Nice Field O' Green, eh?

Sure is a lovely site. Among these beauties is a champion, and he's got LOTS of friends. 

Looks like the tortoise is puttin' the hammer down.

Oh, and I literally had to 'raise the roof' tonight - the diffuser went up a half inch due to the growth.

MM

23, 14 and 6

Those are today's winning numbers. That's 23 tomato seedlings, 14 green onion seedlings, and 6 sweet pepper seedlings. The peppers are just starting to show. Here are the mater babies, with real leaves ...

And here's what's going on in the penthouse of the Mater-Matic ...

The question was posed as to what I plan to do with all this produce. I can assure you that those I don't plant will be going up for adoption, and I have plenty of willing folks out there who are eager to take a few home with them!

That's all for now from the MM.

Another Day, Another Tweak ...

This morning I decided that my mater's grow light, while being plenty bright, needed to have its rays spread out a bit. So while out on the grocery run, I took another drive by Lowe's (the cashiers there now recognize me and Nate on sight) and picked up a sheet of diamond pattern diffusion - the plastic kind you see at the bottom of a fluorescent light bank. I trimmed a 9" by 9" inch sheet, and using monofilament and some old picture hangers, I suspended it above my mater flat. Next I made a reflector out of some cardboard and covered it with aluminum foil, then suspended that with a few more picture hangers. Here is the result ...

While admittedly a bit crude, it does seem to work. If you compare the picture below from the one in yesterday's blog, you can see the better light distribution ...

And oh, yeah - my mater babies are definitely bigger than 16 hours ago :)

A Couple Speed Bumps in the Race

It should surprise no one that with every competition there are a few ups and downs. My heart goes out to the Hubble Master and how he's coping with all this 'Fine English Weather' we're having. Even the Manual Mater Maker is subject to 'brown outs' - with her investor putting the kibosh on her most decidedly Earth Unfriendly space heater. Looks like no one is safe from the unexpected.

Myself included. While the Mater Matic is very self-sufficient, it has had a couple 'speed bumps' as well. I discovered why I've seen high consumption of water from my reservoirs. It wasn't so much from the wicking as it was from the siphoning. My pressure reducer is also a backflow preventer, which unbeknownst to me will drain water at the slightest amount of back pressure. As the Mater-Matic pushes water 'uphill', the water in the main line holds a certain amount of pressure due to its 'head', or vertical height from the source. Why it backflows only some of the time is still a mystery, but the effect was noticed when the watering tubes were submerged. When the reservoirs filled up, the tips of the feeder lines were in the water. So when the water supply shut off, the backflow started, and it drew the water back through the feed lines, down the main line and out the preventer. My solution was to use a couple clips to hold the feed tubes above the waterline. While this won't stop backflow from the mainline, at least it won't continue to siphon the reservoirs.

I also had another minor setback - remember when I mentioned the game plan to hook up a fan for ventilation?

ZZzzttt ... POOOF!

Fortunately, no squirrels were harmed in the making of this ventilation system, however after the smoke cleared (literally, although it was just a couple wisps coming from the motor), I realized two things 1) I fried my fan, even at 12 volts DC and less than 1 amp of draw, and 2) I need to go find a 'Electrical Wiring for Dummies' book. At least I can beat you two to the jab :)

I've also oriented my lights vertically. This will bring all sides to bear on lighting my trays, and hopefully give an even spread. It took some finagling with the supports, along with a few other mods. As you can see to the right, I've used an extra pegboard hanger and some adhesive strips to re-position my thermometer/hygrometer  I've also moved the lights down closer to the seedlings.

Incidentally, the top number is the relative humidity and the bottom is the temperature. Less easily seen are the number pairs on the right, indicating the daily high/low reading for both.

Trials and tribulations aside, I still have the lead in the number of seedlings in the race. Three more popped up today, bringing my total to 17 sprouts. Having so many means better odds in finding a few champions, but it also means I must take a wider photo. So you two can jab all you want about size. I have my dime in place to give you all a sense of height (to the right of the bulb)...

It's Now a Party!

Looks like my sprout has some neighbors to hang out with. I took a good look and counted ...

Fourteen sprouts!

I'm sure I'll have more than enough contenders for the prize. And incidentally, I've got a couple green onion sprouts showing in the top grow pan, too!

And now that I'm seeing some green, it's time to switch on the combined 120 watts of growlight power of the Mater-Matic. Each is color balanced to 5500K and provides full-spectrum light ... a TON of it too!

Viva Las Vegas!

When you read the comments on Amazon about these lights, they are overwhelmingly positive. I especially like the one where the person said his plants grew a half inch a day :)))

I'm going to set them to run 15 hours a day. They produce hardly any heat, but what little they produce will add to the overall coziness of the Mater-Matic, so their 'day' will be at night to help counter the cold.

