Outdoor hydro

[Geosojda]

Next season i'm planning on jumping into a semi-large scale outdoor hydro grow, i did a few plants this year in DWC and they performed great but i really don't want to have individual dwc buckets to deal with. So i have been thinking along the lines of either a NFT system or a deep cycle DWC system. I'm also trying to avoid having to buy large quantities of hydroton or gravel etc...I have a pool house where i can keep my res. to keep it cooler than it would be sitting outside.

My thoughts so far are leaning toward an NFT system mostly because its similpler. So what are your experiences with outdoor hydro?

 

[queequeg152]

ive seen real real good results from those bato bucket setups. just a simple recirculating dripper system with about 2 or 3 gallons of perlite. you would however have to buy those big ass bags of perlite. perlite is easy to clean tho... just some bleach and sunlight and you can reuse it reletivly quickly. if i were you id look at some of the cool commercial greenhouse setups that use bato buckets. their results are way encouraging.

the problem with a big ass recirc. dwc system like you are saying is maintaining a constant level. its not a big problem indoors with a nice flat slab on grade, but outside yo would need to shim each bucket such that the water level in each one is the same. and not to mention the expense of moving all that water. through so many root filled buckets. when you start talking about a 300 gallon system imo you would need something like a small pool pump. i wanted to do someting similar with those Rubbermaid square 30 gallon brutes, i have no doubt that it would have been an epic system, but each trashcan was like 27 bucks, and a pump was going to be like 200 bucks... then you start adding in 1.5" union ball valves at 50 bucks a pop.... it becomes cost prohibitive real real fast. smaller buckets and something like a 3/4" line is more do able, but i wouldn't be confident with it growing for an entire season.

what i personally use is technically considered Hydro, but not in the commonly understood sense. i simply run a reservoir of nutrients that a big diaphragm pump pumps out to conventional micro irrigation emitters. the mix i use is ~30% perlite 70% peat and some lime and surfactant. the pump runs like 5 min at a time 4 times a day... unless it rains, then delay program for 8 hours.

 

[Geosojda]

what i personally use is technically considered Hydro, but not in the commonly understood sense. i simply run a reservoir of nutrients that a big diaphragm pump pumps out to conventional micro irrigation emitters. the mix i use is ~30% perlite 70% peat and some lime and surfactant. the pump runs like 5 min at a time 4 times a day... unless it rains, then delay program for 8 hours.

thats a really interesting idea, i would love to see some pics or get more info on that. Perlite is pretty easy and inexpensive for me to get, a local place has the 4cu ft bags for like 16-17$. Do you use a trough style or individual buckets?

 

[queequeg152]

thats a really interesting idea, i would love to see some pics or get more info on that. Perlite is pretty easy and inexpensive for me to get, a local place has the 4cu ft bags for like 16-17$. Do you use a trough style or individual buckets?

commercial setups use dutch buckets. its just a square bucket with a notch cut out along the bottom. this notch allows you to sit the bucket ontop of a piece of pvc. the pvc needs to slope away from the buckets into a res where its pumped back into the drippers.

heres some examples of a commercial setup.

keep in mind that you need to maintain a sufficient grade such that the system drains well. theres a million ways you can do this... personally id just find cheep bricks and elevate the buckets like 4 or 5 inches. at a 1% grade you can get lke 30 feet out of a 4" elevation. keep im mind also this system has to drain somewhere. so you have to either burry the rez in the ground(problematic), or use a very low profile sump pump such that you only need a half inch or so of flow to get primed. of corse you could also just lift the bucket assembly even higher such that you have 24"'s or so... personally id forget that and KISS.

the ducth buckets seem to be the best bang for the buck out there, they lack the coolness factor tho, but apparently they defiantly work, and work well.

 

[scrufy]

Or just go NFT with some 6" PVC pipes with holes cut in them every 30" or so. Elevate one end and use sand bags to make a linear slant 30 feet or so...

 

[Geosojda]

Or just go NFT with some 6" PVC pipes with holes cut in them every 30" or so. Elevate one end and use sand bags to make a linear slant 30 feet or so...

