Fri, 2009/11/27 - 7:39pm
Hi All,
I had to take a basil plant out of the ag. Figured I'd see how it would do in a bottle with an airstone. I do plan on covering the plastiic with something to keep out the algae. Doing well so far:
http://i463.photobucket.com/albums/qq355/beth11_album/100_0895.jpg
Had to paste a link - it shows up sideways on photobucket.
Beth
Fri, 2009/12/25 - 1:48am
#2
Doing very well! High-tech bottle. 
Thu, 2010/01/28 - 1:32pm
#3
What is that other thing going into the bottle. A pump? A fish tank pump. Please tell me more. What sort of rate/speed does it go at. Does it make as much noise as an Ag 6?
The idea of growing Basil in pop bottles when I have other priorities for my Ag, is a good one. Mike
Thu, 2010/01/28 - 2:44pm
#4
Are you feeding the plant at all yet Beth, it's doing well.
MikeL - welcome to the forum. 
I won't jump into Beth's thread but this is a really simple way of growing a number of plants, Beth will fill you in on all the details.
Thu, 2010/01/28 - 3:09pm
#5
Yes, welcome, MikeL!
(Same thought as Peat - I shouldn't answer the question in Beth's thread. 
)
Thu, 2010/01/28 - 9:00pm
#6
Hi Guys,
Feel free to jump in! This is a simple way to grow hydroponically. It is a 32 oz Glaceau vitamin water bottle with a hole drilled in the side near the top to allow a small aquarium pump line/airstone to enter (The hole size only needs to be as big as the tubing - put tubing thru and then attach the airstone). The Glaceau bottle mouth opening fits an ag plastic pod with a sponge. I fertilize occasionally with the leftover Floramato nutes when I change the other ag's. This basil plant grew really well, but was starting to set flowers so it was used in some (yummy) homemade tomato sauce. I've got another bottle to start another plant. This variety is monstruoso basil. The leaves grow to 6-8" long/wide with excellent taste. The aerator is a wallymart cheapy, so it is on the noisy side. I'll take pictures when I start the new one. Oh - I've never started seeds in the bottle - The short pods don't reach the water. I may use a long pod this time and start it there.
Beth
Thu, 2010/01/28 - 9:18pm
#7
You don't need to do anything special to keep the light out, Beth?
MikeL - normally in these simple schemes, with a clear bottle, light is a problem. Light + water + nutrients = algae, which gives off chemical byproducts bad for the plants. Some plants seem more sensitive to algae than others, though.
Thu, 2010/01/28 - 9:24pm
#8
Hi Gisette,
You are right. I wrapped the bottle in aluminum foil to keep out light.
Beth
Thu, 2010/01/28 - 9:37pm
#9
Beth - I suspected so. 
MikeL - fwiw, those cheap airpumps are usually rated for 3-10 gallons of aquarium, so while you're at the store, you might want an airline splitter and multiple airstones, to run more than one bottle. Or a bigger tank. Nice thing about a single-plant bottle, though, is that everything sharing a nute tank needs to be at pretty much the same life stage, and they're competing for light/space. With separate bottles, you can space them and feed them to suit the separate plants.
Sat, 2010/02/06 - 3:13pm
#10
Basil in a bottle #2. With long ag pod and sponge. I still can't figure out why I can rotate the image in photobucket, but it still shows up sidways here. Gisette - any advice?
http://i463.photobucket.com/albums/qq355/beth11_album/100_0964-1.jpg
Edit:Gisette added link to picture manually.
Sat, 2010/02/06 - 5:51pm
#11
Beth - looks like a bug in the PhotoBucket drag-an-icon widget. I would go ahead and do the drag-an-icon thing, then edit the picture with the editor dialog here, pasting in the URL of the image right-side-up.
Wed, 2010/02/10 - 8:23pm
#12
Basil Bottle Baby!
Hi All,
Basil in the bottle is doing well-