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Basil Grow Journal week 3 (2/20-2/27)

February 27, 2013 by fifthseason Leave a Comment

This was a week of establishment for the basil sprouts. Most notable was the development of the first set of ‘true’ leaves.

Basil sprouts with one set of ‘true’ leaves and another on the way! The humble beginnings of a prolific crop (hopefully).
Close up of an apparently healthy specimen.

These ‘true’ leaves are prominent on every sprout with a second set clearly on the way so it appears that things are going well. The basil sprouts are not burning under the 1000-watt MH bulb (due to it being elevated several feet above the tray) and they appear verdant and turgid. Given their health, I very gradually increased nutrient levels. I continued to use the same regimen of Fifth Season Fulvic Acid, H2O2, and Canna Start, effectively raising the PPM level from 150-200 to 250 (on the standard North American EC-500 scale). The pH was quite low at around 5.1 so I added about 15 ml of Fifth Season pH Up to achieve a final pH 6.0 which should allow good solubility of all essential nutrients.

I also elected to add air stones into the nutrient reservoir. For those that don’t know, air stones are porous terminal attachments- ours look like cylinders- that attach with air tubing to small air pumps. The stones create a very fine bubble profile that drastically increases the surface area of the air moving through the nutrient solution.  This is a very simple means of ensuring that the reservoir water contains enough dissolved oxygen. The benefits of aerating the nutrient solution are multiple: Plants benefit directly from having O2 available to their roots; highly aerated water discourages the growth of potentially pathogenic anaerobic bacteria such as those responsible for botulism; the air stone churns the water which helps do distribute liquids as they are added  to the nutrient reservoir.

A simple aeration set up looks like this:

Air pump connected to air stones via air tubing… also, air.

Happy horticulture!

 

Filed Under: Hydroponics Tagged With: hydroponic basil, hydroponic nutrients for seedlings, reservoir aeration

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