Hydroponic Farming

[rice555]

Hello,

I need help calculating a liquid fertilizer from elemtar salts with NPK ratio 0-10-10 or similar. Planning to make a concentrate and then dilute and use in soil (pots) culture. Thanks

Hello All, CLW, you might be able to use Hydro Buddy which you can DL off the net or

there are OL calculators.

The one that does all, is Nutron 2000, but runs over $100. and is not Mac compatible,

but has all the bells and whistles you'll ever need.

rice555

Thanks for this advice.

I should have thought by myself of this as I have used the Hydrobuddy SW already... [emoji16]

By now I used just a simple ratio conversion to calculate it.

As raw material I used super phosphate 0-24-0 and a 0-0-60 straight fertilizer.

I know it's not real liquid fertilizer as they are not 100% soluble in water.

I measure the amount, put it in a mortar and mix with the water for one application.

Let's see how that works!

I tried to download and install mac version of HB, but no luck, I just wanted to see

how it worked, but gave the idea up after several attempts.

I've used WESCO W-S fertilizers when growing corn and beans, I just bought a 1 Kg

bag when I needed some.

I also have been transplanting eggs, the pumpkin peppers are doing well, should have

planted more. I got to get more coir and start bagging for some serranos.

rice555

Hello All, the pumpkin peppers are really starting to blossom, and standing up to the past 2 days at

109/110 and todays, so far 106.

rice555

[CLW]

Hello,

I'm a little bit concerned about my chili plants.

I transplanted them 10 days ago and now some of them drop their lower leaves and have a yellow leaf margin.

I gave them a very little fertilizer (~5 pellet of 15-15-15) so actually shouldn't be a nutrient burning.

Is there something I did wrong or just wait? Suggestions?

[rice555]

Hello All, CLW have you checked for critters for the leaf drop issue?

I've had leaves that look similar to yours, I just popped them off and

the plant, but removed all trash from the bag/pot.

rice555

[CLW]

Hello All, CLW have you checked for critters for the leaf drop issue?

I've had leaves that look similar to yours, I just popped them off and

the plant, but removed all trash from the bag/pot.

rice555

I'll have a closer look tomorrow. Maybe it's mite or thrips.

[CLW]

Hello All, CLW have you checked for critters for the leaf drop issue?

I've had leaves that look similar to yours, I just popped them off and

the plant, but removed all trash from the bag/pot.

rice555

I'll have a closer look tomorrow. Maybe it's mite or thrips.

They have thrips and white fly. But also they plants who didn't drop the leaves.

I guess it's some kind of heat stress or sunburn.

Anyway tomorrow spraying with Neem against the insects

[rice555]

Hello All, rained most of the day and raining more over the past 2 hrs., now after midnight.

It's been playing tag with the rain-hudmidity-heat the past 40 days, chilies took a dump,

but the toms that were dying in the heat are coming back strong. Only have a few Chadwick

Cherries growing, but are now starting to have fruit.

Bumped the EC to 3.0 with no part D. So If they don't wash out tonight.

The CC's today.

The only serrano I got from the pic of the plants down the page, that pic was when the RAIN's

really came hard a month ago.

The 1 serrano on top of my project for my dirt/hydro irrigation controller, which will be used

at the farm, will be moving from town after the first of the year, finally.

Seed for my last crop here, some I grew here before Toxic was pm.

rice555

[rice555]

Hello All, it's been wet, but am finally starting to get some good fruit set on the cherry toms

and my next bunch of toms have started to sprout, and eggs and chili's will not be far behind,

except the gab's and naga's will be a week later.

The eggs and serranos that I've been growing for 3-4 months have been supplying some fruit,

but the S's take a beating with the heavy rains, lot of blousons knocked off. The eggs are like

Timex's watches. The egg/chilli are still on the 4 part with an EC of 2.0.

The toms were at one point headed to the trash heap, but are with the breaks in the rains they

are doing much better, even with the 6 heavy rains(hour or more) over the past 5 days. It's rumbling

off in the distance now, getting close to 3AM here.

The toms really responded to the 3 part at EC 3.0 and am now up to EC 3.5 and all is looking

good, fruit getting large and more ripening than weeks back.

