Aerogarden

[lolotsung]

Is dill difficult to grow? I'm wondering if we did something wrong.

Is it ok to use tap water? We have a water softener. We also have a drilled well and a dug well and bottled spring water. I can also scoop up some Humber River water (5 min walk from our house) or buy distilled water. Does the type of water matter much?

[labradors]

It could be slower than the rest (and it gets very tall). Your basil looks fabulous!

[Killerbunny]

Outside dill self seeds and grows like wildfire. Don't know about indoors?

[labradors]

I missed the second part of your msg. It's usually ok to use tap water. We have a softener, and it's working for us in the AG. I might get some from the outside tap, which doesn't go through the softener, but didn't want to do that in the winter!

[lolotsung]

So at work we were debating how high to place the lamp. I'm also wondering about the herbs at home. I'm thinking different plants have different lighting requirements so a lamp at a certain height would be good for some plants but maybe not all plants. I'm thinking the basil needs to be separated but I haven't bought the hydroponic medium yet. Too much research not enough action. There are many options with pros and cons for all of them...So maybe too close for basil and too far for parsley

[labradors]

The light usually needs to go 4" above the plants.
I recently bought a pool noodle from the Dollar Store for an experiment to see whether it works better than clay pellets in a net pot. If you could find one (or some pipe insulation), it fits into a mason jar (even without the net pot, but you have to cut an extra sliver to make it fit) You could try the basil in it. Another idea would be to lop off some basil stems and just stick them in water to root while you decide how to go about your Hydroponics. I did that recently as my basil was massive. I have it in several containers and still harvest some of the outer leaves.

[lolotsung]

Oh, that's a great idea. We have about 8 pool noodles downstairs. I used them to protect sharp edges for younger kids. Has anyone tried hot peppers? Some fresh hot peppers would be great. I have had zero success outdoors with peppers.

[lolotsung]

Oh, that's a great idea. We have about 8 pool noodles downstairs. I used them to protect sharp edges for younger kids. Has anyone tried peppers? Some fresh peppers would be great. I have had zero success outdoors with peppers. They are $4.99 a pound at our local grocery store and I don't like them enough to pay that much!

[labradors]

Pool noodles it is then! I put a little plastic cage with a lettuce growing in it inside a pool noodle (with an extra piece to bulk it out) inside a 32 oz mason jar. I've just had to evict it because it bolted and it went very well. I tied some fabric around the jar to keep the light out.

Re peppers, I don't know why you have had trouble growing them outside. They do take longer than tomatoes so, if you start from seed, they should probably be started 10 weeks before the last frost (tomatoes 8 weeks).
I grow a ton of sweet bells, and freeze oodles of them for winter use, so I wouldn't grow them in an AG. However, people do successfully grow them in Harvest models. The down side is that you cannot grow them with anything else (because of differing nutrient requirements) and you could probably only grow a maximum of three in a Harvest (same thing with micro tomatoes). Perhaps a Kratky jar would be the way to go for peppers?

[lolotsung]

I haven't tried growing peppers in a very long time... What would happen is the pepper leaves would grow all big and bushy and I would get one or two peppers and they would be small maybe an inch long should have been more and maybe 3 inches long like the sweet bell peppers in the store and not juicy like the ones in the store. I have never tried growing hot peppers. Maybe the plants I had were not the best? I usually buy plants from the local gardening store. We didn't have a good place by the window to start them.