Current Test Lab

The "Primary Observation Deck" at The Growing Edge Test Lab

February 2002

Cooler Bed Growers with arugula and leaf lettuce.

The Winter Greens Have Been Harvested! Lettuce: 20 ounces Arugula: 7 ounces The plants went from seed to harvest in just about a month and we were very happy with the yield from these cooler growers--especially the lettuce! We didn't have any trouble with pests or diseases and didn't lose any plants. The total cost to run the pump and light (400-watt metal halide with an average day length of 10 hours) for the month was about $9. Good pesticide-free greens at the store in our area go for around $7 a pound, so we saved a few bucks by growing our own--and had some fun in the process!

 
 
 
 
September 2000

Peppers (below), oregano (top right), and cilantro (bottom right) in hand-watered media beds.

August 2000

Left: Our tomato and pepper plants under the newly-donated 250W metal halide from Hydrofarm. Right: We have harvested more batches of basil leading to generous amounts of pesto sauce. The basil plants just love the floating system!

July 2000

We decided to add a new type of system to our lab. We call it the Windowsill Wonder. It's featured on our Easy System Plans page and was developed by Jessica Hankinson and Sean Weise. You can read more about the system by visiting the Windowsill Wonder page on The Growing Edge Web Site or in Growing Notes "Hydroponics on a Budget," by Jessica Hankinson and Sean Weise, The Growing Edge, Vol. 11, No. 6.

This system was harder to construct than our modified Eze Grow systems, but still within the ability of most beginning growers. The real challenge was setting the bleed-valve. It took a few hours to get everything just right; however, once you do have your system correctly configured it is very low-maintenance. From the moment the pump clicks on and the nutrient starts to flow, you'll no doubt be as amazed as we are at this brilliant concept for a simple flood-and-drain system.

June 2000

For the inaugural experiment of The Growing Edge Test Laboratory, we decided to simplify the Eze Gro System profiled in The Growing Edge, Vol. 11, No. 4. Our setup is considered a water culture system. The plant roots dangle into the nutrient reservoir.

Instead of building a Styrofoam box, we purchased several off-the-shelf Styrofoam coolers. We had to trim the height of each cooler so that they weren't so deep. Then, we lined them with the heavy-duty garbage bags. The duct tape held the plastic in place around the outside of the coolers.

For the plant support area, we simply inverted the cooler top and cut enough holes for the plants. In our first system we cut 14 holes for plants, but as the plants in this system matured, we realized that in our 2 1/2-gallon coolers, six plants was a good maximum capacity. Our two subsequent systems have six holes. Circular pieces of sponge were cut, collared around the base of each plant, and fed through each hole in the growing trays.

Note: We decided to get fancy with our systems by providing air pumps with air stones attached to oxygenate the nutrient. The pumps are plugged into a lamp timer set to "stir" the nutrient for 2 hours, every 10 hours. Your setup does not need to have these extra components, but the hands-off aeration is nice!

Our basil plants did very well in our modified Eze Grow systems we built. At first, we tried using small pieces of kitchen sponge acting as support collars for the plants. This worked at first, but moisture built-up around the bases of the plants and caused rotting. The basil was cut-back and should be ready for another harvest in about a month. We all enjoyed a delicious batch of pesto as a reward for our efforts!