new to hydroponics need help

20 years ago

Hi, I am just starting out and have a few questions I hope someone here can help me with. The main reason I am interested in hydroponics is for growing green fodder for my farm animals. The thinking is, it has to be less work than pushing round bales around!

I have just tried to grow my first test batch of seedlings and found that they got mouldy. Is the problem too much water? Not enough fertilizer? Should I be growing the seeds on a screen instead of right on the plastic tray? Should I be covering the seeds with plastic? I left them open to the air last time.

My system is quite small currently as I did not want to spend oodles of money until I get some experience at this. It consists of a 70 litre rubbermaid tote, a very small pump, and an airstone. I have been using the top of the tote for the growing tray.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Lori

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Comments (9)

mkirkwag
20 years ago
I shouldn't even answer you, as I'm not all that successful myself, but I will anyway!

When I have a mold problem, I cut back on the number of cycles I'm running, and it clears right up, but I start mine in rockwool.
chuck
20 years ago
Hi, considering that your ultimate goal is to provide fodder for your animals as opposed to using the large rolls of hay tells me that you are probably wasting your time on anything less than a full sized test bed. My point is that everything you learn in a small system will be wasted time as everything will be totaly different when going for it in real-time. I would recommend that you consider going to a system that incorporates long plastic wrapped rows with a timed drip to feed the plants. I guess it could be called water to waste which means to me that you eliminate the problem of recycling the netruient. Your nutrient is injected into the main water source as it flows out to the rows. I have seen some simple home made devices that when calibrated will inject the correct ratio of nutrient when the water pressure remains fairly constant. I recently saw some commercial growers that produce a lot of plants using this method. Essintially, you enclose your growing medium into the plastic by laying down the plastic on the ground in a long row pouring your gravel or sawdust etc. along the row and then folding the plastic up over the medium and back underneath to form a closed tube. You use a blade to score a hole for the seedling and of course holes for the drip tubes every foot or so. I would like to try this myself, so if you have the time, maybe we could both try it out and compare notes. Anyway, I felt that I would share my thoughts with you on this. good luck, chuck
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For Aldrin: Do I understand you right that you are building a greenhouse for hydroponics or a growing tunnel? If that is what you are referring to, the plastic used for greenhouses and tunnels are called polycarbonate. The material diffuses the sunÂs rays somewhat and renders it milder for the delicate plants. Furthermore, they are resistant to the elements and last a fairy long time. Here in Metro Manila, they are available in Divisoria in shops that specialize in plastic sheets, tarpaulins, tent materials, etc. In Quezon City, there is a place called the Seedling Bank Foundation where one can find shops that deal with gardening materials. There is one shop there that deals with greenhouse construction materials including the plastic cover. If by chance you come over to Quezon City, the Seedling Bank Foundation is found along the corner of E. delos Santos (EDSA) and Quezon Ave. I am not sure about the cost of the plastic sheet. Another place in Quezon City is: The Green Planet Corporation (Ramgo) 55 Gen. Lim St., Heroes Hill Quezon City 1104 Philippines Tel. Nos.: (632) 372-8726; 371-3485; 412-3526; 411-1571 Fax No. (632) 371-3488 Email: store@ramgoseed.com In Cebu they might be available in shops that specialize in pastic sheets and similar mateials. There is a place in Cebu that is similar to our Divisoria here. About the nutrient combination, kindly check the link below. I have just added the formulation you asked for. Check "Nutrient 3". My observation is that the local varieties or types are the best bet. The imported ones are more difficult to grow. I am sure you have a Bureau of Plant Industry office in Cebu, you can consult them. They may even have the seeds. Or you can try the seeds sold at the agricultural and garden shops in your place. The shops that sell agricultural equipment and supplies exclusively are also a good source of information. Regards, Ed Here is a link that might be useful: Hydroponics Notebook
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The pH of the fertilizer blend in your water is on the acidic side if I understand what you are saying: If I put the correct amount of nutrients in the water the PH is WAY low But it is confusing the way you relate what's going on because you say to the effect you are 'using the nutes in lieu of pH down'. So does this mean you put them in at half strength and then keep the pH down by regular supplementation of additional fertilizer? There is nothing wrong with using small amount of fertilizer to 'adjust pH' so it isn't completely wrong, as long as the strength of the nutrients isn't pushed too much over the recommended strength. And, if you just started and have a situation of half strength and add ferts to maintain the proper pH I say great job. Except once you've accumulated a full dose of ferts, now it's time to use a better adjustment method, because plants will begin to experience some toxicity from some of those nutes in excess. The question you ask, bicarbonate, can't be answered because your water is an unknown. It sounds to me like the water isn't very alkaline since the fertilizers alone brought it down in pH LOW you say, I'm assuming below 5.5 or so from you comment. Alkaline is not the same as pH>7 by the way. The amount of alkalinity depends on likely, how much bicarbonate is *already* in your water. Bicarbonate itself isn't a problem except the wrestling match it may make buffering pH the way you may not want. The problem is baking soda (which is an industrial chemical produces from ammonia and salt and *not* any more natural than other pH downs), contains sodium and sodium becomes toxic above certain amounts. So to be safe in *relatively low* sodium mineral water you can use around a half gram per gallon (0.7 gram per gallon gives 50 ppm sodium which when added to your water's soda content will start to be toxic in hydro) in a pinch and then you need to find something else, whether it be a pH up of potassium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, calcium carbonate, potassium silicate, etc. Usually minimal pH up is needed in most situations since most fertilizers as the plants eat naturally have pH drift upwards. Different plants respond differently to sodium toxicity. Tomatoes can take a lot more than strawberries, for example. Also we don't know how much chloride is in your water. The more chloride the more sensitive to salt the plants get. To get a better answer, you need to have an analysis of your water's contents and then we could be more sure what to do. This post was edited by PupillaCharites on Fri, Oct 18, 13 at 19:41
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jentsu926, Just to give you a heads up. When you go to the Hydro store they typically will have a lot of options. I normally recommend going with three blend solution (N-P-K) and mixing it according to the directions. Now since you are growing Ivy you will be going through a lot of your N mixture, just as an fyi. Normally a large bottle runs around 15 dollars each and they have some smaller bottles you can buy. I would recommend buy the synthetic fertilizers over the organics just because you won’t be eating the ivy and they tend to be more bang for the buck. There are organic fertilizers that you can buy if you choose and the person at the hydro shop can normally point you in the right direction. I will also mention that they do sell one part solution you can buy. This might work well since you know what solution you want (High N) and it will not be changing to fruit or flower. They should be able to advise you at the store on what they have and price. Just to give you a heads up on the container, once you add nutrients into the water algae will normally shortly follow. You ca do two things: Add hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in little bits, this is a little controversial but typically accepted in the hydro community. Get a less clear container. This will inhibit the light, help the roots out, and still look cool if it is green or something.
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cannabalbambi
Original Author
20 years ago
Thanks for the ideas. Went for round 2 and changed a few things. Added 20 litres of water to tank after a cleaning. Mixed fertilizer for 20 litres. Added 450 ml of peroxide to the water. Seems so far so good. Also put seeds on trays in the water flow and they seem to be growing faster, no mould as of day 3 and looks like all the seeds have germinated.
I read somewhere that sponge can be used as a growing medium. I would like to do some cuttings for the flowerbeds this spring. Any thoughts on using sponge?
Lori
baci
19 years ago
The following site has some information on hydroponic fodder growing:

