Week 6 of Starting Tomato / Cucumber Seeds

 

Week 5 of growing tomato and cucumber from seed

My tomatoes and cucumbers are really looking great. I hit week 5 and they are still growing strong. The Dr. Earth Fertilizer seems to be giving the plants most everything they need, especially sense the coco fiber contains 0 nutrients.

Hydroponic Grow Towers - Texas Farmstead

Hydroponics can be done in a couple different ways. In this video we learn how to grow using grow towers. The towers are dripped nutrient rich water a few times daily to provide a good source of water and minerals plants need. Watch the video to learn how its done.

Week 1 - Brand new plants in the grow tower:

Week 2 - Updated Video - part 1:

Week 2 - Updated Video - part 2:

Week 2 - Pictures of the Hydroponic Tower System:

5 Week Old Chickens

Chickens are some of the easiest animals to keep. These chickens are still in the garage and under a red heat lamp. They will stay under the lights for another 2 weeks, then I will move their chicken coop out back.

Question: How do you know when to take your chickens out side?

Answer: New baby chicks need to stay at 95 degrees the first week of life. That's why we topically keep chickens under a red heat lamp while they're young. Every week the chicken lives, you can lower that temperature by 5 degrees. ex: week 1 = 95 degrees, week 2 = 90 degrees, week 4 = 80 degrees... Once the temperature outside stays constantly above where the chickens need to be, then you take them outside.

These pictures are of my Ameraucana's:

Notice how the feathers are almost all in and the down feathers are pretty much all gone. By week 5 your chickens are almost out of the awkward teenage state and begin looking like young adult chickens.

 See the pictures of the chickens as new borns HERE!

Weekly Seedling Update - Week 4

Today marks week 4 of my tomato and cucumber seedlings.

Cucumber Plants at week 4:

Roma Tomato Plants at week 4:

Super Sauce Tomato Hybrid: These tomatoes apparently product tomatoes that are meant for saucing. Supposedly 1 tomato is 1 pint of tomato sauce. 

Stop mold from growing in you water tanks

Don't let mold sink the desire to collect rainwater. Below are easy steps to protect valuable rainwater from being clogged with algae.

Steps for covering water tanks. 

Step 1: Get some water totes, These are 275 gallon water totes I purchased on a local classifieds website.

Step 2: Buy some 3.5mm Black Plastic. I purchased this from Home Depot. One 10 x 25 roll was enough to cover 2 totes.

Step 3: Lay out your plastic and set rain tote on its side. You want most of your plastic folds to be done on the bottom side of the tote. This will help prevent water collecting in between the tote and plastic when it rains.

Step 4: Fold the plastic over the tote the same way you would package a Christmas present.

Step 5: Place the tote back into its original cage and cut out an area for the water spout.

Here is the tote all finished. It takes about 10 minutes per tote.

Watch my video to learn the process of covering water totes. This is a great way to keep mold from growing in water tanks.

Weekly Seedling Update - week 3

My plants are really growing well, concidering how I am only using coir fiber and dr. earth fertilizer. We are now at week 3 and wanted to show an update of my seedlings.

Week 3 video update: