Ebb & Flow Hydro

[hydroguy]

Thanks for stopping by this little thread. I'm putting together a hydroponic garden now in hopes to have it running by fall when the outdoor vegetable garden has run it's course, thought maybe some of you fellow gardening enthusiasts might enjoy following along.

This isn't my first hydro set-up so it's not something that can be picked up at the store but all the parts necessary to build it can be. I've tried various hydro methods over the years and found that Ebb & Flow is the most user friendly (and forgiving ). It's not the most productive of methods but it gets the job done. I'll gladly share my experiences and discuss other methods and why I chose Ebb & Flow if anyone wants.

The system is based on 3 cells, contained in 2 chambers. The first chamber to go into production will be the DarkRoom 120W. It is basically 2' x 4' x 5.25', perfect for holding (2) 24" x 24" flood trays (with some slight modifications). First I flipped the DR120W upside down then built a support frame for the trays and the tent itself.

Lighting for the first tray is a 125W CFL, this tray is for seedlings and young plants. The other tray is lighted with a 400W MH in a sealed hood, vented with a 4" inline Vortex fan. The fan is run on a variable speed control, temp and humidity are checked digitally

Enough rambling, here's a few pics


hydroguy


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[hydroguy]

slow but sure....

Just placed yet another order for a few pieces to this hydro puzzle. Needed some riser extensions for the flood/drain kits. Kits come standard with (2) 1 1/4" risers but that doesn't get the water line high enough for my likeing. I use rockwool as a substrate for seeds sitting on a bed of hydroton for root growth, correct water levels are a key to Ebb & Flow.

I've been running with nutes from Technaflora for several years so figure I'd stay with them for this project. Hydroponic nutrients are a racket, no doubt about it and they can break the bank if your not careful. There's other lines out there that work well, some cheaper some more expensive. Technaflora works for me so gonna stay with what's familiar. Ordered a gallon of Boost and Grow to get me started. Probably will pick up some Root66 before I order seeds.

If costs were considered it'd be way cheaper to just go to the store this winter and pick up some fresh herbs at the grocery. There's no price tag you can put on the fun my 8 year old son and I are having putting this together. It's about quality time verses quantity time these days....

hydroguy

[Sage Hermit]

He's got a cool dad! Are you guys growing veggis or what? What got you started in hydroponics? Where is the fan I don't see it. I want to learn more about the humidity sensors and those gadgets. Not a lot of people have the skill to do this sort of thing. You make it look so easy.

[hydroguy]

thanks Sage Hermit, we are planning on growing some cooking herbs. Our church has a dinner every Wednesday evening and thought it would be fun to give the cooks something unique to work with. They do an awesome job but fresh herbs in the middle of winter would be way cool.

I started tinkering with hydro when I lived in the middle of a really big city and gardening was not an option. The learning curve was steep but once I harvested my first crop I was "hooked on hydroponics!"

stop back by sometime, this will be an ongoing project for my son and I

hydroguy

[hydroguy]

I really need to get some new pics, hopefully soon.

We did get to work on the hydro garden this past weekend for a few minutes. Got the fill and drain lines installed for both of the flood trays in the first chamber. He asked why they are different sizes so figured it might be a question some one new might wonder aswell.

The fill lines are 1/2" and the drain lines are 3/4". Since the fill line is under pressure from the pump and the drain line is gravity fed the drain line needs to be larger, a general rule of thumb is 50% larger diameter for drains.

One thing I learned early on is that I hate to have hydroton in the flood trays, can cause lots of issues and its just annoying. Since the 6" square pots we run have drain holes in them there is inevitably hydroton in the tray, to solve this we cut pieces of window screen to fit in the bottom of each pot before the hydroton was added. 16 pots per tray x 2 trays equals a bunch of screen!

Back in a few days with an update, supposed to be my weekend for an overnight

hydroguy


Sage Hermit
sorry I missed part of your ealier question. The fan can be seen in the 3rd picture down. Upper left corner of the tent, attached to the flex duct that goes to the sealed hood of the 400. Air intake for the hood is on the back side and kinda hard to see. Indoor gardening with HID lighting means you have to control every aspect of your garden or it'll crash and burn. Light, Air & Water.

