By Peat
Bottle of Water & AG6 Pod Grow
Submitted on Tue, 2009/03/31 - 2:09pm
Last updated on Sun, 2009/05/10 - 4:47am
Otherwise known as the "Coca Cola Deep Water Culture Bottle Grow". 
Just for a bit of fun...
Cut the top off a couple of plastic coke bottles, AG6 pod placed inside, filled with pH adjusted rockwool. Planted some mixed lettuce/brassica type seeds in one and the AeroGarden International Basil in the other.
No nutrients used as the bottle is clear (usual algae buildup), just plain water - pH adjusted to 6.0
I'll pop this under the AeroGarden lights and see how it goes. 
Weekly Grow Pictures
Wed, 2009/04/01 - 10:48am
#2
Hey Peat,
Y even tempt the algae? Y not just black them out to start or wrap em in foil to begin with?
Also u must have the AG nuts that came with the basil so y not cut a piece and put it in to bottle.
Come on man! Do it right! LOL!
Wed, 2009/04/01 - 11:02am
#3
Peat using AG tablets! Oh, no - GH liquid nutes (or as you say, nuts - LOL!), only for me.
I left them clear as it was less hassle, they were inspired by your basil & chive plants you had in water. I thought I would try them straight from seed instead.
Wed, 2009/04/01 - 11:05am
#4
Ah! Now I see!
I totally wanna see if they grow too! That would be something!
Wed, 2009/04/01 - 11:07am
#5
hmm.. nice idea, but can you call that a DWC without the areation? I also have all the herb kits that I didn't use because of my planned strawberry planting.
Btw, bareroots should arrive tomorrow. See how it goes.
Freezer treated Alpine strawberries are sprouting after 8 days. Sponges in a clear box and tissue in a clear box method germination method. Tissue paper should be those easily disintegrate type, I used the towel type, and the roots caught hold of it, difficult to break free, destroyed one seedling, hope the rest survive.
Wed, 2009/04/01 - 11:14am
#6
can you call that a DWC without the areation
A minor technicality... 
Good luck this time with the bareroots, something I've not attempted before.
Thu, 2009/04/02 - 8:45am
#7
Frezer treated Alpine strawberries are sprouting after 8 days
Stone: how long did you leave the strawberry seeds in the freezer?
Thu, 2009/04/02 - 11:24am
#8
Judith, about 4 weeks.
Thu, 2009/04/02 - 4:43pm
#9
Thanks. I'll keep a check on your grow log for updates to this. I hope to do my Alpine's soon so I'm very interested. I have no room right now.
Ahhgggggg. NO! I REFUSE to buy another AG!!! lol (but I mean it -- will just wait until one becomes free) 
--- (crazy hysterical laughter!!!!!)
Fri, 2009/04/03 - 10:49am
#10
3 Days
That was quick, lettuce/brassica seeds sprouting right on cue. Basil taking a little longer; as it should.
Fri, 2009/04/03 - 11:31am
#11
Wow! That is fantastic!
What kind of lettuce is that? It seems to have sprouted at the same pace as it would in the AG.
Do you think doing it this way would make any variety of lettuce quicker to grow?
I have Lettuce Vivian & Bibb seeds that will take 60 - 65 days to harvest but I just might have to try it this way if you think I can get a faster result.
Edit: You & I should also try Strawberry seeds in this fashion. On the same day, at the same time & track our progess! That would be sooooo cool! I got Strawberry Temptation seeds, a spare AG pod & a slender vase... what do u say?
Fri, 2009/04/03 - 12:16pm
#12
It's called Euro Mesclun Salad - here's the marketing: 'European salad mix of greens for one of the finest, tastiest salads ever. Full of flavour from sweet and mild to hot and tangy. Mixture includes lettuce, radicchio, arugula, endive, orach, mizuna, kale, mustard, corn salad and more'.
I've been using these instead of the AG ones for some time now.
The sprouting is on par with the AG because it's essentially the same sort of grow, just water and light. These little lettuce are happy just growing in water, it's not to fussed with complicated feeding - you can see how they turn out in my AeroGarden, part 5a of my guide.
You probably won't be able to push for a faster result this way, the AG is very adept at what it does. Saying that, if you have some seeds left, it's worth a side experiment.
