HARVEST TIME!

It's been 3 weeks since my last entry - i mentioned then that i was going to go back to growing lettuces. So how are they looking after 3 weeks? I'm glad to say that this batch of lettuce is my biggest so far! I've grown lettuces before, but this time around, they're A LOT bigger. It could probably be because of the variety of lettuce im growing now is bigger. hahaha... so here they are!

I'm amazed on the little time they took to grow as big as they are now - in the hydroponic system, about 3-4 weeks. Growing lettuces in the soil here in Cebu city is quite a challenge. But it comes to show that with hydroponics, you can grow expensive and hard-to-grow plants in your own back yard!

I took a video this afternoon of part of my garden, i call it the "salad corner". Here i grow lettuces (green & red), cherry tomatoes, bell peppers and arugula. If you're a chef or someone who eats salads just as us asians eat rice, then having a garden like this would definitely save you a lot of money from buying the ingredients from the market. Not to mention the fulfillment from growing your own produce :) 

if you own a restaurant, this could be good PR for you as well. Good to let people know that you're into being self sufficient and that everything that they are eating is fresh and safe. 

 In all honesty, this entire set up's materials (pipes, wooden frame work & roof) cost php10,000. It's capacity is 105 plants. 

But the money i spent to grow all those plants (seeds/growing medium and solution), and all the solution they consumed, hasn't reached php200! 

So what's my point exactly? If you do you own grocery shopping, you'd understand completely what i'm trying to emphasize here. Growing your own goods, hydroponically, can save you a lot of money. Sure, it involves a bit of effort on your side, but considering how much returns you'd get is more than what you need to spend. You save money, increase your health, improve your life style, develop a healthy hobby and enjoy delicious salads whenever you want to.

So what are you waiting for? Give it a try! I'm sure you'll be hooked, just as i am. haha 

You can contact me through my phone 09393257253 . if i don't answer (since i'm a student and i cant answer the phone most of the times), just leave a text and ill get back to you asap.

Or you can chat with me via facebook : http://www.facebook.com/The.Hydro.Garden

If you want to come over for a visit to see these lettuces still in the system (i'll be harvesting on wednesday), kindly schedule it with me before then. :) 

Happy gardening!

Ulyssa

Back to tomatoes & lettuces i go!

It's been a while since my last entry -- i've been so busy lately with school and managing this little business of mine. The teachers at school are pounding us with field projects while my defense for this business is coming fast! This March3rd! Gah!


So anyway, what have i, and my garden, been up to? Aside from my herbs, i've decided to go back to growing tomatoes & lettuces. If you go back to my previous blog posts last year, you'll see a lot of pictures of that, but i stopped for a while since i was concentrating on herbs. But i've come to realize just how much attention the tomatoes and lettuces get from my readers and customers. I have to admit, they ARE the prettiest in pictures and   are the 2 most-wanted-to-be-seen when people visit the garden. Plus, i miss the salads and the sweet cherry tomatoes, so why not?


I sowed a couple of seeds around Mid January, 2012.( i dont remember exactly what date). I only started counting the days when i transplanted them into the system, but more or less, they were about 1-1.5 weeks old when that happened. Upon transplanting, this is how the little babies looked like:

After about a week, i transferred them into my new system to test if it did well there. To my surprise, they did better than i expected.

Approx. 1 week after transplanting into system - Feb 10, 2012

Approx. 1 week after transplanting into system - Feb 10, 2012

Approx. 1 week after transplanting into system - Feb 10, 2012

2 weeks after transplanting into system - Feb 17, 2012

2 weeks after transplanting into system - Feb 17, 2012

2 weeks after transplanting into system - Feb 17, 2012

They were doing ALOTTT better than i expected them to. Sure, my first batch of tomatoes were fast, but i didnt think it would be THIS fast. On the third week, after transplanting into the system, i was surprised to find them already flowering! Normally, in the ground, tomatoes take approx 2 months to start flowering. So this came to a shock to me. i thought it was a premature thing, but the plants were big as they are. 

3 weeks after transplanting into System - Feb 23, 2012

3 weeks after transplanting into System - Feb 23, 2012

3 weeks after transplanting into System - Feb 23, 2012

The plants were getting longer and longer, and most of them started to droop forward. Now, one thing you should take note about tomatoes - they are vine-plants. That being said, they need support or else theyll fall over, either snap or look horrid. Since my system didnt have the space for me to put a piece of thick, straight wood behind every single tomato plant, i decided to do what i did the last time i grew tomatoes  - i tied a piece of string ( in my case, it was a plastic string that they call straw here) onto each tomato stem and hoisted them up, tying the other end of the string to the roof of the system. This way, theyll stay up and grow towards that direction and now topple over.  --- i used pink coz its my fav color. :D 

Feb 26, 2012

Feb 26, 2012

Feb 26, 2012

Mid December, 2011, i grew several cherry tomatoes that i planned to use for myself. And i just harvested from them this afternoon. Cherry tomatoes bear SOO much fruit by the way. you harvest one bunch, and above it, another bunch is getting ready. 

