Contamination concerns?

[Halfway]

I am going deeper down the rabbit hole of hydroponics and it's feasibility and efficiency are becoming quite apparent.

I intend on maintaining my outdoors raised beds and containers for next year's planting season and the success I had this year can be attributed in part by the plants started indoors.

Those "starts" are germinated in peat pellets and then transplanted to 4 inch pots when they get their first true leaves. They are grown using a 48" fluorescent fixture with 2 6500k bulbs. The 4 inch pots contain a MG potting soil or equivalent mix. This seems to benefit them once they are transplanted to their summer containers or the raised beds.

I intend on starting these seeds in the same manner next year.

My question is; will the peat pellets and MG potting mix add the potential for contamination if I use the same space for a hydro setup?

I am leaning heavily to an ebb and flow system that will allow 6 pots of peppers to maturity, and then an aero (type) pot to attempt tomatoes. These systems would be for growing the full cycle of these plants indoors year round.

I do intend on upgrading lighting to the appropriate needs, and do not wish to spin this thread into a lighting topic.

Am I justified in my concerns over contamination from potting soil to hydro?

Thank in advance.

[Halfway]

Anyone?

[hydroguy]

Can't see there would be many issues really. I clean all of my equipment with hydrogen peroxide, growing medium included and have good results. Some folks use bleach but a really good rinse is required. Dawn dish soap is my back-up cleaning agent if I'm out of H2O2.

Good luck to ya and let us know how things work out.

hydroguy

[Halfway]

Since I posted the OP, I found what I think to be a great solution.

I will dump the peat pellets and 4 inch pots with soil for rapid rooters (or equivalent) and coir.

From what I understand, the up-potted coir can be transferred directly to the raised beds and containers with no issues.

This solution will allow me to get completely away from soil in the basement and focus totally on hydro for germination, starts, and of course the lettuce under the lights.

I may need to get some cleaning info (H2O2) from you when the time comes Hydroguy.

Thanks!

[malkore]

the coconut coir is easy to work with, and you can easily remove a seedling from the coir, and plant it in some fired clay pellets to support it in a hydro/aeroponics system.

I did it plenty. and yeah the coir can just go right in the ground too. its a nice medium to work with.

[Halfway]

Thanks mal!