Peppers sprouting in grow box (time lapse)
15.5 years ago indoor growbox, peppers
Well slightly more exciting than watching grass grow but for something that takes several weeks to complete is definitely worth a watch. If you watch carefully you can even see the automatic watering in action.
Joining the sprouts is a mature pepper plant which has been flowering and daisy seedling my 7 year old planted hoping it will flower as well.
Tags: garden seeds, growbox, outdoor plants, pepper plants
How to use Vegetronix soil moisture sensor (VG400) on Arduino
15.6 years ago arduino, moisture sensor
With the summer starting to come to a close it has been time for me to start thinking back to the computerized grow box. I have been doing some considerable work on the electronics and software over the summer. Better to break stuff while the plants are outside and not while killing them inside.
Though I have been happy with my homemade gypsum soil sensors I decided to try out a commercial option hoping for better accuracy and longer life. This is important with my current plans to include automatic watering to the latest version of my grow box. Don’t want to wake up to a flood in the garage due to a broken sensor. After some looking I came across the Vegetronix VG400 which measures the dielectric constant of the soil using transmission line techniques. Which I have no idea what that means but sounds impressive.
The hookup couldn’t be simpler, red wire to 3V, bare wire to ground, and black wire to an analog input. As you can see below in my completely not to scale diagram below.
From here it all comes down to some simple code to write on the Arduino to get some values.
| void setup() { // Setup serial Serial.begin(9600); }void loop() { Serial.println(analogRead(0)); delay(200); // wait 200 milliseconds |
Upload the code to the Arduino and now I can get a moisture value from the analog input between 0 and 614 (0-3 volts) depending on the degree of water saturation.
Though not as hacky as my PS2 controller moisture sensor solution definitely more elegant and reliable. Stay tuned for more details of other improvements to the computer controlled grow box.
Tags: arduino, cheap, growbox, led, outdoor plants, vegetables
Grow box during the summertime – UPDATE
15.7 years ago computer, indoor growbox
UPDATE: With weather climbing my grow box got up to 111.5 degrees today with the lights off. If I was using one of those fancy computers with temperature sensors it would have turned itself off by now. Turning off computer so I will have something working this winter…
[July 25, 2009] I was planning on growing my jalapeno peppers in my grow box this summer, but given the higher than average weather we have been having.
With the weather being in the 90’s 100’s and given the CFLs on average increase the temperature by around 10 degrees the grow box has not been great place to grow plants unless I was thinking of growing cacti. Looking at my historical data the highest temperature this summer was 107.6 111.5 degrees.
As you can see above I have been making some progress on the computerized grow box, which I will plan on writing it up soon…
Tags: cheap, grow lights, growbox, outdoor plants, pepper plants, vegetables
How to grow onions and not onion flowers
15.8 years ago growing challenge, onions
Last year, I grew a lot of onion seeds but unfortunately not many large onions I could use in the kitchen. I have learned a few things since then which hopefully can help you not have the same problem.
Use small onion sets: Last year I selected all of the largest onion sets in the 100 count bag which from some of my experimentation this year proves why almost all of my onions bolted to seed. Smaller onion sets were much less likely to bolt to seed during normal temperature fluctuations. Now what should you do with those large onion sets? Why not think of them as flower bulbs since that is what they will end up eventually. Given you know the onions will grow pretty small so you can plant a 1-2 inches apart and they do make a quite attractive flower and as an extra bonus you can collect the onion seeds for next year.
Grow from seeds: Well if you are like me with all of your plants bolting to seed on the positive side that gave you a considerable number of onion seeds. Now you have a couple choices here, you can plant some seeds at the end of the summer which will create basically small onion sets which will go dormant over the winter and pop back up during spring. The other option is to plant seeds indoors 9-10 weeks before last spring frost and plant seedlings the size of a pencil or smaller into your garden.
Try a different onion variety: The ultimate reason flowers bolt is temperature fluctuations which tricks the onion that it has completed its biennial (2 year) growing pattern which results into the onion jumping into its last stage of its life, flowering. Now unless you are growing in a heated greenhouse or grow box, unfortunately you don’t have too many options in controlling the weather. Fortunately you can select onion varieties that are more tolerant to temperature fluctuations.