The rains have caused a lot of blossom drop before, now starting to have 4-5 fruit per cluster

instead of 1-2. The plants seem to be coming a long.

rice555

[Gary A]

I have long been interested in hydroponics. After a lot of research, I have decided that the nutrients and setups from the stores were pretty much rip offs. That led me to aquaponics. It is a simple setup and your fish provide the nutrients. I knew nothing about it and had no idea if my large bowl of guppies would provide enough nutrients for plants. I set up an experiment. My wife laughed at me and told me I had too much water and that plants would not grow with no dirt. I only had two spindly tiny tomato plants. I bought a 5 watt submersible water pump from Lasada. I was as surprised as much as my wife when the plants started growing quickly. I  used coconut coir for the bedding. I'm patiently waiting to see if the two plants will provide fruit. Below is my crude set up;

 

If this works, I'll be setting up a much larger system. So far, so good.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 1, 2016 by Gary A
Problem with photo

[rice555]

Hello All, Gary A, most of the people that use to post on several of the AQ-Ponics have

left LOS or posting on other aquaponics forums about their projects.

 

I'd like to thank djayz for the coir hookup!!!!!!!!!! I went yesterday, and got what I need to

get me ready for my next grow.

Here's some pix's of the place and what I got for Bt.1,200.

rice555

 

 

 

[Gary A]

Thanks to my mother in law, I have a free supply of coir. We have a number of coconut trees. Mother in law has enough ambition to remove the husks and take the nuts. She was throwing the husks on the burning pile to be burned. I scavenged some of them and pulled the fibrous stringy part out. I form them in a circle and leave a hole in the center. I put the seedlings in the hole and tuck some loose coir on top of the roots. A few stones on top keeps the seedlings from floating out.

 

Time will tell if this is going to work but so far, so good. When the plants get a bit bigger, I'll put in some posts to support the plants.

[rice555]

17 hours ago, Gary A said:

Thanks to my mother in law, I have a free supply of coir. We have a number of coconut trees. Mother in law has enough ambition to remove the husks and take the nuts. She was throwing the husks on the burning pile to be burned. I scavenged some of them and pulled the fibrous stringy part out. I form them in a circle and leave a hole in the center. I put the seedlings in the hole and tuck some loose coir on top of the roots. A few stones on top keeps the seedlings from floating out.

 

Time will tell if this is going to work but so far, so good. When the plants get a bit bigger, I'll put in some posts to support the plants.

 

If you go back to pg.13 , post 313 and dig through SJS's VDO's he has built up a large aquaponic greenhouse operation up from his place down South.

I don't do Facebook or that sort, but he has some info "Green Evolutions Aquaponies Thailand.

From what I herd in his VDO, he is using the 2 seprate systems, not the like your where the same water re-cirulates using the the growbed/plants as the the filter. Samething Farpington

was doing on his VDO's Ponicwars, he grew both hydro and aquaponic till he moved back to

CONUS.

I like to grow plants, I don't have any interest in fish, pigs, chickens, goats, ducks, turkeys,

sheep, buffalos or raising another creature to take care of for fun or profit, except the cats,

the say they will get me if I say anything bad about them.

So this is why I stick with hydro and not the other.

The guy on top of the fishshit tank is SJS fro pg 13.

rice555

[Gary A]

I have two large pots of guppies. They are for mosquito control. I change most of the water when it starts to have an odor. Maybe once a year. I have no interest growing most vegetables. Tomatoes are about the only thing I want to grow because the tomatoes available in the fresh market are juice less rubber balls with no flavor. The cherry tomatoes are pretty flavorful but large juicy sandwich size are simply not available.

 

I had no luck at all growing tomatoes in the ground. They did well but even the ones in sterilized soil died when the fruit was about golf ball size. A friend of mine from Florida brought me five different kinds of seeds that were developed for growing in Florida. Every kind of seed acted exactly the same.

 

  

[rice555]

Hello All, Gary, some of the first tom's were using coir/potting soil/rice hulls, only got

one big fruit a plant and the rest were marbles, and that was with regular fertilizer.

The next try was coir and rice hulls and lettuce hydro nutes, no EC meter to check

the EC, but it got better after getting a RC meter and nut's for growing tom's. Lived in a shophouse and used the car parking area as my garden.

Things are a little more under control from my first hydro days, and can now get much

better results. With the large beef types, from black from Tula and PBTD(pink berkley

tie dye) I can get 400-480gr, fruit with what I've learned and help from Scoop1 and his's

nute formula, and the easy to treat my coir before using.

