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Posted: 12/20/2020 10:32:26 PM EDT
I decided to start a hydroponic garden since its only warm for 4 months here and our store's produce is terrible. Like $4 for the ugliest looking romaine heart ever. Seriously.
I'm planning on growing cucumbers, potatoes, carrots, onions, peppers, tomatoes, brussels sprouts, and mint. I bought a propagation dome, grow tent, lights and fans. Started the seedlings on Dec 7th while I wait for my lights to show up. I ordered two Spider Farm grow lights. Seedlings today. Click To View Spoiler I'm growing the potatoes and cucumbers in 55 gallon plastic drums. Click To View Spoiler The potatoes will be aeroponics. I'm going to drill and tap the pipes for spray nozzles and have it inside a barrel. Click To View Spoiler Everything will be grown inside of an 8x8 grow tent. Click To View Spoiler Using fert I bought, but I will be using dry fertilizer after. I got a conductivity pen and PH pen. Click To View Spoiler |
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Very impressive.
Looking forward to following along. What size are your lights? |
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you might look at Masterblend 4-18-38 with added calcium nitrate 15.5-0-0, available from Morgan county seed.Water soluble, mixed as a dilute solution. I've had good luck with it, as have others.look up mhpgardener on youtube. be careful how you mix it, as improper mixing can lead to nutrient lockout.
eta: looking forward to aeroponic potatoes |
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Quoted: you might look at Masterblend 4-18-38 with added calcium nitrate 15.5-0-0, available from Morgan county seed.Water soluble, mixed as a dilute solution. I've had good luck with it, as have others.look up mhpgardener on youtube. be careful how you mix it, as improper mixing can lead to nutrient lockout. eta: looking forward to aeroponic potatoes View Quote I’ll look into that, thanks! |
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Quoted: you might look at Masterblend 4-18-38 with added calcium nitrate 15.5-0-0, available from Morgan county seed.Water soluble, mixed as a dilute solution. I've had good luck with it, as have others.look up mhpgardener on youtube. be careful how you mix it, as improper mixing can lead to nutrient lockout. eta: looking forward to aeroponic potatoes View Quote The MHP Gardiner special. |
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Just an update. The light burnt off pretty much every except for my tomatoes and a lettuce plant. I only had it at 50% brightness. I was watering them twice a day.
Time to start pretty much over. |
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yeah, lots of trial and error there. i had a very successful first super hot pepper outdoor season, and am in the process of overwintering some of the mature plants i saved and cut back, as well as growing seedlings from those peppers. so far, mixed results and not what i had ideally hoped for, but still experimenting and if i can get all my mature plants overwintered without losing them , and they can be replanted and produce peppers again, ill call that a success.
nice set up by the way, much bigger than what i have |
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Quoted: yeah, lots of trial and error there. i had a very successful first super hot pepper outdoor season, and am in the process of overwintering some of the mature plants i saved and cut back, as well as growing seedlings from those peppers. so far, mixed results and not what i had ideally hoped for, but still experimenting and if i can get all my mature plants overwintered without losing them , and they can be replanted and produce peppers again, ill call that a success. nice set up by the way, much bigger than what i have View Quote How many peppers does a plant produce? |
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You can supplement your dome light with just some cheap LED under cabinet lights or something similar and just have them shine through the dome in a safe position where it won't get hot or melt something.
In one of my college classes I had to grow this little plant on my own for a semester project. I lived in a shitty college dorm with only one window that faced west, which in Texas might was well be a pizza oven. This was 25 years ago, and LED's for this kind of application were still kind of unheard of, so I went down to Walmart and bought one of those cheap ass $15 florescent grow light tubes and a cheap plug in fixture for it. I emptied one of the cabinets in my room, lined it with aluminum foil, put my plant in there with the grow light. 2 things happened. It got hot in the little cabinet, like 90+ degrees and my plant stretched like stupid. So I bought another cheap, white florescent tube and fixture, put it in there. That fixed the light problem, but didn't fix the heat problem. I went to the store and bought like 10 ft of 4" dryer vent tube. I attached it to the AC vent in my room with cardboard and blew air directly into the cabinet. So 24 hours a day, I was blowing 72 degree air through there with optimal lighting. Shit grew like stupid. When I turned it in at the end of the year, several people accused me of cheating and buying a new plant. The reality is, it's not that hard. It's like baking a cake, put in the right ingredients and bake it for the right amount of time and you'll have great results. So consider how much light you need and how much heat it's generating. Also look up "damping off" which is Phytophthora. Too much moisture can cause your seedlings to melt off. You may want to consider using a water sanitizer with something that uses hydrogen peroxide or at least a UV light. Lots of options here, just do some research. |
