hydroponic Hydroponics for dummie Pfeffer

Pfeffer

Pfeffer

Hi all,
 
I bet there are some hydroponics users around here. Therefore I would like to ask you guys for some more info on this matter. Most of the information that I can find online is aimed for cannabis which is a totally different plant. However, based on that info I tried four types of hydro in a very small (1 plant setup):  Ebb&Flow/flood, the wick method (used scrub spunges), DWC and a dripper. All these methods were purely to see if I could get it to work, and it did. As these were soil based seedlings that I washed off, put them in a gaze baggy with perlite in some ceramic popcorn.. it quickly resulted in root rot.  However it was enough to spark my interest.
 
On the mighty internet there are a LOT of DIY solutions, but the cheap ones tend to be with impractical materials for my greenhouse (rain gutters, buckets etc). Therefore I'm looking for a relatively affordable ($100-$250) solution for my greenhouse (6'3" x 3'11"  i.e. 190cm x 120cm) which will be mounted to my brick garage. I have sufficient space to put the water/nutriënt reservoir in the garage.
 
The most practical solution seems to be ebb&flow, but I'm finding a lot of articles that this one is the most subceptable to root rot funghi/bacteria.
 
So I would like to ask you guys;
 
1. What is the best system for a small greenhouse?
2. Which system is the easiest/cheapest to realize?
3. How many plants (chinenses) should I put in that area?
4. Can I use my regular nutes/nitrozyme/rhizomax?
5. How should I prevent rootrot? (probiotica, H²O², a oxygen bubbler or a combo of the ones mentioned?)
6. What should I use as Ph- and Ph+ (I figure the chemicals used for cannabis are different than for our veggies?)
7. Are old fashioned litmus strips accurate enough for Ph testing or should I buy a expensive measuring tool? (I have an unendless supply of those litmus strips..)
8. Are there any objections to put tomatoes and chilis in the same greenhouse? (i.e. due to potential pathogens like Phytophthora which are common in my area)
9. I find a lot of DIY crap from first time builders, do you happen to have sources of good DIY functioning systems?
 
 
Sorry for the extensive list, but I hope you guys can help me out. I'd like to build something during the winter so that I can start my season early in April.
 
dont rule out drip to waste... its by far the simplist of all the hydroponic forms.

just need like a 60 dollar diaphragm pump, and a reservoir. you can pump through what ever irrigation emiters you want.
you can use any acid and any base for plants, AS LONG as the conjugate base is not toxic.

HCL sulfuric, nitric phosphoric are all safe to use. i would not reccomend an organic acid, as the base can be metabolized or oxidized in some extreme cases.

litmus paper is fine... unless you want to pay alot, the cheap ass ph meters are garbage imo.

the drops are fine too.


to prevent root rot, i always reccoment bleach or calcium hypo, or even trichlor or di chlor. basically any "chlorine" disinfectant will work better than a peroxide.

peroxide is more expensive, and far more reactive, it will not last in your system, hence its anti microbial activity is very short in duration.

chlorine has been used in protected agriculture/horticulture for a very long time, this is because it works.
 
ignite does hydro he will respond soon.
 
I did drip to waste outside in 5-1-1 mix and used dynagrow and calmag this year with pretty good results, but i don't think that's what you're looking for. (used mixrite fertilizer injector with orbit timer)
 
I really want to try dutch bucket like MHPGardener on youtube (click it's a playlist of 6 videos)
LINK ME
 
 
1. What is the best system for a small greenhouse? like i said i wanted to try out the dutch bucket
2. Which system is the easiest/cheapest to realize? a one bucket dwc is pretty cheap: bucket, net pot, little bit of clay, water, nutes, and airstone
3. How many plants (chinenses) should I put in that area? 2x2 area for big plants (1 gal space is 1x1, 5 gallon is 2x2)
4. Can I use my regular nutes/nitrozyme/rhizomax? uh hydro nutes yeah
5. How should I prevent rootrot? (probiotica, H²O², a oxygen bubbler or a combo of the ones mentioned?) follow the steps for a system and you shouldn't have problems..
6. What should I use as Ph- and Ph+ (I figure the chemicals used for cannabis are different than for our veggies?) i got phdown from hydro store, i think its citric acid
7. Are old fashioned litmus strips accurate enough for Ph testing or should I buy a expensive measuring tool? (I have an unendless supply of those litmus strips..) the cheap ass ph soil tester (20$ ) is crap, litmus works
8. Are there any objections to put tomatoes and chilis in the same greenhouse? (i.e. due to potential pathogens like Phytophthora which are common in my area) no they are fine, see the videos above
9. I find a lot of DIY crap from first time builders, do you happen to have sources of good DIY functioning systems? yeah the videos^
 
