Since I can’t grow me lettuce outdoors anymore as it’s freezing I’d like to grow some stuff inside. Would like to go cheap, but grow enough for weekly salads. I have grow lights hanging in my office ready to go!
We’re having luck so far with cold frames–basically just a glass window on top of the planter box. Outside, I mean, so not what you asked. :)
We’re in MA, so we’ll see how it goes. But the lettuce survived the surprise Halloween snowfall.
That won’t be producing active harvestable lettuce in January will it?
Lettuce…
Home grow is legal in Michigan now, you don’t have to use codewords.
JP. I love your posts. Seriously.
:-)
I have an aerogarden which I’ve used for hydroponic lettuce to much success before.
But that’s a bit different from a home setup
Haven’t used our aero garden for lettuces yet, but we keep herbs going in it pretty constantly and it works great. Don’t see why a hydroponics set up wouldn’t work for salad greens just as well.
My big problem is basil does too well in it. It tends to crowd out and kill anything else.
I eventually removed my purple basil from the aero garden and transplanted into soil. It was touchy for a few days, but it is still flourishing now.
Growing Green onion hydroponically is ridiculously easy in a glass. But I’m guessing green onion and lettuce should maybe have some kind of nutrients added to the water. Have any idea what I should get?
For lettuce I might just get a few of those living bibb lettuce things from the grocery store and put that in a mason jar and harvest the outside greens so it keeps producing.
Yes nutrients are good.
I use the aerogarden hydroponics nutrients.
https://www.amazon.com/AeroGarden-Liquid-Nutrients-1-Liter/dp/B004M5NGJG/ref=asc_df_B004M5NGJG/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=193142362025&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2678385621126069761&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032904&hvtargid=pla-313111594976&psc=1
I was thinking the exact same thing.
I’ve been experimenting with indoor and outdoor hydroponics, including indoor lettuce. The indoor setup was a little spendy to setup, mostly because of the lights. It took me 2 seasons to get that figured out. Here’s what I have now, planted the first week of October. The lettuce is ready to start harvesting. The kale on the left needs a couple more weeks:
The outdoor is easier and less expensive because the sun does most of the work - you just need some PVC pipe and a hole saw. I use liquid nutrients that cost me about ~$30/season, though I’m about to start trying a less expensive mix from solids. I just harvested some Italian broccoli this weekend:
Which led to 3 pots of cream of broccoli soup that came out great - 1 for the table and 2 for the freezer:
I’ve done a total of two seasons now in and outdoor. I’m by no means good at this yet but am getting better. There’s a lot of great guidance to be found on Reddit and YouTube. It’s turned into something fun for me to dabble with. The main thing I’ve learned so far is you can actually eat most of the plant - broccoli leaves, kohlrabi leaves, basically all the greens are mostly edible and delicious, you just have to learn how to prepare them and stop discarding half the plant.
Wow that is impressive! What’s the idea behind the foil? Reflecting light? Would you mind linking the liquid fertilizer you use?
The nutrients I’ve been using:
General Hydroponics Flora Grow, Bloom, Micro Combo Fertilizer set, 1 Quart (Pack of 3)
by Aquarius Hydroponics
Learn more: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017H73708/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_JCxVFbF9HXXQ3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Which I get about a season and a half out of depending on what I am growing (tomatoes are really thirsty…). I’m experimenting with making my own solution from Epsom salts, calcium nitrate, and Masterblend tomato fertilizer. You can find recipes for various plants using those ingredients.
Yeah, the silver film is to reflect the grow light. That’s actually the inside of a small indoor grow room in our spare bedroom. You can get those starting at ~$50. When I first started I just used cheap reflective Mylar film taped to coroplast which worked fine but was sort of fragile.
My spare bedroom is the size of a closet. I wish it were bigger so it could accomodate a semi-enclosed thing like that.
Green onion is the kudzu of vegetables. I had some going dry in the fridge two years ago so I stuck it in a planter outside, still going strong. It does lose a lot of flavor once it gets ridiculously big, but then the bulb is nearly the size of a regular onion and you can mince that up.
See also: Chives and mint. I had a pot of chives on my back porch and did nothing to help it grow. It came up every year until I moved away. Probably still is.
Jeff this isn’t 100% what you’re asking about but @ArmandoPenblade had one of the hydroponic all-in-one units I think. From what I recall you can buy empty, “plant,” units and transplant things to it that way. I think.