s2w2...

i’m addicted to a new activity: trying to see if i can actually watch these things growing. i think i’m almost there. last week, each plant had one healthy, opened, new leaf cluster. six days later, each plant now has at least two, and one plant has four. and all of them are showing new growth on the way. after last week’s post, i pulled the one plant that wasn’t responding and plugged in a new one from the fridge – even that one already has 1½ clusters open. it’s not exactly apples-to-apples, but these leaves are already larger than my year-old alpines’.

there are ten open flowers, which, though it pains me, i’ll snip today. i also see several – at least a dozen throughout the patch – flower buds at the bases of the plants. i hope they’re still in the mood to be this productive when they’re old enough to start having kids.

from my detail-oriented side: a few (maybe two) of the leaves seem to be turning down and browning – albeit almost imperceptibly – on the edges. any thoughts from the e-ether as to why this might happen are of course welcome. caveat: the very first strong leaf cluster to pop up seemed to be doing this, and now isn’t.

and further into the technical: last season i changed my nutrient solution entirely each week, replacing the old, as its level fell, with a new solution fully as nutrient-charged as the last. since last season, i’ve done quite a bit of research and learning, and i know now that while some nutrients will have been removed from the solution and used by the plants, other nutrients have been removed by the plants and stored in their infrastructures, where they’ll lie latent until needed by the plant. rather than besiege the root system with nutrients it may not need by simply changing the solution every time the tank is low, i’m going to monitor its mineral content and try to discover how fast the guys are actually eating. meanwhile, when the solution level is low, i’ll simply add pure water to it. as the weeks go by, i’ll monitor the mineral concentration and once it’s low enough to make me think my guys need more, i’ll replace it. it’s funny, you can’t find recommendations for actual concentrations online – i feel like anyone with anything authoritative to offer on the subject guards that information like a secret recipe (unless you buy their expensive book). so i’ll just figure it out myself, and hope for more trial and less error. as last season’s crop was almost purely vegetal, i never switched to a “blooming” nutrient, which i’ll clearly have to do here. in soil, it’s after about 6 weeks of vegetative growth that the gardener allows the plants to flower freely; in hydroponics it’ll obviously be faster; again, we’ll see.

build-wise, i’m thinking of replacing my light fixture with a DIY, high-wattage CFL system; i think i can get it running for about 30 bucks, and i think it’ll take 20 bucks off my electric bill. and with spring and summer coming (or so we’d like to believe), a CFL system will generate far less heat, which strawberries don’t particularly love. we’ll se where that goes.

in any case, other than reassuring plant growth, there’s not too much excitement. as berries go.