• Do you need help identifying a 🌶?
    Is your plant suffering from an unknown issue? 🤧
    Then ask in Identification and Diagnosis.

Passive Hydro Grow

Whilst googling a while back I found this completely passive hydro system.
http://scienceinhydr...s-possible.html

http://www.fshs.org/...225 (TYSON).pdf

I've been trying to grow in coco for the last year with little success due to the fact I can't get coco specific nutes here in Thailand, but the upshot of this is I've got Hydro nutes, a ph meter and a TDS meter. So I thought I'd give the passive system a go. The idea behind the system is that after placing the seedling in, you keep the bottom 1cm of the net pot under the nutrient solution as the roots get established you lower the level.

Cut and pasted from link above
"Most people believe that if roots are submerged in an unaearated solution they will die but this is only true if the whole root system is submerged. If a good part of the system is given an “air buffer” from which to absorb oxygen and this space remains humid, the result is a system that can absorb nutrients from the unaerated solution and oxygen from the air buffer zone."

To be honest I didn't think it would work, but....

3 week old red Habs, 31 March
31-3-12.jpg


18 May
SAM_0676.jpg


When first transplanted I made sure that roots only just touched the bottom of the net pot and kept the rest above the water level.
SAM_0149.jpg


Roots after a week
SAM_0175.jpg


After 4 weeks
SAM_0546.jpg


After 6 weeks, showing a little brown colour so I've started to add H2o2. Plus I'm going to get better insulation for the tank to keep the temps down.
SAM_0681.jpg


a little over 3 ft tall
SAM_0685.jpg


top view
SAM_0678.jpg


Peppers coming along nicely :party:
SAM_0680.jpg


SAM_0689.jpg



All in all I'm very pleased how's it's working out. I can't get over the speed of growth in this super simple system. These plants are only 9 weeks old and they are towering above plants that are twice as old in potting mix.
 
Awesome work ezzer. Those things do look quite happy and the roots are amazingly white for being in an unaerated solution. Keep us updated on the progress.
 
Its amazing how well they are growing without a bubble stone in there. What brand nutrients are you using and how strong are you mixing the solution?
 
Its amazing how well they are growing without a bubble stone in there. What brand nutrients are you using and how strong are you mixing the solution?
To be honest I wasn't expecting this to work and i'm amazed at what results can be achieved without building a complex system.
The nutrients come from a company in Bangkok, called Bangsai. I mix the nutrients to an EC of 1.1 and keep the ph between 6 and 6.1.

here's a breakdown of the nutes at full strength.

N=268.5 ppm
P=57 ppm
K=326ppm
Ca=182ppm
Mg=48ppm
S=65ppm
 
Wow. Now I know why younger years attempts at passive hydro with other plants was not successful. Air buffer zone is news to me. Wow. Thanks for the thread.
 
Wow. Now I know why younger years attempts at passive hydro with other plants was not successful. Air buffer zone is news to me. Wow. Thanks for the thread.

You're welcome Justaguy. I know what you mean I've been experimenting for over a year with different passive systems, hempy buckets, wick systems etc and they all failed.

Im doing the same thing for my brainstrain :D

cool, how's it working for you? Got any pics?
 
Amazing results Ezzer!

The type of system passive system you are using is a modified Gericke system - named after the professor from Berkeley who coined the term hydroponics. With his initial system though, he used compost for the seedling rack, then the air buffer into a nutrient reservoir. The magazine Maximum Yield published an article on his system written by Dr. Lynette Morgan.

I've been experimenting with passive, media systems such as the one in the picture below: it's a pequin, started in rockwool and transplanted into perlite+vermiculite.

hammerpamf-albums-hammer-hydro-picture447-pequin-swb.jpg
 
absolutly awesome, next season will have to try it.

Whats the difference with DWC?

Technically this system is a DWC(Deep Water Culture). But tradiontionally, a DWC system has an airstone at the bottom.

And I hope that is what you are asking so I don't look like a...
 
Amazing results Ezzer!

The type of system passive system you are using is a modified Gericke system - named after the professor from Berkeley who coined the term hydroponics. With his initial system though, he used compost for the seedling rack, then the air buffer into a nutrient reservoir. The magazine Maximum Yield published an article on his system written by Dr. Lynette Morgan.

I've been experimenting with passive, media systems such as the one in the picture below: it's a pequin, started in rockwool and transplanted into perlite+vermiculite.

hammerpamf-albums-hammer-hydro-picture447-pequin-swb.jpg

Thanks for the info. Are you bottom feeding the Pequin and lettiing it wick up?
 
Not bottom feeding - there aren't any drainage holes on the bottom. There is a single drainage hole on the side (~2 inches above the bottom) with a piece of mesh glued to the bucket, preventing any of the substrate from falling out. The extra nutrient solution that stays in the bottom is wicked up so the delta block (rockwool) doesn't dry entirely out between waterings, and the perlite creates large enough air gaps so the plant doesn't get hypoxic (oxygen deprivation).
 
Back
Top