I've also decided that I'm going to stick with the 'bottom up' approach to watering. While I didn't know this when I started out, there is a name for it - capillary action. And while this can be done with a wick (a piece of cotton or nylon twine), it can also be done with soil. As long as soil touches the the water, it will draw up just the amount of moisture needed to keep the soil above it moist, but not saturated.  Based on both DIY and commercial setups that I've researched, I believe I'm on the right track. And after checking the moisture content on the surface many times over this week, it seems to be working quite well for me. The only modification I did over the original setup was to run three pieces of straight plastic (cut from the bottom of some kiddie clothes hangers) in between the rows on the underside of each flat, so that the flats would sit atop the reservoirs and not in them. This gives me about an inch of clearance between the flat and reservoir bottoms, and about a quarter inch of clearance between the flat bottom and the overflow drain, so that's all the deeper my flats go into the water. It also gives me more water in the reservoir to act as a heat sink, which I believe will contribute to temperature regulation and cut back on heat lamp cycles.

Rock on, Mater-Matic!

Sumthin's Peekin!

Thar be Maters Heere!

Went out to the garage to check on the Mater-Matic before going to bed, and lo and behold, I've got sprouts! Actually, the one showing up top was up this morning, but I wasn't quite sure if it was just a fleck of something or actually a baby mater, so I withheld comment until I was sure. 

So even though I started a day after dear ole Dad, I've got babies a day after him. Hmm, that means I'm holding my own against all that Worm Pee (uh, I mean Worm Tea - doesn't sound much better does it?), and talk of Au Naturale lighting. 

Go Garage Maters!

And I've got even more surprises up my sleeves for this race - stay tuned.

Mike

Getting A Little Crowded Here ...

Well, they say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. As you can see, I've added a blog page link for the self-described 'Mater-Master', a.k.a., dear ole Dad. I'm told that Sherrie will also be joining the ranks of the blogging world, so I'll extend the same to the Queen of the Mater Ghetto. I think it's just good form to include the links to their blogs. After all, everyone deserves an honorable mention when I accept the prize of the Great Tomato Race.

FYI - just so you two don't have to stand the embarrassment asking me, I'll take Dos Equis Lager - in bottles - I'm feeling that will go well with all the salsa I'll be making (real soon!)

Yes, Dad sure is proud of his little sprout. I would be too, so I'll extend my hands in a curt little golf clap for him. Nicely done. Although that little guy seems a bit sad, turned over looking back in the ground. Maybe he knows something we don't?

The Heat is On

The Mater-Matic is keeping the heat on this race, literally. From what I've read, you want to keep the nighttime temperature above 50 degrees, and the daytime temperature between 70 and 80 degrees, and the Mater-Matic is spot on. So far the nighttime internal temps have been around 60 degrees and the highest recorded temp has been 77 (today). That's with my thermostat set to 75, so not bad at all, especially given all the cold snaps we've had this week.

Relative Humidity is ramping up. Granted it's very dry out right now, but I'm showing a range from the lower to upper 40's. I'd like to bump that up to the 50's, but given the soil has been good and moist, I suspect I'm okay for now. That will come into play after my babies break ground.

Top Down vs. Bottom Up

One of the things I'm experimenting with is the watering system. My setup uses reservoirs, which has pluses and minuses to it. One thing I have to be careful with is too much standing water. On Tuesday morning I drained out most of the water, mainly to see what effect that would have on my flats. I was expecting to see some backflow - a higher water level and probably brown. To my surprise I saw the opposite at the end of the day. The flats had taken up most of the water, and by the end of Wednesday, the water had been completely used up and the top of the flats seemed a bit dry. Either I have a lot of evaporation going on, or my soil is wicking (drawing up the water from the bottom) very well. I've read how wicking can be a great way to water tomatoes, as it is self regulating and is an easy system to set up.

On the other hand, I'm considering a top-down approach with drip lines on top of the flats. Early on I considered using microsprayers above the flats, but I was concerned about even coverage and particularly the chance of overspray hitting the growlights, which are just a couple inches above the flats. I can create microdrip lines by using feed line tubing with holes poked in them. Last night I rigged up a fork-like set of feed lines that would run across the top of the flats with a line for each of the five rows. I quickly saw I would have a problem with keeping them straight, so this weekend I'm going to experiment with some leftover pegboard - using two or three strips  with just one row of holes - to transverse the tubes. The tubes will pass through the holes. This frame should sit only an inch above the flats, so as not to interfere with growlights. A microdrip adjustment valve added to the main line of each grow pan will allow for fine tuning the flow.

I've got a couple more days to decide on what path I'm going to take, so I'll do a little more research and continue to watch my watering intervals. I'll post my final solution this weekend, or if I get some green showing - whichever comes first. :)

Mike

Well, looks like the Mater-Matic is doing well in the temperature department. Last night's recorded low for my area was 28F, however the temperature inside the Mater-Matic didn't fall below 66F - that's quite a differential! The thermostat held the high to within one degree of what the standalone thermometer recorded, so I'm feeling very good about keeping my babies comfortable. I suspect that the small footprint, the heat sink qualities of the reservoir pans, and the naturally warmer surrounding of the garage had as much to contribute to that as the heat lamp did.

