Here it is a week later:
A close up of its first tendril:
The first bud followed the first tendril by 3 days and opened the following day:
Someone asked about my method of draining the liquid solution out using this set-up. In the photo below you can see the water draining out of the okra container. This is another reason I like to use square containers. I make sure the holes are near the center of the one container, so that the water flows straight down into the other and doesn't make a mess:
Here is my parts list:
1. 2-pack set of square see-through containers with press-on lids. Clear containers allow you to see the fill level and the condition of the roots and nutrient solution.
2. 1 slightly larger square opaque container. The one pictured is a pop-open fabric closet organizer. I have also found nice plastic planter boxes in this size at the dollar stores. The reason for an opaque container is to discourage algae from growing on the inside of the clear containers and on the rocks and roots of the plants.
3. Hydroton grow rocks. These were not available locally, so I bought them from an internet seller. Shipping cost more than the product, but they are rocks after all. Since they are reusable, they were still well worth the price.
4. Liquid nutrient solution. For this experiment I am using the nutrient tablets provided in AeroGrow's Master Gardener Kit, mixed with filtered water.
5. One or more small plants that have been grown from seeds or rooted from cuttings. The plant I used in this illustration is a Sumter cucumber grown from a ten-cent sale seed packet. I planted the seeds with the help of AeroGrow's Master Gardener Kit, which contained a little plastic snap-apart basket, a grow sponge, write-on label, and a small plastic dome, all used to germinate the seeds.
Instead of nesting two containers, I could have installed a spigot near the bottom of one of them to facilitate draining. I'll post about that method soon.
I wanted to test the theory that when the period of daylight is over eleven hours these plants produce only male flowers. It must be true, as this one which I kept next to the bright lamps of my AeroGarden Deluxe, which automatically cycle on for 18 hours a day has been continually making little boy flowers for almost a month now and not a single little girl flower. This did not upset me, because I've been eating the extra blossoms. Mmmmm, good!
My next experiment is to see if the same plant, if placed in a setting where it is exposed to shorter "daylight" hours, will then begin producing female flowers or if it is "ruined." Not to worry, I have another plant outside already and a few younger plants ready to take out of the AG's grow holes, in case this one is spoiled.
I also want to know whether longer periods of light would keep parthenocarpic varieties from blooming and why or why not.
