Day 6 - Home Hydroponics score card

This is the 6th day of hydroponics growth and here's the report card:

Herb Kit

1. Sweet Basil - Still the best growing herb
   
2. Dill - Thin stems striking out
   
3. Lemon Grass - Seeds has just germinated and peeking out
   
4. Italian Parsley - No sign of life

Pix 1: Can you see the herbs peeking out from the top 3 pots?

Pix 2: The sweet basil is going strong

At this moment, the sweet basil continue to be the most obvious growing herb. Dill and lemon grass is starting to grow too but may not be too obvious from the photographs. Still waiting for the Italian Parsley to show some life.

Vegetable Kit

1. Kang Kong - Growing strong and fast
   
2. Cai Xin - All have germinated

Pix 3: All the vegetable has germinated and growing well

Pix 4: The Kang Kong is shooting up fast

The vegetable are much stronger and have all germinated and growing well especially the Kang Kong which just seem to shoot up overnight.

Day 3 - Hydroponics result

Today is the 3rd day of my hydroponics adventure. How is the result? Did anything even grow?

Just as sure as the stock market had seen massive drop in the last 2 days due to Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and AIG near collapse, so has my hydroponic plants seen life!

The Herb Hydroponics Kit
There are 4 different herbs in the Herb hydroponics kit. These are:

1. Sweet Basil
2. Dill
3. Lemon Grass
4. Italian Parsley

Pix 2: You can see the Sweet Basil growing clearly in Day 3

On Day 3, only the Sweet Basil has seen some life. There has been germination and some leaves has peeked out clearly(see above pix). As for the other 3 pots, they remain empty and void of life.

Video 1: In this video, you will see the other 3 pots are empty while Sweet Basil has germinated.

Vegetable Hydroponics Kit
There are 2 different vegetable in the Vegetable hydroponics kit. These are:

1. Kang Kong
2. Cai Xin
   

Pix 4: The Kang Kong has germinated

These are Asian vegetable popular in Asia for Chinese cuisine and you may not be familiar with it if you are not from Asia. For the vegetable plot, the Kang Kong has germinated as you can see from the picture above. No signs of life from the Caixin pots as yet.

Act 1, Scene 1 - Hydroponics Day 1

Today is the time for my first hydroponics venture. I had bought two home DIY hydroponic kit from a hydroponic farm. Each kit is supposedly good for two cycles of planting - I reckon if the art, science and fun of hydroponics and healthy living gets to me... then I may just invest in better hydroponics equipment in the future. For the moment, a simple DIY kit is good enough.

By the way, one of the kit is for vegetables and one other kit is for herbal plants. They are basically the same... except the seeds are different and the planting pots are different in size. Other than that, almost everything is similar.

Pix 1: This is the herbs hydroponics kit

Firstly, following instructions on the DIY kit, I cut holes on the top of the Styrofoam box as instructed. Then, I fill in the Leca or vermiculite to 3/4 of the pots and fit them into the holes..

Pix 2: Cutting a hole in the Styroform box and adding vermiculite

I then add in the herb seeds as instructed. There should be 3-6 seeds in each pot and carefully distributed to avoid congesting in one particular part of the pot.

Pix 3: Adding seeds to the 4 pots

Next, I add tap water to 1 cm just below the top of the box and following instructions, I add the right proportion of nutrients to the water and stir to mix the nutrients well. I then cover back the top of the Styrofoam box.

Pix 4: Add tap water to just 1 cm below the box top

Pix 5: Add in the right mixture of nutrients using the measuring cup

Pix 6: Mix well

Once the top is covered, I put the box in a place which receives sunlight but away from direct rain water. If your planting location has insects or pest, you may want to cover the box with a plastic sheet to prevent pest from getting at your plants.

Pix 7: Cover the top and place the box under sun but away from rain and pest