I checked the soil moisture last night, given the bottom reservoir seemed a bit high. The soil is very moist. I used a toothpick around the edges and it felt like the bottom of the cups were a bit mushy, so I lowered the water level in the reservoir and dialed back the drip head a bit. I also set the watering timer to every other day to see if that works better. I'll also watch to see what effect that has on temperature consistency, as removing water may diminish the heat sink properties a bit.

Last night I also added a 'subscribe by email' widget to my blog - see it in the upper right corner. Just enter your email and click submit, and whenever I post something you'll get an email.

Have a good one!
Mike

Seeds are in ... let the fun begin!

Greetings fellow growers! I'm pleased to report that as of approximately 1pm this afternoon, the Mater-Matic is up and running! Granted this makes me the last of the trio of competing mater growers to get started, but as the fable of the Tortoise and the Hare, being first out of the gate doesn't always make you a winner. It's still anyone's guess who will walk away with a case of beer under each arm. 

I didn't sleep in this morning, as my mind started working early on the handful of design issues left that needed solving. I needed a bigger heat lamp, as the 75 watter just didn't cut it. I also needed a better way to attach the hood to the top frame. And let's not forget of the leaky connection on the feed to the lower grow pan. Thus, a trip to Lowes to pick up a 125 watt bulb and a section of 3/4" vinyl tubing for fabbing a hood attachment.

I cut the tubing into two sections, then split it lengthwise (cutting a larger notch in one for a better fit around the fan housing). As I expected, the tubing snapped neatly over the two arches. I then Krazy-Glued the vinyl sheet serving as the hood onto the tops of the tubes. And given the front tube proved to come off the arch without much pulling, the Krazy Glue held fast.

As for the leak, my plan was to try some hot glue I already had. My patch job on the lower feed line turned out to be so-so. I didn't have much luck with my silicone sealant on an earlier attempt at a grow pan, so I figured building up enough heat glue on the joint would provide a better seal. The water test showed the leak was now a dribble. That should be fine - right now the water doesn't kick on more than once a day, and for only a minute at most - I should have barely a wet spot underneath, and nowhere near the heat lamp.

The new heat lamp worked much better; I don't think I'll be able to maintain 70+ degrees at night, but I suspect neither will my opponents. During the day when the temp was in the 50's, I was able to get it to 72 from a cold start in a little less than an hour and hold it all day. I have a small thermometer sitting just above the lower grow pan, and I'm happy to report that there's very little temperature stratification between the bottom and top (where the thermostat is). I think the water reservoirs and soil mass will help with holding in that heat for awhile. I'm curious to see what benefit I'll get when the fan is up and running. My hope is that it will provide better heat distribution. 

The bottom flat is planted with 30 tomato seeds, while the top flat has 15 green onion and 15 sweet pepper seeds. My soil mix is just a combination of Black Kow composted manure (.5/.5/.5) and powdered eggshells as a calcium additive/moisture stabilizer. I spent some time Saturday talking to the greens-keeper at my favorite nursery. He recommended just using the manure. He said that he knows of some pros who, when it's time to plant the seedlings, just lay the bags out, split them open, and plant directly into the bag.

This afternoon I also shot and produced the video, so you'll finally get to see what I've been working on for the better part of a month. I hope you forgive my voiceover - at that point in the day I was in a quirky mood and just having fun, but shenanigans aside I think it shows off the system well. Please have a look by clicking on the link to the right.

Mike

Greetings fellow growers! I hope you like my Mater-Matic blog!. A blog seemed to be a cool way to document the process. And since this is my first attempt at blogging, I figure a journal of some sorts would make things all the more interesting.

As for the effort at large, I look to have my little babies in the dirt by Sunday. The cold snap tonight would preclude planting today, so instead I have a few final fab tasks to do on the Mater-Matic. I've decided to add a runoff drainage system to each of the grow pans. My initial flow rate test showed that I should be able to sufficiently fill both pans with the timer set to 1 minute, but to keep the water at the right level and not to flood the cups from the bottom, a drainage system should be installed. That, along with the game plan to keep the Mater-Matic in the garage for the foreseeable future, would require some kind of flood control. I'm betting on my color temperature-balanced growlights will be more that enough for providing the light needed once the sprouts are up. Based on what I've read about these lights, folks have had good success with indoor setups.

A full systems check is planned for today - lights, water, heat - to make sure all works as planned. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find a second hand DC adapter for the fan, so I ordered one from Amazon and should be arriving next week. Keeping the system in the garage should help. I plan on running the heat lamp, but given the vertical layout of the Mater-Matic, the heat should provide convection nicely.

And then there's the video. Hopefully I'll have that shot and up on the blog by Sunday or early next week, so you all can get a good look at the entire system.