hydroponic Hydroponic Pepper checklist!

[Sammy1019]

Hey guys! So today, I'm going to be asking the hot pepper community a few questions about the optimal environment for a pepper! I'm going to be building my own hydroponic system and I just wanna know what to do, to optimize its growth rate! If anyone can awnser any of these questions, it would be of extreme helpfulness

-what pH down to the 100ths place (or as precise as possible) do peppers like their water? Is there a chance a pH corrector will react with the nutrients? I've heard of white precipitate forming when people add pH corrector after adding nutrients.

-optimal temperature for plant growth? (Of the water + outside surroundings)

-any recommendations (with links if possible) of grow lights? I've seen great success with LEDs for other people. I don't know much about the lights beyond the basics, so if someone could point me in the direction of a light source + fixture I'd love you

-ammount of nutrients to add to a size of water per a period of time? (X ammount of nutrients added to Y gallons of water every Z weeks) I will be using these urban hydroponic nutrients: http://www.amazon.com/Hydroponic-Pepper-Herb-Fertilizer-27-11-40/dp/B00CLSI07O/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1459285008&sr=8-9&keywords=Urban+hydroponic+food the hydroponic system will hold. 6-8 pepper plants, if that helps.

-will solids PPM be an issue, and if so how do I correct this?

I know it's a lot to ask the community, as hydroponics are quite new. But it will be a learning experience for us both! This is a nice father son project that I'm doing with my father, we'll defintly be documenting our progress.

 

[juanitos]

lots of this info is present in guides / stickies throughout the growing / grow tech forums... have you read them all first?
 

• 6.00000
• ph corrector could react with nutrients but is unlikely, precipitate will form more likely from calcium in concentrated solutions.
• germination likes to be warm ~ 80 - 90f, larger plants cooler around room temp 75f
• mars hydro led(expensive, more energy efficient, but 0 maintenance), HPS(cheaper, will have to replace bulb sooner or later)
• depends on your nutrients.. those nutrients are resold masterblend. google the mix rate why am i doing this for you lol
• if you mix correctly no, those nutrients you linked are not really packaged correctly. so you will probably have problems if you use them. Liquid nutrients you will never have a problem.

I would say use different nutrients.. those nutrients are masterblend that has been premixed to make it easier on people to buy only one bag.. Masterblend x cano3 x mgso4 should be mixed in a specific order this bag combines them all so you can't, that's why you see precipitate.. (specifically the cano3 needs to be mixed last after everything is already in solution)
 
 Lucas formula general hydroponics is very noob friendly, i would advise you use that instead.

 

[Sammy1019]

lots of this info is present in guides / stickies throughout the growing / grow tech forums... have you read them all first?
 

• 6.00000
• ph corrector could react with nutrients but is unlikely, precipitate will form more likely from calcium in concentrated solutions.
• germination likes to be warm ~ 80 - 90f, larger plants cooler around room temp 75f
• mars hydro led, HPS 
• depends on your nutrients.. those nutrients are resold masterblend. google the mix rate why am i doing this for you lol
• if you mix correctly no, those nutrients you linked are not really packaged correctly. so you will probably have problems if you use them. Liquid nutrients you will never have a problem as well.

Thanks I appreciate it. I'll check out some liquid food.

 

[Scuba_Steve]

BTW, your asking what is the best pH down to the hundredths place.  This tells me you plan on screwing with it constantly.  pH is hard to hold at such a degree of accuracy.  In the end most will cause big fluctuation trying to do so.
 
Exact pH is not anywhere near as important as stable pH!

 

[Sammy1019]

BTW, your asking what is the best pH down to the hundredths place.  This tells me you plan on screwing with it constantly.  pH is hard to hold at such a degree of accuracy.  In the end most will cause big fluctuation trying to do so.
 
Exact pH is not anywhere near as important as stable pH!

