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hydroponic My dive into hydroponics growing...on the cheap...

McGuiver

McGuiver

Well I picked up some pieces, bucket, net pot bucket lid, and a General Hydroponics kit #4116. I think 4116 is the new number for the kit. I have also seen them with 4115.


Example:
http://www.amazon.com/Farm-Kit-Item-4115-Hydroponics/dp/B0002JAY6E

*****

I have some hydroton already. Just needed the basics.


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I put it all together. And put a seed that was started in a wet paper towel. It is a Carolina Reaper. I also have some in soil. I want to compare how they both do.

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I did use rockwool to hold the seedling in place. I'm new at this hydroponics stuff. Any help or comments are much appreciated. I only put RO water and Cal-Mag plus in until it pops out of its seed coat and gets some roots.

I wanted to conserve electricity and not run another submersible pump. This kit drives the water movement by an air pump.

http://generalhydroponics.com/site/index.php/products/systems/waterfarm/

I just picked up one of their (General Hydroponics) air pumps that was on consignment at a local shop for $25. Great deal. It can feed up to 16 of these bucket systems.

http://generalhydroponics.com/site/index.php/parts/air_water_pumps/dual_diaphragm/
 
I'm all about hydro. You won't be sorry, it is soooo much faster. You just need to watch out for disease. I use beneficial microbes and they work spectacularly. I can give you more details about whatever whenever you're ready. Just hit me up...
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Current seedling hydro setup... 
 
I'm have a feeling hydro will be my new best friend. I love Sunshine #4 potting soil, but it is expensive. I think at least right now I will have both. I will have to ween myself off soil slowly. It is addictive. I love how stuff clones with water. Last year I experimented with Clonex, Root Riots and such. I built a cloner rig last week, and it has been successful. My own version of a EZ-Cloner.

What type of microbes do you use? How do you get them? Is it like sour dough bread? You take a little bit of dough and carry it into the next batch. Do you use previous water as a culture?

*****

Here are my little seedlings for this year. I have 13 more varieties that are coming.

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I use products called "orca" and "aqua shield" along with some worm castings to make a tea in water with sugar, bullion, and flour. I aerate it and culture for at least 48 hours before use, then add it directly to the reservoir. I have never had any disease problems at all when using this combo. 
The microbes in those products are various fungi and bacteria. I wouldn't recommend a sourdough approach but it is definitely possible. I always make a fresh culture and add fresh water to it as I use it over the course of a fee weeks, but I never use the reservoir water. 
 
Thanks, I will try that next go around. I am planning on using the spent water on my Avocado trees outside. I don't think there is anything in there to hurt them. I use coffee grinds from work after they are used on my Avocado trees. The trees love it. It is also good for a compost pile.

I see Botanicare makes Aquashield. I like their stuff. Will have to try.

Thanks for the info. Have seen this at the hydroponics stores but never understood what it was for.
 
Hydro is more addictive than soil imo, so I think your transition will go smoothly :) Once plants are developed, I like to move them to soil and ignore them. But as far as growing from seed goes, you can't beat hydro. If you keep your plants in hydro after they develop, you'll have to pay closet attention to them than you would if they were in soil but you will see the benefits. 
I haven't changed the water in my system for about 2 months. I have just added water and have no intention of changing it in the near future. If your plants a flowering, that is a bit different story, but until then I wouldn't worry about the water too much. I'm any case, it's fine to use the old stuff on soil plants. You do have to be careful with disease of course. 

Also, make sure to get your beneficials in before it gets warm. Once pythium or cyanobacteria set in in a hydro system, you're pretty much screwed. Best to prevent them 
 
Nice to see another hydrofarm bucket convert. I couldn't begin to imagine how many hydroponics veterans first got their feet wet with one of those.
 
I know I did.
 
One of my favorite things about hydro is jerry rigging systems (as you can see from the seedling station :)). I've got some of the pre-fab stuff and kits etc but I find myself using them far less than the stuff I throw together. I've run into a lot of problems that way too, which forced me to learn quite a bit more than I would have otherwise. Eventually, I got to a point where the jerry rigged stuff worked as well or better than the kits, and would have been a hell of a lot cheaper had I not gone through so much trial and error. 
 
impending_bending said:
I use products called "orca" and "aqua shield" along with some worm castings to make a tea in water with sugar, bullion, and flour. I aerate it and culture for at least 48 hours before use, then add it directly to the reservoir. I have never had any disease problems at all when using this combo. 
The microbes in those products are various fungi and bacteria. I wouldn't recommend a sourdough approach but it is definitely possible. I always make a fresh culture and add fresh water to it as I use it over the course of a fee weeks, but I never use the reservoir water.
Click to expand...
While out at lunch, I picked up some Aqua Shield. I will be adding some tonight when I get home. I also picked up some silica. Do you use Silica solution too?

Thanks.
 
I do acknowledge the higher powers, 277v & 480v...

I've had 277vac bite me when I was wiring up a commercial light fixture and someone took my lockout tag off the breaker. They turned on the breaker because the lights were out. I came down from the lift and almost put a hammer to their head. I was going to check for a brain...

277vac sucks. Almost got me. Got to respect the power.
 
Wow. I once modified one of those electric fly swatters and upped it to 3600 volts and turned it into a little stun gun thing. That thing hurt! no current though and was DC. Can't imagine what your little adventure felt like.

Bet you could hook up a hell of a grow light on those lines
 
The fixture I was changing was a 1000 W HID light for a warehouse. Imagine that kind of grow light. These fixtures had their own safety chain too.
 
McGuiver said:
Dang things are multiplying like rabbits.



12 step program for Hydroponics Anonymous.

Step 1 - Admit you have a problem.

I don't have a problem. The buckets just self multiplied.
Click to expand...
 
 
The 12th step is when you get overcome with maintaining 10 buckets constantly and you say F-it and change them all over to a drip system with one common reservoir and drip lines running everywhere.
 
Inside last year.
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Outside last year.
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At this point, I consider myself a recovering bubble bucket addict.
 
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