By Peat
Cucumbers Grown in the AeroGarden - Episode III (A Change of Nutes)...
Submitted on Wed, 2009/09/30 - 1:04pm
Last updated on Mon, 2009/11/23 - 12:09pm
Cucumbers Grown in the AeroGarden - Episode III (A Change of Nutes)...
After two previous grows (successful to a small degree), using the General Hydroponics Flora Series (micro, grow & bloom) I will now change tact and use different nutrients...
What I'll use now is FloraMato which seems more suited to growing cukes. The FloraMato I will use is in liquid form and has to be mixed with FloraMicro (normal & not hard water variety) - I cannot get the one-shot dry formula.
I've worked out the dosage for the AeroGarden and it follows below :-
EC Plant Phase Approx. Weeks FloraMicro FloraMato
0.85 Seedling 1 3.2mL 3.2mL
1.6 Small to Medium Growth 2 to 5 6.4mL 9.6mL
2.1 Medium to Maturity 6 Onwards 9.6mL 12.8mL
As per my other grows, my Classic AG is modified. I have taken the whole water pump and stand out, I have an airstone supplied with an air pump producing bubbles and aeration. I am using rockwool for my substrate and this has been placed in an AG6 pod which is longer, the original smaller Classic pods have been dispensed with. I will not be using the standard light hood, in it's place is a 125watt CFL grow lamp in the blue (6400K) spectrum.
The lighting cycle will be 16 hours on and 8 hours off.
Weekly Pictures
Wed, 2009/09/30 - 1:49pm
#2
Welcome back!!
Will be following this grow with interest. I've had minor success in a Classic, using the MaxiGrow & MaxiBloom but still don't get any more than 1 cuke at a time. I'm still trying. My outside trash can cukes do wonderfully though. I'm also doing trash can bell peppers which are doing great too. Will be trying tomatoes in a trash can shortly.
I'll try the flora mato with next grow if yours do well. I haven't been able to get a better light yet, so I don't expect it to do as well as yours.
Enjoy!
Wed, 2009/09/30 - 3:26pm
#3
It's a shame about your Classic cuke grow, I managed 5 at one time but could get no more - a little frustrating!
Good to hear that the trash can grows are doing great, I hope the FloraMato will turn up trumps, how many experiments are required to get the perfect cuke?
Wed, 2009/09/30 - 3:52pm
#4
Right now I'm feeling like I'll keep at it for a while longer.
Wed, 2009/09/30 - 9:13pm
#5
Sure not much left of the Aerogarden in that grow rig, Peat. Sure you don't want to use a Rubbermaid tub?
I wonder how similar our dry FloraMato is to your micro/floramato mix.
So far, I've only really used FloraMato on my carmen pepper in a Deluxe. The recipe on the tub gave 1.5 teaspoons per gallon as a very aggressive growth, use with caution. And I've had enough of the over-fertilization-poison thing, so I just went with 1.25 tsp. Which yielded only about 1.7 EC, which is low for peppers. And the pepper didn't yield much. Lately I've been pushing the EC higher (to around 2.0, then letting the water run low due to neglect...) and I've got a lot more peppers on board.
Thu, 2009/10/01 - 7:17am
#6
Hi Peat,
I'm going to give the cucs another try, too! I need to order nutes, I haven't decided on what to use yet. I'm up for experimenting if anyone has a suggestion on what to try...
Beth
Thu, 2009/10/01 - 2:38pm
#7
Yes, I've pretty much butchered my AG's now - not much left of them.
I was tempted to use my aero unit but wanted to try the new nutes in the AG and see how this went, if it works then I may do an AG grow with it's 'proper' light.
I was wondering about the dry FloraMato which you can buy but we can't Beth. It's supposed to work with cukes/tomatoes and I've seen posts where people have used this as the only nutrient from start to finish. I'm stuck with the liquid version as I can't get the dry one, this needs supplementing with FloraMicro which is annoying.
Thu, 2009/10/01 - 5:51pm
#8
You can't beat the dry FloraMato for convenience - not much more trouble than tossing in AG tablets.
But so far, I haven't grown any repeats with it yet, to compare with other nutes. I also wasn't being particularly careful with it, distracted by the outdoor stuff over summer. I shall do better now. 
Tue, 2009/10/06 - 12:41pm
#9
Week 1
Plant has grown as expected, upping the feed now to the new dosage.
Excuse the messy AG base, remnants of glue left behind by the last grow - the sticky silver tape. Thought I had it all cleaned up!
Oh, it's not parsley, it's a cuke - honest.
Dosage: FloraMicro 6.4mL, FloraMato 9.6mL, EC of 1.6 and pH at 5.5
Tue, 2009/10/06 - 5:37pm
#10
Bright lights! Nice short and healthy little seedling. 
Week 0 - Starting Week (Tuesday 29th September 2009)
Well, here we go again in pursuit of the elusive heavily cropping cuke plant..
The seed is Zeina F1 Hybrid (www.thompson-morgan.com/seeds1/product/877/1.html) which is all female.
First picture, not much to look at yet.
Dosage: FloraMicro 3.2mL, FloraMato 3.2mL, EC of 0.80 and pH at 5.5