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Flood and Drain or Aeroponic

J

Jeinnor

Hi guys

I am new to the world of hydoponics and am wondering which one of the 2 is best for growing chillis ?

I have done quite a bit of reading and found some good info on the actual system, but am not sure which one is best for chillis

http://www.blunt.co.uk/hydroponics-shop-uk/hydroponic-systems/aeroponic-pod-system/flood-and-drain.htm

and

http://www.blunt.co.uk/hydroponics-shop-uk/hydroponic-systems/aeroponic-pod-system/aeroponicpod.htm

If however you dont think these 2 are not really suited for chillies and that the drip system is better, please could you say that too :-)
 
Hi there.

If your ordering from the uk - I think you have gone for the most expensive systems out there.
If your quite handy a system is easy to make. Im not sure which is better - flood and drain or drip but both should give good results.

there is a website here but you will have to get a quote for delivery.
http://www.growell.co.uk/l



I think you may be best to build a system - it will be much cheaper than shipping one over. Let me know if you have any more questions - I have just made myself a drip system which I am itching to try.

Chris
 
I know it is expensive, just doing research at the moment and take it from there. The other question I meant to ask earlier is could one move your plants from a hydroponic environment to a soil environment, if not, why not ? :-)
 
You can, but usually the will stop growing for a short time and sometimes they die. Soil plants and hydro plants have a different root structure (hydro plants seem to have finer roots and more smaller ones). They will stop growing for a while because they will adjust their root system to their new environment. Transplanting like that works best with young plants. Old plants generally don't take the switch to well. If you have enough plants to test, why not try it? But if you only have a few darlings than I wouldn't risk it.

I sometimes do the switch the other way around: start them in soil and move to hydro. The slow down in that direction as well. If you have a short season and/or start late it's best not to waste time that way.
 
I have both a flood and drain and a drip system here. Both homemade and the results are about the same (light and which nutrients you use are the bigger factors here, along with enough air for the roots), but I like flood and drain a little bit better:
  • It's cheaper and less work to make: the drip hoses/parts are not that cheap and you have to drill way more holes in a drip system. Flood and drain is 2 holes.
  • It's easier to maintain: in a drip system I experience roots growing through the holes in the bottom and into the nutrient tank. Those burn/rot and it hurts the plants a little. You don't have that in a flood and drain system. The drip system is also a bit worse to clean (apart from the roots in the nutrient tank which is a pain) if you have many plants in it that each have a different dripper: different hoses flopping around is no fun.

Hope this helps.
 
How well does aeroponics work then compared to the above mentioned ? When you guys say young, if I move them over in the first year because I start in winter and then want to transplant them for summer is that considered ideally young ?
 
I find no transplant setback when going from hydro to dirt. I have transplanted young plants and flowering/fruiting plants and see no setback.
I use an home-built aeroponic system.
 
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