Hydroponic Growing

[shirehorse99]

2 cherry tomato, 2 cucumber and 2 sweet peppers in bucket system.

all chillies in the floor NFT system

and 3 toms in the earth bed

[shirehorse99]

I also have a flood/drain system which will be filled with lettuce/pak choi/leafy greens

[shirehorse99]

Cucumber after 2 weeks

[shirehorse99]

chillies topped for branching out

[shirehorse99]

new upgrades have been added to the system - auto reservoir top-up from 50 gallon barrel, and moisture sensors in tubs connected to home assistant to automate pump for watering rather than timed watering cutting energy costs.

[Fintray]

All looking well there especially the cucumbers.

[shirehorse99]

it will be in the rafters by the end of June I reckon

a couple of lettuce and some spring onions going into the DWC dutch buckets soon as a trial - these would be better suited to NFT though

[shirehorse99]

the different systems for hydroponics





I have systems A,B,C & D, they have different use cases.

system a for greens like pakchoi, lettuce, chillis etc
b, I used for root cuttings and herbs and chillis
d is used for the big boys, peppers, toms, aubergine, cucumbers, melons


and i grew a banana plant in system c last yr which grew to 8ft but didn't fruit

these systems don't use soil at all and can be used year round indoors, can be scaled up or down as required. best production per sq/m and least use of water per sq/m

[cojmh]

Hi SH,

Very interesting - I have mentioned before that I would love to get an operational system "f" in the future but it is a long way down the road.

I am thinking I might give a small system a go in a dedicated cold frame - I have quite a bit of wood left over from construction (which is still on-going) but your results are tempting me. I had a few questions if I might?

1. Is the aeration needed for the nutrient solution?
2. What nutrient solution do you use and how do you calculate the concentration?
3. Is it vermiculite that you are using as the medium to hold the plants in your 10 pot deep water system?
4. You mention in the 10 pot system that you run for 2 mins every 30 mins .... Does the water drain back anywhere?

Thanks and sorry for all the questions.

[shirehorse99]

hey cojmh,

1/ yes a small air pump and airstone setup in the reservoir tank just to oxygenate and keep algae away

2/ I use a 2 part solution called Hydrocrop from amazon £18 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hydrocrop-Comp ... 9hdGY&th=1 - lasts me full growing season and my system is quite large. used a TDS/PH meter from amazon as well to measure nutrient levels - something like this - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flintronic-Acc ... 1-7there's loads of info online regarding nutrient levels for each plant. just use half strength , no need for full strength

3/ yes some pots are just vermiculite and other pots are just coco-coir , both seem to produce good crops in DWC

4 / yes each pot has a pipe about 1 inch from the bottom which is returned via a return pipe back to the tank. the 1inch gap leaves a little reservoir in bucket incase of pump failure.
you can buy these buckets on amazon pre-made- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Toddmomy-Suppl ... tdGY&psc=1

I have seen people 3d print these dutch buckets if you have a 3d printer.

feel free to ask guys - happy to help


I would start small first - 1 bucket kratky system - just a bucket and nutrient and airstone - like this -https://www.instructables.com/Kratkys-n ... droponics/