[hydroguy]

Did manage to get some pics taken, hopefully I'll remember how to upload them

Here's a shot of the fill / drain risers. These are one's from Sunleaves which just slip together. I've ran some from Botanicare and din't care for them as they are large and screw together. Final heigth adjustment will be when water is added.

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/6-12-2010/PICT0063.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/6-12-2010/PICT0065.jpg[/img]

Here's a couple pics of the file drain lines installed. System is coming together slowly.

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/6-12-2010/PICT0067.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/6-12-2010/PICT0068.jpg[/img]

hydroguy

[hydroguy]

The outdoor garden is keeping us busy but we did get some time last weekend to work on the winter indoor garden. The first chamber is only missing a couple of cycle timers and it's ready to run so we spent our time working on the 2nd chamber.

It's a DR80 and like the DR120 we flipped it upside down and made a frame out of wood:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/6-12-2010/PICT0072.jpg[/img]

Next we made a false bottom out of some scrap wood to get the pots off the floor:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/6-12-2010/PICT0084.jpg[/img]

Like the first chamber this one will be Ebb & Flow but with our own unique twist to it. I ran an Ebb & Grow system from CAP Industries and will be useing parts of that system in this chamber. The control module from the E&G will be replaced with a manifold (my own design) and the 55gl. drum resv. will be replaced with a resv. similar to the ones in the 1st chamber. Work this time was focused on the pots so that's where we'll start.

Here's a look at the double pots. The lower pot is plumbed into the fill/drain lines through the single hole on the side. The upper pot has holes drilled across the bottom. This method allows the gardener to move plants in the chamber during the growing season:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/6-12-2010/PICT0086.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/6-12-2010/PICT0087.jpg[/img]

hydroguy

[hydroguy]

The pots we are useing are pricey and could easily be replaced with simple buckets from a home supply store but I already have them so here's how they work. Some grommets, tee's, elbow's and straight connectors can be picked up at most any hydro store cheaply:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/6-12-2010/PICT0090.jpg[/img]

All the parts and tubing are 1/2" in diameter, the holes can be drilled out with a step-bit if purchasing your own pots:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/6-12-2010/PICT0091.jpg[/img]

First step is to install the grommet in the hole, make sure the lip of the pot sits snuggly in the grove of the grommet. A really important step here to avoid problems down the road:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/6-12-2010/PICT0094.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/6-12-2010/PICT0095.jpg[/img]

Once you have the layout of the buckets figured out you'll know what type of adapter goes in the grommet. A single drop of dish soap smeared around the connector makes it slide right in:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/6-12-2010/PICT0098.jpg[/img]

Even though the tubing is flexible, warming it up some and a drop of soap makes it much easier to work with. Here's where the raised floor comes into play. A supply line is ran uner the pots and out through the hole in the floor of the chamber. This line will be attached to the manifold later but for now we are just getting the pots ready:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/hydro%20Chamber%202/PICT0007.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/hydro%20Chamber%202/PICT0005.jpg[/img]

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The reason why I am doing this whole project, my son. With a little guidance from dad he is doing the work on our indoor winter garden.

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/hydro%20Chamber%202/PICT0003.jpg[/img]

Back in a few, just about time to figure out what we are going to be growing this winter.

hydroguy

[DesertHydro]

Awesome setup! What size water pump are you using?

[hydroguy]

Thanks DesertHydro,

The pumps for the first chamber are rated at 138gl/hr. Pump for the 2nd chamber will be a bit larger but not much. I do have a 396 gl/hr pump for transfers but we run 15 minute interval cycle timers so these small pumps fill the trays in more than adequate time.

Thanks for stopping by the thread,

hydroguy

[Sage Hermit]

That little one of yours sure has the spirit and a good helper in you, hg. This Eb and Flo thread you started is the best. So you talked about the church and him helping decide the plants to grow? Hear what everyone says and what they would grow.

[hydroguy]

Howdy Sage,

Appreciate the comment on the thread. The purpose of doing it was to have fun with my son but to also show fellow gardeners that hydroponics really isn't as complicated as it seems. There's a few basic principles to understand but once you get that down these things really do run themselves.

Still haven't figured out exactly what we are going to be growing but I guess we need to be thinking about that part of it soon. Plan for now is to have some seeds in there by the end of July/early August. We'll be running the floro for a few weeks so it's a matter not kicking the HID lights on until cooler weather sets in.

