[Lab] micro agriculture

[Darcy Whyte]

I had started a project thinking I'd make a hydroponic system.
http://inventorartist.com/cilantro-matic/

I wound up making a vermicompost so I can make soil instead.
http://inventorartist.com/vermicomposting/

That seems to make more sense since we're just turning table scraps to soil
then back to food. The vermi also eats newsprint, junk mail and all sorts
of other stuff so it's really cool.

Kevin from the Arduino meetups has been talking up the idea of making an
automatic watering system for plants.

He gave me a senor to stick in the soil (to measure resistance) and I was
thinking of getting going on that project.

For figuring out when to water I was thinking that just a timer might be
enough. I'm not convinced we can know enough about the soil by measuring
resistance in one spot.

What about weight? Some peiso elecrics can detect pressure. When the plant
receives water you can see it taper off in the weight so we know what's
going on. And it's all relative measurement so the weight of the plant and
other stuff isn't needed.

Any thoughts on that?

I just got some mint seeds in the mail so I was starting to think about
this.

Also, my hot chili peppers are giving seeds now. If anybody wants any seeds
let me know. I've already germinated a few and they seem to come up pretty
fast. These peppers grow fast and are very robust. They also taste great!
There's nothing like always having fresh hot chili peppers on hand.

I've not figured out how to successfully pollinate and get the seeds from
the basil yet. I think I have to set plants aside for that and let them
blossom (snipping blossoms on the ones that get harvested)...




--
Darcy Whyte

Art+ inventorArtist.com <http://inventorartist.com/> | Aviation
rubber-power.com
Contact: darcy at inventorArtist.com | 613-563-3634 by appointment (no text)
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