Aerogarden update - early March

It's been about 3 to 4 months since I've started up the tomatoes and the flower 3 pod aerogardens. I've been using an oscillating fan to create enough of a breeze to pollinate the tomato plants. It has been working really well and I have a TON of little cherry tomatoes coming. I'm not sure if I am super anxious because of the suspense of having cherry tomatoes I grew in winter. But...it feels like it is taking forever for them to ripen. I'm almost tempted to pick them and then ripen them on the windowsill like you do with greenies from outside. Must be patient....gardening teaches patience. I'm not following the wise words I constantly tell my clients. :/

Anyway, below are the red cherries on the far left:


Here are my yellow cherries in the middle. The fruit seem smaller than the reds and I am totally chalking that up to difference in cultivars:



The red cherry tomato on the far right hasn't produced any fruit at all...some flowers, but nothing that has gone on to fruit. I think it could be the lights from the 3 pod AG which shut off a lot later than the 7 pod. I wonder if that red guy isn't getting the darkness the other two are. Several weeks ago, I did move the 3 pod closer to my desk and further away from the big AG. I'm curious to see if that 2 foot distance will make a difference.

As I suspected, the house plants I brought downstairs to share the lighting wealth the AG's throw out are happy as clams. I did end up bringing the yellow Moth Orchid down here too because it was suffering from bud blast upstairs. Bud Blast is when buds will start to mature, turn yellow, and then fall off. One of the main causes of bud blast is major swings in temperature. Opening and closing the sliding glass door when it's frigid out and this orchid was the closest to the door. Since it has come down to the basement...I haven't lost any more buds.

As you can see here, the streptocarpus is loving life while leeching off of the extra light:


I've actually had a really nice display of Stock from the 3 pod AG. I just deadheaded it before I snapped the pic here. Now I have some white coming through which is a pleasant surprise. The oscillating fan does move their fragrance around the office and I have moments of where I feel like I'm at the flower show again. :) The petuntias are totally thriving and I'm hoping to see some flowers soon. I did end up pinching it back some after I took these pics because it was starting to get taller than the Stock. I'm sure I did set it back some from pinching off some of the buds. I started to change over the nutrients to support more flowering two weeks ago. Hopefully, I can push things along. The Zinnia I stuck in there is slowly growing but has a bud coming. It's literally 2" tall and looks kind of dumb next to it's neighbors. They got much, much taller in the 7 pod last summer. Whatever. These things are like one huge science experiment...and I find them fascinating.