Shallow beds instead of NFT vs Aeroponics
 

Hello,
I have been testing a small NFT setup for a couple of months now and I want to start a greenhouse (8m x 30m) and I would like to know if it is possible to use shallow beds with foam boards instead of channels/pipes

I am thinking of putting 4 beds with 1.2m width in the greenhouse and the depth would be 5cm to 10 cm with shallow water running down the bed and back to the reservoir

I am planning on planting lettuce and sage.

I was originally going for the aeroponics but I will have a lot of mist sprinklers along the beds which should require a lot of maintenance.

I think Deep Water Culture will be the most expensive because the amount of water that will be used (It will require a lot of nutrients and will be harder to control).

What do you think?

Hello Fine Stuff

I'm not sure I understand, but if your planing to build your own NFT channels with foam boards, I can think of a few problems. One durability, Styrofoam cracks and bends easy, One crack and your screwed. Second Styrofoam isn't exactly waterproof either. It will absorb some water unless it's a high density closed cell foam. Three, unless you plan to custom form these channels as one piece channels yourself, you'll need to attach sides. I don't know of anything but floorboard adhesive that will bond with Styrofoam without melting it. Even then it's not waterproof/tight and only bonds to the very top layer so it will peal off.

You can create one wide NFT channel, anything can be done. But I think the biggest problem you'll face in doing so is getting even water flow along the wide channel. As the plants grow and the roots get bigger, the water going by has to go around the roots. Your likely to experience pockets where it gets good water flow in one area, and others where there's little or nothing at all because the roots have diverted the water from that area.

You can get the same wide channel effect by placing multiple NFT channels next to each other in the same direction and space. Just have a separate water line to each row. The individual channels will keep the water flowing across each plants roots eliminating pockets in a wide channel.