Strawberries - I don't have any seeds left at this moment, I used them all up last year. They would take a long time to grow though, I was tempted to buy a plant and put it in the coke bottle (via my rockwool), the berries would flow down the sides nicely. If you planted the seeds in one of your AG's, they would do much better than a vase/bottle - the nutrients will help them along much better than plain old water.
The thing with strawberries, they look so good on the packet, but take so long to get going. I had a dismal harvest the first year, other years should be better though...
Mon, 2009/04/13 - 5:14am
#13
Week 2
The Basil never made it, it was from an old AG kit which had been opened and was over a year old - the seeds did not even sprout! What's growing though is doing well; but slow. Only water so to be expected.
I've replaced the basil with lettuce, an old pod that was from the Aeroponics AG.
Tue, 2009/04/28 - 11:06am
#14
Week 4
Very slowly growing... Won't be harvesting these for some time yet.
Tue, 2009/04/28 - 11:11am
#15
Peat,
I have some Grand Rapid Lettuce that I sprouted in rockwool within Vitamin water bottle that I swapped into my SS6 at a week old. It is slower than yours and also my Musculun and Arugula at 3 weeks looked a bit behind he salad green or your water culture.. humm, what is up?
Tue, 2009/04/28 - 11:21am
#16
I made sure my water was adjusted to pH 6.0, I did not put straight tap water into it. The light they have received is overspill from my 125watt grow bulb - that will probably make a difference.
About 4 days ago, I changed the water and added some hydrogen peroxide to aerate the water. You could see the stuff taking effect, the rockwool was covered will lots of little oxygen giving bubbles.
Other than that, pretty standard.
Tue, 2009/04/28 - 11:27am
#17
For the Coreopsis and Wax Gourds, both have not germinated after 3 weeks (2 of which in AGs) but both are slower germinators. I forgot to adjust the water and rockwool to 6.0 but did it a week later when I did the 2nd set of rock wool for tomatoes and lettuce. Have not changed the water yet so should I guess.
Both the Grand Rapid Lettuce and Chadwick Cherry Tomatoes were germinated in the Vitamin water bottles and swapped into AGs at 1 week or 9 days. They are a bit slower but seems okay. Did remember to adjust pH of rockwool and water for this.
I guess i should pick up some pharmacy hydrogen peroxide..
Tue, 2009/04/28 - 11:40am
#18
The peroxide is good to have around, it will probably do the plant some good. After all, the water is stagnant and I'm not the quickest to change it very often!
For really good growth, you need a small airline going in, blackened bottles and some nutrients - there you have it, a very cheap AeroGarden; minus the light! It does essentially the same thing and is adequate for small grows.
Tue, 2009/04/28 - 11:44am
#19
Or just lift it out once or twice a day to provide O2 to the roots. That's in essence what my greens outriders are.
Tue, 2009/04/28 - 11:54am
#20
I probably do it once every couple of days but probably not enough... The Wax Gourd is bad for germination rate. My Mom planted a dozen in soil and only 2 germinated after 24 days and I only have 2 in the Pod. Coreopsis is suppose to be around 21 days for germniation.. Maybe I will take some solution from the AG, dilute it and add to / replace in the vitamin water bottles.
Sun, 2009/05/10 - 4:57am
#21
Week 6 (nearly)
Well, I knew the growth would be poor - but not this poor... It will be sometime before I can eat this!
OK, so I might as well do a proper Deep Water Culture (DWC) grow and get this plant as it should be. I covered a 1 litre container in silver foil, cut a hole for the AG6 pod in the top, airline put inside and GH nutrients (EC 1.5, pH 6.0) added - full vegetative growth stage. Water topped up to about 3/4 of the container, need to leave some space for the air roots.
Sun, 2009/05/10 - 11:15am
#22
That should really take off!
Compared to lettuce grown in soil, the bottle growth rate wasn't terrible.
Mon, 2009/05/18 - 2:08pm
#23
Poor lettuce...
That shiny new tin has decided to react with the nutes, lovely rust all inside it - gave the lettuce an iron sort of taste. Moral of the story, plant in plastic, glass or something that won't rust!
Mon, 2009/05/18 - 2:43pm
#24
There's a new product concept - metal planting containers with alloys specially selected for a well-balanced mineral supplement. 
Edit - added International Basil to the original post.
I've got a couple of Gourmet Herb kits that I have never used since I had them back in April '08! If the basil does not like growing without nutrients then I could always blacken out the bottle and add some nutes.