Roma Tomatoes - Day 20

So it is now day 20 on the Roma tomatoes.   It keeps getting bigger but I am thinking the 10W 6500K bulb may be too little.  Last Monday night I changed the nutrient solution to the 'mid growth' formulation.   Looking at pictures it seems to be growing 1/8-1/4" a day.   A time lapse video is on the way.




One thing I have been concerned with is what is this costing me in electricity?  So enter the Kill A Watt P3 meter.




This is an excellent little tool that will measure the power usage of whatever is plugged into.  Plug it into a DVD or BluRay player and watch how much power is used while it is turned OFF.  So this meter was plugged into the bubble bucket about 8.5 days ago, 206 hours to be exact.  With the Elite 801 air pump running 24x7 and the 10 watt Ultra Sun 6500K CFL bulb and timer it has used 2.02 kilowatts.  The current this system draws is about .15 amps.  My electricity comes from Lee County Electric Co-Op and with taxes costs an average of 12 cents a kilowatt hour.  That means to run this system in its current configuration for one week is about 20 cents.  For about 80 cents in a electricity a month is not that bad!  At under $30 this meter is money well spent.


Lettuce Day 10

Things are not going well for this. The lettuce is growing and the nutrients will be changed tonight.  Thus far the roots have not penetrated the bottom of the rockwool cube.   It seems the roots are pushing the seedling out of the cube.  The hood was moved closer to the plant but it just may be not enough lumen.




But I will press on with this one.   It may have been started wrong or multiple other things. Comments would be appreciated.   Thanks.