Elliot's been a'tinkerin

Rockwool, aeration cloner and Kratky hydroponics have become part of my everyday vocabulary.

I also no longer have much of a dining table, a spare room and even less of a deck.

I also have to hear Elliot declare that he is "a scientist" every other day. He has cloning, germinating and hydroponics on the go. I do however get amazing lettuces and basil that grow insanely quickly and to epic proportions.

Have actually just cut a whole lot of it to give away

Elliot wanted to try his hand at cloning (this equals becoming a scientist apparently) so that in future we can clone the best chilli plants and we won't have to worry about cross contamination which you get with growing from seeds you save. With cloning you can pick the best plants to grow again and you don't have to keep buying seedlings or seeds and wait to see if they will germinate.

It also means you can over-winter the chilli plants you want to keep growing and you just have to worry about tending to these mini versions rather than a huge plant outside in the cold and frost.

So Elliot is trying two cloning methods with some chillies and basil to see how they go. Firstly, he cut a nice strong bit of basil and put it in a jiffy pellet with some cloning solution. You then wait for it to start to grow roots which you can see on the sides of the pellet. You can then plant it out normally. This has worked really well and the clones have been transferred to the hydroponic system.

Elliot used the gel (there are powder ones too)

The clones

Planted out into the hydroponic system once roots had formed
The lettuces at the front have been frown from seed

This cloning method was clearly too easy and boring for Elliot who decided to make an aeration cloner. In this contraption holes are cut in the lid of a container and the plant cuttings are placed in a rubber circle to hold it in place and are suspended in the lid. Cloning solution is dabbed on the cut end of the plant and the container is filled half way with water. A sprinkler-type system is fashioned so that the end of the plants gets sprayed with water. This ensures the cutting gets water and air. It has worked extremely well and they have put out some big roots start. Again, you can then plant the clones out normally once the roots are big enough.

 Decent roots so ready to plant out

The hydroponics set up we have going on is super easy. Unlike the last system which had tubing and the water pumping through the bottom of the tubes (circulating system), in this set up holes are cut into the lid of a big container, the seedlings are washed of any soil and then placed in net pots and filled with perlite. The container is filled with water and nutrients are added and the water just stays stagnant (non-circulating system). The roots grow out of the pots and as soon as they hit the water, they take off and you can barely believe how fast this stuff grows.

And then you understand why the leaves are so ginormous 

The plants and leaves are huge and we are working hard to keep the demand up with the supply. To understand how fast these grow, below are photos taken every day for seven days.

To improve the hydroponic process slightly and the annoyance of having to wash the soil of the delicate roots of the seedlings, the germination Elliot is now doing is into rockwool cubes which are great for hydroponics as once the seed has germinated you can put the cube straight into a net pot to go into hydroponics. The cubes are soaked in water for about half an hour then the seeds are placed in the cube and then put in the seed propagator. Once they have germinated they go into the light box.

We have also always tended to buy seedlings so it is nice to give the whole process a go. As well as germinating lettuce and basil, we have decided to give coriander a go.

Tray of rockwool cubes

Jiffy pellet and rockwool cube germination

Another trip to Switched on Gardener (by myself I might add) was necessary to buy the rockwool cubes. This proved an entertaining ordeal as always as I had to take a photo to send to Elliot to determine what size cubes to get and had to deal with the shop worker's extreme paranoia that I did not accidentally get him in the picture. Three assurances later, I was allowed to send it.

Elliot has done most of the above by extensive researching on the internet. Apparently people really only use cloning methods to grow things far more exciting than basil and chillies. We are such geeks. Geeks with huge basil though.

Bear in mind I have child's hands

We've made batches and batches of pesto to use it up. Luckily pesto mayo potato salad makes an amazing BBQ accompaniment. And pesto, bacon and cheese scrolls are surprisingly easy; not so surprisingly tasty.

And of course you can not beat it with homegrown tomatoes or on a pizza.

We seriously do have an abundance of the stuff, so any pesto lovers, hit me up.

Update: I now have no dining table left at all as Elliot, in true tinkerer style, has decided to use the rest of the table to build a computer. As you do.