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Subjects
Ron,
You told me to mix my used rockwool in the
compost pile. COMPOST? Do you actually grow anything in the ground anymore? Does the
rockwool make your compost a nice consistency, how does it help composting.
New2Hydro Holly
Just consistency and oxygenation.
Just about all the plants I have planted in my yard
came from my hydroponic systems when they got to large. That's why I love it here in
Florida because you can grow plants all year round.
Dear Ron, my hydro system (deep flow) for cannabis is off to a good start. just a couple of questions to keep it going smoothly. I have 3inch pvc pipes with a continuous flow of water circulating (no timer). the plants are growing in 1 inch rubber holes cut to 3inches. the roots are always under water in this system. my plants are about 10inches and look ok. some of the lower leaves have little orange/brown spots on them. how do i fix this? I'm switching to a proper hydro solution (currently using Miracle grow) i know this isn't recommended. what's best for cannabis and where can i get it easily? i know the deep flow isn't highly recommended by anyone. my system seems to be going ok but I'm still worried about those damn roots always being under water. my friend says I'm nuts, and that an airstone will work just fine. what do you think? as always thanks for sharing your ideas and tips. Enjoy the holidays, thanks you are the man.
What you have there is an NFT system. Nothing wrong with that.
Just make sure theirs plenty of oxygen in the water and that the water is flowing at a
good rate.
Yes I would say those spots are from Miracle-Gro. Switch soon to real hydro solution for
best results.
Hi Ron,
I just bought all of the supplies I need for the 11 plant garden. Home Depot didn't
have thinwall, but Lowes had a "200 psi" pvc pipe. It has markings of 21, not 26
on it. What does the 26 mean? Also, the helper dude said that it was the thinwall pvc for drinking water. Is he right?
New 2 Hydro Holly
Doesn't matter. The best thing to do is take a bottle cap with you to the store an size it up. It should almost fit in the thinwall. With some pvc glue and a whack with a mallet, it is sealed.
Where do I obtain Perlite/Vermiculite in Europe/Online? You get it in Headshops, but I don't like their pricing.
You got to have regular nursery supplies stores in Europe. Perlite and Vermiculite is the most cheapest medium you can buy in bulk and they sell it everywhere here in the US.
I am attempting to grow tomatoes in the Philippines which is a tropical country. I get my seeds from Holland and I use a media made from coco peat and volcanic soil. Everything is fine for the first two months and then a disease hits my plants. Do you know if there is a special type of tomato seed that is immune to the tropical diseases. Or perhaps a cure for this type of fungus or diseases.
what is TDS and what does it mean please help
The concentration of nutrients in water is measured on a numerical scale of parts per million (PPM). This number basically tells you how much fertilizer is dissolved in your water. By closely monitoring this concentration you can maintain the best level of nutrients to meet your crop's requirements. You will need a TDS (total dissolved solids) meter that measures PPM. You also use the this meter to gauge when it's time to fill your hydroponic system with a fresh mix. Generally, young plants prefer concentrations around 400 to 600 PPM, while mid-growth would be around 700 to 1000, and established or fast-growing plants need levels around 1100 to 1500.
why do the bottles you grow in have to be painted white, will the light from a HID lamp hurt the roots if the bottle is not painted please take the time to fill me in on this You are the only person I trust getting information from that wont put my garden at risk please respond and keep up the excellent work. CLUELESS
The bottles are painted to help cut down on the algae buildup
caused by the light hitting the water in your garden.
A lot of people are concerned about the algae in hydroponic gardens. Even though it's not
pretty, algae is your friend. You can't grow with hydroponics and not
experience the green slime.
Algae is a sign of healthy water and robust life; not a sign of contamination or problems
and only becomes a problem when it grows so thick as to cut off oxygen to the plant
beneath. If that happens just rinse with tap water to remove.
DEAR SIR, I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION 1. COCOPEAT FLOWER CULTIVATION - ROSE AND GERBERA. 2. ADDRESSES OF COMMERCIAL HYDROPONIC FLOWER GROWERS. THANKING YOU, G.R.VENUGOPAL
Hi Ron, In some of the posts on your BB, you mention that it is not necessary to flood the plants at night. Won't the plants wilt? I can't imagine them going for several hours without flooding the roots.
New 2 Hydro Holly
I had the same thought until I tried it and it was OK as long as your growing room isn't to hot. If you can, water once in the middle of the night just to make sure.
Dear Ron, Great site! But I've got a problem. I am trying to do a hydroponic garden on a very limited budget. Everything about hydroponics seems to be economical except lighting. The price of lighting is way, way, way out of my budget. Do you have any suggestions on cheap lighting? What about fluorescent lights? I have lots of 4 foot fixtures for free, I would only have to buy bulbs. What about the outside lights that come on at dark (street lights). I think they are HID. Any help would be great.
If they are Metal Halide or High Pressure Sodium or Low Pressure Sodium at any wattage would be more economical than fluorescents. I found 3 - 400 watt MH at my local flea market for 30 bucks apiece that came out of a factory. I had to buy new bulbs but I saved a lot of money. They are out their.
