One observation I am making is that only the pac choi has been chewed on a bit by bugs. I haven't seen any other holes in the other vegetables, and I've noticed it in both tables.

I think the final harvest will be a great one for lettuce. The lettuce on the hydro table is growing so tall, it's amazing! (you can see the whole image if you click on the link below)

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Another big lettuce harvest! 8-1-2012

Hydro table
Red chard - 19 g
mustard greens - 28 g
pac choi - 58 g
red lettuce (first harvest!) - 42 g
rough edged lettuce - 162 g
smooth edged lettuce - 139 g
Total - 448 g

Table 1
red chard - 70 g
mustard greens - 99 g
pac choi - 70 g
yellow chard - 54 g
red lettuce (first harvest!) - 15 g
smooth edge lettuce - 150 g
rough edged lettuce - 96 g

Total - 554 grams

The lettuce on the hydro table was very strong this week, totalling 343 g, table 1 is 261. The greens were the strongest in Table 1, totalling 293 g, hydro table is 105 g.

The water line was a little low, so I added about about 80 oz. of water to the hydro table. I can't believe the white roots the vegetables are growing, they are starting to look kind of iridescent and fuzzy!

I added 10 g of fertilizer/water mixture to table 1 on Thursday, 8-2-2012

Another question I have is about harvesting Kale. It is growing very large, but I don't think it's ready to be eaten yet. Should I wait until it gets bigger and darker in color?

My tables are in close competition for which one will produce the most smooth leaf lettuce. I don't know if I can eat all of this lettuce!

My main issue this week is the kale and broccoli are still chlorotic on the hydro table. Here are comparative pictures.
Hydro table

Table 1

Hydro

Table 1

I've used vinegar twice now. Should I up the amount of vinegar to water ratio? Are there any other methods to lowering pH?

Also, my Kale is getting huge, but I've seen kale a lot bigger and dark green in stores. Should I wait to harvest?

Just after eating most of my lettuce and all of the greens, here comes another harvest. The green lettuce really seems to be liking this hot weather.

First off, my brocolli and now kale in the hydro table were still chlorotic. I added more vinegar to the table, I will take pictures soon and look for results.

I also put 10 grams of nutrients in Table 1 yesterday as the soil seemed to be a bit sawdusty.

Here are the results of the second harvest.

Hydro Table
Pac choi - .050 - 5 grams
Red chard - .066 - 6.6 grams
mustard greens - .015 - 1.5 grams
Smooth Lettuce - .114 - 11.4 grams
Roughedge lettuce - .125 - 12.5 grams

Total - 37 grams

Table 1
Pac choi - .047 - 4.7 grams
red chard - .078 - 7.8 grams
yellow chard - .022 - 2.2 grams
mustard greens - .045 - 4.5 grams
smooth lettuce - .085 8.5 grams
roughedge lettuce - .071 - 7.1 grams

Total 34.8

Hydro table produced the most vegetable yield this week. The highest yield crop was the roughedged lettuce. There was more variety again in Table 1 for harvest than the Hydro.

A couple new things happened this week with my vegetables. First, Tom noticed that my broccoli plant was looking a little depleted and chlorotic, which signaled that the pH of my hydroponic table may be too high. I added 1/4 cup of vinegar to a half gallon of the hydro water, mixed it around and put it back into the table. I think this is helping, I may have to cut off the chlorotic parts.

This was added, along with 10 more grams of nutrients to table 1, on July 13th. I left for the weekend, and man did my veggies grow!

pre-harvest

Time for harvest!

Hydro table
Ruffled Lettuce - .044 - 4.4 grams
Smooth lettuce - .054 - 5.4 grams
Pac choi - .019 - 1.9 grams
Red chard - .029 - 2.9 grams
Total - 14.6 grams

Table 1
Ruffled Lettuce - .027 - 2.7 grams
Smooth Lettuce - .016 - 1.6 grams
Pac choi - .053 - 5.3 grams
Red chard - .043 - 4.3 grams
Yellow chard - .029 0 2.9 grams
mustard greens - .016 - 1.6 grams
Total - 18.4 grams

Observations: More yield was collected in Table 1. A greater variety of vegetables were collected in Table 1. The hydroponic table has a denser yield but less variety.
Lettuce plants are producing more yield in the hydroponic table.

