Fennel!

Hello friends!

Today I completed assembling the first of two deep water culture systems I'll be putting together. They will be 5 plants each, 4 fennel and 1 random herb. You will be getting weekly updates on the plants growth through macro photography, so check in every week to check that out!

Here's a how-to on how I'm putting these systems together...

• Minimum Requirements:
• Storage container (or bucket)
• Net Pots
• Rockwool 
• Hydroton
• Air stones
• Air tubing
• Air pump - Provide about 1 watt of power per 1 gallon of water (not pictured)
• Nutrient solution
• Grow lights

• Recommended Additions:
• pH Meter
• pH Down / Up
• TDS Meter (not pictured)
• Mycorrhizae powder
• Spray paint (not pictured)

• How to:

1. Following the directions provided with your rockwool, start germinating your seeds
2. Clean out your container very well using the hottest water you can withstand
3. Cut out holes in your lid that will hold your net pots without letting them fall through. The diameter of the hole you cut should be less than the wide strip at the top of the net pot
4. Check to see if your container lets in a lot of light by holding a flashlight up to the lid. If a lot of light comes through, you will want to spray paint the lid to block as much light as you can
5. Once your seedling has its first set of true leaves and has roots coming out of the bottom of the net pot you can go to step 6... be patient, don't rush putting your seedlings in too early

6. If your rockwool cubes are wrapped in plastic, remove it

7. Rinse out your hydroton very well to remove all the dust 

8. Add a thin layer of hydroton to the bottom of your net pot

9. Add your seedling in and fill in the gaps with more hydroton, and be sure to cover the top of the cube as well

10. Fill your storage bin with water (filtered or reverse osmosis water strongly recommended)

11. Add your nutrients, but be sure to go very light (about 1/8 to 1/4 strength until the plant gets larger)

12. If you invested in a pH meter and solutions, pH your water to what the plant prefers (this can be easily found through Google)

13. If you have mycorrhizae powder you will add that now

14. Hook up your air stones to the air tubing, and the air tubing to the air pump and throw the stones in the water

15. Put the lid on, insert the net pots, and put the system under a grow light

• Regular Maintenance 
• Check your pH levels every other day until you get comfortable with the pattern your particular setup will (hopefully) fall into
• Change the water weekly or bi-weekly at the most
• Check the root growth regularly to keep an eye out for anything like root rot or algae buildup
• Clean the entire system once every two weeks or as needed

And just to get this started off on the right foot, here's a macro of a first true leaf coming in on a fennel!