Hydroponics....Everything You Need To Know!

[Ric]

I agree, Shoddy...you can buy them at walmart...it shows just how much of the nation's food supply comes from this form of horticulture...
I might add, Shoddy, that walmart sells better looking plants compared to some pictures I've seen from a "professional".



please refrain from posting off topic, trolling, and flames......

BGV

Moving on with the subject at hand. I recieve My correct Hanna multimeter yesterday as per the UPS tracking. However the calibrating solution for PPM is on back order. Just one more hassle when dealing with Hydroponics. It was the PPM of Dissolved total salts that is the most important feature of this meter to me. I already have a pH meter and temperature is not a problem to fined out. Therefore My start up is put back once again. I already have several units ready to go just waiting on the right calibration of fertilizer since I plan to mix my own. I plan to do the same plant in several different solutions holding all other things constant. I will probably do tomatoes so I at least get something in return besides an education.

BTW I believe I said something about a guy down near Pine Island who does Hydro vegetables and sells them to restaurants. I still have not gotten to see his operation. So let us give Busted a break on his last post for the attention he so badly needs.

[Dr.Bizzaro]

You bet...

The tip on getting my cleaning supplies from the pool supply place was a great one!
The meter you got is a great one...what color did you get, and how long 'till you lose that damn cap? LOL!!


Still, after sometime you may find the salt content to be only an issue at mix and load, hence my gear being 2 meters, and only one has a cap to lose...it's an issue for me, I forget things from time to time...lol

Here's something funny....

I dumped a 5 gal bucket of res water, complete with "The Funk", into a bed of lilies.....lol they got the funk now too....some are wilting a tad..lol

[Ric]

BGV

Sounds like you have some real issues with Disease. I would suggest after this cycle you give it a rest for a short period. Clean everything and then go back with some Beneficial Microbes To help control disease. Now I only can tell what I would try and I real have no experience with Hydro yet.

[Mike J]

Info

Cool site

Check out the classroom has some cool info

[Woody]

BGV:

The wilting of the lillies could be caused by an overdose of micronutrients. I have observed this first-hand when someone thought they might use nutrient solution as a general-purpose fertilizer, despite my warnings. Some plants are VERY sensitive to an overdose on the micro's! Remember, the dirt (soil solution) usually provides adequate stores for soil grown plants.

Woody

[Dr.Bizzaro]

oh yea, woody. I'm aware of that, but- it's been RAINING here, and I mean raining! It won't shut off! Maybe it was the micros but with the amount of water falling from the shy, I'm left to think it's the funk...as they recover at night! LOL
the pool supply tip rules, as I have about a 10 tray system that is finished now, and is undergoing nazi gas treatments...lol
My thing is downtime between harvest and reset, time is money....
Normally I use 2 zones one on 12 hours the other on 18, then just transfer the inmates at set cycle times...
NOT now, I'm gassing and wiping the filth from my systems, I'm running everything to the end of cycle...which sucks because with 2 zones one can harvest at 2 week intervals...instead of waiting for 3 months...oh well..
I'm gonna do a test "plot" of Messenger in a couple weeks....I think I'll ap around 1 week into veg,,,
I also have been told that tossing an ALDER tree into a tray helps combat the funk....ever hear this?

[Woody]

Haven't hear the alder tree thing before.

Woody

[GrassMaster]

How many times have I done this????

Please participate on this thread if it Concerns Hydroponics Only!

If it's not 100% Hydroponics... STAY OFF & GO TO ANOTHER TOPIC!

[SodBuster]

Propagation utilizing soilless media is hydroponics. Media containing matter such as water, sand, peat, bark, aggragates, ect. with nutrient delivery using chemigation. To decide what is hydroponics and what is not hydroponics, you have to have an understanding of what hydropoincs is to begin with.

[Ric]

Propagation utilizing soilless media is hydroponics. Media containing matter such as water, sand, peat, bark, aggragates, ect. with nutrient delivery using chemigation. To decide what is hydroponics and what is not hydroponics, you have to have an understanding of what hydropoincs is to begin with.

