Rockwool … It’s a Great Start

Aquaponics, Indoor Vegetables

The lettuce floating in the DWC desktop aquaponic bed has run its course, and in typical fashion I have not already started the plants that I want to replace them.  Perhaps I’ll consider some kale and swiss chard I have on the side as a temporary replacement until new lettuce is ready.

I’m coming to like this rockwool material for starting seeds.  Especially for the aqauponic growbeds.  I’m still experimenting with taking a seedling started in rockwool and seeing how well it transplants into a soil medium.  But for the aquaponic bed, this is my favorite way to start seeds, hands down.

Step one, seen here pictured below, it to soak the rockwool material.  I like to get a healthy scoop of fishwater from the fish tank into a re-used plastic food container and then drop in the rockwool, let it soak up the water, and rotate the rockwool pieces to get a more even saturation.

Step two, drop one to three seeds into the small hole in the center of the individual rockwool cubes.  Why do I say one to three?  It depends on your seeds germination rate and how certain you want to get a viable seedling going in each rockwool cube.  If several seedlings pop up, you can snip off the weaker looking ones with scissors and just keep the best looking one.

Step three, keep the plastic tray holding the rockwool cubes in a warm space and make sure it is under appropriate light once the seeds have germinated.

Step four, just make sure there is always some water in the bottom of the plastic tray and the water will simply wick up into the rockwool material giving your seed an optimal moisture environment for growth.

rockwool cubes set to soak

“No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.”
—Luke 5:36-38 (NASB)

Ebb and Flow Watering System for Microgreens

Indoor Vegetables, Microgreens

So far so good on the installation of a 4′ x 4′ ebb and flow growbed at the office!  Next project will be to get the LED light panel installed over it and then get some microgreens growing!

What you see below is the the business are of this ebb and flow growbed.  One of the fixtures is for the water to pump into the growbed from the water reservoir below.  The other fixture is the overflow which will prevent catastrophic flooding should the water pump stay running in a malfunction.  We’ll get the timing dialed in when we are actually growing microgreens in here, but the pump runs for 3-5 minutes 2x per day, and that should keep these little delicious plants hydrated during its growing cycle.

At full capacity, we should be able to harvest up to 8 trays per week from this system!  For the first part of the growing cycle, the seeded trays sit covered in the dark.  On the following Monday, I plan to transfer the trays that were in the dark into this automated growbed.  The hope is by Friday we will be able to harvest and distribute over the weekend.  The best laid plans of mice and men … we shall see how this vision culminates.

ebb and flow microgreen grow bed

Vine Ripened Indoor Cherry Tomatoes!

Indoor Vegetables

Now we are finally getting to the pay-off.  Three cherry tomato plants, started from seed months ago, are finally experiencing the full ripening of its fruit under LED lights.  These are definitely not the watery orbs shipped in from Mexico and purchasable in local grocery stores.  These babies are small but full of flavor.

I was tricked before when I pulled one and a half cucumbers from my indoor trellis, only to have the plants’ roots rot (most likely due to colder temperatures, even indoors) and quit producing.  As the tomatoes are in a better location indoors and housed in a grow tent, my hopes are higher for future tomatoes!

On a side note … Allison, I didn’t have these at home for Paul’s sandwiches (may have only had enough here for one or two anyway) as these were at my office location, or Paul would be enjoying them today.  The good news for my girls is they can have at ’em !!  Perhaps next time.

ripe cherry tomatoes

Ina Garten’s Chicken with a Sunflower Microgreen Salad

Microgreens

Do you feel like chicken tonight?  After seeing this culinary creation from a friend of Sustainable Roots, I think chicken would definitely hit the spot.  Here we see a perfectly executed Ina Garten chicken recipe served up along side mashed potatoes with gravy and a sunflower shoot salad with cherry tomatoes, capers and blue cheese!  Does this inspire you and make your mouth water?

Ina Garten’s chicken with sunnies salad

Jalapenos Down!

Aquaponics, Indoor Vegetables

Do you want a free jalapeno pepper plant?  Act fast!  I’ve pulled our jalapeno pepper plant from our desktop aquaponic grow bed to make room for some spring onions and green peppers.  Contact me ASAP if you would like to be the adoptive parent of this fine jalapeno plant.  No background check will be required so long as you promise to care for it better than I have, which will be easy.

jalapenos down

Ecclesiastes 3 King James Version (KJV)

3 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Sunflower Salad with Tuna Sandwich

Microgreens

Looking for lunch ideas?  This one totally gets my mouth watering!  I’m totally enthralled seeing pictures of real culinary creations made with Sustainable Roots’ locally grown microgreens.

Here we have an open faced tuna sandwich served on a toasted english muffin with melted cheddar cheese sidled up next to a sunflower shoot salad lightly dressed and topped with shaved parmesan cheese.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  I agree.  Enjoy!

sunflower salad with tuna sandwich

Aquaponic Tip: Check Your Equipment

Aquaponics

Here in Humbleville, USA we make a lot of mistakes.  They are some of the best learning experiences we can get, so we relish them (so long as they aren’t continually repeated mistakes).  While cleaning up the fish tank and doing some water tests, the read-out end of our water tank thermometer plunged into the tank.  At the time, I didn’t think anything of it.  Plucked it out, wiped it off, and went about my business.

rusty batteryAbout a week later when I wanted to check the water temp to make sure the heater was still working, I discovered the thermometer was no longer reading the water temperature.  More than just a dead battery, the water had caused some slow oxidation within the display unit.  Yikes!  No wonder it wasn’t working.

Lesson learned:  Check the aquaponic equipment frequently if not daily.  Cheers!

Taking the First Shot … of Wheat Grass Juice

Indoor Vegetables, Microgreens

Wheat grass is grown.  About an eighth of the tray is harvested.  The manual cast iron juicer is assembled and clamped down on the counter.  And the first two ounces of wheat grass juice have been extracted.

I must admit, it was a more pleasant experience that I had imagined.  The wheat grass juice did taste grassy, as expected, but it wasn’t quite as pungent as I thought it would be.  There was a mild citrus flavor in the background as well.  The tip I saw about licking some cinnamon off the back of my hand to take the grassy after-taste away was spot on!  It worked like a charm.

The twins, although super excited to try it, must have had higher hopes for this green concoction and were subsequently disappointed with the grassy flavor.  I think dad will be the sole beneficiary of this new source of highly dense nutrients.  Go GREEN !!

first wheat grass juice shot

Waiting for Cherry Tomatoes to Ripen

After I remembered that we have no bees in our basement (thank God!) and I had to hand pollinate those pretty yellow flowers, the cherry tomatoes have been setting quite well.  We have three plants in the grow tent with a 1000 watt LED panel.  Each tomato plant is in a one gallon grow bag and I’ve been bottom watering them.  It has been a little while since I used our nutrient rich fish water on them, so they  may need a food boost here pretty soon.  I’m assuming they will eventually ripen on the vine, but if anyone out there knows differently, can you let me know in the comments below?

cherry tomatoes