OpenAg Wiki Archive
Archived Contents from the original OpenAg Wiki (snapshot on Apr 8, 2020)
The archived wiki only includes information up the v3.0 version of the PFC-EDU, and is here for preservation purposes. You can find resources about the latest version of the PFC v4.0 on the Personal Food Computer resources page.
Basil recipe for test grow #1
Germination
- Generic germination procedure.
- Assume the seedlings we transplant to the PFC are two weeks old.
Description
- Temperature:
- Day: 23.89 ~ 26.66, use 25°C (75~80 °F) (Variation due to no control of sun during day)
- Night: 18.3°C (65 °F)
- Humidity: 60 (40 ~ 70% RH)
- Photo-period: 16 hours
- pH: range is 5.7 ~ 6.3, using 6.
- Nutrients: part A and part B (JR peters cocktail based on their dilution rates)
- EC: Dose consistently per instructions from bottle
- CO2: Ambient OK / 1,200 ~ 1,500 with doping
Unknowns
- Do we need different settings for various growth stages or day
ranges?
- With Basil, main phases are germination and growth. No flowering, etc.
- What is the expected time frame to grow to maturity?
- 2 week old seedlings to maturity is 3 to 4 weeks.
More detail
pH should be adjusted to be within range, and fluctuations usually indicate the plants are absorbing the nutrients, causing a change in pH. If the pH is outside the desired range, it can lead to some essential nutrients not being absorbed the plant even if it is present in the water. Some leading nutrients are Nitrogen and Calcium for this. Tip burn and curled leaves can be caused by this.
The EC is a rough metric of nutrients, but we should just dose consistently based on the dosage instructions for the bottle.
The RH is pretty flexible, but at high humidity, the plant will not be able to create water vapor to exhale out the stomata, making it unable to get new nutrient rich water from the roots. It can also cause fungi and disease buildup.