Best Hydroponics for Peppers???

AJ Drew

AJ Drew

In another thread, someone said that with proper hydroponics a person can grow super hots from seed to pod in 3 months.  Makes me wonder, what is proper hydroponics for peppers?  Seems like its own thread, so here it is.

Just watched a video on a floating raft system.  I am at a loss to understand how it works because there is no bubbler.  Instead, it is a 4 x 8 sheet of Styrofoam with holes for the cups / plants that just floats in the nutrient system.  The urban farmers using it produce lettuce.  Maybe very short cycle plants do not need additional air in the water?  I guess I could see that considering the water starts out full of air, but with peppers I would think it would need a great deal more.

Another simple design I have seen is using a bell siphon to create an automated flood and fill bed.  When the liquid gets to the top, it starts the siphon of the whole bed.  The water then falls to a tank below and airates as it splashes into the tank below.  I imagine this would be much better for peppers.
 
There are so many different set ups, I have to wonder which one is best at production?
 
About the missing bubbler - I have had the same question asking myself and I was certain that the roots would rot and the seedlings die off. Then I created the hydroponic system unintentionally by placing plastic pots into a milk carton. As I first intended, milk carton would keep the runoff water (and dissolved nutrients from the soil and later liquid fertilizer) inside, so I could re-use it if needed, and especially so I was able to keep the plants on my desk inside, without making some kind of protection against all the water I'd get without them. The second reason was, that the cartons are so nicely square and I was able to keep the plants nicely stacked together. The idea was, that the top of the pot would be larger than the carton, so that there's a gap on the bottom and even if I would water them a lot, the water wouldn't go too high. When it does touch the soil, it goes upwards and the soil gets saturated. It's best to keep it below that level.
 
When the roots got through the drainage holes, however...  all the plants I was growing this winter exploded. The roots just kept getting larger and larger and I have to say that I've had an issue later, when I had to cut most of them off when I planted the seedling outside. Well, the thing is, when there's a gap of air between the water and the soil, the roots have no problems. Once I overwatered too much, and the roots rotted. Instantly.
 
Here's an example of bamboo. http://cold-hardy.com/phyllostachys-arcana-seedlings-5-months/ 
The photo is a couple of weeks before I planted it. When I planted it, the root mass was incredibly dense. All the roots were fresh, white and healthy, the seedling however was the fasted growing thing I have ever seen. And people on french bamboo forum confirmed that - the beast started running before it was half year old, which is some kind of record. :)
My chillies were also large and dark green, leaves large and glossy, healthy as can be. I think I'll also make a hydro system and place one of my largest peppers inside for the winter. I was certain I would need active aeration to grow anything successfully. Looks like it can work without it.
 
"best at production" is relative of corse.

what you should be asking yourself is what yields the best for a given labor/cost input. basically a cost benifit judgment should take precedence.

imo a regular fertigation rig is best in this regard. you basically just buy two dosatrons and some solenoids and you go for it.
 
If I understand "fertigation" it just means irrigation with a nutrient mix, no reference to the medium.  Have a friend with a large high tunnel, she is getting excellent results with that type of set up growing in soil.  But it is no where near hot pepper seed to pod in three months that someone said a proper hydroponic system produces.  My guess is the comparatively rapid cycle between dry and wet is what speeds things up.
 
When the peppers and the mentioned bamboo filled the milk container with roots completely, soil completely dried out in less than a day and the water inside the carton in around a day. That happened around the same time when they started branching and got quite a bit congested, I'd guess they were a bit over 1 month old. In less than 14 days, they would start flowering if I'd keep them inside, they actually did, but the flowers an some leaves fell off when I got them out. Lost at least a month. I do not remember exactly how much water they needed daily, but at their peak before transplanting, they used at least 1 deciliter of water daily. I had to replace water in my 5 liter bottle each week.
 
I had to water them once per day. Once, I've been away for a whole day and returned early the following morning. I thought I've lost each and every pepper, because they dried out completely and the leaves looked dead, completely soft and droopy. Immediately after watering they returned to normal. That was a wake up call when I realized I need to plant them outside ASAP.
 
 
What I'm thinking about building, is a large plastic box (the camping fridge you use to keep your beer cold when you go to the beach :)) modified slightly to prevent drowning of the plant. Overflow water will leave the box at some level and a bit above that point, I'll place the soil in which the pepper will grow. If I decide to try growing it from seed, I'll first start with a small pot and a milk carton as I've already done it, When the roots get long enough for the large container - in it goes. I'll make sure the roots are long enough to go into the water when I plant it.
 
PS: I have kept them under LEDs. Strong LEDs. They needed a lot of water because they were under 16 or more hours of strong light per day.
 
ajdrew said:
If I understand "fertigation" it just means irrigation with a nutrient mix, no reference to the medium.  Have a friend with a large high tunnel, she is getting excellent results with that type of set up growing in soil.  But it is no where near hot pepper seed to pod in three months that someone said a proper hydroponic system produces.  My guess is the comparatively rapid cycle between dry and wet is what speeds things up.
Click to expand...
 
 
you can use what ever medium you wan to.  generally speaking, one with the lowest bulk density and highest porosity is better, but there are alot of other factors to consider.
 
90 days seed to pod is a huge stretch. but if you did it indoors with fairly good temperatures i guess it could be possible with SOME superhots... but outdoors? when the temps are always too hot or too cold? its foolish.
 
I have found the photo of the roots in my system when I was growing seedlings. Peppers had only a little less established roots, also healthy as those on the photo.
img20160414135558.jpg
 
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