Hot weather hydroponics
 

Hello y'all
I am a newb here! I read through the FAQ and found there,
that hydroponics would not work this far South. I live on the
Ga./Fla. line. Did I miss read that?,should I just forget
hydroponics as hobbiest? Sorry if this is a really stupid question
Tom
So.Ga.

It will work but you may have to use a chiller on the water.

no way there are huge green houses in FL area. its really not that hot. Americas largest hydroponic green house is in AZ. It gets much hotter there then in FL. I will be doing a large for a person and not a business my self and it gets over 110 here a lot. What the plants do need is for the hydroponic water to be cool to the roots and not hot to "cook" the roots. I think they aim for 72? 76? some where around there. there are many good chillers that we can buy to cool the water down before it goes into the root system.

Isn't the reason why its bad letting the water get to warm is because it restricts the amount of oxygen that can dissolve in water, if so doesn't this only really apply to deep water culture? As NFT, aero.ponics and to some extent flood and drain part of the roots are never in the water anyway or roots are just getting splashed.

I have access to a Ditchwitch maybe I could
make shallow (3-4 ft deep) loop system to cool the
water or at least pre-cool it

Hydroponics will work anywhere if designed for it. Even in the extreme temperatures of space, like they do on the space station. The key is to build it for your environment. The root zone should be kept between 68 and 72 degrees. If not lower is better but try not to get it higher than that. Different micro organisms are triggered by different temperatures, and keeping the nutrient temperatures consistently in the right range will keep the bad ones at bay.
Sounds like a design I have for using geothermal energy, I call that one the trench design. I also have one for the nutrient reservoir that addresses the usability/functionality and ease of use and maintenance issues. They are in pdf and too large to post in this forum (19.5 kb limit), but I will e-mail them to anyone that is interested in them. Both of these can be used separately or in conjunction with each other for best results. I live in Arizona myself.

Not exactly. Yes, as the water warms up it cant hold onto the oxygen molecules as well, but that is not the only bad effect. Unwanted micro organisms are triggered and begin to grow and multiply. The plants wont be able to process the nutrients from the water they need. It also puts undo stress on the plants and they go into survival mode, dropping other functions like fruiting in hopes of just staying alive. Think of it like hiking on hot summers day in the desert, and being given all the water you want to drink. Only instead of cool water it's hot water. This applys to every type of hydroponic system. Although, in an aeroponics system it's a bigger problem. This is because the water is mixed more so with the air. The air temperature will dramatically affect how fast the water temp rises, and ultimately the temperature of the root zone.

Thanks, looks like its going to be a struggle for me this summer, I have grown in a temperate country and indoors before but where I currently live it doesn't really rain from jun - oct and on the roof where I am growing is about 30 - 45 celcius (85 - 110 f) during summer :/

thanks GOD its not in my area :p

Don't use extension cord for Pacific Coast Chiller in Hydro Settup
 

I bought a chiller to run an outdoor sunlight hydro tomato ebb and flow system. Brand was pacific coast. Apparently I shorted out the board by using an extension cord even though I went through the expense of building a pump house shed to keep it out of the elements. They don't "recommend" using extension cords. Just putting that out there for anyone thinking of doing the same thing in the future.

Hopefully the chiller wasn't too expensive. I looked into using fish tank chillers last summer and what I found started at about $300 for a chiller for 15 gallons. I gave up that Idea at that point. I couldn't justify that expense not to mention the electricity to run it. As bad as our ground is here I think using Geothermal energy is the way to go. I can put together a heck of a setup for $300, and not pay a dime for electricity.

I found the chiller on craigslist for $150 but after buying a new board I'm in $250. Probably money pissed down the toilet once I blow it again.

The tech guy said if I could run it on it's on outlet with a heavy duty extension cord under 50 feet it might be ok, but no promises.

I had people recommend Geo-thermal systems at the get go.

Can you tell me about your 300 dollar setup?
Thanks