Hydroponic Gardening

[Ulaven_Demorte]

I've taken up a new hobby since gardening out of doors at my house in New Jersey is an exercise in futility thanks to abundant Deer and rabbits from the state park bordering the north side of the property.

I started off with a small 7 site Miracle-Gro Aerogarden growing herbs after Father's Day. I have more Thai and Genovese Basil and Dill than I know what to do with.

Currently I have a 5 gallon Deep water Culture setup growing a celebrity tomato plant and several small Kratky method setups growing lettuce. All of this is located in my basement / boiler room under T5 H.O. fluorescent grow lighting. I'm considering trying out an Ebb and Flow system or a vertical aeroponic tower next.

Anyone ever tinkered with Hydroponics or Aeroponics?

 

[Bert Notorius]

a head of lettuce is
$1.69
i throw it in the crisper.
when it's gone,
i go buy another.

 

[Hard_Rom]

Tomatoes, right! ummm hydro! Any friends of mine who grow indoor are growing other types of leafy green plants. Hopefully without too much leaf.

A bit of fencing around garden doesn't deter deer and bunnies?

 

[Hard_Rom]

a head of lettuce is
$1.69
i throw it in the crisper.
when it's gone,
i go buy another.

A head of cauliflower is $6 up here. Grow you own, no matter what, is worth it. Choose the higher cost ones to make the effort worth it. Good excuse to get outside.

 

[Disgustipated]

A head of cauliflower is $6 up here. Grow you own, no matter what, is worth it. Choose the higher cost ones to make the effort worth it. Good excuse to get outside.

MsAnnBert doesn't do "outside".

 

[Bert Notorius]

A head of cauliflower is $6 up here. Grow you own, no matter what, is worth it. Choose the higher cost ones to make the effort worth it. Good excuse to get outside.

that's because you live in
a third world country.

 

[Bert Notorius]

MsAnnBert doesn't do "outside".

i live in G/gods country.
my ground is black loam.
if i planted a baseball,
it would grow into a baseball bush.

would you like to see my
penis?

gazer?

 

[Tiamo15]

I should hook you up with the Miami guy who bought my secluded Colorado mountain property with a spacious warehouse.

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

Tomatoes, right! ummm hydro! Any friends of mine who grow indoor are growing other types of leafy green plants. Hopefully without too much leaf.

A bit of fencing around garden doesn't deter deer and bunnies?

We have some damned determined deer and tunnel rat bunnies, not to mention the groundhogs.

I plan to stick to legal crops myself, vegetables and herbs. But the experience could come in handy should it become legal to grow other things for medicinal use.

 

[NeverEndingMe]

winter is coming, maybe you can sell some of that crack to get new tires for the obamacare home?

I've taken up a new hobby since gardening out of doors at my house in New Jersey is an exercise in futility thanks to abundant Deer and rabbits from the state park bordering the north side of the property.

I started off with a small 7 site Miracle-Gro Aerogarden growing herbs after Father's Day. I have more Thai and Genovese Basil and Dill than I know what to do with.

Currently I have a 5 gallon Deep water Culture setup growing a celebrity tomato plant and several small Kratky method setups growing lettuce. All of this is located in my basement / boiler room under T5 H.O. fluorescent grow lighting. I'm considering trying out an Ebb and Flow system or a vertical aeroponic tower next.

Anyone ever tinkered with Hydroponics or Aeroponics?

 

[Libsam]

Why do you want to change?

If you want to increase yield you may want to look into changing your light system first, or enclosing your grow to trap light energy.

If you are having root rot problems you may want to look in to ppm and ph meters, or maybe your environment is too hot.

 

[Christobal]

I have used hydroponics to germinate seeds but I transfer them outside. I use heirloom tomatoes. Yes I lose more fruit to bugs and disease but the ones that make are wonderful compared to the store. It's like having a steak when all you ever had was hamburger.

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

Why do you want to change?

If you want to increase yield you may want to look into changing your light system first, or enclosing your grow to trap light energy.

If you are having root rot problems you may want to look in to ppm and ph meters, or maybe your environment is too hot.

I'm experimenting and just want to try different types of hydroponics, drip, NFT, Aeroponics.. So much to learn! I'm just curious how well I can utilize the small space I've set aside for various Hydoponics grow systems.

The H.O. T5 lighting I'm using now works well, it's 6400K "daylight".

I have had no problems with root rot. I'm constantly monitoring the PH and PPM of the nutrient solutions and keep the DWC system air stone running 24/7. The ambient temperature in there stays steady around 70F year round since it's mostly underground..

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

winter is coming, maybe you can sell some of that crack to get new tires for the obamacare home?

One trick mentally handicapped pony.

 

[Hard_Rom]

One trick mentally handicapped pony.

That is one seriously obsessive individual!

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

I have used hydroponics to germinate seeds but I transfer them outside. I use heirloom tomatoes. Yes I lose more fruit to bugs and disease but the ones that make are wonderful compared to the store. It's like having a steak when all you ever had was hamburger.

I'm mostly interested in the science of the different methods. From what I've read Aeroponics uses far less water than traditional hydroponics and orders of magnitude less water than growing in soil. Crops also tend to mature faster and produce more fruit than traditional growing methods.

Almost everything I've grown so far with the exception of the herbs in the aerogarden has been heirloom varieties that aren't generally available in our local grocery store. Celebrity tomatoes, butterhead lettuce, and Bloomsdale spinach. The bonus for me is that I know exactly what went into growing these vegetables: i.e. No pesticides, no forced ripening through gas exposure, etc.