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Quoted: You can supplement your dome light with just some cheap LED under cabinet lights or something similar and just have them shine through the dome in a safe position where it won't get hot or melt something. In one of my college classes I had to grow this little plant on my own for a semester project. I lived in a shitty college dorm with only one window that faced west, which in Texas might was well be a pizza oven. This was 25 years ago, and LED's for this kind of application were still kind of unheard of, so I went down to Walmart and bought one of those cheap ass $15 florescent grow light tubes and a cheap plug in fixture for it. I emptied one of the cabinets in my room, lined it with aluminum foil, put my plant in there with the grow light. 2 things happened. It got hot in the little cabinet, like 90+ degrees and my plant stretched like stupid. So I bought another cheap, white florescent tube and fixture, put it in there. That fixed the light problem, but didn't fix the heat problem. I went to the store and bought like 10 ft of 4" dryer vent tube. I attached it to the AC vent in my room with cardboard and blew air directly into the cabinet. So 24 hours a day, I was blowing 72 degree air through there with optimal lighting. Shit grew like stupid. When I turned it in at the end of the year, several people accused me of cheating and buying a new plant. The reality is, it's not that hard. It's like baking a cake, put in the right ingredients and bake it for the right amount of time and you'll have great results. So consider how much light you need and how much heat it's generating. Also look up "damping off" which is Phytophthora. Too much moisture can cause your seedlings to melt off. You may want to consider using a water sanitizer with something that uses hydrogen peroxide or at least a UV light. Lots of options here, just do some research. View Quote Thanks for the advice. I think they were damping off. The dome had condensation on it and I was removing it at night. I did seem some mold growing. Now that I have the lights, I won’t use the dome after they emerge. |
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Quoted: Quoted: yeah, lots of trial and error there. i had a very successful first super hot pepper outdoor season, and am in the process of overwintering some of the mature plants i saved and cut back, as well as growing seedlings from those peppers. so far, mixed results and not what i had ideally hoped for, but still experimenting and if i can get all my mature plants overwintered without losing them , and they can be replanted and produce peppers again, ill call that a success. nice set up by the way, much bigger than what i have How many peppers does a plant produce? |
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Quoted: i got about 1200 peppers out of 18 plants, so about 60-70 each on average. some a lot more, some less, but a decent average i thought. mostly grew in 5 gallon buckets, or similar sized. a handful planted in dirt when i ran out of room on deck as they grew. im glad i kept a spreadsheet of peppers and quantities i picked, for future reference, but otherwise i would never have guessed i would have picked that many. gave them away, ate them, dried them, froze most, split and drop into beer, and made 4 different sauces. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: yeah, lots of trial and error there. i had a very successful first super hot pepper outdoor season, and am in the process of overwintering some of the mature plants i saved and cut back, as well as growing seedlings from those peppers. so far, mixed results and not what i had ideally hoped for, but still experimenting and if i can get all my mature plants overwintered without losing them , and they can be replanted and produce peppers again, ill call that a success. nice set up by the way, much bigger than what i have How many peppers does a plant produce? Nice, that's impressive. |
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Quoted: Really happy how they are turning out. You can see how the tomato had light burn on the leaves. They dropped all these roots in a day or so. https://i.imgur.com/KcdsmnR.jpg https://i.imgur.com/npnpm5X.jpg https://i.imgur.com/29f2Q2Z.jpg View Quote You can pinch those burnt leaves off since they should come off anyway. Look into pruning and topping if you’re not familiar with those already. ETA: Do you have a link to the light? |
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Quoted: You can pinch those burnt leaves off since they should come off anyway. Look into pruning and topping if you’re not familiar with those already. ETA: Do you have a link to the light? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Really happy how they are turning out. You can see how the tomato had light burn on the leaves. They dropped all these roots in a day or so. https://i.imgur.com/KcdsmnR.jpg https://i.imgur.com/npnpm5X.jpg https://i.imgur.com/29f2Q2Z.jpg You can pinch those burnt leaves off since they should come off anyway. Look into pruning and topping if you’re not familiar with those already. ETA: Do you have a link to the light? I was wondering if I should or not. My second light just came in. https://www.spider-farmer.com/products/sf-4000-led-grow-light |
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Water quality can make a big difference in nutrient availability. Having good (low ec, ppm and Total Dissolved Solids) goes a long way with preventing nutrient availability/lockout.
I’m very sure you are aware of all this, but just a reminder. Also, fertilizer salts can build up in your medium which can give ya problems, too! Nice set up! Good luck and enjoy caring for your garden. Also, pests enjoy the same conditions as your garden does. Keep an eye out for that stuff, too! |
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Quoted: You can pinch those burnt leaves off since they should come off anyway. Look into pruning and topping if you're not familiar with those already. ETA: Do you have a link to the light? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Really happy how they are turning out. You can see how the tomato had light burn on the leaves. They dropped all these roots in a day or so. https://i.imgur.com/KcdsmnR.jpg https://i.imgur.com/npnpm5X.jpg https://i.imgur.com/29f2Q2Z.jpg You can pinch those burnt leaves off since they should come off anyway. Look into pruning and topping if you're not familiar with those already. ETA: Do you have a link to the light? |
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They call rockwool "rotwool" for a reason. Coco coir isn't much different.