Still a few parts needed before water goes in, been looking at some PH and PPM testers which are the backbone of any hydroponic system. You've got to know what is in the water, this is hydroponics LOL.

Time to go pick some veggies from the summer garden, if it doesn't rain soon there wont be much to pick in a week.

Thanks for stopping by,

hydroguy

[Sage Hermit]

hydroguy~ Efficiency is the key.

[hydroguy]

The garden is right on target for a July planting, cells 1 & 2 in the first chamber are completed. All we needed was a cycle timer for the pumps and its here now, running a single timer with dual outlets for both systems. It's a 15 minute cycle timer which will run 6 cycles lights on 1 cycle lights off. Frequency of cycle varies depending on plant age but this one timer can easily handle both systems with a little manual intervention for seedlings.

We talked to the cooks and they could use the basics really; basil, oregano and were gonna throw in some chives for good measure. Get to that part when all the seeds show up.

The biggest accomplishment this week was finally picking out the testing equipment. Big surprise here we went with exactly the same testers that I have used since I got into hydro. Milwaukee brand Sharp testers. These are not the very top of the line units but they reliable accurate testers that have served me well for years.

Some folks use the litmus strips for testing their Ph, fine and dandy but for me that only works with the tap water we have. Our nutrients change the color of the resv. so the litmus is useless at this point for testing. I like the Sharp Ph51, it's waterproof so accidents aren't an issue. Initail use and maintenance are the critical parts for these types of testers. The unit must be soaked for 6 hours before initial use or the readings are inaccurate. After initial soaking and calibrating proper storage is critical. My personnel preferrence is to use GH brand storage solution. Few ml's in the cap and the unit sits on the shelf cap down just like in the pics that follow. Probe can not be allowed to dry out, ever. Advantage to this method is that when I turn the unit on it's sitting in a known solution of 7.0 Ph, if it reads anything different I rinse off the probe and change out the storage solution. 99.9% of the time it again reads 7.0 and I'm ready to test the waters so to speak with a unit I know is accurate.

Next is to test the resv to find the concentration of nutrients available to the plants. This testing doesn't say what's there but how strong the mix is. This is where it gets a bit complicated as there are various methods to test: EC, TDS, PPM and with the those methods there's sub catagories like the PPM in 1900 and 9999 methods. Then there's the conversion factors used to obtain these levels etc. etc. Saying my EC level of 2.2 is equal to 1750 PPM (just an example) depends on what the conversion factor is being used. Point to all this is to keep it simple. I use the same method allways, the Sharp T75 tester.

Point to all this rambling is that there is no other aspect of hydroponics as important as proper nutrient management. Pick your lights, medium and method and they stay constant throughout the grow, your resv. is changing daily and if you can't stay on top of it than everything else is pointless. A few dollars spent upfront here is critical to a successful garden.

hydroguy

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[Sage Hermit]

I can't wait to see it operating in the dead of winter. So how much did all this cost?

[hydroguy]

Howdy Sage, thanks for stopping by.

Costs, well that's a relative term aint it. The time my son and I get to hang out and do something constructive where he might just learn a thing or 2, can't really put a price on that now can we.

Could each of these systems been built much less expensively, there is absolutely no doubt about that. I could have done at least 60 - 70% of the build with a trip through Home Depot and Walmart. Actually many of my first systems were built that way and they produced well.

$1k per system times 3 systems equals way more than I should have put into it but hey, he's only gonna be 8 once in his lifetime.

hydroguy

[Sage Hermit]

No doubt. The set up is really unique and I look forward to seeing what they can actually produce. The systems I am used to building are all from the cheapest places. We made a aerospring system for 80 bucks - lights so thats good to know its possible to reduce the cost by 60+%
Not to deter from the great info here just curious to know a little more. I'll try and post a brief history of the eb & flow system to keep on track.

[hydroguy]

Just an example for ya Sage, the reservoir's for cell's 1 & 2 are identical, from Botanicare and costs around $75 each. Could have easily been replaced with a couple of tubs from Home Depot for $15 each. Heigth and volume were the limiting factors for me on this project but you get the idea. The list of substitutions for less expensive components could go on but this one is for the boy...

Talked to Little Man yesterday and he asked what we are gonna be doing this weekend, I told him we could plant a garden. He asked if I had those little blocks (rockwool) in yet? He's excited.