So far so good, i'd have to say. as for my lettuces, i had a bunch of green lettuce seedlings, but they were purchased less than a week after i put them into the system. I've only got a few left, but heaps of red curly lettuce (lollo falbala) and red romaine lettuce. They've been in the system for about a week and a half. 

LETTUCES NEED SUNLIGHT!

Lettuces are the fastest hydroponic produce that I've grown so far in my hydroponic experiences, but they are also the most 'involved' plants i've ever grown. What i mean by involved is that, unlike other herbs and plants, you cannot just leave lettuce be for a few days and hope to find a massive bunch thriving. With the city climate, lettuces are very very very difficult to grow since they do not grow well in heat. In my case, hydroponically and under the shade, this makes it possible to grow them but i still need to have sunlight touch them for several hours in order for them to grow properly.

Remember! "Lettuces don't grow well in the heat" doesnt mean that they dont need sunlight! They DO need sunlight - if they are lacking sunlight, they turn pale and its main stem grows long, a way for the plant to look for sunlight and the leaves become long, skinny and leggy (healthy lettuce leaves are stubby & wide).

Therefore, you have to 'involve' yourself to its growth as much as you can, especially when mother nature has those mood swings that heat up the place like a sauna. You do this by placing it under the shade during specific times of the day and controlling the environment.

WHEN ARE THE BEST TIMES TO EXPOSE LETTUCES TO THE SUN?

If you have set your hydroponic system or garden near a tree that casts a shade over your garden after 12noon, then THAT'S PERFECT! The best times to have sunlight touch the lettuces are before 12noon. In lots of cases, the sun becomes really hot by 10am. So you have to make a roof of a thin blanket or plastic to buffer the rays of the sun. 

WHAT HAPPENS TO LETTUCES UNDER INTENSE HEAT?

(a) Tip Burn - this is what they call the condition where the lettuce leaves begin to wilt or droop downwards from too much heat. THIS IS NOT GOOD! if you ever encounter this happening, quickly get some ice water and spray the lettuces to keep them cool. They'll go back to normal after an hour or so if you get there in time

(b) Stunting - i've had many customers complain that their lettuces are about 2 months old and are still 3inches tall. This is a common case when you leave the lettuces out in the hot sun. if they do manage to live through the heat, their growth will be stunted. 

(c) Bitterness, BE CAREFUL! - if you managed to control the heat around the area well enough to the point where the lettuces grow beautifully, don't drop your guard just yet! continue managing the heat until you harvest. If not, you're in for a bitter crunch when you dine in to your salad. Lettuces turn really REALLY REALLY bitter if under the heat for too long. 

WHAT SHOULD I DO?

If you've got a busy schedule and cannot be there for your lettuces all day, make sure to plot the location of your lettuce garden  before anything else. Observe the areas of where the shade is cast after 12noon or build a small transparent roof over the lettuce garden. 

If you are around most of the time, make sure to check on the lettuces everyday, spraying them with ice water occasionally to cool them off. 

And that ends my entry for today. If you want to view more pictures, go to my Facebook account: http://www.facebook.com/The.Hydro.Garden or the direct album: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.233837220026904.55614.100002018836945&type=3  . 

'Till next entry, HAPPY GARDENING everyone! 

Ulyssa 

09393257253

Hydroponic Starter Kits for Beginners, for sale Php550 only!

Many have asked me, "How did you start this?".


Now, believe me, when i started hydroponics, i had absolutely NO experience with plants or hydroponics before. All the pictures you see in this blog of my pipes and systems, i didnt start like that. So how exactly did i start off?


I'm taking this opportunity to give that start to you, dear reader. Hydroponics is not something that u can master at a go. It takes practise, patience and a lot of trial-and-error. I started off with this:

I started off with this styrofoam box. Simple, yet very very easy to deal with. i used the bottom half of this box as a tub to carry the nutrient solution. The top part, i cut holes for my plants. Then i used cups to hold my plants. Thus, my system looked like this:

My first batch of lettuces on this were horrid! Not because the system wasn't working, but because i didnt know about how much sunlight it needed. I ended up growing it with no sunlight, under a shade and it crawling around looking for light. The second time around, my lettuces were perfect!

And with this, i want to give you the opportunity to start off the way i did. As you get used to it, you may want to innovate with different systems, like i did, and who knows! You might just have a garden bigger than mine. 

The starter kit includes the following:

-1 styro grow box: 8 holes

- 8 Styrofoam cups : holes cut underneath

-1 kg vermicompost

-1 set Hydroponic Nutrient Soltuion

-1 Pack of seeds of choice

So how exactly does this look like when being used? Here are some sample pictures taken by some customers and individuals who have tried the system:

If you'd like to give this a try, then contact me @ 09393257253 , or message me on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/The.Hydro.Garden

Think about it... if i was able to do this on my own... SO CAN YOU! And i'm pretty sure you'd do even better! 

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New Hydroponic System finally constructed!

It's been quite a while since i have last posted an entry. LOTS have things have been happening lately.