One thing I did notice is that the Red chard that was harvested in Table 1 is very red in color. The red chard that was harvested in the hydro plot is not red, is basically white veined. Does this relate to anything?

The heat broke on Friday evening after a powerful rainstorm, but my plants seemed to do alright! I've got a couple new developments this week. I watered and gave Table 1 10 grams of nutrients on Sunday, I'm thinking I may have to go ahead and do it again tonight.
With this entry I will do a bit of a comparative study on both tables. My vegetables that I planted in the ground still seem to be alive, but they are definitely not growing as much as the tables.

Ruffled Edge Lettuce: Both are doing well. I would say they are of similiar size and vigor in both tables. Not big enough to harvest yet, I don't think.

Smooth Lettuce: Both doing well, not big enough to harvest. One plant on the hydroponic table looks to have burns around the edges.

Red and Yellow Chard: doing well. Chard on Table 1 is about half an inch bigger.

My india mustard has gone to seed on both tables. I was just reading up on what to do, I will pinch off the flowers tonight and see what happens.

Red Lettuce: slow growing, not as prolific as the green lettuce and both tables.

Kale: growing nicely on both tables, I notice there are at least 1 new leave for each plant on each table.

My other concern is the burn on the broccoli of the hydro table, none on Table 1

as well as a bit of burn on the boc choy of Table 1, no burn on the hydro table. The boc choy is larger on Table 1, also.

Onions have grown an inch since we've planted.

Any suggestions for the "burns" on some of the lettuce, mustard greens that have gone to seed?

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Table 1 (the table with the peat mixture) is really starting to grow strong! I watered and put 5 grams of the nutrient mixture for the first time on July 4th. Both red and yellow chard are the strongest, Each plant seems to be doing well. I do not think they are "bolting" and going to seed. I will be doing another watering with the nutrient mixture tomorrow, as the soil and peat mixture seemed to dry up over night. I have a feeling I will be watering and adding the nutrient mixture more often now as it starts to take shape. Also, to my surprise this morning, I found some animal tracks in the soil. Just another variable in this experiment.

The Hydro table is doing well also, but not as prolific as Table 1. You can see that the swiss chard is doing well also; the green lettuce is growing very strong in the table.
I haven't added any water yet, the level looks to be good right now.

My garden plot is growing, slowly! I fear that we did lose a red lettuce either to the heat or to an animal. I have been sprinkling it every day along with my regular vegetable garden.

Short post today! I think we will be harvesting Table 1 soon!

The plugs of vegetables were installed on Thursday June 28th. There are two 2x4 tables, one growing in a medium that has no nutrients, basically just a peat mixture, and one growing in a 2x4 hydroponic table that was created for this experiment. I also cleared out a 2x4 plot in garden and planted the vegetables as a replica of the tables.
Each 2x4 plot has 17 plants: 3 smooth leaf lettuce, 2 oak leaf lettuce (rough edge), 2 red lettuce, 2 red swiss chard, 1 yellow swiss chard, 2 mustard greens, 2 kale, 1 set of onions, 1 baby boc choi, and 1 radicchio. The 2 boxes get direct sunlight for about 11 hours during the day. The garden space gets about 12 hours of sun a day.
The first couple of days, I tried my best to keep the direct sunlight off of the 2 tables. I left everything alone for the weekend, and I'm seeing good growth already!
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Table 1 is doing very well, the chard is growing the fastest. Each vegetable has grown a couple centimeters this week.

The hydro table is doing well also. The chard, lettuce and kale are staying strong and have grown a couple centimeters.

My garden plot is holding it's own, but I have not seen growth yet. I hope the lettuce is not too delicate for this area. We'll see in the next week. Everything is still alive, though!

I haven't added any water to either table. Table 1 seems to be keeping moist, however I will be adding nutrients to the soil in a few days.

Have a great fourth!