Hydroponics Specialist?

Sterant

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2016
Messages
693
Location (City and/or State)
Albany, NY
Anybody a Hydroponics expert? I have been doing a bit of it - growing food for my Bowsprit colony - and I'm having a great time with it. I want to kick it up to a much larger operation next winter and try to supplement my Radiata diet more substantially. (Adult Rad's eat a ton so I don't expect to completely feed them with the production).

Looking for designs and ideas. I want to harvest +- 30 plants a month. I have been growing dandelion, giant plantain, regular plantain, sow thistle, and a few other things.

Let me know what you know!

Thanks,

Dan
 

Markw84

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 17, 2012
Messages
5,042
Location (City and/or State)
Sacramento, CA (Central Valley)
Anybody a Hydroponics expert? I have been doing a bit of it - growing food for my Bowsprit colony - and I'm having a great time with it. I want to kick it up to a much larger operation next winter and try to supplement my Radiata diet more substantially. (Adult Rad's eat a ton so I don't expect to completely feed them with the production).

Looking for designs and ideas. I want to harvest +- 30 plants a month. I have been growing dandelion, giant plantain, regular plantain, sow thistle, and a few other things.

Let me know what you know!

Thanks,

Dan
Show us what you are doing now and how that's set up, Dan. I'm interested!

-Mark
 

TeamZissou

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2020
Messages
1,048
Location (City and/or State)
Albuquerque, NM
I did a bunch of reading on it a few months ago but decided not to get into it heavily. In the end, I was deterred by the very powerful lighting required to grow a lot of food. I figured all this couldn't be cheaper than the cost of just buying stuff from the grocery. That and you need a relatively large space to grow decent volume.

Some people also do it outside in the summer with free lighting. This isn't when you typically need to buy a bunch of grocery store stuff, however.
 

Sterant

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2016
Messages
693
Location (City and/or State)
Albany, NY
Show us what you are doing now and how that's set up, Dan. I'm interested!

-Mark
I will post some pictures later tonight but I have been using commercially available systems from AeroGarden. They work very, very well, but they are small. I have 2 of them and I can only grow 30 plants at a time. I have been planning a home made PVC system that should support 200 plants.
 

Blackdog1714

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2018
Messages
4,666
Location (City and/or State)
Richmond, VA
I will post some pictures later tonight but I have been using commercially available systems from AeroGarden. They work very, very well, but they are small. I have 2 of them and I can only grow 30 plants at a time. I have been planning a home made PVC system that should support 200 plants.
There are some good YouTube channels for this. I saw one where guy used pool noodle sections for what you can start or move growths into the PVC system
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,269
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
I did a bunch of reading on it a few months ago but decided not to get into it heavily. In the end, I was deterred by the very powerful lighting required to grow a lot of food. I figured all this couldn't be cheaper than the cost of just buying stuff from the grocery. That and you need a relatively large space to grow decent volume.

Some people also do it outside in the summer with free lighting. This isn't when you typically need to buy a bunch of grocery store stuff, however.
That was my take on it too, but I'd like to learn more.

I grow stuff outside from spring to fall, but its a constant battle to keep the bugs, ground squirrels, voles, gophers, rabbits, birds, etc... I lose so much so quickly even doing it that way.
 

Sterant

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2016
Messages
693
Location (City and/or State)
Albany, NY
If I lived in California, I probably wouldn't mess with it and I would build a greenhouse or something, but in upstate NY - I can't. Too cold for too long during the winter. Practical indoor hydroponics is possible for the little bowsprits - I have been doing that successfully, but the rads increase the production requirement significantly. Picture a full grown dandelion or plantain plant - an adult Rad would eat the equivalent of 6 of those a day (easily). If I wanted to provide 1/3 of that (2 plants), for 5 Rads, I need 10 plants a day.

If I cut the leaves off about 3" from the roots when I harvest a plant, the plants will grow back again and be ready to harvest in about 2 weeks. So, I need to be able to use 10 plants a day, for 2 weeks, before I can harvest again - thats 140 plants. Add a little buffer in there, and add some to feed the bowsprits, and 200 plants should do it.

Each plant needs 16 Sq. " to grow properly, so I need 3200 Sq." , or 23 sq. ft of hydroponic growing surface.

