Rebuilding After the New Year

Happy Inauguration Day-Eve!

In my last blog entry, I was yet unaware of the full magnitude of the Ph catastrophe of late November. The plants receive water through a wick system, in which strips of towel were used to pull the water from the bottom of the PVC tubing to the rockwool crib that houses the seeds. The higher level of dissolved solids in the water that resulted from adding chemicals to balance the violent Ph levels caused the wicks to deteriorate, and eventuall, the plants to dehydrate and die. So while I was frolicking in the Upper Peninsula eating apple sauce after getting my wisdom teeth removed, the plants were slowly withering away. I feel aweful about that...but not so aweful that it kept me from replanting the hydroponics system!

My residents and I mixed some new nutrient solution and replanted all but collards, because we were out of collard seeds. Since the community members are very fond of collards, I am going to buy some more seeds today to plant them. And when that is done, there will be much rejoicing.

At the Good Neighbor's Mission, there was no Ph catastrophe, so the plants are flourishing. The lettuce, especially, is quite large now. There are a few hiccups there, as well, however. The first being that the intensity of the lights is causing the plants in the middle of each row, directly in front of the light, to dry out a little and not be as healthy as the lucky sprouts at each end of the row. Another problem is that the plants on the top row of the system do not receive enough light due to where the lights are mounted.
I think a solution to this would be to add a vertical 2x4 board to mount the lights a foot or so higher. The last dilemma came from an error in mixing the nutrient solution, which resulted in cups of nutrient solution being added instead of teaspoons. This error was caught almost immediately, and very little of that solution reached the plant roots before new solution, with the correct amount of nutrients, was added. I will be going downtown today, and will be checking on the status of those plants to make sure I haven't poisoned them all and therefore subscribed them to the same fate as their counterparts at the Houghton-Jones Center. I very much hope that I have committed every error that could be committed, and that the runnings will be smooth from here on out.

Additionally, the hydroponics system that was installed in my dormitory complex at SVSU is now planted and operational. This system will be growing only basil plants as a part of a plot to make lots of pesto and sell it to raise money for Relay for Life. It seemed natural to name the system Basil. I also realized today that I have been somewhat sexist in my naming of the systems, so to counteract that I am going to construct a floating-system in my dorm room and name it Angie (with regards to the Rolling Stones ditty.) Basil will be maintained by college freshman and me. Half of the funding for Basil was provided by the Southest Community Council. I am a little concerned that there will not be enough light to successfully grow basil, as we have not installed grow lights. We will deal with that like most people deal with environmental crisis...as we are directly faced with consequences.