One thing i was thinking about, was going to use plastic square gutters instread of PVC

commercial setups use dutch buckets. its just a square bucket with a notch cut out along the bottom. this notch allows you to sit the bucket ontop of a piece of pvc. the pvc needs to slope away from the buckets into a res where its pumped back into the drippers.

heres some examples of a commercial setup.







keep in mind that you need to maintain a sufficient grade such that the system drains well. theres a million ways you can do this... personally id just find cheep bricks and elevate the buckets like 4 or 5 inches. at a 1% grade you can get lke 30 feet out of a 4" elevation. keep im mind also this system has to drain somewhere. so you have to either burry the rez in the ground(problematic), or use a very low profile sump pump such that you only need a half inch or so of flow to get primed. of corse you could also just lift the bucket assembly even higher such that you have 24"'s or so... personally id forget that and KISS.

the ducth buckets seem to be the best bang for the buck out there, they lack the coolness factor tho, but apparently they defiantly work, and work well.

so one more thing, with your media mix you use how do you keep your water clean enough to pump through the system? seems like the peat would clog up the drippers? Maybe a small piece of landscape cloth at the bottom of the bucket would filter it enough...hmmm

 

[frosty]

I'm a big fan of 50/50 perlite and coco. Ebb/flow or drippers are great for outside without a chiller. I think NFT is a "delicate" system with little room for error. I also think that without a chiller it will turn into a low oxygen hot bath for roots. Ebb and flow and drippers don't have the problem because they cycle. Cycling allows the medium to dry a little and get oxygen from the air not dissolved in nutrient. Root rot is less likely.

 

[queequeg152]

One thing i was thinking about, was going to use plastic square gutters instread of PVC



so one more thing, with your media mix you use how do you keep your water clean enough to pump through the system? seems like the peat would clog up the drippers? Maybe a small piece of landscape cloth at the bottom of the bucket would filter it enough...hmmm

sorry i didnt see this post until today. i dont recycle anything with my system. its drain to waste. my containers sit in an atrium with a 4" area drain, the run off is very small tho.

with respect to perlite... i dont know, thats a good question, you might wash it out? IDK. seems like all but the finest particles should get caught in the filter sponge in the cheapo fountain pumps.

 

[Super David]

I've got a few things growing in outdoor hydro.
Early this year did I did water melon and a jumbo pumpkin dwc late in the season and some chilies, tomato and brocoli NFT and found all of those to be a major pain topping up every night after work.
This year right at the start of my season I'm going all NFT in bathtubs I've found on the side of the road.
One bath has the f1 Super Chili and a mouruga Scorpion and a Aji Limon on a 60ltr tank, and then up the back I have two baths running off a 200ltr drum, the bath on the left has assorted chilies and the tub on the right has spaghetti pumpkins, watermelons and snake beans.
The NFT right up the front is 100ltr and has another bunch of assorted chilies with a couple more yet to go in there.
I like to keep my NFT gravity fed because I like to keep things simple, except for the height that the back baths ended up being to get above the 200ltr drum.

 

[frosty]

I never see bathtubs by the side of the road​

 

[Super David]

In Australia we have verge pick ups every several months where everyone puts out rubbish to be collected. Thats when I do my curb shopping!

 

[queequeg152]

they used to do that here! it was awesome... you could put out an entire mattress or bookshelf, now they switched to some damn machine garbage can lifter, and you only get one heavy trash day every month that's really only for tree clippings.

 

[LeeRoy]

I've been using a modified bato / Dutch bucket setup outdoors with good results. I use 5 gallon food-grade plastic buckets from Lowes, with a 3/4 inch male/female conduit fitting as a bulkhead fitting in the bottom of the bucket. I'm using 1/3 each perlite, vermiculite, peat moss for growing medium. I'm also doing drip to waste rather than recirc, although the way I made the buckets it could easily be made to recirculate.

I started measuring pH of the solution draining out of the buckets rather than just nutrient tank pH, and found that this growing media tends to buffer pretty well. In fact, I generally do not adjust pH at all. I'm using captured rainwater as a freshwater source, which tends to be a little acidic. I grew 8 pepper plants in this system this past year - it worked extremely well and was very easy to maintain.