So I'll start with an explanation of what I have going on at the moment and then catch up on some pics a little bit at a time seeing it takes so long to get them downsized and uploaded.
At the moment I am growing 18 ed bell peppers by the name of "Sprinter" from Johnny's Select Seeds. For Spring/Summer crops I use a drain to waste system with rock wool slabs. The waste water does have a catchment system with pvc I ran underground that drains into a 20gal rubbermaid trash can that I recycle on house plants and potted plants. During the Summer/Fall/Winter crops I use a recycled system with pure perlite. I also only use perlite for all my potted and house plants. The reason for the Drain to Waste during Summer is simply for disease prevention and its very hard to keep a rez cool in Florida. Also, while recycling nutrient waste is becoming more popular in commercial greenhouses I simply don't have the means of control like they do and I would like to keep things as consistent as I possibly can. I have a 32 gal Rubbermaid trash can buried in the ground and it keeps it about 12 degrees cooler during the summer and warmer in the winter. During winter I can get away with recycling the water cause i can keep the rez at a constant 68f and nothing nasty grows and disease pressure is way down. I don't use beneficials in my rez, instead I go a sterile route alternating Dutch Master Zone/ and CL.
Everything is on a drip system with a timer on 1/2 gal/H emitters and once things are in full swing they get watered for 2 min up to 10 times a day. Even more when I'm using perlite. In the past I have used ebb & flow buckets but now I just stick with dippers. For Fertilizers I am lucky enough to live about 20 miles from Southern Ag in Florida. I use 8-16-36 Hydroponic Veg Special (25lbs. for $19) and Calcium Nitrate (50lbs. for $23) and Magnesium Sulfate (50lbs for $15). I have enough ferts for 5 years of constant growing. I also use water strait out of the tap with a starting ppm of 300. As you can obviously tell I don't grow organically unless it comes to sprays which I hate but I do live in Florida and the bugs are BAD BAD BAD...
I do start all my seeds indoors under Philips Gen2 production led lights with ebb/flow trays. I start all pepper/tom/cuc seeds in 1.5in x 1.5in rock wool individual plugs and then into either 4x4x2.5 or 3x3x2.5 Delta grow blocks. I like this system as it has worked out very well for me.
Anyway, I just wanted to lay the foundation of what I use and system specs. I'm sure I forgot something but if it's important I'l remember. Now on to the current grow pics. Ill start with the seeds and then on to where I am today. My advanced apologies for the pics of lettuce in there, I start all the seeds in the same system.
All seeds were started on 2/2/16 and all cracked by the 2/10/16. I had the seeds on a heat mat that was set to keep a constant temp of 85f and got watered with plain tap water 1 time every 2 days until cracked to keep up with evaporation. Once I saw leaves 1g of the fert mix was added per gal. Once first true leaves fully expanded I bumped up to 1 E.C.(500ppm) and after the 2nd true leaves 1.5 E.C. I have kept a constant PH of 5.5 and let it swing up to 5.8. Then the addition of phosphoric acid to lower it back to 5.5. I realize this all sounds pretty anal but I am trying to create a commercial type bell pepper production house on a very small scale so I am attempting to do everything they would do.
If you read this, Ill be right back. Uploading pics now... Will edit this post.
At the moment I am growing 18 ed bell peppers by the name of "Sprinter" from Johnny's Select Seeds. For Spring/Summer crops I use a drain to waste system with rock wool slabs. The waste water does have a catchment system with pvc I ran underground that drains into a 20gal rubbermaid trash can that I recycle on house plants and potted plants. During the Summer/Fall/Winter crops I use a recycled system with pure perlite. I also only use perlite for all my potted and house plants. The reason for the Drain to Waste during Summer is simply for disease prevention and its very hard to keep a rez cool in Florida. Also, while recycling nutrient waste is becoming more popular in commercial greenhouses I simply don't have the means of control like they do and I would like to keep things as consistent as I possibly can. I have a 32 gal Rubbermaid trash can buried in the ground and it keeps it about 12 degrees cooler during the summer and warmer in the winter. During winter I can get away with recycling the water cause i can keep the rez at a constant 68f and nothing nasty grows and disease pressure is way down. I don't use beneficials in my rez, instead I go a sterile route alternating Dutch Master Zone/ and CL.
Everything is on a drip system with a timer on 1/2 gal/H emitters and once things are in full swing they get watered for 2 min up to 10 times a day. Even more when I'm using perlite. In the past I have used ebb & flow buckets but now I just stick with dippers. For Fertilizers I am lucky enough to live about 20 miles from Southern Ag in Florida. I use 8-16-36 Hydroponic Veg Special (25lbs. for $19) and Calcium Nitrate (50lbs. for $23) and Magnesium Sulfate (50lbs for $15). I have enough ferts for 5 years of constant growing. I also use water strait out of the tap with a starting ppm of 300. As you can obviously tell I don't grow organically unless it comes to sprays which I hate but I do live in Florida and the bugs are BAD BAD BAD...
I do start all my seeds indoors under Philips Gen2 production led lights with ebb/flow trays. I start all pepper/tom/cuc seeds in 1.5in x 1.5in rock wool individual plugs and then into either 4x4x2.5 or 3x3x2.5 Delta grow blocks. I like this system as it has worked out very well for me.
Anyway, I just wanted to lay the foundation of what I use and system specs. I'm sure I forgot something but if it's important I'l remember. Now on to the current grow pics. Ill start with the seeds and then on to where I am today. My advanced apologies for the pics of lettuce in there, I start all the seeds in the same system.
All seeds were started on 2/2/16 and all cracked by the 2/10/16. I had the seeds on a heat mat that was set to keep a constant temp of 85f and got watered with plain tap water 1 time every 2 days until cracked to keep up with evaporation. Once I saw leaves 1g of the fert mix was added per gal. Once first true leaves fully expanded I bumped up to 1 E.C.(500ppm) and after the 2nd true leaves 1.5 E.C. I have kept a constant PH of 5.5 and let it swing up to 5.8. Then the addition of phosphoric acid to lower it back to 5.5. I realize this all sounds pretty anal but I am trying to create a commercial type bell pepper production house on a very small scale so I am attempting to do everything they would do.
If you read this, Ill be right back. Uploading pics now... Will edit this post.