I put seed in pro-mix. Once the root system is large enough for a net pot, I rinse away the pro-mix by dipping in a 5 gallon pail of RO, then feed as many roots through the net pot before filling with hydroton. You can't let the hydroton stay wet, except maybe the very bottom 1/2" or you will encourage root rot. If your sprayers are spraying the nettie itself, you'll kill the roots. Same for DWC, the water should be 1" or so below the net pot. The bubbling will hydrate the roots well before they reach the water. You also should keep the water temp below 72F, or again, root rot. I shoot for 68F. That's a perfect temp for hydro once the roots are developed enough. Also, on lights. 10w/sqft is plenty for seedlings and for the first couple weeks. 25w/sqft is plenty for the entire vegetation cycle. Once my plants are set to 12hrs light to fruit, I up it to 50w/sqft of LED, plus another 5w/sqft of UV. I get amazing results. |
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Quoted: Water quality can make a big difference in nutrient availability. Having good (low ec, ppm and Total Dissolved Solids) goes a long way with preventing nutrient availability/lockout. I’m very sure you are aware of all this, but just a reminder. Also, fertilizer salts can build up in your medium which can give ya problems, too! Nice set up! Good luck and enjoy caring for your garden. Also, pests enjoy the same conditions as your garden does. Keep an eye out for that stuff, too! View Quote Thanks, we have quite the water filtration here. It should be good. If I have problems I’ll take a sample tested. Quoted: plenty of other leaves at this point, so ill second trimming off those burnt ones. youll have more than you can handle in short order anyway View Quote Got it done. Felt like an albatross around my neck. Quoted: They call rockwool "rotwool" for a reason. Coco coir isn't much different. I put seed in pro-mix. Once the root system is large enough for a net pot, I rinse away the pro-mix by dipping in a 5 gallon pail of RO, then feed as many roots through the net pot before filling with hydroton. You can't let the hydroton stay wet, except maybe the very bottom 1/2" or you will encourage root rot. If your sprayers are spraying the nettie itself, you'll kill the roots. Same for DWC, the water should be 1" or so below the net pot. The bubbling will hydrate the roots well before they reach the water. You also should keep the water temp below 72F, or again, root rot. I shoot for 68F. That's a perfect temp for hydro once the roots are developed enough. Also, on lights. 10w/sqft is plenty for seedlings and for the first couple weeks. 25w/sqft is plenty for the entire vegetation cycle. Once my plants are set to 12hrs light to fruit, I up it to 50w/sqft of LED, plus another 5w/sqft of UV. I get amazing results. View Quote I bought a huge bag of prosoil and started more seeds, thanks for your advice. Also drained some water out of my DWC. |
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Quoted: I was wondering if I should or not. My second light just came in. https://www.spider-farmer.com/products/sf-4000-led-grow-light View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Really happy how they are turning out. You can see how the tomato had light burn on the leaves. They dropped all these roots in a day or so. https://i.imgur.com/KcdsmnR.jpg https://i.imgur.com/npnpm5X.jpg https://i.imgur.com/29f2Q2Z.jpg You can pinch those burnt leaves off since they should come off anyway. Look into pruning and topping if you’re not familiar with those already. ETA: Do you have a link to the light? I was wondering if I should or not. My second light just came in. https://www.spider-farmer.com/products/sf-4000-led-grow-light Only you can decide. Pruning is a way to control how your plant grows, out vs. up primarily, but can also be used to control unnecessary leaves. Topping is only used on indeterminate (grows forever) species so depending on what kind of tomatoes you’re growing will determine if it’s an option. Being indoors will obviously be a deciding factor, but you could wrap the vines completely around the room if you’re going an indeterminate species. I watch a YouTuber called Self Sufficient Me for tons of gardening tips. |
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Quoted: Only you can decide. Pruning is a way to control how your plant grows, out vs. up primarily, but can also be used to control unnecessary leaves. Topping is only used on indeterminate (grows forever) species so depending on what kind of tomatoes you’re growing will determine if it’s an option. Being indoors will obviously be a deciding factor, but you could wrap the vines completely around the room if you’re going an indeterminate species. I watch a YouTuber called Self Sufficient Me for tons of gardening tips. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Really happy how they are turning out. You can see how the tomato had light burn on the leaves. They dropped all these roots in a day or so. https://i.imgur.com/KcdsmnR.jpg https://i.imgur.com/npnpm5X.jpg https://i.imgur.com/29f2Q2Z.jpg You can pinch those burnt leaves off since they should come off anyway. Look into pruning and topping if you’re not familiar with those already. ETA: Do you have a link to the light? I was wondering if I should or not. My second light just came in. https://www.spider-farmer.com/products/sf-4000-led-grow-light Only you can decide. Pruning is a way to control how your plant grows, out vs. up primarily, but can also be used to control unnecessary leaves. Topping is only used on indeterminate (grows forever) species so depending on what kind of tomatoes you’re growing will determine if it’s an option. Being indoors will obviously be a deciding factor, but you could wrap the vines completely around the room if you’re going an indeterminate species. I watch a YouTuber called Self Sufficient Me for tons of gardening tips. I am growing Tasti Lee, determinates. I will check them out, thanks. |
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I think I might switch to all aeroponics eventually. Then I can easily run a chiller, don't have to keep dumping individual pails out and I only have to monitor one water source.
