December 19, 2009 by gisette
Posted in
Rematch for bambino eggplant.
Harvested: 14 (first at 12 weeks) - terminated at 15 weeks.
~2009-12-06: planted seeds in Park Starts block.
~2009-12-13: transferred plugs to Pro100, still hadn't sprouted.
2010-01-04: (just after 4 week picture) EC was ~1.0 with lettuce mix nutes. Brought up to ~1.7 by adding FloraMato, pH ~6.5 after adjusting (FloraMato always drags it too low).
2010-01-09: Forgot I'd switched to FloraMato, and replaced tank with lettuce formula Flora 3-part. Its pH had drifted low again...
2010-01-19: AG Deluxe died. 
Bambinos moved to Pro100, whose light bulbs need replacing... Later grafted the Deluxe hood onto the Pro100 base.
2010-01-26? : Transferred to Pro100 bowl, as pump was going on Deluxe bowl. And Aerogarden sent new extension cord, so lights fully extensible.
2010-02-01: first flower opened, age 8 weeks. Aw. 
20100226: first harvest.
Thu, 01/14/2010 - 20:57
#2
Hi Gisette,
Nice looking eggplants! Good luck with the grow. Agree that mint is invasive. About the only plant the deer won't touch!
Beth
Thu, 01/14/2010 - 21:43
#3
Beth - thanks re the eggplant. They're getting kinda cute, may feed them bloomfood soon. Shame about the deer. Bugs don't seem to eat mint, either...
Ran into a discussion on GardenWeb. I'd never heard this before, but they seem adamant that regardless of what the seed packet said, there's no such thing as peppermint from seed. Not only are peppermint sterile, but no mints breed true. If you want such-and-such a specific mint, you need to buy a clone. Never heard that before... So now I'm curious, and keeping all the baby mints until they're big enough to evaluate their flavors.
My luck they all taste just like spearmint, right? 
Tue, 01/19/2010 - 12:13
#4
My AG Deluxe was dead this morning. Its timing (lights on / off) has been off for a few days, but I'd assumed that was user error. Then I saw the lights flicker a bit last night. And now... dead. Spoke with customer support - best guess is that the base died, and probably the light arm and bowl/pump are fine.
Bambino eggplant transferred to Pro100, which should be getting new Deluxe-B lightbulbs soon.
Still debating how/whether to replace the Deluxe base. Probably most cost-effective approach is to buy a new Classic for $100 with new kit & free seed-starting kit & assorted spares, and transfer the Deluxe light arm onto it. Can also buy a new Classic base for $70, but they don't have any black ones in stock.
Just put new light bulbs in that Deluxe a few weeks ago, too.
Edit: Peat/other electrically-savvy peeps: Do you think it would be possible to bypass the base logic and power back on the Deluxe lights / arm? Which would power back the pump, too, though possibly not on a cycle.
Tue, 01/19/2010 - 19:53
#5
For now, transferred the Deluxe light hood to the Pro100 base, so the bambinos are back under Deluxe lights. And hopefully it was all the base's fault, and the lights didn't do the base in. Fingers crossed.
Haven't figured out the lamp cord length problem yet, though.
Wed, 01/20/2010 - 12:46
#6
Sorry about the base.
Check both the fuses on the power circuit board inside the AG - there are two, main culprit would be the one by the light connections.
It would be tricky to bypass the base logic, this controls the switching of a couple of relays which cycle the lights and pump. If the cpu board was dead and the power board was OK, it would be feasible to short the pump controlling relay to be permanently on... Otherwise, strip out the main insides from the base and aerate with the usual pump/air stones as I now do.
The lights are a big problem though, you wouldn't be able to cycle these if the cpu board is dead, you could only get them on permanently by the relay trick again - careful here, there are mains voltages on some of the contacts! Probably best to buy yourself a cheap timer, cut the light leads at the base, put this into a plug and this into the timer - that's the lights sorted.
If you have no lights on the base, everything dead, then you can probably assume it's the main power board. There are not that many components on this board, if you know someone that can measure voltage then it would not be too hard to find the faulty component. This could easily be ordered, soldered in and you are back in business...