DTW.. Yes.. To be honest I completely ruled that one out, but I don't have a clue why. It seems that there is not much more nutriënt usage compared to a recycling system (i.e. you don't have to refresh your reservoir and simply use the left overs to fertilize the rest of the veggie garden). I guess a DTW system works best with a regular drip system (without recycling) on rockwool cubes?
 
I figure you should give the rockwool cubes a good flush with every watering cycle to prevent it from getting a build up of Salts/minerals? I figure two large balcony style pot with some large rockwool cubes would be sufficient to grow 6 large chinense in that greenhouse?

 
 
This is a rare occasion when I agree with QQ. A drip, drain to waste is gonna be your easiest and cleanest dro system. If you dont mind spending the money I highly recommend SM-90 to prevent root rot. 50/50 perlite and 3/4" rockwool cubes makes a nice medium but plants will need supporting. If one plant gets root rot on a recirc. system, all plants will get it. Not a problem with DTW.
 
Pfeffer said:
DTW.. Yes.. To be honest I completely ruled that one out, but I don't have a clue why. It seems that there is not much more nutriënt usage compared to a recycling system (i.e. you don't have to refresh your reservoir and simply use the left overs to fertilize the rest of the veggie garden). I guess a DTW system works best with a regular drip system (without recycling) on rockwool cubes?
 
I figure you should give the rockwool cubes a good flush with every watering cycle to prevent it from getting a build up of Salts/minerals? I figure two large balcony style pot with some large rockwool cubes would be sufficient to grow 6 large chinense in that greenhouse?
Click to expand...
any medium will build up minerals if they are not allowed to leach out. unless you feed at a very low rate i guess. even then, shit like carbonate will slowly build up.

regarding rock wool, unless you are going to run slabs, which are amazing, i wouldnt bother with it. the cubes you mention are smallish. the biggest ones ive seen are like 8" x 8"

rock wool does not wick water very well, hence most slabs are like 2" deep. the big tall blocks will need more freqhent waterings.
if you want to run rockwool, aim for like 10% by volume.

coco lite, 50 perlite 50 coco, is a very good soilless mix as well. you might consider the coco lite as rockwool is probably more unforgiving.
 
:D What's wrong with cannabis sites? You just have to ignore the stonerisms.
 
 
Pure coco>coco/perlite. That's really all I came here to say. In addition to a AACT snob, I also have snoody opinions on coir.
 
SM-90 is unfortunately not available on this Side of the ocean. Regarding the medium, wouldn't 50/50 perlite/soil stay to wet? (i.e. induce rootrot?). I have both perlite, vermucelite and ceramic popcorn stuff (hydro marbels).

And wouldn't a dtw eliminate the need for a reservoir desinfectant?
 
miguelovic said:
Pure coco>coco/perlite. That's really all I came here to say. In addition to a AACT snob, I also have snoody opinions on coir.
Click to expand...
why? because its easier? isnt perlite organic anyway?

lower bulk density is always better, as you get more air to the roots etc. this is why rockwool is amazing.

i understand that peat lite is actually better than coco lite, but prices of peat lately have been too high to justify.
Pfeffer said:
SM-90 is unfortunately not available on this Side of the ocean. Regarding the medium, wouldn't 50/50 perlite/soil stay to wet? (i.e. induce rootrot?). I have both perlite, vermucelite and ceramic popcorn stuff (hydro marbels).

And wouldn't a dtw eliminate the need for a reservoir desinfectant?
Click to expand...
wtf is sm90? if its a real disinfectant, its a scam, 30 bucks a liter?
why do folks have to make everything as expensive as possible, and as complicated as possible... 'chlorine' is cheap for a reason, its easy/trivial to produce, it also happens to be highly effective.