Hopefully with these tips you can grow a few less onions flowers and a few extra onions. Though if you still get a few onion flowers you do have a couple choices. Pull it up and user the smaller onion in your kitchen or simply embrace the flower and the bees it will attract and get plenty of onion seeds for next year.
Tags: cheap, garden seeds, growbox, outdoor plants, vegetables
Getting rid of aphids on pepper plants
15.8 years ago aphids, brown spots, ladybugs, peppers
It can be difficult getting rid of aphids on plants in your garden. Fortunately you can get rid of those aphids with materials you have in your kitchen.
First of all I am a little embarrassed that I let the infestation get this bad before noticing. I unfortunately set the grow box to have the sunrise at 1:00am and the lights always were off by the time I got home. Though the cause is not as important as how to get rid of them.
If this plant was outside my local lady bug population would have kept these buggers in check though they seemed to thrive without the vicious predators. For an outdoor plant a quick high pressure spray of water on the the leaves (as well as underside of leaves) would take care of the problem. Though this does not kill the aphids, they will starve to death before they make it anywhere to do any more damage.
This has not been my first battle with aphids, so fortunately I had some insecticidal soap on hand. I sprayed the entire plant from the top and bottom. I removed the major yellowing leaves and did another quick spray. Now if you don’t have any insecticidal soap, or just want to save $5 on buying a bottle here are a couple of proven recipes:
Simple Aphid Killer Spray
- 1 tsp dishwashing soap
- Fill 32 oz spray bottle with water
Directions:
Shake and spray liberally on tops and bottom of leaves ensuring aphids are covered completely.
Complex Aphid Killer Spray
- 1.5 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon Murphy’s Oil Soap
- 1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil
- 1 tablespoon Vinegar
- 1 gallon water
Directions:
Pour into spray bottle and spray liberally on tops and bottom of leaves ensuring aphids are covered completely.
Extra Spicy Aphid Killer Spray
- 3 hot peppers chopped finely
- 1 quart of water
Directions:
Mix peppers with water and let seep overnight. Strain and pour into spray bottle and spray liberally on tops and bottom of leaves ensuring aphids are covered completely. WARNING: You care not to get this spray in your eyes.
US Department of Agriculture Mix
- 2 tsp dishwashing soap
- 1 cup of vegetable oil
- Fill 32 oz spray bottle with water
Directions:
Shake and spray liberally on tops and bottom of leaves every 9-10 days, ensuring aphids are covered completely.
If none of these solutions work, squish those buggers with your fingers being sure to include a sinister laugh while doing it. Which even if you are squeamish, this is what you will see if you let them have their way.
Tags: grow lights, growbox, outdoor plants, pepper plants, vegetables
Winner of $100 Gift Certificate from Home Depot
15.9 years ago contest, free, Home Depot
There were so many great entries I couldn’t just pick one and with no budget to select multiple I settled using random.org.
And the winner is lucky number commenter 33…Chandra. Please send us a email using the “Contact” link at the top of the page within 72 hours otherwise I will select another random commenter.
We have partnered with The Home Depot Garden Club to offer a $100 Home Depot Gift certificate to a lucky reader.
To enter the contest is simple, just respond with a comment on how you would spend $100 at Home Depot with a home/gardening project and we will pick our favorite and send you out a gift certificate.
If you don’t have any ideas, here are some things I would do with the money (unfortunately I am not eligible) that may would help:
- Create a nice cold frame to extend my growing season
- Add drip irrigation to my garden which I neglect to water
- Install a rain barrel (they have complete kits there)
- New and improved grow box
- Shelves and lighting for seedlings next season
- Summer vegetable plants (peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc) for those I was a little too ambitious with earlier this season.
None of these sound good to you? Feel free to check out some of the DIY Projects at The Home Depot Garden Club or many of their content and tools on their site.
Entry Deadline: 5/21/09 12:00 PM (Pacific)
Tags: garden seeds, growbox, led, outdoor plants, pepper plants, tomato plants, vegetables