And I'm still growing on my driveway.

rice555 

[rice555]

Hello All, first off, Scoop1, Khun Veerapol from WESCO wants to get some info from you

about your formula, He called me, also PM you and you @  address is tits up at rock.

 

Been windy here and only a few drops of water, tom's are getting close to transplant, chilies

are doing middle of the road, will do a new planting on the 18th.

Some of the new coir treated and bagged and ready to go. 10 more big bags to treat  pluss

recycle all the old grow bag go coir.

Still picking serranos and eggs every week.

rice555

 

[thejackal007]

Good afternoon all  Loving all the pictures !! Could anyone please tell me of some good hydro shops in Bangkok ? Thank you 

[rice555]

1 hour ago, thejackal007 said:

Good afternoon all  Loving all the pictures !! Could anyone please tell me of some good hydro shops in Bangkok ? Thank you 

Hello and welcome, there is no hydro shop like back home, but shops that sell what they use to grow.

Accent Thailand, Fresh Gardens, off Sukhumvit, about a 5min. walk from Thong Lo(E6) BTS  station.

ACK, off Suk(Sukumvit) about a mile from the On Nut(E9) BTS station on On Nut Road.

Somewhere's on this thread you may find more info, but these 3 places mostly handle NTF systems

and there was a farm that sold DWC systems, Bongsai or something like that.

ACK and Accent sell nutes for other crops besides lettuce/greens.

WESCO, BKK sells all the main and micros for DYI nutrients, 25kg bags and 1kg for the micros and

200g for the moly.

rice555

 

[Scoop1]

On ‎8‎/‎16‎/‎2016 at 6:23 AM, rice555 said:

Hello All, first off, Scoop1, Khun Veerapol from WESCO wants to get some info from you

about your formula, He called me, also PM you and you @  address is tits up at rock.

 

Been windy here and only a few drops of water, tom's are getting close to transplant, chilies

are doing middle of the road, will do a new planting on the 18th.

Some of the new coir treated and bagged and ready to go. 10 more big bags to treat  pluss

recycle all the old grow bag go coir.

Still picking serranos and eggs every week.

rice555

 

 

Hi all, Rice thanks for that information, I have emailed him and we will see what says, the pics look great, things a looking good

Cheers

Scoop

[thejackal007]

18 hours ago, rice555 said:

Hello and welcome, there is no hydro shop like back home, but shops that sell what they use to grow.

Accent Thailand, Fresh Gardens, off Sukhumvit, about a 5min. walk from Thong Lo(E6) BTS  station.

ACK, off Suk(Sukumvit) about a mile from the On Nut(E9) BTS station on On Nut Road.

Somewhere's on this thread you may find more info, but these 3 places mostly handle NTF systems

and there was a farm that sold DWC systems, Bongsai or something like that.

ACK and Accent sell nutes for other crops besides lettuce/greens.

WESCO, BKK sells all the main and micros for DYI nutrients, 25kg bags and 1kg for the micros and

200g for the moly.

rice555

 

Thank you rice555

[rice555]

3 hours ago, thejackal007 said:

Thank you rice555

I just looked at page 1 of this thread, it has the names and concat info

on these places.

rice555

[rice555]

Hello All, 2 ea. of 12 verities of toms to try Scoop 1's 3 part high EC and

will do a side by with Scoop's 4 part with 6 of the 12 verities and chilies.

So lower EC, between 2.2 to 2.5 EC. 

rice555

[rice555]

We went from this a few weeks back, to this. The weather is better and

the plants are responding to the nutes very well. I'm planning on bumping

the EC up to 2.6 from 2.2 for a couple of weeks then up again. I do have one

plant from the second transplanting that is blossoming, but is deformed and

will get pulled. Zapped the eggplants for room, so now will be able to tie up

the plants.

rice555 

[rice555]

On August 31, 2013 at 10:40 PM, whitewater said:

Buffered and Non-Buffered Coco Coir

Coco coir in its natural state contains a lot of sodium ions, which cling to the coco coir like a magnet on the cation exchange sites, and is also rich in potassium. In order to make coco coir suitable for use as a growing media it must be pretreated or ‘buffered’ before use. The buffering process involves pre-soaking the coir for 12-24 hours with a buffering solution high in calcium; this displaces the sodium and balances the naturally occurring potassium. After the soaking period the media is washed with water, this removes the displaced sodium, leaving the calcium in the coir. This buffering process prevents unwanted draw down or ‘lockout’ of calcium and magnesium, and avoids sodium toxicity issues. Luckily for us home growers, most pre-packaged coir products in grow stores are buffered at the point of manufacture and will be ready to use, however; it doesn’t hurt to check the packaging before use!