Greetings all bud growers,
I have a few questions regarding growing some good kind bud in the 11 Hydro set up shown on this site.
1. First of all, how do you hold the rooted seeds in the 2 liter bottles.
Start your seeds in vermiculite and when your seedlings get big enough (about 3") then carefully place them in the 16 once solo cup with the grow rocks. Then place them in the 2-liter bottle garden.
2. What kind of lighting would you recommend, this setup will be in a large closet approx 12' long x 6' wide.
I would use 3 - 400 Watt Metal Halide or 3 High Pressure Sodium or a mix of the two.
3. I will be using a controller that is interfaced with my computer via Ethernet and using relays I can control the lighting, and the watering. What is the best schedule of lights and watering for the first 2 weeks of growth, till they start budding.
Water ever 20 minutes for maximum force feeding the bastards. Vegetation stage lights has to be on at least 16 hours a day, if your on a budget, or as much as 24 hours if you have deep pockets. Then change the light cycle to 12 on 12 off to induce budding.
4. I do not want to start with 11 plants, maybe 5 at first and then clone the females that way I can attain a never ending harvesting cycle.
must be a light smoker
5. What kind of mixture of Formula A Hydro solution w/ water do you use. And how large of a Rubbermaid tank do you use for the 11 Plant setup?
Read the label on the bottle and 11 gallon container is shone in my pictures but you can use any size larger than that if you don't want to fill it so often..
Any other information that you all can provide me with would be greatly appreciated, this is my first attempt at indoor gardening, only other thing I've grown is P.cubenis ...
This is for the person that was asking about lighting. Yes street lights and most other outdoor lights used for for lighting large parking lots are HID lights. But there is a few things you need to now for safety reasons if you are going to operate one of these indoors. I currently use a 400 watt high pressure sodium that was made to be used outdoors. Although these are not recommended for indoor use the can be successfully used if you pay attention to what you are doing. First these units are made to be water tight so the ballast is part of the unit sealed inside. This makes the unit run very hot a lot hotter than the ones made to be run indoors. Outside they get plenty of good cool air and heat is transferred. If you decide to run one of these indoors you need to make sure you suspend this unit from the top of the ceiling hanging down somewhere in the middle of the room so it has good airspace all around. if have mine suspended from the ceiling using two 4' 3/8-16 steel rod and toggles to mount it to the ceiling. Make sure it is anchored well because these units can be very heavy I think mine is about 45 pounds. Next you need a fan fan to be blowing on this unit continually so you can transfer the heat away from this unit and out your growroom. I use A 20inch oscillating fan and snap the button on back so it stays still. It sits on a stool at the back of my room right behind the light so it vents the heat out the front and pulls cool air in the bottom. It is very important you transfer the heat away or the unit could over heat and ruin the ballasts and start a fire. If you are able to obtain a light and you are sure you can vent heat properly you next need to wire it another import step that needs to be done properly. The power demands in the ballast of this type of light can be 110v or 220v this is something you will need to check before using. on the light where the power supply wires go in there is a cover with screws normally the ballast is under this cover. Remove the cover the three supply wires going into the cover cover should be black white green make sure the black wire is attached to the wire inside the unit marked 110v and not on the 220v wire going to the ballast a big rectangular box, sometimes its marked on the ballast next to the supply terminal. you need to what the terminal is marked that the black wire is going to 110v or 220v a lot of these ballast have four terminals and give you the option to wire it either way. But most regular three prong household outlet are only 110v that's why this is important. Some places use them 220v volt because it uses less amps and is cheaper to run but this you need a 220v service and most households aren't equipped with this so be sure to what your light is wired to draw before using. Next you need to get power supply cord no smaller than 14guage wire remember the bigger the number the smaller the wire. I use a heavy-duty air conditioner supply cord if you call somewhere to find it ask for a pigtail it make it easier for the person to understand what you want. After you get the cord you'll find that most of the time the wires on the light and the wires on the pigtail are the same. then just match them up and connect with wire nuts. black is usually power, green is ground, white is common. sometimes the common can be red and the ground can be blue or just bare wire. once your SURE all of this has been done your light is ready to be plugged in and put to work. I don't recommend this type of light for really small grow rooms because heat could be a problem and may result in a buried out light or worst of all fire. this cove
The 3 - 400 watt MH factory lights I bought at the flea market
did have the 220 watt ballast connected to the top of the light but being a jack-off of
all trades I dismantled them and ran a long cord from the light to the ballast so I
could remotely place the hot ballast outside the room, eliminating the excess heat. I once
read a book about electricity. You must have read the same book.
Ron
This message is to the person who helped me with my cheap lighting question. It looks like the last part of your message got cut off. If you would please respond back with the last part of your message, I would appreciate it. Thanks for your help.