I can do that easily. 3, 1 foot wide PVC trays that are 8' long gives me that and the whole thing is only 8' X 4'. Add some lights, pumps and the little grow baskets - and Im in business. Plus, NY is about to legalize recreational pot so the system won't go to waste ;-)

Right now I have these AeroGarden units - which are nice but they are really just a cool decoration. Not capable of any real production. They've been fine for the bowsprits. I have two units which allows me to grow 30 plants. Thats various species of lettuce and some dill I'm growing right now. Thats for the humans!822BF1D9-C65B-462E-BC79-9B49124E75EB.jpeg
 

turtlesteve

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Sep 23, 2012
Messages
711
Following along with interest, I want to see what you come up with. Any particular reason you don’t want to grow in soil?

Fortunately I get some harvest in winter but very limited variety. A few weeds including plantain and dandelion are evergreen, but stop growing (so I harvest each plant once until spring). I also pick some optunia, but only fully mature pads which some tortoises won’t eat.
 

PA2019

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2017
Messages
412
Location (City and/or State)
Tucson, AZ
Not a hydroponic specialist by any means, but I have started experimenting with hydroponics over the past few months as well. I use the Kratky method because I was intimidated initially with all the options and wanted to gain experience before building a larger aeroponic system. I grow 10-12 plants in roughly a 2x2’ area using my basic setup. Hypothetically I could probably grow 24-26 plants in the full 4x2’ bottom rack.

BA82CC30-E7D1-4777-9F36-D3E10195F47B.jpeg
A946CA2D-3B65-462C-A486-C181FE513654.jpeg
39865578-D5B1-409D-8949-004E6B36DC1F.jpeg

I think the key for increasing production would be to choose plants that grow tall and tight to maximize space. Chicory and narrow leaf plantain I find fit the bill. Dandelions, chickweed and clover are not an efficient use of space in my observations as they spread outwards versus upwards.

C904770D-146C-4A68-A026-AB1CC9604613.jpeg
3E07BD50-D787-4835-9321-5F9C1F05C203.jpeg
 
Last edited:

Sterant

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2016
Messages
693
Location (City and/or State)
Albany, NY
Not a hydroponic specialist by any means, but I have started experimenting with hydroponics over the past few months as well. I use the Kratky method because I was intimidated initially with all the options and wanted to gain experience before building a larger aeroponic system. I grow 10-12 plants in roughly a 2x2’ area using my basic setup. Hypothetically I could probably grow 24-26 plants in the full 4x2’ bottom rack.

View attachment 315334
View attachment 315335
View attachment 315336

I think the key for increasing production would be to choose plants that grow tall and tight to maximize space. Chicory and narrow leaf plantain I find fit the bill. Dandelions, chickweed and clover are not an efficient use of space in my observations as they spread outwards versus upwards.

View attachment 315337
View attachment 315338
Thats great! The narrow leaf plantain is perfect - lots of yield in a small area.
 

Sterant

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2016
Messages
693
Location (City and/or State)
Albany, NY
Following along with interest, I want to see what you come up with. Any particular reason you don’t want to grow in soil?

Fortunately I get some harvest in winter but very limited variety. A few weeds including plantain and dandelion are evergreen, but stop growing (so I harvest each plant once until spring). I also pick some optunia, but only fully mature pads which some tortoises won’t eat.
Well the soil ads a lot of mess, weight and work. The water systems are clean and you just add the nutrients. I think it is a much more maintenance free system when you can skip the growing medium. I am also looking forward to integrating the water system into my tortoise room - though these systems do not lose much water, it should help maintain and stabilize humidity....not to mention a bit of air purification.
 

jsheffield

Well-Known Member
Moderator
5 Year Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2018
Messages
3,114
Location (City and/or State)
Westmoreland, NH
Again, not a hydroponic specialist, but I've been noodling around with aquaponics (basically hydroponics with the addition of fish in the system) for a number of years on a small scale.

I have two setups, one small, one tiny. The small one is a 40g long fish-tank, the tiny one is a 2.5g betta tank. I run both with a Rubbermaid container that runs about two-thirds of the length of the tank above it, filled with those round lava pebbles.

A pump brings water from the tank up to the Rubbermaid container, at one end, which drains at the far end through a few drilled holes. I grow mostly pothos, but occasionally other stuff (green onions, opuntia, mint, etc.) in the growbeds and have a plant-light over the 40g system (the tiny one makes do with sunlight through the bathroom window).