The water in is resv. 1 now. I like to air water out for 24 hours before using it. If the city water contains chlorine then it will dissipate, if they use chlromines then I would need an RO system to get that out. Just one more of those little things you learn along the way. Ph meter is soaking now so we can calibrate it aswell.

Would enjoy hearing about your hydro projects. Post it here if ya want. This thread is for learning and any experiences are welcome.

hydroguy

[hydroguy]

It was planting day. The seeds that came in so far are 3 types of basil; cinnamon, thai & sweet. The chives and oregano also showed up plus a freebie of some sort, will have to research what that is.

First thing the boys, Little Man's cousins were over so it was a group event, did was to set the flood level by adding riser extensions.

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT00011.jpg[/img]

Next step was to set the level the hydroton. This step let's the rockwool set just barely in the water:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0004.jpg[/img]

Then we put some seeds into the rockwool:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT00051.jpg[/img]

Setting the rockwool into the hydroton is learned by trial & error, just enough hydroton to let the rockwool set in the water but high enough to allow for a good root zone:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0007.jpg[/img]

The tap water here comes in just below 100ppm, added nutes to bring it to 600 ppm which is max I've found for seedlings. Ph was at 6.4 so we added a few cc'c of down and will check that later tonight after it settles. Tossed on some humidity domes and it's planted. Flooding is just once per day until things sprout, lights are off until germination then we'll run a 16/8 light cycle.

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0014.jpg[/img]

was a fun afternoon for sure,

hydroguy

[Sage Hermit]

Little Man and friends

I just assumed thai and cinnamon were the same. When they are ready tell me what the difference is in taste please. I think its that time of the year for basil! I have thai and sweet going into pots.

I worry about the future of these kids a little. I pray that we don't mess up the earth for their kids.
Sage Hermit

[hydroguy]

Hey Sage, I have no clue about the difference in the basil. Was surfing through Ebay and just clicked on some different basils from the same seller. This is my first venture into culinay herbs, years spent in hydro but still much to learn.

The oregano sprouted like a real trooper and some of the basils have come up aswell, not really thrilled with the looks of the chives but it's still a bit early to judge. Flipped the CFL on at day 3 when the first seeds cracked, pics are at 5 days planted.

Little Man will be amazed when he is over next.

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0016.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0015.jpg[/img]

[hydroguy]

We are learning a lot about herbs and such in the hydro system. Some things are working good, some too good LOL and some not working quite so well.

The chives just aren't doing it. It's the method of planting I am thinking, sowed the seeds on top of the rockwool and they just didn't have the germination we were hoping for. It's been 2 weeks and with the high humidity comes fungus so the dome is off and let the seeds do what they can in the next few days or it's gonna be time to re-plant.

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0011.jpg[/img]

The basil's are doing just fine. Old habit I have is planting way more than needed and we did it here as well. Germination time varied from 5 days to 10. During that time some of the rockwool was removed and other seeds planted. The cubes removed weren't tossed just sat under the tray so at 14 days we transplanted cubes so each pot has 3 germinated cubes in it. Pictures explain this much better than me.

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0002-1.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0006-1.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0015-1.jpg[/img]

The oregano did good, too good realy. Did the top seed method with this just like the chives and I am guessing close to 99% germination. Plants are way too thick so we need to thin them out or re-plant these.

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0010-1.jpg[/img]

All in all it's a lot of fun. Learning things and working the project together. Re-set the timers for the lights to run at night so when the MH gets turned on it's not competing with the AC unit. Water is the the 2nd chamber and blowing bubbles to get rid any chlorine. New order of seeds was placed with Burpee, we are going to plant a fall garden outside since the summer garden has run it's course so I figure we might aswell try some of those seeds indoors too.

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0018.jpg[/img]

hydroguy

[hydroguy]

There are times you can't wait for a weekend visit to work the garden so I did a little project tonight, HST's the basils. The are many forms of training plants grown indoors some are simple that involve little to no stress on the plants and thats called LST (low Stress Training). Other methods involve actually cutting or somehow damaging the plant be trianed and it's called HST (High Stress Training)

Tonight I chopped the little buggers heads off so thats some HST if there ever was any. But WHY??? Well with indoor gardens virtical heigth is one of the most common limiting factors and it sure is here in our garden. We want short dense bushes as they will be grown with other short plants so to maximize the light in the final system the training starts way back here when the pants are just seedlings.