 

[Beco]

I've taken up a new hobby since gardening out of doors at my house in New Jersey is an exercise in futility thanks to abundant Deer and rabbits from the state park bordering the north side of the property.

I started off with a small 7 site Miracle-Gro Aerogarden growing herbs after Father's Day. I have more Thai and Genovese Basil and Dill than I know what to do with.

Currently I have a 5 gallon Deep water Culture setup growing a celebrity tomato plant and several small Kratky method setups growing lettuce. All of this is located in my basement / boiler room under T5 H.O. fluorescent grow lighting. I'm considering trying out an Ebb and Flow system or a vertical aeroponic tower next.

Anyone ever tinkered with Hydroponics or Aeroponics?

It's good for pot growing...

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

It's good for pot growing...

You must have missed that part where I already said that my plan is to stick to legal crops.

 

[BotanyBoy]

I like Ebb/flow. Aeroponics is fun but it's sensitive and not forgiving of errors. Ebb/flow will warn you of problems and give you a time buffer to un-fuck the situation.

Larger rez, last longer and is more stable, get a better more thorough feeding.

I used to use 4'x8' trays, diatomite/coco substrate in smart pots under a pair of 1000W HPS. 3x 600W dual arcs might or full spectrum bulbs might work best for your goals.

Hydro can get mighty spendy to set up, but once you do usually it will pay for itself if you work it right.

Indo is good too because year round production. I keep a food tray for this reason myself, herbs, leafy greens surrounded by micros/fodder. But have since converted to aquaponics so I can eat fish all year too.

Lib is right too, try to trap/use as much light as possible.

Fans....you want all your leaves 'dancing' with airflow pretty much non stop.

It's good for pot growing...

It's good for everything growing.

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

I like Ebb/flow. Aeroponics is fun but it's sensitive and not forgiving of errors. Ebb/flow will warn you of problems and give you a time buffer to un-fuck the situation.

Larger rez, last longer and is more stable, get a better more thorough feeding.

I used to use 4'x8' trays, diatomite/coco substrate in smart pots under a pair of 1000W HPS. 3x 600W dual arcs might or full spectrum bulbs might work best for your goals.

Hydro can get mighty spendy to set up, but once you do usually it will pay for itself if you work it right.

Indo is good too because year round production. I keep a food tray for this reason myself, herbs, leafy greens surrounded by micros/fodder. But have since converted to aquaponics so I can eat fish all year too.

Lib is right too, try to trap/use as much light as possible.

Fans....you want all your leaves 'dancing' with airflow pretty much non stop.



It's good for everything growing.

That's my biggest concern with aeroponics, equipment failure could wipe out a crop quickly because there is no growing media to provide a moisture buffer to the roots. Even if my air pump should die on the DWC bucket the plant won't drown due to oxygen deprivation for a pretty long time. This is why I like the Kratky method for leafy greens, no pumps needed at all. Just a good light source (natural or artificial). I have a fan connected to the same timer as my lighting, right now the lights and fan are on 17 hours a day.

Aquaponics looks interesting, but I'm not interested in raising fish.

 

[BotanyBoy]

That's my biggest concern with aeroponics, equipment failure could wipe out a crop quickly because there is no growing media to provide a moisture buffer to the roots. Even if my air pump should die on the DWC bucket the plant won't drown due to oxygen deprivation for a pretty long time. This is why I like the Kratky method for leafy greens, no pumps needed at all. Just a good light source (natural or artificial). I have a fan connected to the same timer as my lighting, right now the lights and fan are on 17 hours a day.

Yep, but man you can tweak it to get max yield like few other things.

So if you're big on tinkering it's fun but I wouldn't put an entire crop on it either.

It's all give and take.

Aquaponics looks interesting, but I'm not interested in raising fish.

Then it's prob not worth your time/effort.

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

Yep, but man you can tweak it to get max yield like few other things.

So if you're big on tinkering it's fun but I wouldn't put an entire crop on it either.

It's all give and take.



Then it's prob not worth your time/effort.

Considering that I could lose everything in an aeroponics system in the time that I'm away from home to work if the pump or timer fails I may have to pass. Maybe after I retire.

I'm thinking of putting together a drip feed bucket using a combination of coco coir and perlite media in a 8 or 10 inch net pot. That should hold enough nutrient that I can recover from a pump failure without losing my tomato plant.

I put together a self-watering bucket that's filled with cilantro seedlings on a pedestal on the south side of the house out of the reach of bunnies. I hope the deer ignore it. We shall see.

 

[Christobal]

I never had a problem finding heirloom seeds on line in the US. All kinds of plants.

 

[BotanyBoy]

Considering that I could lose everything in an aeroponics system in the time that I'm away from home to work if the pump or timer fails I may have to pass. Maybe after I retire.

I'm thinking of putting together a drip feed bucket using a combination of coco coir and perlite media in a 8 or 10 inch net pot. That should hold enough nutrient that I can recover from a pump failure without losing my tomato plant.

I put together a self-watering bucket that's filled with cilantro seedlings on a pedestal on the south side of the house out of the reach of bunnies.

The drip feed buckets are prob a much more reliable/safe thing.

Worst thing you can do is over complicate a hobby and kill your love of the hobby with failure.

I hope the deer ignore it. We shall see.

Deer are just overgrown rabbits....
http://images.artwanted.com/large/73/30353_1256473.jpg
They are the fuckin' enemy...
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4070/4444411854_db98472ba6_z.jpg?zz=1
http://www.clanbhr.es/media/kunena/attachments/1016/image_demonic_child.jpg

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

I never had a problem finding heirloom seeds on line in the US. All kinds of plants.

Good for you, but this has nothing to do with the topic.