At Mawson we are lucky enough to have a hydroponics building to grow fresh fruit and vegetables throughout the year. Once everything is happy and growing, the system only requires minor daily maintenance, but at least once a year the whole arrangement needs to be torn down and cleansed. This year we walked into a hydro setup that was full of plants producing at their peak.
Since taking over we have harvested:
- 7050 g of bok and pak choy
- 2160 g of snow peas
- 2810 g of rocket
- 460 g of lettuce
- 4130 g of ripe tomatoes
- 410 g of butter beans
- 280 g of parsley
- 190 g of dil
- 20 g of chives
- 150 g of chard
- 380 g of basil
- 30 g oregano
- 3830 g of green tomatoes
That’s 22 kg of produce in four weeks! Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. Rather than let the existing crop run its course we decided to get the 12 month clean-out over and done with to avoid having it fall due during the middle of winter.
So, on Friday the thirteenth, we tore it all down. I had already harvested the majority of the useful produce in anticipation of the clean-out, but held out until the very last day to take the tomato plants down in the (unfulfilled) hope that they would ripen. The first step on Friday morning was to remove all the greenery to dry for improved incineration. Once it was all extracted from the building, all the portable equipment was dragged out and down to the dieso’s workshop to be pressure washed, and scrubbed, with a mild bleach solution. Everything remaining inside the hydro building, including the walls, was also bleached.
Late on Saturday, I planted the first seeds of our new crop — lettuces, rocket, spinach, snow peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, basil, coriander, mint, parsley — and have just seen them starting to germinate.
The next steps are to rebuild the plumbing puzzle inside. Watch this space!
