Trying to get into hydroponics

10 years ago

Greetings, everyone! My name is Mike and I live in Florida. I've been interested in growing hydroponically for the past few years, but have never actually taken it up.

I grow a variety of vegetables in my backyard in raised beds using a mushroom compost mixture. Tomatoes, eggplant, chard, bell peppers, etc. Due to chronic kidney disease and a need for a kidney transplant, I believe it is time to consider hydroponics.

I've read that certain pathogens in the soil don't affect healthy people, but can attack those with weak immune systems. This will definitely make it harder to use my outdoor beds once I receive a transplant (in the next few months).

I'm sort of overwhelmed by all of the information regarding hydroponics. I've tried searching this forum, but the setup isn't as friendly as some other forums I've been on in the past.

Anyways, I'm interested in the easiest/cheapest system to get started with in hydroponics. I saw a system on youtube where long pvc pipes are used and drilled with holes. It showed 3 rows of PVC pipes with 7 holes in each pipe. Its an NFT system according to the video. I will attach a link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBME3l29G6Q&list=FLN7livwF9CSlGYQ2dmu1Wtw&index=1

I'm interested in a system I can use in a spare bedroom, but would like to raise more than 21 plants. Do any of you have any other suggestions?

I found another system with plans in another post on here. It definitely looks simple, but rather small. I was hoping to grow more plants than this system allows.

http://thebucketfarm.blogspot.com/2009/11/building-cheapskate-diy-dwc-system.html

Grow lights seem a little expensive? Maybe I don't need one since I live in Florida?

Any direction from some of y'all would be greatly appreciated. I don't have a ton of money to spend.

Thank you all in advance!

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Comments (5)

grizzman
10 years ago
Welcome aboard mike. What are you wanting to grow in your system? NFT is not, in general a favorable system for larger plants such as tomatoes, green peppers or eggplant. It can be done, but doesn't work great. for smaller plants like sweet cherry peppers and herbs it's great. For the bigger ones, some form of deep water culture (DWC) is generally the easiest to work with. Either type of system can be set up for $100 or less with the water pump generally being the most expensive component. Personally, for NFT, I use vinyl downspouts for the troughs, but you can have problems with root blockage. On the upside they're cheap. I believe about $1 per foot. I drill my holes (for 2" netpots) at 8" on center and cut each length into 5 foot sections for ease of handling. For DWC, a large-ish sterlite container can probably easily grow 4 to 6 tomatoes, green peppers, or eggplant. The trick there is to train the stems away from each other so the leaves have ample room. I am growing 4 tomatoes in a 32 gallon rubbermaid trashcan and have grown as many as 6 in it. At the same time I currently have 2 Roma tomatoes in a smaller sterlite container but I'm not sure they'll thrive as well because, eventually, the roots will start to consume a lot of the available space where the nutrient currently resides. This thread shows my NFT and trash cans systems from a few years ago. I have made a number of improvements on the NFT. The can is pretty much the same. This thread shows my smaller DWC system and my NFT for this year. I am also growing some plants in the trash can but I don't believe it's shown in the thread.
As for lighting, I have grown tomatoes very successfully in a south facing window here in NC. you'll only be restricted by how much glass is available. Outside of that, my experience with indoor growing is very limited.
Provide us with some questions and feedback on where your interests take you and myself or some of the othes will surely do our best to help you out.
myarr
Original Author
10 years ago
grizzman: thanks for the reply! I am very interested in lettuce, basil and other herbs, tomatoes, eggplant, and hot peppers. Those are my main interests right now.

I really like the enf system that you posted outside with the 17 plants. Really neat. That's what I'm looking for.

So you're saying a system like the enf you have outside is good for lettuce and basil? While the DWC like the one I posted above would be good for the larger plants?