Wed, 01/20/2010 - 13:01
#7
Wow, Peat - thanks so much for the primer! That's pretty far beyond my skills and tools... Gonna have to think about it, maybe ask my father to help. (He's an electronics engineer, not entirely retired.)
Wed, 01/20/2010 - 13:10
#8
He'll be able to sort this for you, it's not too difficult to work out where everything goes on the power board. The cpu board is a little more difficult, but, the chip is in a plug-in holder so this could easily be changed - no soldering here!
This brings back old memories of when I dismantled the whole thing to work out where everything went, came in handy after all. 
Wed, 01/20/2010 - 14:30
#9
Yeppers! Thanks much!
when I dismantled the whole thing to work out where everything went, came in handy after all.
Sun, 01/31/2010 - 16:54
#10
Hoped to have a picture of a blossom today, but it's still honing that flower. I swear - it seems to take an eggplant twice as long to hone that origami purple bloom, as it does for the bloom to ripen into fruit. Plants still very happy despite continued misadventures.
Sat, 02/06/2010 - 13:57
#11
Interesting info Peat! I still have a dead ag base that they didn't want back. Would be cool if it was just a fuse. Depending how long I'm snowbound, I may do some exploration.
Beth
Sat, 02/06/2010 - 14:15
#12
I hope this cures your base, I did a thread which is here which shows you the board - not sure if you stumbled across this. It's for the 'Classic' but the board may be the same for other models. 
Sat, 02/06/2010 - 19:15
#13
9 week eggplants set first fruit, yay... By far the fastest of the solaneace...aeiou... tomato/pepper/eggplant family. Maybe 3 flowers open today, some already done, lots more under development.
Sun, 02/14/2010 - 16:52
#14
10 week eggplants ultra floriferous. Big difference growing these guys under Deluxe vs. Pro100 lights, I think. Some fruit coming along nicely - may harvest first eggs in a week or so. Pretty fast!
Mon, 02/15/2010 - 20:40
#15
Looking good! How many people can boast of having eggplant in February?
Beth
Mon, 02/15/2010 - 20:44
#16
And how many people want to grow eggplant in February? 
In truth, it's the easiest & fastest of the pepper / tomato / eggplant family to grow. Just not nearly as popular. For good reason... It is awfully good on pizza, though.
Mon, 02/15/2010 - 21:22
#17
Well, how many people grow ANYTHING besides houseplants in winter? I want pictures of eggplant on pizza. I'll remind you that there is no good pizza in southern MD. I grew up near Philly and worked outside of Trenton, NJ (can you say tomato pie?) so I drool over thoughts of decent pizza! Man, I'm hungry now..
Beth
Tue, 02/16/2010 - 00:59
#18
Will do - one picture of eggplant on pizza, RSN.
I was 12 years away from CT / NY, in Colorado, Texas, and Japan. What passes for pizza outside the tri-state, it's just sad. I feel your pain. I made my own pizza rather than eat the sorry stuff I could buy out west. I still make my own pizza. It's a delight buying decent pizza dough ready-made in the supermarket!
Japan was funny, though. My coworkers took me out for American pizza, at a Shakey's. Where they ordered 'the usual'. Which is whitefish and sweet corn pizza. Every table featured a tiny little bottle of authentic Tabasco sauce. Whoever managed to convince a nation that pizza is eaten with Louisiana hot sauce... the mind boggles. Japan must lead the world's Tabasco sauce imports!
Fri, 02/26/2010 - 17:14
#19
The eggplants are doing alright. I should pick the biggest one for pizza tomorrow. Just replaced all liquids everywhere in the house with fresh rainwater - rain at last! Tons of rain! Enough with the rain already... Anyway, I'm hoping that'll cheer them up. Lot of leaves going bad, eggs growing slow, and it's not pH related this time (I've been watching). But with the lights so high now, there's a lot of shaded leaves. Eggplant leaves don't let much light through.
