"Real" Spinach & Arugula - The Plan

"Real" Spinach & Arugula

Part 1 - The Setup

The Problem

We're spoiled with dark, rich, fully savoyed spinaches and spicy, nutty, deeply lobbed arugulas from our organic, biodynamic Aspen Moon farm-share, except in winter!

The smooth, mild spinach and lettuces we're able to get get at the grocery left me wondering if I could grow better in my closet?!

The Plants 

I decided to start seeds in 9 cubes and would select the best 4 at the end of germination.

• Bloomdale (Spinacia oleracea)
•  Heirloom from 1826! High in vitamins A and C, and iron!
  
• Rocky (Diplotaxis tenuifolia)
•  Fast growing, wild-type heirloom. Complex and nutty flavor.
  
• Astro (Eruca vesicaria)
  
•  Peppery. High-yield! 
  

While I'm at, I'm going to start some microgreens in coconut coir!

(Will add germinated photo!)

The Aeroponic Setup

For simplicity and (hopefully) fast, high yield I opted to create a small low pressure aeroponic (LPA) bucket. These are often used for cloning but it works equally well from seed.

5 gallon bucket; 2" holes, baskets, collars, and rockwool cubes

Submersible pump; 1/2" vinyl tubing/tee + 180 degree sprayers; airstone/pump

The Aeroponic Test!

Before adding plants I ran the system for several days to verify setup and tune schedule.

Cheap Cycle Timer to manage continuous spray schedule

There are lots of opinions on the optimal schedule for your LPA but the main issue I was worried about was water temp! The submersible pump generates a lot of heat while pumping and bucket and carpet I intend to run on offer plenty of insulation...

I setup a simple sensor to allow monitoring the temp. This will be useful now and when the system is in use. Details can be found on GitHub here: Ardruino Uno WiFi Rev2 Cayenne Water Sensor

Continuously running pump for three hours, and cool down

A bit of testing revealed 3min on and 13min off could be run continuously without heating the water and nutrients.

Up Next: The Grow!