Yes, you can indeed take a celery heart and regrow it in an aquaponic grow-bed! We did not start it rooting in water prior to placing the celery heart directly into the Hydroton clay balls. Placing it into the bed is all the work we’ve done on this so far, and check out the growth already!
More room is needed now for our black seeded simpson lettuce and kale started in starter trays not too long ago. This weekend was spent transplanting the seedlings into slightly larger pots, and we had enough high nitrate fish water to set up another half dozen or so kratky jars!
This weekend was also spent feasting on our fresh microgreen salads!! So delicious! We harvested the whole tray of lentil microgreens. They grew fast and aren’t bad at all, but a touch more on the bitter side than the other microgreens we are growing. The radish micogreens, grown from daikon radish seeds, are packed full with flavor and that distinctive radish heat. The broccoli sprouts were mighty tasty and did pack a flavor punch easily identifiable as broccoli. The sunflower microgreens are fantastic in a salad, proving a more substantial crunch than the other microgreens, with only a slightly bitter aftertaste which is imperceptible when under the spell of a salad dressing.
The two top shelves and part of the third in our basement grow shelf are packed with herbs, lettuces and vegetables now. We have started a jar of mung bean sprouts and another tray of radish microgreens. The second tray of sunflower microgreens are nearly ready for eating and finishing up greening under the lights as I type. So far so good !!
Proverbs 1:5 — A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel.
And look !!!
This being our first kratky kale in a half gallon jar experiment, it is really fun to check out the daily root growth. Leave it alone over the weekend and then give it a peek, the progress is startling. So far the only thing I would change is that wallpaper.
Here we are with an estimated 12-14 ounce “crop” of delicious sunflower microgreens after just 12 days! My first taste test was a simple microgreen salad with diced tomato and basil, shredded cheddar cheese, black pepper and blue cheese dressing. Yeah, I could get used to eating this.
We harvested 1/2 of the tray immediately, which yielded 6.7 ounces of sunflower microgreens. The other 1/2 of the tray we will eat later in the week. Additionally we are curious to see if we get a second cutting from this tray.
We used up all of our older radish seed in this radish microgreen experiment, and by all counts we would count this experiment a success! Five pounds of radish seed are making its way to Humbleville right now so we can step up production of this tasty and nutritious treat.
The radish microgreen has a nice crunch with a slow to develop radish heat after-taste that is quite nice and would be an excellent addition to our salads or on a sandwich. Take a look below at our first “harvest” of this homegrown microgreen.
The two Kratky kale plants have a nice root system. The Kratky spinach plants are developing. So this morning I took two of the black-seeded simpson lettuce starts I have going on in a tray and set it up to Kratky!
In the picture below you will see two of the lettuce plants, in their infancy, and their roots well cleaned of the soil in which it got its start. Carefully I dangle the small root system into net cups and gingerly drop small clay balls called Hydroton into the net cups and around the roots. The old and empty northern bean jars are filled with high nitrate water from my fish tank to about a quarter of an inch above where the bottom of the net cup is.
I think I want to look in through the clear jar and water to see how the roots will stretch down below the net cups and into the nutrient rich water, so I won’t cover up these jars right away. Soon, however, I will be wrapping these in some cheap aluminum foil to keep the artificial light from shining into the water and potentially causing algae growth.
“And though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great.”
On September 8th I started my first attempt to germinate lettuce seeds in rockwool. Reading up on how to prepare rockwool, I soak it in water overnight but I added a bit of vinegar to the soak in order to reduce our city water’s pH from the mid 7’s down to the mid 5’s. One reason supposedly to do this is to neutralize any base left in the rockwool from sources like limestone, and supposedly a more acidic water helps in germination and growth.
What did we experience? Nothing. The lettuce seeds started just a couple of days earlier in soil are germinated and looking great. Several days after this failed experiment was started, I seeded some new rockwool with two different lettuce seeds and some swiss chard and they have mostly germinated as of this morning.
For this second rockwool germination experiment, I took some of the rockwool from the previous preparation and soaked it several times in plain tap water to help pull out the acidity. Additionally this set was put into a plastic container that had a lid on it. Why was this one successful and the previous one was not? There are two potential variables I have identified. First, it could be the vinegar. Second, it could be the humidity dome (aka lid) versus open air. These will be two things we will keep in mind as we press forward in this adventure.
Another day or three and these sunflower microgreens should be ready to go under the lights to green up. Then it is eatin’ time! This 10 x 20 tray of sunflower microgreens was seeded with 2 cups of black oil sunflower seeds sprouted over several days. The next batch in the sprouting process right now was reduced to a touch over a cup and a half as I believe this first tray is a bit overfilled. The sunflower shoots are are looking strong and tall.
Probably one or two more days of greening up, and we’ll be enjoying these radish sprouts! Sampling one, they do have that spicy radish flavor. I’ve yet to find a good source for bulk radish seeds, but I’m confident I’ll find something soon. And then we’re off to the races! For now, we will just enjoy this first radish sprout experiment of ours using up our old seed from the last two seasons.
