DIY Hydroponics

[Odsox]

The only way slugs can get to the pipes is to climb up the legs, and if they ever do then a strip of copper tape on each leg will stop that. I did have a small problem with ants climbing up the feed pipe until I smeared some grease on the pipe and I imagine sooner or later a Cabbage White will find it's way in, but again if it becomes a nuisance I can net the windows.
It remains to be seen if I get a build up of any disease in the medium, but even that is curable by replacing the vermiculite which is a tad easier than replacing the soil in your garden.

[doofaloofa]

That makes sense

[oldjerry]

Err, I think some people have thought of that, bedrooms, wardrobes, attics, but maybe not growing cauliflowers. [/quote]


So that West Mercia Police helicopter that circles around every few weeks is checking for illicit growing of PSB huh?.........no prob for me,the bloody pigeons keep destroying the evidence!!

[Jandra]

Hey Tony, that is looking good!

I am looking into setting up an aquaponics system. Got some of the components, but it will be a bit longer before I get it installed.

[doofaloofa]

I went to see Tony's set up today

I was impressed by his hydro-cauliflower

[diggernotdreamer]

All very impressive, but mostly impressed that Tony let Doofer and his maroon shovel visit

[doofaloofa]

Oh I didn't tell him I was visiting, more of a ninja raid

and I've told you before about disrespecting Sasifras!

[Odsox]

dinner.jpg (73.95 KiB) Viewed 11042 times

Dinner (for 2 days)

[Pumkinpie]

What a beauty!

[Odsox]

A slight downside of this set up, you end up with a (edible) jungle.

Hydro.jpg (124.31 KiB) Viewed 11868 times

Of course I am now seriously planning to double the size, or in other words building the same size set up somewhere else, as there sure ain't room for any more in the greenhouse.
All I need to do is figure out where the "somewhere else" can possibly be.

[Jandra]

Tony, that's impressive! May I ask what feed you use and what it costs? I've always understood that the nutrients for hydroponics are quite expensive.

I'll have to read back in the thread to check what diameter tube/duct your are using. Haven't you had isuues with clogging by roots? with the plants growing so enthusiastically?

Edit: and reading back I also found the nutrient brand and price. Do you still guess it'll last you two years?

[Odsox]

It's a bit of a job to estimate how long the nutrient will last, but I think I may have overestimated a bit.
It's a bit complicated as it does depend how much water is lost by evaporation or used, so is very dependant on how hot the greenhouse gets on sunny days and also what plants I'm growing at the time.
But as a rough estimate, I have to change the water once every month which takes 450 ml of concentrated nutrient, but I also have to top up once a week during the growing season, although probably not during winter.
Monthly changes would need 5.4 litres during a year plus "top ups", so to cut a long story short it will probably take the whole 10 litres for one year and not two.

Roots are not too much of a problem as the root systems are a lot smaller than normal, mainly because they don't have to go looking for food. The cauliflowers and broccoli root balls were about as big as my fist.

[Jandra]

Thanks for clarifying. I can imagine that, with such results, you are eager to expand.

I'm currently doing an aquaponics experiment. Just got 17 grass carp in a fish tank and a growbed in the greenhouse. So far it has been oodles of fun setting things up, building the system etc. Playing with plumbing and pumps and water (filling the grow bed with 200+ kg of pebbles wasn't my favourite part, though). Now I enjoy watching the fish slowly lose their shyness and taking the food while I am watching, rather than waiting for me to disappear first. They get a pond fish food and salad/veg leaves.

Anyway, I don't expect much of the veg grow side yet, as it takes a while to get a stable system where the nutrients are there and in a pH that makes them readily available to the plants. We'll see.