Hello everyone
How are you today ? I hope and pray that all of you are always in good health and spirit in living this life. I know, there are so many problems and challenges that always come in our lives and our friends' lives. However, I believe we will all get through it. Because every problem has a solution.
As usual, I participated again in the Hive Garden Community. I always try to consistently write about my activities in my hydroponic garden. My reason is simple, I want to share my experiences and posts as well as my garden journal. In addition, I also hope that my post can provide inspiration for friends to start growing vegetables with a hydroponic system.
In this weekly hydroponics journal (October 24 – 31 2022), I am very busy with personal matters. Fyi, I'm sad because my wife miscarried in the 9th week of her pregnancy and some days I couldn't do any work in my hydroponic garden because of that and I'm still feeling sad. I ask for your prayers for patience and strength, because of that I can only do work in the garden on Saturday and last Sunday..
Mini Leaf Condition in Hydroponic Pipe Installation
I start inviting you to visit the mint leaves that I grow in my hydroponic garden. I have 130 pots of mint leaves in a pvc hydroponic installation. I combined two pipe installations into one water container and circulated it using a water pump to flow through both pipes. Mint is one of the “perennial” plants in my hydroponic garden, because I always do regular harvesting and replace any potted mint leaves that are old or damaged.
This week, due to poor plant control. Mint leaves in my hydroponic garden have a problem where leaves that should be green turn yellow. Seeing this condition, I immediately checked the ppm of water used in this hydroponic pipe. It turned out that, referring to the TDS Meter, the water solution in the hydroponic installation media was only around 200 ppm, and very far from the normal ppm requirement for mint leaves which ranged from 1400-1600.
Seeing the condition of the mint leaves that have changed color, I feel like it has happened since last Friday. I tried to take a tactical step by directly adding hydroponic liquid fertilizer to increase the ppm levels in the hydroponic media. I try to restore the water conditions in the hydroponic media to around 1300-1400 ppm and I also spray every morning with liquid fertilizer to restore the mint leaves to their original condition.
Pakcoy's Condition in My Hydroponic Garden
Pakcoy, bok choi, bottled mustard, or mustard spoon are one of the favorite vegetables for Indonesians and also the majority of Asians. Pakcoy is also very easy to cook, just need to be sauteed with oyster sauce, garlic and a little flavoring and it becomes a delicious stir-fried pakcoy. In addition, pakcoy is often used by Asian people who consume noodles as the main food. Adding a lot of pakcoy to the noodles will add to the fiber content in instant noodles, which are too high in carbohydrates and calories.
I always grow pakchoy in my hydroponic garden. Because pakcoy also has a very good selling price and its maintenance is also very easy. I have about 650 pots of packhoy in my hydroponic garden and all of them are at the same age which is 23 days after sowing. However, not all pakcoy grow optimally. There are always problems in a hydroponic garden.
When the vegetables have reached the age of 23 days after sowing. We can already see some potted vegetables experiencing stunted growth in our hydroponic media. One of the advantages in a hydroponic system, we can group vegetables that are stunted, damaged, or have problems in one medium and give it special treatment such as increasing the concentration of fertilizer or giving vegetable pesticide spray. Like what I did, about 2-3 planting media I devoted to pakcoy which had stunted growth. Then, I increased the ppm level of the liquid fertilizer solution in the hydroponic media to around 1400 ppm.
For pakchoy that is still growing normally and according to standards. I checked some of my Styrofoam media and it turns out that the ppm level in this hydroponic media has dropped to around 770 ppm. I immediately added a hydroponic liquid fertilizer solution to return it to a concentration of 1100-1200 ppm.
Hydroponic Kangkong Condition
Next, I invite you to see the kangkong that I plant. Last Monday, I harvested all the kangkong I had, I got about 15 kilograms of kangkong purchased by hydroponic vegetable collectors at a price of IDR 15 K per kilogram (1 USD / Kilogram). I am very happy, because I can harvest kangkong twice a month and it is very profitable.
In my hydroponic garden there are about 200 pots of kangkong with the age of 14 days after sowing and I just moved to my hydroponic medium. In addition, I have also prepared the kangkong seeds which I plan to move to the planting medium in about two days. I want to keep the work cycle like this. Because it is very systematic and makes my hydroponic garden always have a stock of vegetables.
Conditions of Lettuce in My Hydroponic Garden
As long as I'm busy with my personal business, the condition of the lettuce in my hydroponic garden has been a bit neglected. Some lettuce that has been harvested by my family and only about 100 pots of lettuce left on my balcony. The plan, next week I want to sow the lettuce again to be planted in the hydroponic media that I have.
Bitter mustard condition in Wall Hydroponics
Finally, I invite you to see the hydroponic installation that I installed on the wall of my house. Hydroponic installations like this are very suitable for homes that do not have enough land, it can be said that wall hydroponics or vertical hydroponics are solutions for urban farming today.
I grow bitter mustard in this wall hydroponic installation. Currently, this bitter mustard is about 21 days after seeding and is growing well and optimally. However, I think the bitter mustard in this wall hydroponics is less "green" maybe because in this medium, the bitter mustard lacks sunlight.
Okay, this is my story this time. See you next week.
Call me Isdarmady, because I have a full name that is very long, namely Isdarmady Syahputra Ritonga. I am a head of the family who work as Farmers Vegetables Hydroponic and Consultant Hydroponics, sometimes I also sell coffee from various regions in Indonesia.
I have expertise dispensing coffee with a variety of techniques and tools brewing, because I have the desire to make a coffee shop with hydroponics as centerpieces. Help me realize that dream.
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