Recent content by Big Perm

I tried to make it look as clean as I could. There is a lot going on there. It's all rather simple though, just gravity and a small pump. Retail a system like this is about $1,400. I think I have under $150 in it. A lot of work though, so all that has to be weighed I guess when buying or DIY'ing.

Thank you.  I've been away doing upgrades to my system. Since I was cleaning it and had it empty, I did a few things I have been wanting to do.  The first is I was going to experiment with the waterfall technique to add O2 to the water. I've always used air stones in the past. I decided to add...

Day 5 It's time to transplant the tomatoes. Finally the fun gets to start.     I used coco to sprout them. After the tap root is about 1" long I'transplant them. When the plants get established, this hydroton is small, but at this stage, they are boulders. The small roots need to be touching...

Nice! I like the colors.They are very healthy. Following your grow.

Day 4 Radishes and lettuce  

Most nutes will drop ph. Although something like Dyna-Gro's Pro-TeKt is silicon along with other things like K (0-0-3). It is very alkaline and will raise ph (I actually use it in place of ph up). pH adjustments should be made last because of this.

While doing the defoliation, I clipped off something that would make a great trial, so I'm trying to root it using the Dyna-Gro rooting gel. (I didn't just dip it in there. I cleaned my scissors with alcohol for the cut, then just dipped the scissors in the gel and dabbed it on the stem.)  ...

Here is a rescue plant from elsewhere in the house. It's been neglected (completely forgotten about), so it's been recruited into the Dyna-Gro program. I can use this as an example for defoliating so that we don't have to wait a month for everything else to get to that point.   I cut...

I'd mix up the nutrients in water at about 1/4 strength, then ph it and soak the wool in that. I also just started using Foliage-Pro! Loving it.

  Awesome, thanks! I'm going to flood this thread with pics of everything then.

It will be most easiest to show on the roma tomatoes I have going in. I try to run a flat canopy, so it will be obvious what I have done on those. That way it will be more of a before and after in progress. I will also do it to the pepper plants, though. I'm not sure if people are ok with me...

Soaking for a day so far, they are starting to pop. Along with the peppers are watermelon and cucumber.  

Thank you.  Defoliation is a technique used mostly indoors. The technique varies from person to person, but I trim the leaves off of the bottom 1/3 of the plant. The theory behind it is that indoor lights aren't going to do any good down there in the shadows anyway, so you can free up that plant...

Defoliated a bit.

Thank you! Does your friend do hydroponics also?