I have PetCo feeder goldfish in both of the systems, and feed them every day or two... I top up the water when it gets low, and there's no filter besides the growbed.

Jamie
 

Yossarian

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Messages
813
Location (City and/or State)
Wales
For quick growing plants like we want, I would just go with a really simple pvc flood and drain tube system. The PVC only needs to be 3-5inch diameter. You can use a big rubbermaid tub or a big barrel to hold your nutrient mix. A simple water pump fills the tubes with new nutrient mix on a set schedule. There is no substrate in the tubes, the roots just hang down into the water the water level rises and falls with the pump cycle, the whole system gets flushed occasionally. Cheap to set up and run, and you can build them to fit whatever dimensions you want. There are loads of DIY vids on youtube showing how to build these.

You can go a lot more complex, you can use spray and fog systems to deliver nutrient instead but that just isnt necessary for weeds. It is more important to utilise your lighting as efficiently as possible since that is where you money is going. T5 Flouros are decent bulbs for growing stuff like this without some of the risk associate with HID.
 

Sterant

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2016
Messages
693
Location (City and/or State)
Albany, NY
For quick growing plants like we want, I would just go with a really simple pvc flood and drain tube system. The PVC only needs to be 3-5inch diameter. You can use a big rubbermaid tub or a big barrel to hold your nutrient mix. A simple water pump fills the tubes with new nutrient mix on a set schedule. There is no substrate in the tubes, the roots just hang down into the water the water level rises and falls with the pump cycle, the whole system gets flushed occasionally. Cheap to set up and run, and you can build them to fit whatever dimensions you want. There are loads of DIY vids on youtube showing how to build these.

You can go a lot more complex, you can use spray and fog systems to deliver nutrient instead but that just isnt necessary for weeds. It is more important to utilise your lighting as efficiently as possible since that is where you money is going. T5 Flouros are decent bulbs for growing stuff like this without some of the risk associate with HID.
The systems I have use LED's. Have any experience with those?
 

Yossarian

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Messages
813
Location (City and/or State)
Wales
The systems I have use LED's. Have any experience with those?

I dont personally, I know they have come a long way since I was hands on with this stuff, but I havent kept up with the most recent lighting.
 

turtlesteve

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Sep 23, 2012
Messages
711
LEDs are unquestionably the best lighting option and have mostly replaced T5 and HID / metal halide. This debate raged for quite some time amongst saltwater aquaria hobbyists regarding efficiency in growing coral.

The light spectrum used for photosynthesis is mostly blue and red light. That is why a lot of the grow lights are purple (maximum efficiency is to provide only the wavelengths that are needed). “Cool white” LED bulbs work but are a little deficient at the red end of the spectrum. In contrast “warm white” bulbs emit mostly yellow and green wavelengths useless for photosynthesis.

If you were going to buy generic LED fixtures for this, you would want to get “cool white” with a high CRI. But they will be less efficient than dedicated grow lights that include red LEDs.
 

PA2019

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2017
Messages
412
Location (City and/or State)
Tucson, AZ
LEDs are unquestionably the best lighting option and have mostly replaced T5 and HID / metal halide. This debate raged for quite some time amongst saltwater aquaria hobbyists regarding efficiency in growing coral.

The light spectrum used for photosynthesis is mostly blue and red light. That is why a lot of the grow lights are purple (maximum efficiency is to provide only the wavelengths that are needed). “Cool white” LED bulbs work but are a little deficient at the red end of the spectrum. In contrast “warm white” bulbs emit mostly yellow and green wavelengths useless for photosynthesis.

If you were going to buy generic LED fixtures for this, you would want to get “cool white” with a high CRI. But they will be less efficient than dedicated grow lights that include red LEDs.

I was planning on going the generic route initially but as @Yossarian mentioned, I decided to spend most of my budget on the lights themselves. I ended up alternating "Sun White" and "Bright White" LED bars in my setup to get a better mix of the color range.5BC42871-B49D-4071-AD28-58D2E8386F3D.jpeg

7C9082CC-6E12-4D91-9152-8B3DED61DF5E.jpeg
 

Blackdog1714

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2018
Messages
4,666
Location (City and/or State)
Richmond, VA
Also the LEDs are revolutionizing the indoor grow because of low amount of heat they give off. Allows for tighter environmental control and lower electricity
 
Top