Low Cost/low Tech Hydroponic Project

[jaideeguy]

I want to ease myself into hydroponics and found on google this cheap/easy to construct method of growing hydroponic lettuce. it is simply a 1/2 inch foam raft with small holes spaced 8 inches apart and cotton wick hanging below the bottom of the raft into the solution and seed is placed in the cotton. The instructions say that one batch of solution [nutes] can last to the harvest [25-30 days.

Also, can be used as a seed starter for other larger plants to be transplanted later. A simple aquarium areator to be used as a bubler, providing oxygen.

My question is....can I use a water soluable foliar fertilizer [20/20/20] 'miracle grow' type of nutrient [one teaspoon/20 litre water]?? or another easy to find [at local farm supply shop] ferts??

System can be viewed at //edit - link removed due to possible virus/worm infected site//

I plan to use 6" hollow blocks and line it with plastic sheet and use 2 standard 1/2 inch 120cmX60cm foam rafts.

comments from the experts welcome......

Edited June 25, 2009 by Tywais

[Smithson]

My question is....can I use a water soluable foliar fertilizer [20/20/20] 'miracle grow' type of nutrient [one teaspoon/20 litre water]?? or another easy to find [at local farm supply shop] ferts??

You could, but you'd be missing the micro nutrients, which would affect growth.

[jaideeguy]

Are there any foliar ferts or maybe some disolved [normal soil type] fertilizer ganuels that would have the micro nutrients available here in LOS??

or for a small experimental project like mine, I guess I could order a small amount from abroad.

[jandtaa]

Hi Jaideeguy

have you thought about using worm castings to supply the micro-nutrients ??

Bare roots hydro - nutrients

cheers

J

 

[jaideeguy]

Good idea Jontaa.....I've thought about it, but for some reason, I don't have worms, much less castings. They are just rare in my mostly clay soil and even in my compost pile, I find hardly any even with all the organic matter I add.

Maybe I should find a source in CM.......anyone know of a worm source in the CM area??

But, I have been reading about organic manuere teas and the danger is E-coli bacteria. would that be a concern with worm castings???

[rice555]

Hello jaideeguy, this was posted on one of the hydro threads about a low cost raft system. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/HS/HS18400.pdf This also uses regular fertilizer + some things. I also mentioned on the phone about the use of worm castings being used in systems in Cuba with good success.

You can buy 6 brands of water soluble xx-xx-xx fertilizer here by the adds in the Thai Ag magazine, most with TE.(trace elements) You can buy in 1kg or 25kg or ton+. As for trace elements, you can buy 30grm, 100grm and 1kg of Nic-Spray, a kg is under Bt500. Also Rexlon APN, WESCO sells 3 brands Bt.480-520@kg along with the Nic-Spray. I bought Nic-Spray in 2 Korat stores, it's around.

The cost of a small kit of liquid lettuce nutes can't be that much(B.150+ shipping?) about the size of 2 coke cans to ship.

Remember, I have not grown any hydro lettuce/greens.

On another note, I would check about the foam sheet you might be thinking about using for a raft, it's not the same as ice chest foam.

I like the net cups for foam cubes, which Bangsai was the first to sale here, you dont need to buy perlite of vermiculite. You can grow greens/lettuce with these cups. (pictures are on a hydro thread)

Who's on first? http://www.genhydro.com/genhydro_US/quickt...onicArticle.pdf

rice555

[jaideeguy]

Hi Rice, I was hoping that I would hear from you on my pilot project. Thanks for the info on Wesco....will try to contact them this afternoon and order lettuce nutes and trace elements so I can proceed with my project.

I already have a similar version of the one you provided link to. mine, I built with frame of hollow blocks and lined with plastic sheeting. Holding water now and I have drawn a grid for seed holes 4" on center, as my manoa lettuce is quite compact.

If successful in this project, then I'll graduate to more complicated plants like peppers etc.

Rice.....with all your knowledge on hydroponics and connections and all us wanna-be hydro farmers here, why not start a hydroponics supply and consulting business?? I'd be one of your first customers......

Thanks for being there for us dummies and wanna-be growers.....

[jaideeguy]

Sorry to report my 1st failure, but I'm not giving up. After a week soaking solution with air bubler on 7/24 and no lettuce sprouts and inspected the cotton balls that were all saturated and wet and didn't see any spouting, or much swelling of the seeds.....in fact most seeds seemed 'bleached' and disected a few only to see dead enbryos.

I figure it could be one or more of several causes......

the foam was the standard closed cell foam, lightr than foam ice coolers. it was the kind that kids use for school projects, comes in 1" and half inch thickness.

could it be toxic??

or I made my nutrient mix too strong....standard foliar 20-20-20 +te @ 1tsp per gallon, then added 1tsp per gallon of epsom salts as per rice555 suggestion. will try a weaker solution next batch.

Can't blame my seeds as most were just a few months old and worked this winter and were stored air tight in the fridge. plus, I used a variety....mixed lettuce, spinich, arragula.

any other ideas on my 1st failure??

[angiud]

The URL in post 1 contain a Virus "allaple-one", a worm. Careful

[jaideeguy]

Wow, is that true??/ maybe why my seeds didn't sprout??

My free AVG didn't pick it up or maybe it did, but vaulted it and my pc was just scanned.

[Tywais]

The URL in post 1 contain a Virus "allaple-one", a worm. Careful

Link removed due to NOD32 and Avast! flagging it as containing a virus/worm.

