Flex Acre Maintenance Schedule
How often to clean, dose, and deep clean your Flex Acre
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.
Your Flex Acre Maintenance Schedule
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.
Twice a Week
We recommend one visit through all 4 tasks, in the order listed above, twice a week.
- Start at your Primary Pump and your timer, as a pump that is not humming makes every reading after it meaningless.
- Rinse your Disc Filter.
- Top off your water, then check your nutrient level and your pH.
- Add Nutrient A and Nutrient B in equal amounts, and pH Down only if you need it.
- Wipe your 40 Light Bars.
- Prune your oldest leaves.
- Check your levels again on your next visit, a few days later.
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.
Every Other Week
- Take your Top Caps off and brush out every hole in both Drip Lines, working away from the pump.
- Watch the water come out of every hole before you set the Top Caps back on.
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.
Every Grow Cycle
A grow cycle runs from your rockwool to your harvest knife.
- Sanitize your rockwool sheets.
- Soak your sheets to a pH of 6.0.
- Sow your seeds at the density your crop asks for.
- Label the tray before you move it.
- Hold the tray in your Flex Micro for typically 2 weeks for greens, 3 to 4 weeks for herbs.
- Prepare your Flex Acre, your cart and your ladder before transplant day.
- Seat 1 rockwool cube per plant space.
- Cut your crop when it is ready.
- Weigh each container before you store it.
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.
Between Crops
A finished harvest opens the between crops window, and we recommend closing it before your next transplant.
- Pull the used rockwool cubes from your Panel wall.
- Clean your Panel wall while it is empty.
- Sanitize your Panel wall once it is clean.
- Clean your Tank Lid.
- Sweep the plant matter off the floor.
- Split that plant matter between compost and trash.
- Set your doors in or out.
- Pull only the Panel Plugs your next crop needs.
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.
Every 1 to 6 Months
- Drain your Tank through the Drain Valve.
- Rinse your pump filter bag.
- Wipe out your Tank and refill it to the MAX line.
- Take a fresh Base Number reading before you dose.
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.
Every Six Months
A deep clean is recommended every 6 months, or when there is significant build-up of plant matter in the Flex Acre.
- Drain your Tank.
- Clean your Tank.
- Sanitize your Tank.
- Scrub both Drip Lines at the sink.
- Take apart your irrigation pipes.
- Hand wash all 128 Panels.
- Scrub all 16 Root Chambers on a clean and sanitized surface.
- Refill your Tank.
- Walk your Flex Acre for leaks.
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!