Also, would it be possible to have my systems outside year round since I live in Florida?
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I would be more concerned with the NPK @ 8-8-8 than the price of the stuff. I brew my own nutrient and keep it at around 1-2-1 +/-. Most hydroponic applications use a far-less potent combination of the big three nutrients. Then again, if you'd like your lettuce destroyed by tip burn way before any bugs show an interest, it might be just the ticket! Grizzman is right about tomatoes and raft systems, although "I" have successfully done it. The trick is 24/7 aeration -- large pump & air stone. Don't try the lettuce and tomatoes at the same time in the same pond though. Tomatoes are heavy feeders and lettuce is not.
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Yes science is science, but nobody has yet to explain any science of how anything about my original statements in this thread were incorrect (that's the problem). The reason, their simply not!!! You can twist my statements into anything, but I will always go back to my original statements. If my original statements were comprehended (without trying to turn them into something their not), I would be happy to learn how (if they were) wrong. But the problem is the statements simply are not being addressed as they were stated. Therefore saying something is wrong without even understanding what you are calling wrong, dosen't make any sense. That's why I needed to state them over and over so many times, to clarify the exact meaning of the statements first (because they just weren't understood correctly). Then I asked specific questions, that if answered would explain how my statements were incorrect. Those questions were never answered in any way, shape, or form (correctly/sufficiently or not) with all this so called science that there's supposed to be (that way I could learn if I was wrong). So all that has happened is climes that I'm wrong about everything, talk about all this science being science. Yet absolutely no science showing just how my statements were incorrect. Just claims of it being so, and trying to bully me into having a different opinion because that's what somebody else's opinion is. I'm all for an intelligent conversation, but to do that you simply need to understand my statement/questions correctly in the first place. Otherwise nothing said makes any sense, then how could it be an intelligent conversation? All I can do is my part and try to explain myself as best I can, even if that means trying over and over. But the other person simply needs to meet me half way and try to comprehend what I'm saying in order to be able to intelligently continue the conversation (if they actually want a intelligent conversation). Especially if their saying my statements are wrong, they simply need to understand them first. Otherwise intelligently explaining how/why their wrong is imposable.
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Hi, well, if you find that a 5 gallon bucket is the right size for you to use, then I would recommend that you consider making a simple bubbler or gurgle system. With this system, you need only keep the nutrient level and the proper nutrient mix to have good results. The roots of your plant will not survive in a bucket full of sand and water. You need to control the amount of moisture and it's oxygen content. That is what makes the bubbler system work so well. The idea is that the container holding the plant is positioned above the nutrient container. I used a 5 gal. pail with the lid on for the nutrient tank, and some used large yogurt containers sitting on the pail lid. A 3/8 inch tube extends up from the nutrient tank, up through the yogurt container (filled with the clay or sand, gravel, ect. to extend a couple inches above the level of the growing medium. Air from a cheap fish aquarium pump is fed into the 3/8 inch vertical tube at a point about 2 inches from the bottom using small aquarium air hose. Air flow is regulated using an aquarium air valve. All this stuff is very cheap. The air going into the vertical tube causes bubbles to rise up the tube, and depending on the amount of the air pressure, the bubbles push nutrients up the tube to the plant container. The nutrients filter down through the plant container and drain out the bottom through holes drilled for this purpose. the lid on the 5 gallon pail also has a lot of holes drilled in it so that the nutrients run back into the pail to be reused again. Well check out a picture of the one I used on the web page link below. Good luck. Look for the picture on the right side of an orange pail with cayenne peppers growing on it. Here is a link that might be useful: hydro stuff
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I have seen pictures of greenhouses using NFT for tomatoes, but to me it seems the root mass is too large and would cause flow problems once the plants got some size to them. I don't grow with lights, but it seems like 12"-24" is what you're looking for. I believe the 'rule of thumb' is to put your hand at the highest part of your plant. if the light is hoton your hand, it's too hot for the plant.
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grizzman
10 years ago
If this is the system you were linking to (it came up page not found for me):

then yes about the DWC question, though you'd have less plant sites and preferably a deeper tub. I prefer sterlite over rubbermaid because the plastic they use is stiffer so the side wall are less likely to buckle out, but you have to paint or otherwise cover (aluminum foil) the outsides to block light.
My outside EnF is doing wonders with my basil right now. As for Lettuce, I suspect it would work fine. Letttuce is generally a cool weather crop (late fall / early spring) so I don't normally grow it.
You can definitely grow outside in Florida and take advantage of the abundant sun offered. But you also have to deal with the heat. There are several FL farmers who participate on this forum so maybe they can discuss some of the trials and tribulations they've encountered doing so. Basically you want to keep the nutrient solution somwhere just below 80 degree which, as I understand it, is difficult in FL. Things that help are: bury your rez, cover the trough or flood tables with aluminum to reflect radiant heat, use insultation board generously, add frozen two liters of water to the rez, and plumb the system such that the main rez is inside while the remainder is outside. I'm sure there are other means, those are just the first that came to mind.
myarr
Original Author
10 years ago
That's the system, yes. I see. However, if I do end up using it indoors, that is a fine setup?

How many plant sites max in that size container for tomatoes, eggplant, pepper? I assume lettuce and basil would do fine in a container with that many sites.

How will I know if there's enough sunlight in the room throughout the day? If there's not enough, what would you suggest for lighting that wouldn't break the bank?

Thanks for being so helpful!
sdgrower
10 years ago
I would only put one tomato plant, or two peppers/eggplant. The amount of fruit you get is mostly based on square footage and light, and tomato plants should have at least 4 sq ft. That's just my recommendation, but I don't grow that setup so get some other opinions! :)

Trying to get into hydroponics

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Trying to get into hydroponics

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