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I may have missed it but are you running a fan of any sort in the tent? If not your tomatoes may have fell over because the stems are a bit weak. The air circulation helps to strengthen the cell structures (like plant exercise) and also helps prevent mildew and such.
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I am playing with it as well. Just on alot smaller scale. Attached File
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Quoted: I am playing with it as well. Just on alot smaller scale. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/261590/87315_jpeg-1806296.JPG View Quote That's a nice set up. |
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Quoted: That's a nice set up. View Quote So I was contemplating doing something like you. This huge setup but in my greenhouse I just built. I am using this aero garden to have a revolving door of veggies/herbs/whatever grows in water that I start here and put out in my greenhouse. The greenhouse will allow it to grow approx 2-3 months longer meanwhile I can grow in the dead of winter indoors. That's my thought anyway but I am probably wrong... |
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Quoted: I broke off 8 leaves and made thai lettuce wraps.. Turned out awesome. https://i.imgur.com/CgF0WWO.jpg View Quote How long does it take to regrow? |
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Quoted: Quoted: I broke off 8 leaves and made thai lettuce wraps.. Turned out awesome. https://i.imgur.com/CgF0WWO.jpg How long does it take to regrow? Probably won’t take long. It’s been growing pretty fast. |
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Looks great!
You should prune all the suckers off that tomato though! I also use a cheapo electric toothbrush to pollinate the tomatoes (just vibrate the flower clusters to increase the pollen release). Increases the fruit production. |
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Quoted: Looks great! You should prune all the suckers off that tomato though! I also use a cheapo electric toothbrush to pollinate the tomatoes (just vibrate the flower clusters to increase the pollen release). Increases the fruit production. View Quote I’ll get to that next week thanks. I’ve been away working for a couple weeks. |
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The tomatos look a little stressed. The under curl of the leaves can signify a few different things but is often associated with over watering. You may want to look into lowering your water level in the buckets if the roots are submerged to allow more air exposure. Your nutrient concentration could be a little hot as well or they could be too crowded and not getting enough air circulation. What are your air/water temperatures and what is the humidity level in the tent?
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Quoted: The tomatos look a little stressed. The under curl of the leaves can signify a few different things but is often associated with over watering. You may want to look into lowering your water level in the buckets if the roots are submerged to allow more air exposure. Your nutrient concentration could be a little hot as well or they could be too crowded and not getting enough air circulation. What are your air/water temperatures and what is the humidity level in the tent? View Quote It’s most likely from being dry, it was -40 here and I had a hard time keeping the humidity up. Also I have in floor heat which makes the water temp high. Just waiting for some large trays so I can run a water chiller. |
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I'll second the masterblend recommendation above, its really good and its cheap since its all dried components. You arent paying for water.
You might try a soilless mix for your tomatoes. I decided to go w/that since it seemed lower maintenance and its worked really really well. You essentially set up a bucket/pot/container w/a mix of peat moss or coco coir and perlite, I think I've got about 80%-90% peat or coir and the rest perlite. You water it w/your hydroponic nutrient every few days, I usually do a rotation of full strength, half strength, then just plain water to prevent burning, but I dont know if thats completely necessary. I set up the containers w/a reservoir and lava rocks at the bottom to give some leeway if I'm late or miss a day or two. In my case, I set up to grow indoor what I though was a dwarf determine variety of cherry tomato, and it ended up being an indeterminate variety. Despite being in fairly small buckets for 6 foot plus vines they grew into (1 gallon maybe) I havent had any real problems keeping the tomatoes alive and producing without much attention. Now that its warmed up I can get the damn things outside and go with some tomato seeds not from some idiot off ebay. |
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Things aren't looking good. I got really busy at working and was burnt out. The lettuce went to seed and my garage got so hot the tomatoes died. I pulled the plug. I will start over when I'm feeling better.
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