Shoddy

You are missing a big point here. Hydroponics also is a low water usage form of growing. In it's true form, It would always have a water recapture system. How you may be using what might be more correctly called Fertigation and not chemigation. But You have failed to show us the recovery system.

"sand, peat, bark, aggregates, ect." Are in fact soil particles. Sand is one of the points on the soil triangle. Peat and bark are in fact SOM (Soil Organic Matter) and fall into the category of parenting material for silt another point on the soil triangle. Of course Clay is the third point of the soil triangle. Aggregates are generally rocks but not limited to rocks. Rocks are in fact parenting material of sand. Soil is not always prue and of equal particle size or shape. This is what gives it Porosity, infiltration and helps determine Field Capacity.

You may feel or claim to be doing soil less medium growing with Fertigation. However from what you have shown us it is standard back yard propagation done by just about every grower. There is no recovery system for the Nutrient solution as you have not show us one at least.

Therefore I believe your Hydroponics is about as valid as your CPA.

PS I our phone conversation last night you agreed to stay off this thread. This morning I came in to find you posting on it again after Grassmaster had deleted all your former posts to it. You certainly are not a person of their word. Maybe this is one of the many reasons we all disrespect you.

[SodBuster]

Publication Number 426-084

Diane Relf, Extension Specialist, Horticulture, Virginia Tech

Hydroponics is often defined as "the cultivation of plants in water." Research has since determined that many different aggregates or media will support plant growth; therefore, the definition of hydroponics has been broadened to read "the cultivation of plants without soil."

Growers all over the world are using hydroponic techniques due to the lack of a large water supply or fertile farmland. Home gardeners have used hydroponics on a smaller scale to grow fresh vegetables year round and to grow plants in smaller spaces, such as an apartment or balcony. Greenhouses and nurseries grow their plants in a soilless, peat- or bark-based growing mix. The nutrients then are applied to the growing mix through the water supply. Therefore, this is also a type of hydroponics.

Ric and his blowhard rants... you don't have a clue what hydroponics is. Amature hour

Please participate on this thread only if it Concerns Hydroponics!

If it's not 100% Hydroponics... STAY OFF & GO TO ANOTHER TOPIC!

[Ric]

Congratulation Busted

You have searched the web hard and heavy to find a county extension agent with Virginia Tech (which BTW is not an out stand Agi School) to say a "TYPE"

[lorenzo piedra]

This product should be of interest to those growing indoor food crops.

http://www.pbigordon.com/pdfs/Azatrol-SL.pdf

[Dr.Bizzaro]

New Trick!!!

Here's the ticket.....

low rider trays......propted up on milk crates- allows for another 3 feet to deal with heat from lamps...my 50 gallon resies sit just around the crest of the milk crates...nothing a block won't handle!

Now here's the new NASA research...

clones transplant in 4 inch cubes.....when rooting they go into 1 gallon pots with a mix of coco fibre and perilite...@ 2 parts peri to 1 part coco......

THIS is working GREAT, with hella roots digging in, CLEANER resies, as perilite makes a dust that "funk" lives in..........



PLUS, I sprung and got a reverse os AND UV inline......it's my latest "tank"


changed bulbs and up and running after a little bit of VACA........


SO LS....have you used that new reg for insects? mites are troublesome for me.......and I really don't like AVID...though it works real well!

[ODTB]

Rot rot and funk ect are best controlled by keeping nute temps below 68deg at all times. This will kill and prevent root rot and provide more dizolved 02 to the root system in hydro set ups.Killing bacteria and such in an inline feature is good but still recycles dead oganisms that will build up over time and not be eliminated.The less growing medium used the better.Perlite is a notorius hotel for organic decay.Rockwool and hydroton are far better, if you must have a medium.Could go on for days here but dont want to bore anybody.The best setups ive seen used no mediums.Large out door sytems running several acres!Indoor 10,000 sq ft and up.

ODTB over and out!