• Do you need help identifying a 🌶?
    Is your plant suffering from an unknown issue? 🤧
    Then ask in Identification and Diagnosis.

Anyone use NFT or Flood and Drain?

Wildfire Chilli Australia

Wildfire Chilli Australia

Well I have moved all of my plants out of the hydro room as it was getting too hot in there now and there isn't enough ventilation. Also a bit difficult to water a few hundred pots everyday. I will use this mainly for winter.
I have them in a shade house atm still in pots with coco.

My problem is it still takes me awhile to water them and I have no where left to plant in the ground and set up retic. I would like to continue feeding them nutrients and want to avoid potting them on so wouldn't want to use drippers.

I was considering using a flood and drain or NFT system. However I am concerned of something stopping and then all the plants dry out and die and have also heard about with NFT the last few plants don't get very good nutrients because the ones at the start get them all first. I would need a few tables as I would probably plant about 100. Do you use usual spacing like in the ground or can you have them closer together?

I take it that it will be ok to put them in even though they have been in coco or will it block things up in pipes?

Any suggestions or previous experiences would be quite helpful before I make up my mind or should I just bite the bullet and pot them and use a dripping system?
Thanks
 
So you want to remove them from their pots, wash them off and put them onto a table?

As for spacing I would stick to how far you do in pots due to the size they grow. Nft works well, you can make a table using some ply with some corrugated plastic roof sheets. You are unlikely to block pipes in nft as the size of the delivery pipe - unlike drippers.

Get yourself an adjustable pump as you only need a trickle, and build a delivery manifold to give you solution down each channel on the roof sheet.

You need to cover the roots somehow so they don't go brown.


I would of thought your best option would be to repot up into coco and put them on the table with drippers.

Like so,

index.php
 
It probably is the best to pot them up but I just wanted to avoid that and also when they are small and in coco they are so light that the pots fall over all the time unless I put them in trays or try and get clips or something.

With the NFT I was actually wondering if I would need to rinse off the coco or if I can just put them straight in with the clay rocks? Did you find that the last plant did as ok as the first ones?

I couldn't see your picture by the way and the forum wants me to register to see it.
 
I will host it myself on photobucket for you.


You will need to wash as much coco off as possible but at least its inert unlike soil and won't cause any problems.

the flow isn't really enough to wash much coco down and most filters have a sponge filter on them to stop stray objects.

What were your ideas for housing the plants on the nft table and covering roots? You mentioned expanded clay?

Chris
 
To tell you the truth I havent given it much thought just wanted some ideas from everyone. I would probably use expanded clay or perhaps perlite if possible, haven't researched it to much and dont know a lot on the subject. Am pretty new to Hydroponics.

I have seen the setups where they are enclosed channels with holes for the plants and you use the expanded clay in it. Also seen the tables where they plant them in with the clay and flood it then drain it. The particular one that I saw was a hydro shop near me that actually planted my seeds and plants in there that I donated and used aquaponics so the fish would fertilise the plants. For this I know they had to wash off the soil from the plants but is it really necessary to get rid of all the coco since it doesnt really contain anything or is the idea to spread the roots a bit more?

What do you think the pros and cons are of each set up?
Sorry for the million questions.

It may actually be possible that I could use some of the land at the nursery I work at. I had asked last year when I worked there and they said yes but then I left for another job. Now I'm back again I will give it a bit and wait for the right time to ask again. Then I can just set up sprinklers there.
 
Your right its not totally necessary to remove all coco.

Here is a flood and drain set up from a member of another forum

bluesman said:
I have just a couple of pics of the ebb system but in short; 2 buckets (used in mixing plaster for bricks). Upper one is 90 litres and the reservoir is 65. An aquariumpump 5W is pumping nutrient water 3-5 times a day for 4 mins (with a timer of course) and it´s obviously enough for the plants to have enough fluid. The puff clay(or whatnot) is not for gardening purposes, I bought the cheapest clay from a hardwar store. Mistake No1; the size is too small; the propeller in the pump got sometimes jammed so if you use such a material, it should be sieved into at leat 7-8mm diameter size.
I tried to find proper photos but none showed the connection between the two trays or buckets.
8143010478552664201web_0.jpg

Here I´m trying to achieve proper pH by adding citric acid and mixing clay in water and waiting.... and mixing again.
22 ebbs, huh! 600 litres of clay. But it is cheaper than hydro clay 9€/23€ (in Finland).
8143010478555960031web_0.jpg

The hose (the white thing that goes through the box) is from Biltema boat accessories section,€1,60 each. A flexible garden pipe is not good for the exess water, it should be electric pipe 16-19mm, stiff, tip stuck with mosquito net.
The supporting 2"x4" are straight on top of the lower reso, the resos are nonmovable after you put the plants in.
8143010478555960019web_0.jpg

The nutrient solution should be shielded from light. I was so hasty to see chilis growing that I just put black tar paper (used in buildings). Mistake No2. Not very handy, difficult to keep straight, always dropping away and getting moist and then swimming in the reso. Next season different cover system. Here is 12 cm spce between the reso and the growing box, you can move the reso for cleaning.
8143010478555496403web_0.jpg

You must have some habaneros in your bedroom so you don´t miss them too much. The picture is from 10 days ago.
This week I´ll cut them down and collect the last crop. These will live as bonchis (hopefully).
Thank you everybody for interest and greetings, it will add extra power to try some difficult ones next season.
Click to expand...
 
I made my own using allibert boxes (like a curver box).

If you're worried about electricity failures you can always buy a cheap UPS (universal power supply). Those small pumps use nearly no electricity at all so it can run of the ups for days. But I wouldn't worry too much about it. Because I've made an error before (accidently pressing button on timer where it ignores the programmed cycle, so not working) and I noticed after 2 days. Plants didn't die nor wilt, they just stopped growing and that's when I noticed, because they were growing fast before.

You can put plants a lot closer in a hydro system. How close depends on the variety of course.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top