To the person who wanted to know more about lighting. I just proofread what I wrote and noticed typo and spelling errors sorry about that. I don't what the hell that last little bit is or how it got there but I really didn't have anything else to say. I just wanted to clue you in on this because I couldn't afford store bought good lighting. Everybody I talked to said I was crazy to use these indoors unattended. But I have a good electrical background so I wasn't worried about that. I new how these lights were made and all that needed to be overcome was the heat factor. But with a fan blowing directly on the unit at all times you can run it 24hours a day if you like. I have hade my unit this way for three years and never had one problem. My main worry was the ballast holding up to the extreme heat but the fan method works great. just so you know if you ever go around a public school at night just about everyone of the lights attached to the side of the buildings are HID lights. normally the ones that have an orange glow are high pressure sodium. This bulb gives you the most light for the amount of energy you use compared to the older HID lights like metal halide or mercury vapor. high pressure sodium also give you a light spectrum more in the orange yellow which plants can absorb better. As far as using fluorescent lighting I think it sucks for a nice healthy garden. I messed around with them in the past and the amount I had to use to get good plant growth at adult stages cost me more in electricity than my sodium bulb cost and the results still weren't as good as a HID lamp. fluorescent is fine to germinate a seed under I still use them for that but for rapid growth use HID lamps. I am new to hydro but have been growing in soil mediums under HID lights for a long time so if you have any other questions about light feel free to ask. If you want to tell me how much the electric company charges you for a kilowatt of electricity every hour look on your electric bill to find this out the type and size of lamp you plan on running and for how long I will tell you how much it will cost you per day and month to operate the lamp.
FROM YOUR FELLOW GROWER
This is for NEW2HYDRO HOLLY what type of plant do you grow I was just wondering.
FELLOW GROWER
To Fellow Grower,
So far I'm growing nothing, I just purchased a hydro system and built the 11 plant system. These are for my hubby for Christmas. However, it seems that I too have become very interested. I envision hubby growing jalapenos, tomatoes ... I'd like to grow cutting flowers, carnations to start.
New 2 Hydro Holly
what is the size of the reservoir and where can I get one. For the 11 Plant Hydroponic Garden.
11 gallons and at any Wall-Marts, K-Marts, est.
dear ron,
wonder if you can help me out with this hydroponic problem.
you see, i tried my hand on pokchoy (oriental brassica) and the result was below expectation.
first, the stalk is smaller than organically grown second, the pokchoy in hydroponics wilt faster than expected after harvest.
however, the leaf size is ok, very green and no holes. no leaf miner. the root length is nice. long enough with lots of rootlets along the side.
could my problem originated from sunlight. i place my hydroponic system in a east-west orientation with opaque plastic on top of it to prevent rain water getting into the system.
or could it be temperature. my temperature ranges from 24C to 32C (yes, tropical Philippines I am from)
regarding the water stress, is it normal with hydroponic plants ? is water stress the main reason why after harvest, it wilts faster than expected ?
thanks and MERRY CHRISTMAS
Stanley Ho
Dear Ron
I read that legumes e.g.. snap beans need soil bacteria to take in nitrogen. Can I grow snap beans hydroponically?
Rossa
I bought a 400w MH ballast/bulb/reflector for the 11 plant system. Seems pretty nice, the heavy ballast is separate from the fixture (I don't have to hang it.) However, I'm a little uncertain about their applications. Will I need a HPS later in order for the plants to bloom? I thought I'd be ok with just the MH for vegetables, herbs etc. Will my flowers be able to bloom under MH (carnations). Lighting is big $$ and I didn't want to invest in both. I live in the northeast and am planning on starting indoors in the winter and than moving to the plants outside on the deck in Late Spring and Summer.
New 2 Hydro Holly
Yes MH is mostly for Veg. growth stage but since you are putting
your plants on the deck in the spring that should supply your plants with any missing
orange light spectrum you might be missing. Plants will grow and bud under either MH
and HPS, for those on a budget. It's just logical that they would grow better (faster)
under the full spectrum of light needed for healthy plant growth.
Ron
To Ron I have fruit flies or some kind of really small nats in my grow room on my pot plants. Why would they be in there What do they want with my plants. What is the best way to get rid of these. They do not appear to be harming the plants but they are an extreme pest. Thank you for your time.
Hey nats got to catch a buzz too. The best way to get rid of
flying pests is to hang those yellow sticky bug traps all over your room. Then use wind
power from fans on your plants to keep the little bastards moving until they get stuck to
the trap.
That may not sound to effective but if that fly is pregnant then the bitch won't be having
any more bastard nats.
Or go buy some bug spay poison and kill them and yourself.
Calcium Chloride Source Pool stores carry tubs of a hardness product with 77% calcium chloride and 23% inert products. Any idea whether this is alright for hydroponics?
You know I see those products but I have never have gotten the
balls enough to try them. I did use some of my pool pH down once in my hydro garden when I
ran out of my regular pH down. But I didn't use it long enough to see if it would have a
deferential effect on my plants. I sure wish I stayed awake in chemistry class so I would
know what all that means.
Let that be a lesson from HydroRon. If you want to grow good pot then stay in school and
stay awake in chemistry class.
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