Thanks for the advicd

 

[queequeg152]

to the hundredths place.  lol that reminded me of dumb broads in ochem lab measuring reactants on the microgram scale waiting like 20 seconds for it to stabilize, then adding back or removing sand grain sized pieces.
 
meanwhile were adding reactants dropwise and loosing shit loads with plastic transfer pippets and scraping dishes etc.
 
you cant explain shit to women anymore. its considered 'man-splaining'
 
 
you dont even need to be accurate to TENTHS of the Ph scale let alone hundredths,  hell most ph meters dont read beyond tenths anyway.   i always reccomend good quality litmus paper. just make sure to get the papers designed for water not piss or blood.
 
lights? generic linear flourescent,  HPS and metal halides work very well. still id reccomend them over LED stuff anyday of the week.
 
nutrient profile? google howard resh hydroponic peppers. that will layout a good general nutrient profile for annums, but it works well for chins and what ever else as well. 
this is a profile for a drain to waste soilless mix though, so if you want to run something fancy like a recirculating dutch bucket you might need to add excess nitrogen or somethign like that to compensate for its rapid uptake.  or not... just monitor the condition of the new growth and replace nutrient solution as needed.
 
no nutrient profiles going to appreciably increase yields provided they maintain generally accepted minimums for the various micros and macros, conductivity and PH.
 
its just that peppers plants only need x amount of calcium, phosphate etc, and providing more than necessary is not cost effective. 
 
and hydro is not terribly new... i mean it is with respect to agriculture in general, but soilless culture with hydro nutrients has been around since the 1970's with greenhouses etc. 

 

[Sammy1019]

to the hundredths place.  lol that reminded me of dumb broads in ochem lab measuring reactants on the microgram scale waiting like 20 seconds for it to stabilize, then adding back or removing sand grain sized pieces.
 
meanwhile were adding reactants dropwise and loosing shit loads with plastic transfer pippets and scraping dishes etc.
 
you cant explain shit to women anymore. its considered 'man-splaining'
 
 
you dont even need to be accurate to TENTHS of the Ph scale let alone hundredths,  hell most ph meters dont read beyond tenths anyway.   i always reccomend good quality litmus paper. just make sure to get the papers designed for water not piss or blood.
 
lights? generic linear flourescent,  HPS and metal halides work very well. still id reccomend them over LED stuff anyday of the week.
 
nutrient profile? google howard resh hydroponic peppers. that will layout a good general nutrient profile for annums, but it works well for chins and what ever else as well. 
this is a profile for a drain to waste soilless mix though, so if you want to run something fancy like a recirculating dutch bucket you might need to add excess nitrogen or somethign like that to compensate for its rapid uptake.  or not... just monitor the condition of the new growth and replace nutrient solution as needed.
 
no nutrient profiles going to appreciably increase yields provided they maintain generally accepted minimums for the various micros and macros, conductivity and PH.
 
its just that peppers plants only need x amount of calcium, phosphate etc, and providing more than necessary is not cost effective. 
 
and hydro is not terribly new... i mean it is with respect to agriculture in general, but soilless culture with hydro nutrients has been around since the 1970's with greenhouses etc.

Thanks for the help, and light bulbs such as these: https://www.1000bulbs.com/category/t4-bi-pin-linear-fluorescent-tubes/ ? That would be super great. They're millions of times cheaper than anything else I've found if these really work.

 

[queequeg152]

i would stick with t5 bulbs personally. probably best bang for your bucks far as florescents are concerned.
 
for starting seeds you might also pick up a simple shop t8 fixture for like 50 bucks. run that untill the plants are like 2 maby three weeks old, then transplant to solo cup sized containers and put them under the t5 for a few more weeks... then outside they go.
 
on the other hand if you are looking to grow them indoors to fruiting? instead of a t5 fixture just get a minimum  of 400w HPS/MH fixture. the t5 CAN run a plant to fruiting... but the HPS/MH will do it much much better. 400watts will cover 4x4 easily, 5x5 possibly... if you rotate the plants from the outside to the inside ocassionally.

 

[Sammy1019]

i would stick with t5 bulbs personally. probably best bang for your bucks far as florescents are concerned.
 
for starting seeds you might also pick up a simple shop t8 fixture for like 50 bucks. run that untill the plants are like 2 maby three weeks old, then transplant to solo cup sized containers and put them under the t5 for a few more weeks... then outside they go.
 
on the other hand if you are looking to grow them indoors to fruiting? instead of a t5 fixture just get a minimum  of 400w HPS/MH fixture. the t5 CAN run a plant to fruiting... but the HPS/MH will do it much much better. 400watts will cover 4x4 easily, 5x5 possibly... if you rotate the plants from the outside to the inside ocassionally.