http://www.hydrocentre.com.au/fodder/questions.htm

It looks like some growers prevented mold with seed treatment. Some also lost cattle due to certain kinds mold.
Aprilmid
19 years ago
hi is there someone who knows how to formulate an organic hydroponic solution. thanks
cannabalbambi
Original Author
19 years ago
thanks for the site, loads on info are helping
markapp
19 years ago
Aprilmid the problem with homemade organic solution is that it is just a guessing game. you can soak a burlap bag of compost and go for a tds and ph but it is just a guess at what is in it. I think a few humanitarian groups are working on it but it is still experimental. Animal waste, Urine, fish water, worm castings, wood ash, compost are all things that are being tried. If you are limited to organics it may be best to stick with soil.
As for growing fodder it will probably cost way more than the hay. I struggle with trying to find cheap enough nutrients to grow food at a dollar a pound value(rough estimate) I can buy hay for about 3 cents a pound. Just so you know it will probably cost way more than buying hay most places. since the hay is dry plan on growing about 6-9 times as much weight in wet forage to equal the dry hay in food value.
baci
19 years ago
I found some online pdf articles on hydro fodder I thought I would pass along. The site is:
http://www.sproutnet.com/nutrition_research.htm

Some of the articles on fodder are:

"Commercial Hydroponic Fodder Growing in South Africa", D. A. Harris, Republic of South Africa, from the Proceedings of the Third International Congress of Soilless Culture, Sassari, Italy, 7-12 May 1973.

"Effect of Hydroponically Produced Oat Grass on Ration Digestibility of Cattle", R. J. Hillier and T. W. Perry, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana.

"Nutrient Content of Hydroponically Sprouted Barley", D. J. Peer and S. Leeson, Animal Feed Science and Technology, 13 (1985) 191-202.

"Feeding Value of Hydroponically Sprouted Barley for Poultry and Pigs", D.J. Peer and S. Leeson, Department of Animal Science and Poultry Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Onterio.

"Nutritive Value of Hydroponic Feed and its use for Feeding High Yielding Cows." Grigor' ev, Fitsev, and Lesnitskaya. Article in Russian. Abstract in English.

"Production of a Green Feed by the Hydroponic Method Using Fermented Pig Manure", Nikmane, Klintsare. 1990

"Feeding Livestock form the Hydroponic Garden", Arizona State University, May 1974.

"Hydroponic Shed Produces enough feed for 55 cows", New Zealand Journal of Agriculture 1986, 151 : 11, 18-19.

Mixed Nitrogen Nutrition and Productivity of Wheat Grown in Hydroponics", J. A. HEBERER and F. E. BELOW., Annals of Botany 63, 643-649, 1989.

"Nutrient and Trypsin Inhibitor Content of Hydroponically Sprouted Soya Beans", Animal Feed Science and Technology, 13 (1985) 203-214.

"Nutrient Content of Hydroponically Sprouted Barley", D. J. Peer and S. Leeson, Animal Feed Science and Technology, 13 (1985) 191-202.
fintuckyfarms
12 years ago
So I know this link is really old, but how did it work out? I have 1 sheep and want to try this without buying a huge system since she is 17 years old.

new to hydroponics need help

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mkirkwag

chuck

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