This is the result of my first timelapse effort, in an attempt to document the first real grow in the system. The quality leaves something to be desired, but it does give some feel for how the plants grew. You may be able to spot the coriander looking less than ideal; an issue I have documented a bit below. Changes that I introduced after the first grow look to have improved the conditions for growing sensitive herbs like coriander.

I will briefly note the main changes here. The light schedule was shifted from 7am - 10pm to 8am to 8pm, reducing the number of light-on hours from 15 to 12. I also reduced the intensity of the lighting from positions in the range 50-75% (I was fiddling with this and adjusting it, probably more than I should have), down to around 30%. I have been manually turning on the fan for relatively short periods to get some air moving through the plants, particularly if I have noticed any buildup of water underneath the leaves, which happened occasionally on the basil plants. Finally, I added a “mycorhizal” supplement to the nutrient solution, after noting some browning of some of the roots, and also a white fungus growing on the outside of all of the root riot plugs that I am using as the support medium at the moment.

Again - I have not really followed a proper version of the scientific method, having changed multiple things at once. However, the overall effect has been very much in a positive direction. My current grow is focussing on coriander and dill, two relatively delicate herbs that will require careful management of the conditions to get good quality growth. This should be another good test of the current set-up and hopefully I will be able to make further improvements… :)