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Old 08-10-2011, 04:22 PM
Paul Perkins Paul Perkins is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 7
Default Excellent thread... a few questions

First, thank you very much for your thoughtful and informative posts in this thread. As suggested, I went to WalMart and bought 4 of their 10 gallon blue Rubbermaid Roughneck totes with lids ($8 each) and drilled six 1-7/8" holes in each lid to accommodate 6 of my 2" netpots with lettuce seedlings that I had already started in rockwool a few weeks ago. Also as suggested, I added an airstone connected to an air pump, added my water and nutes and can't wait to see (and taste) the results. However, this experiment raises a few questions:

1. Do you have any suggestion as to how high the water level should be inside the totes? Up to the top? Just above the bottom of the netpot? Does it matter so much as long as the roots are wet and the water is aerated?

2. Re: the seedling stage. After germination, I read that you suggest a storage tote with more holes spaced more densely together for growth prior to moving into the main system. Other than the closer spacing of the holes, do you do anything different in the "seedling" stage than what you do in the "main" stage? For example, I've also read that the nute solution for seedlings should be 1/2 strength versus growth stage. True? Do you give your seedlings more sun/less sun? Lower waterline of the nute solution to just wick the rockwool versus immersion, etc.?

3. In your pictures, I see you built a shade over your lettuce. I live in Central Florida where our afternoon sun is nearly comparable to the intensity in AZ. Did you find that without shade your lettuce couldn't handle the intensity?

4. What propagation medium would you suggest for lettuce?

5. Finally, for a custom DWC lettuce growing setup, what do you think about using a Firestone PondGard EPDM "Fish Safe" liner inside a wood frame with blue foam polystyrene as a float surface? Any suggestions on how deep a DWC system should be? Is EPDM safe? Any better materials to use?

Thank you for any suggestions or experience you can offer.
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