 

On September 2, 2013 at 5:59 AM, Scoop1 said:

Hi All, whitewater if the coir processing procedure is done properly there is a lot less sodium remaining in the coir, however that is not always the case or what maybe in the bag, its a Nitrogen draw down index that has to be rectified before initial use, most large coir manufacturers have specifications on what that Nitrogen draw down index is, but so many don't have that information, the easiest way to "charge" the new coir is to use a Calcium Nitrate solution { 20.0% Calcium 15.5% Nitrogen or similar } at an EC of 2.0 and totally cover and saturate the coir with this charging solution and leave it soaking for at least 24 hours and the completely drain it , then give it a good flush with the nutrient solution at the strength that you require for the plant that will be growing in the coir, and then it will be ready to use and the seedling won't suffer from a Nitrogen deficiency from that draw down. This is the formula that is required, dissolve 400 grams of { Calcium Nitrate at the percentage mentioned above } in 1 litre of water and use it at a dilution rate of 1- 200 and that will get you very close to EC 2.0. which will supply 310ppm of Nitrogen and 400ppm of Calcium. If the percentage of the Calcium Nitrate is a little different, give me yell and I will work it out for you if you need me to.

Cheers

Scoop

Hello All, here's the best info I've found on treating coir/coco before using, if you are buying local.

A big bag of coir is a pain in the ass to move when wet. I move the bags to where I'm going to treat

them and put them in 2 large trash. put some wide tape bands around the bag so the don't balloon

out to bad when filled with the EC 2.0 calcium nitrate soak. Best to lean the bag/s up against a wall

or post or something, they are hard to move without ripping the bag/s.

I leave for 24H and drain(into the garden). I spread out on a tarp and and rake up a bit.

Fill my grow bags and transplant  the new plants. Water the  bag with EC adjusted nutes for the verity

of plants I'm growing.

rice555

 

[wazzadg44]

Hi all-new to this so please bear with me. Am moving to Phitsanulok next week. I have a reasonable garden area at the side of the house I would like to try and grow a few veg. hydroponically. I have never done this before but was an avid gardener in OZ. I am particularly interested in Scoop1's post on page 12 No.287. Being a total newbie at this, could Scoop explain, in plain English please mate, the following:

How long does the 30 litres last as set up in the post? What are the meanings of A,B,C,D? What is the growing medium in the buckets? Do the buckets have a small drain about 1-2" above bottom of bucket? Are the plants fed by gravity from the 30 l tank or is there a pump set up? For how long do you allow the drippers to drip? eg 2hours on 2 hours off? Could I substitute a complete fertilizer in the short term until I can source the required nutrients etc? Sorry about all the questions but I would like to make a go of this and feed the family good veg. Would only be small scale at the moment but the wife has 12 rai in Chat Rakan that maybe utilised in some way. Thanks for any info-love the thread and have read all 17 pages. The area at the side of the house would be used if suitable.

[Scoop1]

Good morning all, wazzadg44, wow, thanks for the questions,

 The 30ltr drum is gravity fed, four plants per 20ltr bucket, 4 drippers per bucket, and the drain hole is as close to the bottom of the bucket as possible and a small piece of 4mm hard poly tube is inserted , drill the hole smaller than the poly tube so you get a tight seal , put a piece of fine bug mesh on the tube on the inside of the bucket and clamp it to the tube with a cable tie, that stops the tube becoming blocked by the coir. and the plants are growing in pre conditioned coir.

On the subject of how long will the 30ltr drum last depends on, of course,  how many buckets and how many plants are in the buckets, I use adjustable drippers so I can change the drip rate when required and I also use the valve on the drum as extra control of the drip, my system uses about 60ltrs per day, and the drainage is adjusted for EC and Ph. and then reused twice before it gets dumped in the soil garden.