When the top node is cut off it forces the plant to shoot out a stem from every leaf node below it. I try to do this when there are 4 leaf nodes below the cut point, the plant will now have 4 main stems verses just one primary center stem.

The resverior was ordered this week for the 2nd chamber so now all the major pieces of equipment are here or in shipment. Still a few little things to add along the way but the big ticket items are done.. This resv. is a perfect match for this vertically challenged room. It sits just 13.25" high and holds an amazing 40 gallons, good match for the 9 (2gl) pots in the chamber.

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0003.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0004-1.jpg[/img]

hydroguy

[hydroguy]

It's been 3 days since the Basil's were topped, recovery is complete and the new shoot's are coming along nicely.

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0012.jpg[/img]

Most all the plants under the floro were passed the seedling stage so everything was moved to the 2nd cell which is lit with a 400wMH. From my experience any HID over 250 watts needs to air cooled so this hood is sealed and connected to an inline Vortex fan. The fan is controlled by a variable speed unit. I try and limit the stress events to just one, so these plants had recovered well enough to make room for the new batch of seeds.

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0008.jpg[/img]

We are planting a replacement crop of chives and this round we took the time to actually plant all the seeds into the rockwool:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0010-2.jpg[/img]

Along with the chives we wanted to try a crop of leaf lettuce in the hydro chamber so we planted some Green Ice lettuce. It's time for a fall outside garden so there's 2 other types of lettuce, broccoli and cabbage that will be transplanted outside. First time I've tried this so we'll see if it works.

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0008.jpg[/img]

Managing your lights is really important so not to burn or stress the plants. The 400 will be lowered gradually until it's down to within 10" or so from the plants in cell 2. The floro is off for a few days and will then be lowered down to the new seedlings. Nutrient strength for cell 2 is still down in the mid 400 range and will be raised to 600 after the plants adjust to their new lighting.

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Hydro%20chamber%201/PICT0015-2.jpg[/img]

hydroguy

[Sage Hermit]

They think they are outside ^_^

I posted this to my friends facebook page!! We actually made a similar system for 40 bucks not 80 bucks minus light. By similar I mean an aero springs system.


This is just ama- zing

[Sage Hermit]

$1k per system times 3 systems equals way more than YOU should have put into it but hey, he's only gonna be 8 once in his lifetime and it will pay for itself by the time he goes off and has his own kids to teach~ God willing.

This kid and all the other kids deserve to know the history of hydroponics and its evolution to what we use today in our home laboratory. The book that I want to recommend and that I will try and quote is
Duglas, Sholto. Hydroponics The Bengal System. Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1959 !!

My friend who blows glass as a job gave me this book and its interesting to me because I love history books especially when they are a bit out dated. In due time I will cover a little of how hydroponics was used in India after some 35 years of tinkering and experimenting to prove 2 merits:

1.Higher crop yield
2."...hydroponics can be used in places where ordinary agriculture or gardening is impossible."

[hydroguy]

Howdy Sage,

The history of hydroponics goes back 1000's of years and there are many examples recorded in history. The one I really like is where the tribes built wooden structures, covered them in organic matter and grew crops on the floating islands. Primitive cultures using some advanced techniques.

As for what this little garden costs, some guys have Harley's others have boats for their toys. My "toy" has already payed for itself in the time we've spent together building it. If it was for the simple purpose of growing food it would have been built MUCH differently. Besides many of the parts are from the days when my church and my son did not take top priority in my life. I didn't get the expeience I have from growing cooking herbs.

Had my first visitor to the garden in the past couple of days and it wasn't one I invited. Acutally I think there are more than one type. Insects! Here's a picture that shows 2 different types on injuries to the basil, chewed leaves and brown spots on 2 leaves:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/August%20%2010/PICT0007.jpg[/img]

I took all the pots out tonight and sprayed them top and bottom with soapy water and will be getting in some type of organic product next week to help out on the insect issue. Other than that the first set of plants (minus the chives) are doing really well. Need to be getting that 2 chamber finsihed up here in the next couple of weeks. These plants are at 26 days:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/August%20%2010/PICT0012.jpg[/img]

Second set of seeds are poping right up. There were seedlings up at 36 hours, seriously, 36 hours from the time the water touched the rockwool. These are at just shy of 5 days planted:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/August%20%2010/PICT0021.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/August%20%2010/PICT0014.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/August%20%2010/PICT0022.jpg[/img]

hydroguy

[hydroguy]