Would these be sufficient for t5s? https://www.1000bulbs.com/category/led-ready-troffer-fixtures/ im planning on leaving them in their for the duration of their lives. Would this set up be sufficient for lighting purposes?

 

[queequeg152]

no. those are troffers. they are made for commercial spaces with drop ceilings and such.
 
if you are budget minded, i recommend you cruise Craigslist for a while and look for an HPS or  6 bulb t5 set up and maby some other equipment.
 
in the mean time again i reccomend you get a cheap-o t8 fixture to start seeds under. the seedlings will be fine for 2 weeks, 3 if you include germination time. in that 3 weeks you can get what ever equipment you need and do what ever research you need to do.
in addition to the t8, to start seedlings i reccomend you buy a "germination station". its basically a heat mat + a regular seedling tray. its like 20 bucks. its what i reccomend to everyone in real life who asks me what they need to start gardening.
 
ive no clue  how much or what peppers you are intending to grow, but generally speaking t5's are not ideal for tall plants owing to a lack of penetration.  im not saying you could not grow peppers with one, just that its more work to keep the heights under control.
 
if you can swing it a much brighter HPS or MH will give you more flexabillity, a better footprint, and much more head space. craigslist is your friend here. weed guys buy and sell these things all the time. you may not get an insane deal, but you could probably get a decent deal on a 400wat light. 
 
growing indoors 100% is miserable imho... if its possible id highly reccomend at least evaluating an outdoor grow, or balcony grow or something. i get why weed guys do it, but growing outside is so much less hassle and more satisfying imo.

 

[Sammy1019]

no. those are troffers. they are made for commercial spaces with drop ceilings and such.
 
if you are budget minded, i recommend you cruise Craigslist for a while and look for an HPS or  6 bulb t5 set up and maby some other equipment.
 
in the mean time again i reccomend you get a cheap-o t8 fixture to start seeds under. the seedlings will be fine for 2 weeks, 3 if you include germination time. in that 3 weeks you can get what ever equipment you need and do what ever research you need to do.
in addition to the t8, to start seedlings i reccomend you buy a "germination station". its basically a heat mat + a regular seedling tray. its like 20 bucks. its what i reccomend to everyone in real life who asks me what they need to start gardening.
 
ive no clue  how much or what peppers you are intending to grow, but generally speaking t5's are not ideal for tall plants owing to a lack of penetration.  im not saying you could not grow peppers with one, just that its more work to keep the heights under control.
 
if you can swing it a much brighter HPS or MH will give you more flexabillity, a better footprint, and much more head space. craigslist is your friend here. weed guys buy and sell these things all the time. you may not get an insane deal, but you could probably get a decent deal on a 400wat light. 
 
growing indoors 100% is miserable imho... if its possible id highly reccomend at least evaluating an outdoor grow, or balcony grow or something. i get why weed guys do it, but growing outside is so much less hassle and more satisfying imo.

Already use the paper towel method, then transport the seedlings to rock wool. But thanks for the advice, I'll defintly do experiments later on to see which method produces larger germination rates over a ride variety of pepper plants. Thanks for the advice in lights, I'll definitely check out Craig's list. And I'm not just growing stuff inside, just want this for hydroponics + if I have any plants that I wanna overwinter

 

[queequeg152]

Already use the paper towel method, then transport the seedlings to rock wool. But thanks for the advice, I'll defintly do experiments later on to see which method produces larger germination rates over a ride variety of pepper plants. Thanks for the advice in lights, I'll definitely check out Craig's list. And I'm not just growing stuff inside, just want this for hydroponics + if I have any plants that I wanna overwinter

 
ok forget what i said about the germination station then. sounds like you are already off to a good start.
 
seed flats or seedling trays are still a good investment though. if you have any nursuries around you, you might pick up a few, they are a few bucks each. makes moving plants around much easier.  you can even get these little square pots that fit the trays so nothing tips over as you walk around.