50 50 perlite and coir is insanely light and fluffy.no it wont stay wet, no more so than rockwool really. when you get big plants, you will need to water it daily, then multiple times a day, so dont bother with all this if you dont have an irrigation system in place.

im running tobacco plants in coco lite atm. you can see my thread in the other forum.

yes you probably dont need to sanitize a DTW reservoir. i used to, then stopped because it just did not matter.

i just washed out the res with a hose and rag every now and then. however you should be prepaired regardless. your system will be different than mine. for example you might want to run a float valve, and top off with nutrients... this means the res would be full all the time... a res thats full all the time will need to be sanitized now and then as you will get algae and bacteria.

also you will want to run a servicable filter before the pump.
 
I don't really care about the medium costs as with this space, it will not add more than a few euros. If one medium would make my life just a little bit easier I would go for that one. I already have plenty of perlite left about 12 gallons).

Wouldn't those large rockwool cubes in ceramic peas do just fine? With DTW the wick capacity is less important if I add some smaller drip tubes instead of one large one right?

It seem to me that organic materials increase the risk of pathogenes?
 
Keep the reservoir 21c or below and add an airstone or floom the reservoir and you will need no disinfectants I have never used one in many many years except for cleaning the water butt out between grows.
 
As long as you reservoir temps are in check and aeartion is decent you will have a healthy reservoir (Unless you use contaminated water in the first place).
 
8 10l buckets and some drippers + reservoir seem the cheapeast solution here.
 
Nitric acid or phosphoric acid is fine PH- you should not need a PH+ but liquid silicon is a PH+.
 
I prefer nitric acid early in the plants life and once in flower form Phosphoric.
 
Pfeffer said:
It seem to me that organic materials increase the risk of pathogenes?
Click to expand...
probably, idk.

but running rockwool with organic nutrients is stupid imo.

if cost is no issue, then what about slabs?

unless they do something special, a big ass cube will once watered will dry out towards the top, and be very wet towards the bottom, thats why i dont like them. you basically have to put then into a flood and drain system, or a dutch bucket type system to get the best out of them. even then, most of the roots just end up at the bottom of the cube.

IDK about smaller drip lines, but what i would do, if i were to run the big ass cubes, is just water like 5x as often just at lower volumes. slabs are the shit tho, cant reccomend them more.

if i had money, it would be all i grow in.
 
Slabs (rockwool) are incredibally cheap here, a one meter slab will be about 3 euro.

http://www.kweekshop.com/a-26309989/steenwol/cultilene-steenwol-slab-100x15x7-5cm/

If this is indeed what you mean, it might just be the perfect solution.

Would this still be cost efficiënt with a DTW or should I go with a recycle drip?

Regarding organic materials I was referring to the coco or peat mediums. As nutes I currently have chilli focus and capsio; can I keep them or should I invest in something else?

My garage is on the north side of the house and never gets a lot of Sun, only during scorching Hot days it gets above 21*c. I can add a bubbler, these things go for a few euro in pet stores.
 
wow wtf. how are they that cheap?

they are like 8 bucks a pop here... sucks for me.

just dtw.
you are only looking for a small runoff each cycle. like 10% volume. check the EC of the runoff. it should be measurably higher than the input. if its not cut back on the irrigation time untill it is.

if you can... capture the runoff so it does not escape into storm sewers. ideally it should head into your grass or other green spaces. your lawn or landscaping or what ever will love the runoff.

IDK what chili focus is. ive been making my own fertilizer for like 3 years now, so im not in the loop at all. you just need an ec of like 1.8-2. remember there is nothign else feeding these plants besides what you are dissolving into the reservoir.

without direct sun, im wondering why even bother tho, you know? its hard to imagine you will be producing many pods in such conditions. guessing you dont have a better place to grow.
 
The greenhouse is not in the shadow, it gets Light from 12:30 until sundown. The garage, where the reservoir will be is.

Those slabs are very cheap as these are pretty much used for everything here.
 
oh i see, are you in the north? where all the hydro produce is made?

there are massive greenhouses with HPS lighting and what have you all over northern Europe.they probably make them their too.
 
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