[jaideeguy]

Ok, I just completed another scan of my whole pc and a couple of trojans showed up and were removed and vaulted. Last night I went to the site in question and again, no probs.

anyway to get back to my OP. This next attempt will be to do a side batch of seeds in a steril soil mix of cocopeat, klab, and klabdam and see how they preform against seeds directly planted in nutri solution. I may transplat some seedlings into the nutri solution if no results from direct seed.

Also, I'll use those net pots that i found....small sized set into styrofoam and cocopeat and use a milder nute solution.

sorry again about the worm virus.

[thescot]

I just started my first try with hydroponics 2 weeks ago and so far so good. I will post pictures tomorrow and update as i go. My first home made system was an aeroponic set-up similar to the one in the book ''how to hydroponics''. The first box was made from plastic but i found that it got too warm so i got a ice cooler foam boxes for 100bht that hold 60lts and keeps the nutes cool. This first box i'm trying a few different types of chilli, Tomatoes (i know they require a different EC/PH),beans and peppers all looking good so far.

I then decided to build a small float/raft set-up using the lid as the raft and adding a couple of air stones. I will attempt to grow some lettuce and Thai greens.... again it looks good for the short time it's been going. I would like to know more from Rice555 about not using the ice chest foam as a raft coz i don't want it turning bad if i can change things now.

I hate sitting on my ass so i spent another 390bht (fittings), 100bht (foam box), 380 (pump) and built another system which i was pretty happy with when i finished. Yesterday i placed some more lettuce and Thai green seedlings into the 40 holes and although a short time it seemsto be holding up ....we'll see from the results later.

Jaideeguy if its any help i have never done any growing before except helping my wife with digging holes in the garden. I started my seedlings in 3 different ways. (1) i had a small scaucer with very weak nutes, layed an old t-shirt cut off in the scaucer, put several different kinds of seeds on and then laid another piece of cloth ontop. Laft then in the kitchen and 2 days later they had started to sprout. (2) i mixed some perlite and superpeat (bought from carrifore) stuck the seed just under the surface and put onto a tray with some nutes on the bottom. (3) i tried putting the seeds straight into the small pots with only perlite. All 3 seem to be working so far but i don't underestimatethat it's early days and i'm sure a disaster of some sort is just around the corner which will only serve for the better in the future.

I took the advice of Rice555 and got myself a truncheon EC meter last week and just as well as the readings were way off from what is reccomended.

I'll get some photos when the morning light comes.

Thescot

[rice555]

Hello thescot, I would like to know more about the foam boards to, the ice chest/cooler boxes foam should be OK(?) Again, I've only grown in buckets and bags and have no raft/bubbler/DTF type growing time behind me. The foam boards I bought are to cover with plastic film(row cover/plastic mulch) and set my bags on them in the driveway to insulate them from the cement(heat) and it should work. What I don't know is if it's safe to use that type of board for a float? The cost would be more, but does Bangsai sell pieces(replacement parts) for their systems? Some of the parts could be used.

Yes, more pictures please, I like to see how things work and sometimes not, I've had my share.

A little off the green's, but at The Mall Korat I held a red Dutch Beef type hydro grown from CM, 486grms, a new goal to shoot for, I'm a 136grms short of my best in LOS.

rice555

[thescot]

As promised here is some pics of my small trial hydroponic set/start up. I hope to do bigger scale once i get things started and learn more.

Rice555 maybe were getting mixed up with the raft discription. I was using the cooler lid merely as a floating device but i have seen some clips with people growing seeds directly from the foam/raft which i think you are possibly trying to explain and therefore it would need to different.

Hope the pics are okay as i tried to make the attachments small for ease of mailing.

(pic1) my raft system growing lettuce and thai greens. (pic2) the lid lifted to see the roots starting to pull through. (pic3) bubbles, bubbles & bubbles.

(pic4) my aero system growing various veg. (pic5) under the lid to see the simple sprinkler set-up. (pic6) another attempt at a different PVC system. (pic7) some seedlings in coco and some started thursday in perlite/peat (the pic may not show it but they all seem to be germinating!!

The aero system and the PVC system are both on a timer (300bht) which comes on for 15 mins and off for 30mins. I may set it to be off for longer as the plants seem to have enough nutes after the 30 mins off. At the end (inside) of each PVC row i glued a small piece of foam which raises the nute level before it can drop to the next level. This lets the nutes circulate approx half way up the cup rather than trickle along the bottom. Secondly if there is any power cuts or pump failures there's always enough nutes left in the PVC pipe for the plant roots.

Any suggestions or comments for improvement are welcome.

thescot

[rice555]

Hello thescot, nice to see your projects, not have tried any of these types of systems, what one seems more promising? Keep us posted.

rice555

[bobby57]

I plan to use 6" hollow blocks and line it with plastic sheet and use 2 standard 1/2 inch 120cmX60cm foam rafts.

comments from the experts welcome......

Just a comment on the foam rafts - go for as thick as you can get. I'm using one inch and they often get water logged and too heavy to lift without breaking - especially when loaded with plants. Apparently (advised from Wesco) they also contain a chemical that interacts with the nutrients!! I haven't noticed any problems yet but them eyesight ain't what it used to be! Will advise if I locate a good source for foams.

Another point I noticed while scanning down these postings was raising the seeds. Initially I used the foam cubes from bangsai but now I use a shallow bed of sand/rice hull with lots of water and transfer the plants to 1" foam squares when they have a bit of root - much easier on the eyes!

Best of luck