The bug issue is well under control for the time being. First thing we did was spray everything top to bottom with a soap spray for 3 days, teaspoon of Dawn in a 30 ounce spray bottle. The insecticide we decided on was an OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute) certified product from Safer. We also added a sticky trap. I'm thinking the brown spots were more than likely a type of mold or fungus. Increased the ventilation speed and set it to run 24/7. These things seemed to get the bug issues under control but it broke a rule of mine, only change one thing at a time so you know what works or doesn't. Oh well, I'm impatient with bugs.

It's been 32 days since the first seeds were planted and it was time to harvest some herbs. The basil's and oregano needed a trim:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/August%20%2010/PICT0004.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/August%20%2010/PICT0026-1.jpg[/img]

It's a real learning curve on the new seeds, some are kicking butt and some are getting their butts kicked LOL. The Green Ice Lettuce we plan on harvesting in the hydro system are doing great:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/August%20%2010/PICT0008.jpg[/img]

The Bibb Lettuce is hanging in there:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/August%20%2010/PICT0010.jpg[/img]

but the Iceberg is on the way out, I really think the nute solution is too rich (500 ppm) for the Iceberg. Lesson learned:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/August%20%2010/PICT0011.jpg[/img]

Same goes for the cauliflower, not gonna make it:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/August%20%2010/PICT0014-1.jpg[/img]

The 2 types of brocolli might pull through but not going to set any growth records. The spots of the first sets of leaves are from the soap spray. It wasn't the spray itself but the fact I left the floro light on after they got sprayed. Should have turned it off like I did the HID until the soapy spray dried:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/August%20%2010/PICT0016.jpg[/img]

Lot's of fun and I hope anyone interested in hydroponics is learning along with Little Man and myself. Trying to show the good and bad, what works and what doesn't.

hydroguy

[hydroguy]

40 days planted and this garden is getting way out of control, in a good way that is . The basil's getting a serious trim job tonight. They have bushed out to the point of blocking all the light to just about everything else:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/August%20%2010/PICT0004-1.jpg[/img]

Harvested the first crop of Green Ice lettuce this morning. Gave it to my neighbors as we are going to be a bit busy this weekend to enjoy a fresh salad:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/August%20%2010/PICT00111.jpg[/img]

I'm thinking I made too quick of a judgement on the outdoor veggies as most are coming back from a rough start. Trick with hydro seedlings is they drink way more water than the eat so your nutrients are all ways on the rise. I need to do a better job of keeping the levels down in the lower 400's.

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/August%20%2010/PICT0006.jpg[/img]

More green ice lettuce is under the dome, hopeing the first crop will give a second cutting as they sure did look tasty.

Happy hydro gardening,

hydroguy

[hydroguy]

It's been about 50 days since this garden got it's first seeds (July 10) and it produced way beter than expected. The basil's basically taken over the cell they were in under the 400. The lettuce in there did what it could to stretch up and get some light and the oregano just went wild. Tonights harvest was the 3rd for each of those three types. The lettuce is over with and I liked it alot, lots more of it will be planted in the furture. The basils and oregano were cut down extremely low (90% harvested) and only the best single pot of each was placed back in the chamber:

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Harvest%208-10/PICT0001.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Harvest%208-10/PICT0003.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy130/hydroguy/Harvest%208-10/PICT0013.jpg[/img]

We would show a picture of the outdoor veggies we had growing, and they all survived well inside, but a picture of a dead plant outside in the garden is just not that appealing to me. They were grown under a 125w floro which was plenty for the growth stage they were in but far from ideal to be transplanted outside where it was 88F and sunny. "hardened off" is the term I believe and I didn't do it. A bit difficult to run the flood cycles on the hydro system which is indoors for plants sitting out side in partial sun. Should have worked it better but it was an experiment and it failed miserably.

We couldn't be happier with the indoor plants, with a bit better management I'm thinking this little system will be kicking out some veggies all winter long with plenty to share with the neighbors. I understand the band width issues of forums like this one and I'll back off the postings and pics. Just wanted to show fellow gardeners how simple and FAST hydroponics can be.

hydroguy

If there's any questions comments or suggestions please don't hesitate to post.