32 Gallon Non-Circulating (Kratky) build - Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion

Peter S

Peter S

 
This is an experimental build converting a 32-gallon trash can into a non-circulating hyrdoponics (Kratky) system. It's my first attempt at making a Kratky system of this scale. Inspiration came from reading some of the cool things Matt Garver is doing. It's been a week, and has started pushing some roots out of the net pot. Hopefully it will continue to do well.
 
https://youtu.be/SnKriSBNFMY
 
That's pretty cool. Do you ever have to add nutrients? Will that system last the whole summer without a water refill?
 
I'd love to see the roots in that bucket in a month or two!
 
austin87 said:
That's pretty cool. Do you ever have to add nutrients? Will that system last the whole summer without a water refill?
 
I'd love to see the roots in that bucket in a month or two!
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Thanks! This is my first time trying a Kratky system this big, but I think it will last all season without having to add water/nutrients. Check this thread. This is a similar system, but in a 20 gal container, and I think his went the rest of the season.
 
Malarky said:
Awesome setup Peter! Will follow your progress for sure. What kind of sun are you getting there?
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Thanks! I don't know exactly, but where it's at it gets some shade a good part of the day, and full sun maybe 4 or 5 hours. It's in a corner between the house and porch, and the porch blocks direct sunlight until maybe 1:00 or 2:00. As the sun passes over after a few hours, the house starts blocking it.
 
I haven't asked him yet but I suspect MattGarver=DeepRoots here on THP...fwiw.
it doesn't look like he posts here anymore, which is a shame because his grow looks pretty cool.
 
Malarky said:
I haven't asked him yet but I suspect MattGarver=DeepRoots here on THP...fwiw.
it doesn't look like he posts here anymore, which is a shame because his grow looks pretty cool.
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He posts a lot on Google + in the Pepper Lovers community. This is a group started by Khang Starr, you've probably seen his videos on YouTube. Lot of activity going on over there.
 
The 32 gallon setup is out of nutrients. I'm adding a little each day to keep it going until pods ripen. The leaves are showing some weirdness, but I think it's nutrient imbalance from running out of food. The take away from this experiment is to use a bigger container next time :)
 
https://youtu.be/1E2Pw2rRtRY
 
What have the temps been like around the bucket to have it have lasted so long before depleting? Been eyeballing kratky for a while and it seems abysmal in the Texas heat, everything evaps not in full shade, and even then.
 
OCD Chilehead said:
Looks great. Do you foliar feed?

Great videos.
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Nope, I haven't tried that on these.
Jeshwa said:
What have the temps been like around the bucket to have it have lasted so long before depleting? Been eyeballing kratky for a while and it seems abysmal in the Texas heat, everything evaps not in full shade, and even then.
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The temps have been mid to upper 80s at the highest. The temp does seem to affect consumption rate. I'll need a much bigger container for it next year, like maybe 50-90 gallon.
DjPorkchop said:
That is a pretty decent build. I like it! I did not know that net cups came that big.
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Thanks. You can find the net cups many different sizes. I have one bigger than shown in the video. It's probably cheapest to source out a local grow store. It seems like shipping is high on the larger ones online.
Final update on my 32 gallon Kratky setup with the Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion. It ran out of solution a few weeks ago, and I've been supplementing it since to help the remaining pods finish ripening. I decided to pull the plug early, because the leaves were looking really bad. If I grow another similar size pepper this way, I'll need to find a much bigger container for next year. A larger container would hold enough nutrients to make it truly fill and forget. It just takes some trial and error to figure out what size is needed. Ambient temperature seems to affect the rate of consumption, as well as the type of plant. The roots were pretty massive, going from a 3 inch net pot, to an 8 inch net pot, they filled the entire container. The Masterblend/Magnesium Sulfate/Calcium Nitrate nutrient mix did really well.
 
https://youtu.be/8uqOtp7mWf4
 
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