The rule of thumb is that you get  drainage  before the sun reaches 80% of its intensity { which is easily done via the adjustable drippers } but you want to aim for certain parameters, that was the first one, the second one is  that you try and end up with 30% drainage at the end of the day, it takes a little bit of adjusting but you will get it eventually, the plants wont worry if you get to much drainage, as long as you get drainage, they should be draining a little bit for most of the day, but try to get around the 30% mark.

The plants are continually dripped all day and it gets turned off at night time, so once again if you meet that 30% parameter you are on your way to growing happy plants.

The "Nutrient Concentrate" Part A,B,C,D, you don't need to worry about, its a "Nutrient Management" trial that rice555 is helping  me with in the tropics, at this stage you only need to use a two part nutrient concentrate Part A and Part B , it is best to keep the set up as simple as possible, then will get a good result,  many people make the system so complicated that it is hard to manage and fails, the safest and easiest system is drip fed coir, you can grow anything in it, no need for a pump and its problems.

With the nutrient concentrate, you should just get a well balanced nutrient, I don't think you should formulate your own at this stage of your experience.

Hope this was plain  enough English

Cheers

Scoop

Let me know if you don't understand anything I have explained

Edited November 9, 2016 by Scoop1

[Scoop1]

Hi all, hey rice555 just wondering how everything is going with your plants, where are you up to?

Cheers

Scoop

[rice555]

18 hours ago, Scoop1 said:

Hi all, hey rice555 just wondering how everything is going with your plants, where are you up to?

Cheers

Scoop

Hello All, it's been a very wet rainy season, big storm day before yesterday.

I've only got 3 to 4 months before the move to the farm. Most all toms have

bit the swamp, no dust here. Of the 12 verities of toms I started, the OP's bit

the dust first, then the Hyb's.

The chilies faired much better, but because of the rains, I didn't T/P a lot of

plants and just dumped them.

The nutes numbers are still good formula wise.

rice555 

[JungleBiker]

Hi Rice555, I'm preparing a budget for growing strawberries in coir here in Laos. I want to work out the cost of nutrients. I contacted WESCO by email and they didn't reply. I found your handy post #303 on page 13 where you shared a photo of an invoice showing prices for micronutrients. I was wondering if you could kindly share the prices of the macronutrients (25kg bags, etc)? And if prices have changed since a year ago, any update on the micro prices would be good to know.  

 

What (if any) chemicals are you using to adjust the pH?

 

I saw a post where you said you bought some bags of coir for 1,200 baht, but how was it priced in terms of baht/bag or baht per what?

 

Many thanks.

JB. 

[rice555]

10 hours ago, JungleBiker said:

Hi Rice555, I'm preparing a budget for growing strawberries in coir here in Laos. I want to work out the cost of nutrients. I contacted WESCO by email and they didn't reply. I found your handy post #303 on page 13 where you shared a photo of an invoice showing prices for micronutrients. I was wondering if you could kindly share the prices of the macronutrients (25kg bags, etc)? And if prices have changed since a year ago, any update on the micro prices would be good to know.  

 

What (if any) chemicals are you using to adjust the pH?

 

I saw a post where you said you bought some bags of coir for 1,200 baht, but how was it priced in terms of baht/bag or baht per what?

Many thanks.

JB. 

Hello All/JB, I don't keep receipts but, the average is Bt. 1,100. a bag. (Bt.850-1400. local Korat).

MAP and NPK cost the most.

Did you @ the guy from WESCO or WESCO ?  He usually gets back to you in a few days.

You should be able to buy the bulk chem in any large city in LOS, the micros best to get from

WESCO. I can only get the Chelated Fe here in Korat, the rest from the WESCO hydro site.

I'll check out frapiton's AQ/Hydro thread, if I remember, he posted the WESCO bill, the prices

haven't gone up but a few Bt. each.

Rice555 

 

[Hereinthailand]

Here is another source for nutrients you might compare to for pricesi. http://www.higreenshop.com/category google translate does a good job on it. What kind of system are you planning for your strawberries ? There are some good youtube vids on people using vertical grow towers with success. I have been interested in starting some strawbeery seeds I brought over from usa soon, its a small packet but if they grow I will make seed from them, just need to find my grow media here.

[rice555]

HE"S the man!!! I think the only Eng. speaker there.

rice555

 

Veerapol Niyomthai
Wesco chemicals Thailand
Phone+ 668-5449-9982
Fax + 662-538-7603

 

Veerapol Niyomthai <[email protected]>