Updated
Your Flex Acre tasks run twice a week, every other week, every grow cycle, between crops, every 1 to 6 months and every 6 months.
Follow the instructions in this article to plan every recurring task on your Flex Acre, from the twice-weekly visit through the deep clean. Each row below links to its full procedure.
We recommend the schedule below as your starting point.
NOTE: Every interval here is a recommendation. Your crop and your water may pull a task earlier.
We recommend one visit through all 4 tasks, in the order listed above, twice a week.
Keep your Tank (the water reservoir) at about 3 inches below the top, roughly 80 gallons, so your pump always has water to draw from. Spray your towel, not your Light Bars, as the light system is not waterproof. Your Primary Pump runs 24 hours a day. Only your Light Bars run on a timer, and they run 18 continuous hours per day, 16 hours at minimum, so reset your timer pins to that schedule any time you clear them for a check.
This is the short ladder pass that keeps water reaching your whole wall. If your Flex Acre has a green inline filter your holes stay cleaner and this comes around less often. The full scrub at the sink belongs to the twice-a-year reset.
A grow cycle runs from your rockwool to your harvest knife.
We recommend holding your leafy greens in your Flex Micro (the smaller unit your seedlings grow in until they are big enough for the wall) for typically 2 weeks from the planting date, and your herbs for typically 3 to 4 weeks. Your humidity domes come off inside that window rather than at the end of it, once about 90 percent of your seeds have germinated, which is roughly 5 to 7 days in for lettuce. Lettuce and herbs run the same loop, and each one carries its own seeding density, its own transplant spacing, and its own storage. Follow the crop headings in the linked articles rather than reading across them.
A finished harvest opens the between crops window, and we recommend closing it before your next transplant.
Clean your Panel wall before you sanitize it, as peroxide cannot reach through what the scrubbing left behind. The gaps between Panels and the plant spaces are reachable only with the used rockwool cubes out, which is why this window closes before your next transplant. Plant matter, stems and roots go in your compost bin, and used rockwool cubes go in the garbage.
How often you refresh depends on your own tap water. Softer water at 0 to 100 PPM runs 5 to 6 months, 100 to 200 PPM runs 3 to 4 months, and anything above 200 PPM needs it sooner. This is a drain and a refill, not a teardown.
A deep clean is recommended every 6 months, or when there is significant build-up of plant matter in the Flex Acre.
Your Panels finish in the dishwasher, which is our preferred way to sanitize all 128 of them. Every disc comes out of your Disc Filter for its own scrub, and your pipes and fittings come apart for the same treatment. Your irrigation goes back together as your Tank refills, and both Drip Lines go back on last. Plan the deep clean for a between crops window, as nothing stays on the wall.
Your Flex Acre calendar is now set. Well done!
Next: Keeping your Flex Acre Clean