Hello, Darlings
This is a special article and not my usual journal entry.
First I want to share with you photos of the progress of the plants grown in my
50-pod hydroponic tower, and the growth rates of the six cherry tomato plants
growing in the 20-pod countertop systems. In the 50-pod hydroponic tower the Green
Glaze Collard plants have grown well with large leaves, which are ready for
their first picking. The three Amaranths seedlings that I saved have adapted to
the tower and are rapidly growing. The Pak Choi has given us a couple of fresh
salads mixed with Parris Romaine Lettuce, as well as a one-dish meal of Chicken
and Pak Choi Teriyaki Noodles. However, unlike the lettuce, I believe the Pak
Choi must be reseeded frequently, because I discovered that once the leaves are
picked the plants do not grow new ones.
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| Green Glaze Collards |
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| Green Glaze Collards, side 2 |
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| Pak Choi Plants with Amaranth Plants above |
Since I have not had much success with growing cucumbers in
the small 2-pod trellis hydroponic growing system, and one of the 20-pod
countertop systems, I moved the 2-pod trellis hydroponic growing system to the
sunroom with new seeds. I also added cucumbers seeds to the 50-pod hydroponic
tower, and soon discovered that the difference in the size and grow rate of
these plants as oppose to the one in the smaller growing system is striking,
not only are the cucumber plants growing and flowering with baby cucumbers,
their leaves are amazingly larger than my hand. The vines are also attaching
themselves to nearby structures. As of
now the baby cucumbers look as if they might survive.
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| Tower cucumbers with smaller ones in background & wonder pepper plants above |
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| Tower system one of many baby cucumbers |
The California wonder pepper plants have grown, but I
believe I will need the move them into a growing system of their own. Because
while the plants are large enough to bud, the crowding of the other plants are
preventing the pepper plant buds from fully developing, so they die without
blooming. However, I fear pulling the plants out of the tower, because the root
systems are very large, and removing the plants might mean root damage and
death for them.
Moving on from the tower plants, back on Monday, January 12,
2026 I replaced the exhausted Tiny Tim tomato plants with new seeds. However,
in their place I planted two K2 Golden Cherry tomato seeds in one system and
two Tiny Tim tomato seeds in another system. The K2 Golden Cherry tomatoes
plants are new to me and have surpassed my expectations and are maturing much
faster than their cousin the Tiny Tim plants. Both plants varieties were seeded the same day.
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| K2 Golden Cherry tomatoes (color is richer than what is pictured) |
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| New Tiny Tim tomatoes |
The Tiny Tim Cherry tomatoes are growing straight up with
side branches, which are normal for them. However, the K2 Golden Cherry
tomatoes, while the same height have stems and branches that are thicker and
denser. While the Tiny Tim plants are
flowering, the K2 Golden Cherry plants have many green tomatoes. The leaves on
both types of plants get so dense
that I have to prune the larger leaves frequently.
In addition, about two to three weeks before removing the
old Tiny Tim plants, I cut off a couple healthy branches and placed them in a
hydroponic system with a basil plant. While the basil plant has finally
exhausted itself the two Tiny Tim branches have grown into full grown plants
and are heavy with green tomatoes, which will be ready for harvest in the near
future.
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| Tiny Tim Cherry tomatoes side branches |
While not mentioned, my other vegetable plants are growing healthy.
It is the growing progress of the ones above that I wanted to share with you
today. I hope you find this article informative and useful for your own indoor farming
projects.
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| 50-pod hydroponic growing system |
I also have another special hydroponic system DIY makeover I
will be sharing with you soon.
So, until then,
Chow,
Darlings.
