Mastodawn

Sapphire Sep 26, 2025

Tom the Tomato must have heard me say that I was just waiting for him to be done producing tomatoes, and I was going to pull him out of the #AeroGarden and move Dave over to give him more space. Tom started popping out a bunch of new little tomatoes, even though I never saw the flowers open up to fertilize them. Either he heard me, harvesting the existing tomatoes has allowed him to start producing more.

Jerry's doing great. Lots of peppers growing. He's dropping some blossoms (even one that had started growing a pepper), but I've read that's normal because a plant can only support so many peppers at one time. I'm considering getting another indoor garden system so I can grow a second pepper plant and harvest peppers year round.

I need to find out if there are low growing plants that prefer some shade that I can grow in the pods around Jerry. Seems a shame to only grow three plants when there are so many open pods.

#IndoorGardening #Garden #Gardening

I debated getting another #hydroponics system for a while, but can't justify $400 for another #AeroGarden Bounty Elite. So I got a similarly-sized knockoff brand for $70. The AeroGarden has features that make it superior for sure, but I hope the HDROOR unit is "good enough."

I also bought new shelves for the two gardens and our microwave. We wanted to put the microwave at the top, but the cord isn't long enough. Oh well, I'm still happy with how everything sorted out. I even got 2 little fans for air movement so I don't have to take up the kitchen counter with the big oscillating fan anymore.

I moved Julie the Jalapeno from her pot to the second garden unit. Julie and Jamie were sprouted just 1 week after Jerry, but the difference in growth is bananas. I'm curious to see how Julie takes to her new home, and still have Jamie as a control.

I also sprouted some lettuce and spinach to hopefully grow in the jalapenos' shadows, and am taking another stab at growing cilantro.

#Gardening #IndoorGardening

Sapphire Oct 15, 2025

Does anyone know what's wrong with my #jalapeno plant?

#plants #garden #indoorgardening #gardening

Sapphire Oct 25

It appears that @Lironah was correct: Julie the Jalapeno's discolored leaves were due to nutrient deficiency. She's thriving since I added fertilizer. I'll probably have to start raising the light soon. And the lettuce sprouts are all doing fine; the fertilizer didn't hurt them at all. I think they benefited too. I even harvested one leaf from each of 2 plants yesterday, since they're starting to crowd. Which was expected, since I planted so many. I plan to harvest frequently to keep them from getting too crowded.

Also expected: Jamie Jalapeno is stretching for the light and taller than Julie, but Julie is much more full and has already branched twice from having access to so much water & light. Just like Jerry!

In other exciting news, Jerry's peppers are starting to turn red! Squee! I've never had fully ripe jalapenos, and am looking forward to it. They're pretty small, bite-sized even. But I hope they're tasty!

#AeroGarden #IndoorGardening #Garden #Gardening #Jalapenos

Sapphire Oct 30

I harvested my first fully ripe peppers from Jerry! While they are much smaller than the peppers I get from the grocery store, they were super sweet and totally worth the effort. I stuffed them with cream cheese, shredded cheese, and bacon as I normally would. Absolutely delicious.

I read that Jalapeno plants don't like to have their roots wet. And yet the jalapenos in my #Hydroponics seem much happier than in pots.

Jerry was planted in the #AeroGarden on July 13. I wasn't sure he'd sprout so I started two more pepper plants, which sprouted a week later.

Photo 1: July 29. Julie and Jamie are in pots with two leaves each. Jerry already has four leaves.

Photo 2: August 14. Two weeks later and Jerry has blossomed into a full-fledged plant. Julie & Jamie are still effectively sprouts.

Photo 3: September 26. Jerry is producing fruit, Julie and Jamie are past the sprout stage but haven't even caught up to where Jerry was six weeks earlier.

I moved Julie to a second hydro-system on October 2. At the time, she and Jamie were still nearly identical.

Photo 4: Today. About a month after Julie was moved to the hydro-system, she's much bigger than Jamie and already producing flowers.

Wet roots don't seem to be as much of a problem as the internet indicates. 😂

#IndoorGardening #Gardening

PostcardsFromParadise Nov 4

Wet feet usually refers to a lack of oxygen. Hydroponic setups seem to have a way to incorporate oxygen into the growing 'water'.

PostcardsFromParadise Nov 4

In addition, a pool of water that is open to the air will absorb oxygen from the air. But a puddle of water hovering around roots in the ground can begin to lack oxygen.

@PostcardsFromParadise

I see! That makes sense.

Joan Albright Oct 15, 2025

@sapphire Too much water, maybe? IDK that's just my first instinct. Check for pests too, obviously.

Sapphire Oct 15, 2025

It's a hydroponics system, there's not much I can do if it's too much water.

Joan Albright Oct 15, 2025

@sapphire My basil definitely did this from time to time in our aquaponics system.

Joan Albright Oct 15, 2025

@sapphire Oh, though seems like we also had to supplement the iron in there.

Bartosz Oct 15, 2025

@sapphire outer tipburn seems to be the name of such condition, and many relate it to either calcium deficiency or deficiency in absorbing calcium, but please research yourself as you should have the most insight from observing the symptoms

Sapphire Oct 15, 2025

@RakowskiBartosz

Thank you!

AI6YR Ben Oct 15, 2025

@sapphire Looks like either some kind of bacterial, fungal, or viral infection. I'd remove any leaves showing symptoms and cross fingers. Sometimes the viral infections are already present in the seed. Fungal is an issue if you don't have enough air flow. (in my limited experience, indoor peppers).

AI6YR Ben Oct 15, 2025

@sapphire The much more drastic move (which may be merited) is to remove the offending plant before the rest of your peppers sprout, or move that one plant elsewhere...