Hello everyone,
How are you today ? are you guys healthy? I hope and pray that all of us, especially the gardeners at HiveGarden Community, will always be healthy and happy in this life. Life in my country has become more difficult since the government decided to take an unpopular policy by increasing the price of fuel oil. As we know, the oil and gas crisis has almost happened all over the world, and after trying to survive and continue to subsidize the price of fuel oil, the state budget can no longer afford it and the price goes up.
Rising oil prices will certainly have a huge impact on the lives of many people. The impact is very partial and will be a domino effect that makes all prices also increase, especially if the increase is more than 28% from the initial price. If we think in the simplest way, all food needs will be affected by this increase in fuel prices. Farmers will incur higher production costs due to rising prices for fertilizers, seeds and labor costs. The harvest that is distributed by transportation will also be affected. So, this is a very big issue and threatens the welfare of the people.
Therefore, we cannot just stand still. We know that the officials and political elites will not care about our fate. They are all rich people who will not be affected by rising fuel prices. We must continue to be creative in taking advantage of opportunities, one of which is using the empty part of our house to be used to grow vegetables with a hydroponic system that is suitable for urban farming.
As usual, every Monday to start the week. I always try to be able to contribute and participate in the HiveGarden community by sharing my stories and experiences about farming with a hydroponic system. Every Monday, I try to summarize my activities in my hydroponic garden. Stay tuned friends.
Pakchoy Harvest Preparation
Fans of Chinese food or oriental cuisine, must be familiar with this vegetable. Pakchoy is a favorite of mothers because it is easy to prepare and it is definitely delicious. At first glance, pakchoy is similar to caisim or mustard greens. However, there are some differences, Pakchoy has a round stem like a spoon and a broad leaf texture like a bowl. If in the past, pakchoy was only conventionally grown on the ground, the development of technology and science has allowed us to grow pakchoy in water with a hydroponic system.
I have several pakchoy with different growing ages. I deliberately made it that way, to maintain the continuity of my hydroponic garden. This week, I harvested pakchoy (planting age is 31) days around 6 kg, this time harvesting is more troublesome than usual. As I discussed last week, some of the pakchoy in my hydroponic media were damaged so they had to be cleaned and sorted before being handed over to consumers. The discoloration of vegetables that I experienced last week is still happening and it seems that some vegetables will fail to harvest in this planting period.
We switch to another pakchoy (pakchoy 24 days after sowing), just like the bigger pakchoy. The condition of this pakchoy also suffered damage such as non-uniform growth and discoloration of the leaves, but it was much better than last week's condition. One of the factors that makes pakchoy leaves better is because I also spray a liquid fertilizer solution with a sprayer regularly.
In addition, I also have a pakchoy which is 17 days old after seeding. This Pakchoy grows very well and is also optimal. I haven't seen any signs of damage caused by pests such as rats, or leaf discoloration as before. I use hydroponic liquid fertilizer with a concentration of 1400 ppm, and keep spraying pests with vegetable fertilizers regularly and periodically.
Hydroponic Lettuce Condition
This week, I have harvested several kilograms of lettuce to sell to the market. This lettuce is about 31 days old after sowing. The lettuce that I grow in this hydroponic system grows very well, the lettuce grows beautiful and fertile. In addition, the color of the leaves is also green and bright. I used a liquid fertilizer solution with a concentration of about 700-800 ppm in this planting period.
However, there are some lettuce pots that also experience bolting problems, which is a condition where vegetables cannot grow optimally due to extreme weather (too hot). This problem often occurs in vegetables that should be grown in the highlands such as lettuce, celery, or cabbage grown in the lowlands where the weather is very hot, the solution is to maintain the humidity of the air like diligently watering the plants with water.
I also have lettuce that is 10 days old after sowing. For this initial planting period, I still use a liquid fertilizer solution with a concentration of 700-800 ppm, and a few tips from me. If you want to transfer lettuce to hydroponic media, it is best to do it in the morning or evening when the weather is not too hot.
Start Replanting Chinese Mustard
Chinese mustard or we also know it as bitter mustard is our family's favorite vegetable. For some reason, our tongues are more compatible with bitter-tasting vegetables than other vegetables. The bitter taste of this vegetable, can sometimes make us more hungry to eat food. Moreover, eating it with fried fish, warm rice and chili shrimp paste, it seems very delicious.
I planted bitter mustard about 120 planting holes, with details of 50 in verticulture hydroponics and 70 in Styrofoam media. Usually, I only grow in vertical hydroponic installations but, I think, I need more of these vegetables to survive the rising prices of basic commodities. This bitter mustard is still around 10 days after sowing and we will see how it grows every week.
Preparation for Planting Kangkong
This week, I also planted kangkong seeds which I will transfer to my hydroponic media. I plan to plant about 300 pots of kale for this planting period. The kangkong seeds that I sowed also grew very well, they looked green and uniform. I can't wait to see this kangkong grow big and green like you often see in my hydroponic garden.
Mint Leaf Condition in PVC Hydroponic Installation
This week, I also harvested a lot of mint leaves that I planted in my hydroponic media. Due to harvesting too often, and without proper care, the mint leaves I planted were damaged and some of the pots died too. Finally, I stopped selling mint leaves for the past two weeks and focused on restoring the condition of this plant.
Okay, this is the story from my hydroponic garden today. See you next week.
Call me Isdarmady, because I have a full name that is very long, namely Isdarmady Syahputra Ritonga. I am a head of the family who work as Farmers Vegetables Hydroponic and Consultant Hydroponics, sometimes I also sell coffee from various regions in Indonesia.
I have expertise dispensing coffee with a variety of techniques and tools brewing, because I have the desire to make a coffee shop with hydroponics as centerpieces. Help me realize that dream.
Thanks for read, vote, re-blog and support me in Hive. Maybe god will reward the kindness, let’s success together.