Oh! Based on some articles Beth sent about eggplants not really pollinating the same as tomatoes and peppers, modified my pollinating scheme a bit. Might get more eggs set per flower power.
Sun, 02/28/2010 - 14:29
#20
Harvested first bambino eggplant ~12 weeks. Should have picked it a week ago, I think - was kinda hoping for another. Sorry, Beth - with that size harvest, there's no point to making a pizza. Simply microwaved and ate it.
Sun, 03/07/2010 - 21:48
#21
Tue, 03/09/2010 - 09:44
#22
Hi Gisette,
Looking pretty darned good!
Beth
Tue, 03/09/2010 - 10:25
#23
Thanks, Beth. Actually, I thought it looked pretty whiny, lots of dying leaves below. The leaves are so dark - it could really use one of your daylight lamps pointed amidships. But I'm not willing to add that in my kitchen, and I like having an Aerogarden as a kitchen lamp. So I just picked 4 eggs and pruned it heavily.
Thu, 03/11/2010 - 21:30
#24
For Beth - a picture of eggplant on pizza. That's a harvest of four bambinos on there!
Using any real sized eggplant, I'd peel and cube the eggplant and sauté in olive oil and garlic with salt before adding to the pizza. Kinda overkill for eggplant the size of marbles. These I just microwaved for 45 seconds, sliced off their skins, cut in half, and laid them on the pizza.
They do taste good that way...
Sun, 03/14/2010 - 18:52
#25
Hi Gisette,
Yum! Nothing like the fake Dominos pizza we had this weekend! I'll have to try eggplant on pizza this summer! So, you're liking your eggplant grow?
By the way, next week I'm doing the Mimulus seeds in the work AG. It is just too warm for lettuce. What colors should I expect??
Beth
Sun, 03/14/2010 - 20:18
#26
Beth - the eggplant grow is OK. I'm regretting it only because I'm down 1 AG, and wouldn't have invested that on bambino eggplant if I'd known I was about to lose my main kitchen lettuce AG. 
I like having an AG in the kitchen, so it stays. Dunno how long I'll keep the eggplant, tho. Can't kill em yet, because I've only eaten 5 eggs so far. But I'm not sure whether 15 or 25 or... what the right number is.
The mimulus description at Park describes many colors. But the picture shows only golden yellow and white, both with dark red blotches. And those are the only colors that have ever hatched for me. I'd love to see other colors... I have these on my wish list (the twinkle mix), but dunno when / if I'll get around to them.
Mon, 03/15/2010 - 19:12
#27
Eggplants toodling along. Radical pruning last weekend seems to have done them some good. The shaded leaves just don't fare too well.
I've decided to start picking the eggs as soon as they look good (the above got picked that night), and store them in an ethylene-absorbing bag until I have enough collected / have an eggplant project to cook. Their skins get kinda dusty looking eventually, instead of glossy purple. I suspect that means they're really ripe, as in, maximally seedy. We'll see how the new strategy goes...
Sun, 03/21/2010 - 15:39
#28
Eggplant delenda est. Just couldn't justify keeping it going any more - want more lettuce. And the Bibb lettuce is really good - replanted it all in Bibb. (I have so many seedling projects going on now... no need to be creative with lettuce today.)
Interesting that these eggplants didn't do as well as the last time I grew bambinos, though they had much more light (Deluxe hood) than they did in the Pro100. But it doesn't greatly matter. This was a project for a spare Aerogarden, not my main one.
Aw. My bambino eggplant are finally getting somewhere. They really needed the stronger nutes, and hopefully I'll grow this batch of eggplant all in the Deluxe instead of the Pro100. They don't need the height - these guys only get 12" tall. But I'm hoping for bigger yields of bigger eggs in the Deluxe.
Replaced tank with Flora 3-part 1.7 EC nutes yesterday (basic lettuce formula). Maybe a couple weeks of that and then switch to bloom food.
Haven't decided yet where that peppermint is going. I like the idea of an herb tea garden. I also like the idea of peppermint in a pot to migrate indoors and out without letting the dratted stuff loose in the garden. It's invasive.