• Everything other than hot peppers. Questions, discussion, and grow logs. Cannabis grow pics are only allowed when posted from a legal juridstiction.

Hydroponic Broccoli

W

wordwiz

I had a tub (holds three 5" pots) laying around and decided I might as well give hydro a try again. In the past, except for some lettuce, I have next to no luck with water. But being a glutton for punishment, I figure I cannot do any worse.

Off to a bad start - the pH meter is wacked. Check the levels one time, they are 7.7 (tap water). Add a very tiny bit of pH down, check it and it is 3.4. Empty half the tub, add tap water and it is 3.7. Add a minute amount of baking soda dissolved in water. Check it in a few minutes and it is 8.8. Stir everything up and it is 3.8. Check it again in a while and it is 9.2. Stir it up and it is 3.5, 4.8, 5.7, 7.2 - depending where I check it. Check it with a multi-test soil probe and it is 6.8. Good enough for me!

That's two meters in two years (~$35 each) that are worthless. I'm getting some pH paper!

Mike
 
Nova,

Finding it is hard. I walked into three stores today to ask if they had "litmus test papers" and all I got was quizzical stares. "You know, those papers we used in science class to test a solution to see if it was acidic or not?" Oh, yeah, but we don't carry them anymore!

Then I remembered we use to buy these things to check our pool's water and the store is almost within walking distance. Hopefully, they still do.

I'm going to learn how to do this, one way or the other. It can't be any harder than learning to wear dentures!

Mike
 
Hey, it's been four days and the plants aren't dead! Only another 54 days to go (actually, hopefully a lot more as it is suppose to produce bunches of side shoots after the head is cut off).

Mike
 
You should probably let your water sit for a while before pH testing, overnight would be best. What kind of pH tester were you using, and was it recently calibrated, and were you using a storage solution for your probe?
Good luck eh. I just got some broccoli going myself but in "soil"
 
I let the water aerate for a day or so before adding plants but I like to check the pH and start adjusting it after a couple of hours. The tester was one like this. I used it last night to check some tap water and though it started out at 7.2 (that's normal for our water) it kept rising and got as high as 9.3 when I decided the meter still is not working.

Mike
 
Strange. I've gone through many pH testers in my time but I have one like yours and its lasted me well over 10 years;) Are you calibrating at 4 and 7? You may want to buy the cleaning solution as well as the storage solution and calibrate at 2 points before each use
 
A great cleaning solution is genesis electrode cleaning solutions model ecs-t8,cleans both organic and inorganic deposits from the meter.Keeps my probe going strong now or about 16 months.
 
toasty,

I just ordered a new meter that includes a storage solution. Now, if all I was going to grow was a couple of broccoli and tomato plants, it would be a stupid waste of money. But I'm hoping to have close to 56 or more plants at a time growing. That's like about a buck-twenty for 1/3 of a year.

Another example of not knowing what I didn't know I needed to know! When I was shopping for the other two meters (both that died after about a year or so) nothing was mentioned about a "storage solution." That probably explains why they died an early death and in the process caused me to screw up a bunch of plants.

Hey, at least so far, the broccoli has not died!

Mike
 
go mike!!

i haven't ever used storage solution but i do clean the tip of my pen in distilled water after every use, and basically calibrate it every use or 2 which is only when i change res every week to 10 days? or if i use it more often than that i just use it as is. then clean the tip, i don't know if i am actually cleaning it lol but i figure it's better than nothing.

i have a giant hydro catalog that i just picked up from my parents local hydro store ( visiting the folks ) and i can't seem to find any reference to storage solution. anyone have a link to some good stuff?
 
I now always use proper cleaning and storage solution and never mess around with the cheapo units. I've had lots of wrecked pH probes/meters in the past but never lost a ppm probe yet.
 
toasty,

Still alive! I get my meter tomorrow; at least I'll be able to get a better idea of the pH levels. They, and the tomatoes and 7-pod plant seem to love the LED with CFL supplemental lighting. They aren't growing extremely fast tall or fast, but seem to be really healthy. I may be like that blind squirrel that manages to find a walnut - so far using the LED/CFL combo is fantastic. Not economical for seedlings but for growing mature plants - keeping my fingers crossed.

Mike
 
The meter arrived. It is now soaking in the storage solution where it will stay for another 4-5 hours before I calibrate it. It's a much nicer looking meter than the Hanna's I used in the past and hopefully will last much longer, or at least let me know if it isn't!

Mike
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top