Algae :-(

Bad news: I have gotten algae in my DWC system.

Good news: Beans, Chinese Kale and the Chilli are growing rapidly. The plants are now taking over my kitchen window. No fruit yet though.

DWC babies have grown up!

It has been almost three weeks now since the last post. I have only let the system run in peace, two weeks ago I added another 25 ml each of Gold Label A and B. My beans are showing some spots on the leaves which I think is a sign of too little nutrients. I realized I will not be able to guesstimate the amount of nutrients needed all the time so I ordered myself an EC meter from eBay. The EC meter is called HM Digital COM-80 and I got it for $40 and another $12 for shipping.

HM Digital COM-80 EC meter

This meter can measure the electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS) and the water temperature. It can measure EC in µS and mS, TDS in ppm and ppt. Fancy. I hope I don't have to care about all of this. I found a chart of different desired ppm levels for different plants so this is the only measurement I care about at the moment.

Measuring the ppm of the nutrient water

Deep Water Culture progress after one week

DWC system one week ago

I started the Deep Water Culture hydroponic system one week ago. This is how it looked back then. I quickly realized that the beans needed some kind of support since it likes to climb on things. Did some rearranging and built a ladder.

DWC system today

Beans reaching for the ceiling

Not sure what the beans are looking for at the ceiling. I'm guessing I will soon find out.

Seedlings

Most of my seedlings are growing (hopefully) inside this little box. It is a "Nelson Pluggbox" with room for 49 plants.

My little greenhouse

The box is like a mini greenhouse. Once the plants have grown the middle tray is pushed down to the bottom container which will "pop up" the plants.

Plants leaning towards the sunlight