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If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.
Anyone tried/using the Tower Garden
- Thread starter rlslmshdy
- Start date
Here's a product, in production, near where I grew up in Lancaster County.rlslmshdy said:
https://lancasteronline.com/business/local_business/gap-firm-branches-out-to-sell-no-soil-growing-systems/article_5126de1c-3c38-11e5-a672-47221316e7de.html
midwestchilehead
Extreme Member
I have one. Things grow a lot faster in them, but I don't really think they are that great for peppers and other veggies. They are killer for things like leaf lettuce and other greens.
Popular in the uk for hydroponic shops poping up, converting old stores to vertical growing.
I got one from a friend at work cheap about 4 years ago. Added it to my setup.
Its aeroponics, basically a res at the bottom with a pump, pushes water up the center tube into a strainer looking thing. Its a plastic plate with lots of holes in it. The solution/water just runs down through the holes into the next level and the same thing with the holes offset.
They come 5 tiers high for 20 plants and you can buy an extension for 2 more tiers(8 more plants).
Having said all that, I love mine. I also have a home made nft and a few GH Power Grower drips and of course a few in ground every year. The Tower seems slightly faster growing than the others, but not by much. Yield seems to be about the same and that stuff is really more dependent on where I locate it in my backyard.
Ive never used their brand nutes so cant comment on that.
What this is better for is one reason: large amount of plants in a small space. How else can you put 28 plants in a 3 x 3 square in your yard or patio? For some, thats the driving reason. For me, its just kind of cool as another way to grow. It started as a novelty but now Im using it just as much as my home made 20 long nft
Its aeroponics, basically a res at the bottom with a pump, pushes water up the center tube into a strainer looking thing. Its a plastic plate with lots of holes in it. The solution/water just runs down through the holes into the next level and the same thing with the holes offset.
They come 5 tiers high for 20 plants and you can buy an extension for 2 more tiers(8 more plants).
Having said all that, I love mine. I also have a home made nft and a few GH Power Grower drips and of course a few in ground every year. The Tower seems slightly faster growing than the others, but not by much. Yield seems to be about the same and that stuff is really more dependent on where I locate it in my backyard.
Ive never used their brand nutes so cant comment on that.
What this is better for is one reason: large amount of plants in a small space. How else can you put 28 plants in a 3 x 3 square in your yard or patio? For some, thats the driving reason. For me, its just kind of cool as another way to grow. It started as a novelty but now Im using it just as much as my home made 20 long nft
I usually grow mine until the first set of true leaves are fully grown, the ones that look like the normal plant leaves. Cant really say based on height of the plant at early stage (in my opinion- but even after years of growing and quite a few years on here, I learn new things all the time) height really is more dependent on lighting distance above my germ station in my experience. Theres other stuff that affects height, but I just see the biggest influence on mine is how far away, intensity, and time on of the light does the most.
Oh if you bought seedlings then when they come take them out of the box and leave them a little shady at first gradually getting them to full sun. After a few days the shock should be ok to ,well, shock them again a little.
In the shade or at dusk, just gently rinse the roots under a garden hose until pretty clean. If mine are too big i just cut a holr in the netpot and feed the roots through it. I split rockwell cubes and wrap it around them to hold tight in the netpots.
Might be better ways but thats what works for me.
Oh and start with only 1/4 of the nute strength first souple weeks then go up to normal a week then your good to go aggressive on the nitrogen grow part just watch the tds.
Your gonna love that thing.
In the shade or at dusk, just gently rinse the roots under a garden hose until pretty clean. If mine are too big i just cut a holr in the netpot and feed the roots through it. I split rockwell cubes and wrap it around them to hold tight in the netpots.
Might be better ways but thats what works for me.
Oh and start with only 1/4 of the nute strength first souple weeks then go up to normal a week then your good to go aggressive on the nitrogen grow part just watch the tds.
Your gonna love that thing.
thats fine. I bought some seedlings to make up for me giving away a bunch of my starters at work. Just wash the roots under a hose until they are pretty flean. Handle them gently and keep the roots out of the sun. The gentle is stated but to be honest Ive dropped them before, had the hose too strong before, set them in the sun before... all over the years even though I try not to, and except for an occasional fatality, mine do fine.
Don't stress too much over it.
The main thing is dont go full strength on the nutes at first and watch the ph. Try to get it around 6. In past years Ive had great luck at solid 5.7 and other years Ive had great luck at 6.2/6.3.
I experiment every year and so far, just like Ive read, anything from 5.5 to 6.5 is probably fine.
Heres a pic before I added 2 more sections on top about 2 weeks after transplant. 7 of the 20 are from dirt. Cant tell which, they are all doing great. Color is better now but I always have them get slightly lighter green the first week or two.
Don't stress too much over it.
The main thing is dont go full strength on the nutes at first and watch the ph. Try to get it around 6. In past years Ive had great luck at solid 5.7 and other years Ive had great luck at 6.2/6.3.
I experiment every year and so far, just like Ive read, anything from 5.5 to 6.5 is probably fine.
Heres a pic before I added 2 more sections on top about 2 weeks after transplant. 7 of the 20 are from dirt. Cant tell which, they are all doing great. Color is better now but I always have them get slightly lighter green the first week or two.
I goofed with a home made vertical grow back when I lived in a condominium. It was potting soil, more like a really large Roman strawberry pot but from PVC. The best part was that it was impossible to over water and near impossible to under water. Too much water would run out the bottom. The central core held enough moisture that it wouldnt mind much if you missed watering. Unlike the terracotta strawberry pots, the sides do not breath so the soil did not dry out fast at all.
Thing is, if you are like me you gotta stop and ask why now and then. Don't get me wrong, I love goofing with things just for fun. But vertical gardening is more about saving space than anything else. The improved speed folk report is no doubt from being a hydroponic or aquaponic set up, not from growing vertically. Seems to me the same money could go much further with a traditional horizontal grow if a person has the space.
Thing is, if you are like me you gotta stop and ask why now and then. Don't get me wrong, I love goofing with things just for fun. But vertical gardening is more about saving space than anything else. The improved speed folk report is no doubt from being a hydroponic or aquaponic set up, not from growing vertically. Seems to me the same money could go much further with a traditional horizontal grow if a person has the space.
Yep AJ, you got it exactly. Its just space saving. Many plants in a 3ft square.
They grow to full potential too. I have to rig up some dacron line to keep the trunks from breaking though despite the tomato cage ring thingy.
As for nutes, Ive never even tried their home brand. I got mine cheap second hand and just went jungle juice then GH Flora with cal-mag supplements and some other minor supplements when blooming.
I use basically 123 method: 123, 222, 321 teaspoons per gal (5ml = ~ 1 tsp) of bloom/micro/growth then go up as much on tds as the plants will tolerate to push it. i really push the nitrogen (growth) about 1-3 months in.
If I just went with the standard 123 it would work fine, just not as explosive growth or as big of yields.
They grow to full potential too. I have to rig up some dacron line to keep the trunks from breaking though despite the tomato cage ring thingy.
As for nutes, Ive never even tried their home brand. I got mine cheap second hand and just went jungle juice then GH Flora with cal-mag supplements and some other minor supplements when blooming.
I use basically 123 method: 123, 222, 321 teaspoons per gal (5ml = ~ 1 tsp) of bloom/micro/growth then go up as much on tds as the plants will tolerate to push it. i really push the nitrogen (growth) about 1-3 months in.
If I just went with the standard 123 it would work fine, just not as explosive growth or as big of yields.