First of all, i'd like to introduce my finally constructed hydroponic system! If you recall, my previous hydroponic system was flat and rectangular. Picture below:

This system was great! But i have to say that it took up a bit too much space. If you are one of the people who came over to visit, this garden took over more than 1/2 of my entire lawn! Since this is a residential garden, thats not a good thing. No one wants to wake up to see a pile of pipes outside the window.

Besides, my childhood friends would peep over the fence and comment that my house looked like a drug factory with all the pipes and herbs growing. hahaha

So i took about 2 months to design and get some help in designing a better system. I wanted something presentable that would make someone say "i want this in my garden." Something pretty and inviting, as well as space efficient. Previously, i had experiment with a-frames. I got one built for me to try on: 

(this photo was posted on a blog by a customer who visited the garden earlier this year

 http://tropicalpenpals.com/blog/things-related-directly-about-the-philippines/sustainable-living/hydroponics-in-cebu-philippines/) 

I noticed that the sun would rise and set from the east-west ... well.. my east and west that is... 

If you dont know yet, but sunlight is a crucial element in photosynthesis for plants. They need it for food :) 

So regardless if your plants like hot/cold climates, sunlight IS essential. 

So with all that thought and design in mind, plus taking advantage of the fact that my parents who work abroad are here and can help me boss people around easily, we got started on a new system. Finally, after a while, we finished it! 

It's quite a big change if you compared it to my previous systems. But i'm happy to say that it's doing really well. It's taking up lesser space than the previous system, a lot easier for me to handle, cleaner, more organized and not to mention presentable! :) With this, i can easily promote hydroponics as a garden that can be adopted in our very households.

The plants currently growing are my culinary herbs: Sweet basil, thai basil, lemon basil, purpl basil, Ashitaba (green tea), tarragon, vietnamese corriander, italian corriander, and my cherry tomatoes. 

Tarragon

Sweet basil

Spear mint

Purple Basil

Lemon basil

ASHITABA - Green tea
An excellent herb for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, high sugar levels, diabetes, cancer and anxiety. Eat 2 leaves every day, raw. Personally, it tastes like guava. :)

NEW ITEMS ON SALE: Hydroponic Nutrient Solution & Seeds

It's been a while since my previous post, have been really really busy due to school work and reconstruction of the hydroponic garden. The whole entire garden perished several weeks ago due to the unstable weather here in Cebu, harsh rains with sudden painful hot days have left my plants no time to adjust to the environment which caused them to go through major leaf drop and die. :'( NOOOOOO!

Anyhow... since my operations have decreased in pace, i have added other products to the catalog.


HYDROPONIC NUTRIENT SOLUTION: Php350 per set

This is the Hydroponic Nutrient Solution used for NON-CIRCULATING SYSTEMS. This means, that you DO NOT NEED A WATER PUMP OR AN AERATOR in your system. It operates on a passive aeration process which the plants themselves do, thus saving electricity! :)

If you prefer to use a CIRCULATING SYSTEM,  this set can also be used, though the results will not differ as to using it without any machinery.

A set costs PHP 350.  It includes 2 bottles, Labelled "HYDRO A" and "HYDRO B".

Instructions:
(1) Mix 25ml of "Hydro A" to 12 Liters of water. (this can be tap water or deep well) Mix thoroughly.
(2) Mix 25ml of "Hydro B" to the mixture from step (1). Mix thoroughly.
(3) Pour into your hydroponic system, enough to submerge the roots of the plants in the water. If your plants don't have any roots yet, pour enough mix to submerge the bottom 1/4 of the plant cup.
(4) refill system with solution when water levels are low or have dried up from absorption or evaporation.

FACEBOOK LINK: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=217131051697521&set=a.150638345013459.38005.100002018836945&type=1&theater


SEEDS: Corelle Lettuce (curly leaf), Romaine Lettuce, Cilantro/Corriander, Purple Basil, Arugula

Seeds are php50 per pack. I assure you that the germination rates are high. Most of the seeds came from my own plant flowers and i have tried them myself. :)

CONTACT DETAILS:
09393257253

CONTACT PERSON: Ulyssa Marie Torbiso

FACEBOOK ACCOUNT: http://www.facebook.com/The.Hydro.Garden

Broccoli Report! - 20th day in Hydroponic system : 35 days old broccoli!

It's been 8 days since my last photo shoot with my little broccoli babies... And i have to admit that since the semester break started, i haven't been paying attention to these guys. I just simply check to see if the water levels are still high. Aside from that, i barely went to see them for about a week. 


This afternoon, i was out looking for cuttings to propagate. When i decided, "oh! i might as well check up on my broccoli babies while i'm at it."  And what did i find?


I was shocked to see how much they've grown!
Refer to my older posts about my broccoli experiment if you haven't seen the older pictures... but today, i just HAD to show them off! 


In total, these broccoli plants have been in the hydroponic system for 20 DAYS! I transplanted them after 15 days, so that makes them about 35DAYS old! 


This entry is dedicated to my broccoli !  Enjoy! 

'Till next entry!!

Ulyssa

09393257253

http://www.facebook.com/The.Hydro.Garden