Bigger. Limper.

These guys just don't stop growing. I was out for about a week, and when I came back the plants were...well, they were bigger. A lot bigger. I don't know what I expected, but they're really getting pretty sizeable. You don't need me to point out where they are in the picture anymore.

But the bigger they get, the crappier they look. Look at this pathetic specimen. The stem gives practically no vertical support. Its posture is so bad, it's slouching away from the light. And the leaves are limp as wet dishrags. 

The other one's no better.

There's absolutely no sign that these things plan to bear fruit. (Their sibling at home, in an Earthbox in the actual sun, is going nuts with flowers.) I've put in the webbing system (EarthBox calls it a staking system, but it's really more of a webbing) to which I'll strap these sad, flaccid specimens and hope for the best.

A couple possible fixes: 1) The obvious: more light. I'm tempted to throw a few compact fluorescents at them. Sinking big money into another high-power LED seems like overkill. 2) A bigger fan. Maybe that would help stiffen up the impotent foliage.

On the brighter side, the lettuce has gone completely bonkers in my absence.

Both containers are completely full. So, it's harvest time!

I got quite a decent salad out of this first trimming! And it was tasty...if kinda limp. There's that word again. I think those fans aren't cutting it.

Last time, I tried calculating when the cubicle farm would break even based on what I'm not spending on spring mix from Whole Foods at $5.99/lb. This particular salad weighed in at 7/8 oz. That means I saved...33 cents. Yep. One third of one Yankee greenback. Let's not talk about what this experiment has cost so far.

I take some solace from the fact that I can cut another one tomorrow, from the as-yet un-harvested second tray. And we'll see what's grown back by next week.

Growing? Definitely. Thriving? Well...

The cherry tomatoes have continued their remarkable growth. Here they are last Tuesday:

And today:

They're still leggy, though. Look at how much space there is between branches.

(Abid Aslam at the International Food Policy Research Institute pointed out that leggy tomatoes could be a good thing, but only if you're talking about women.)

The leaves are pretty limp, too, even though I've got the fan on them 24-7 in an attempt to toughen them up. Still, onward we go.

Across the cubicle, the lettuce is coming along, too. Here's the first batch, planted about three weeks ago, out from under the grow lights:

And here's the second batch, planted about two weeks ago:

Leggy: good for blondes, not tomatoes

The cherry tomatoes are growing pretty remarkably. You couldn't even really see them in the picture taken last Thursday:

But now...well...if you squint, you can kinda see them...they're those things in the corners. See?

Alright, they're not huge. But it's still pretty impressive, for a long weekend's worth of growth, don'tcha think? I was pretty amazed when I came in this morning.

I'm a bit worried, though, that even 90W of LED power isn't enough for them. This seedling's looking a bit leggy. 

Maybe I'm just being an overly attentive parent. Maybe it's just going through an awkward phase. But its sister doesn't look so lanky. Why can't you be more like your sister?

 

Across the cube, the lettuce has sprouted and is on its way. I took this picture right after watering. It's kinda pathetic what happens to seedlings at this stage. A gentle soaking will knock them over.

It's partly because they're inside. If they were outside and had to contend with breezes, they'd develop stronger stems. I've bought some fans to get some airflow on them, and the cherry tomatoes, too. Not sure it really matters for the lettuce, but weak stems on a tomato plant might have more severe consequences. Might the stems snap under the weight of the tomatoes? I don't really know, but it seems like a reasonable precaution to get a breeze on them.