Noob to hydro, first attempt at NFT system

[brandonbelew]

Originally Posted by GpsFrontier

Hello brandonbelew,

What caused the water flow problem???

The water level dropped partially below the top of the intake screen on the pump. It was still pumping water but the water was going through the path of least resistance and making it to the rear two runs first, not leaving enough water for the front one i'm guessing.

Originally Posted by GpsFrontier

My favorite growing media is coco coir/chips. Not only is it inexpensive, but it holds moisture well, and without being saturated. However it doesn't mater what growing media you use when the roots are hanging in mid air. The only roots that benefit from the growing media are the roots in the growing media. The roots hanging out of the basket/s in mid air will dry out very quickly regardless. The more growing media you use, the more roots that growing media can hold. That's part of designing the hydroponic system.

Another part of designing the hydroponic system is deciding on the water level in the off cycle. If you design the system so there is a small pocket of water/nutrient solution 1/2 inch to one inch at the bottom of the tubes during the off cycle, the roots that hang out of the baskets can still access water during the off cycle, as well as if there is a water flow problem. That helps even watering, and can buy you some time in case of a problem. However strawberry's don't like wet feet, so you wouldn't want the water pocket at the bottom to be to deep for them.

I need to redesign my tubes a bit, right now they drain completely when the water is off. I don't have an off cycle though, the water is pumping 24/7. The root growth on them has been quite impressive about 6" down the tube for each one.

Originally Posted by GpsFrontier

If your nutrient reservoir water level is doping to low for the pump, your reservoir is to small for your plants. You don't want your reservoir water level to drop below 75% of full volume. When it does it causes major fluctuations in your nutrient concentrations, and that's stressful for your plants. Stressed plants aren't healthy plants. When you replace the water the plants drink, you want to add plain water, not nutrient solution. By adding nutrient solution back instead of plain water, you increases your nutrient concentrations. Again causing stress for the plants.

I have a 17 gallon tote that I started filling with 10 gallons. I've been increasing it to 15 gallons since I had my water issue. I've been putting nutrients back in, i'll stop doing that and just put the plain RO water in.

Originally Posted by GpsFrontier

You could increase your light time to 18 hours on. I could be wrong, but I thought you were using the Verti-Gro nutrients? I didn't know they had a mixing chart. But since I use them myself. I know the directions. Equal parts 15 ml (1 tbsp) per gallon of water of both fertilizer and calcium nitrate for full strength nutrient solution.

I am using vertigrow, I couldn't remember how the mix was setup when I wrote my post. I'm doing the 1/2 to 3/4 oz per gallon. I'm mixing it closer to 3/4 oz per gallon at the moment.

Originally Posted by GpsFrontier

I believe you said your plants were growing runners. Are you cutting them off? They will take energy from the mother plant, and not produce anything. You can get them to root into a growing media, then when they do, cut them from the mother plant. But depending on the variety of strawberry, they will need to over-winter before they produce any fruit. Strawberry plants don't produce fruit the first year (except for a specific varieties).

I have two articles written by by Dr. Lynette Morgan I could send you if you send me a private message with an e-mail address you want them sent to.

HOW TO GROW STRAWBERRIES
Berry Bonanza: Growing Indoor Strawberries

I cant just post a link to them because they aren't online anymore, but I have them saved in text documents I can e-mail you.

They are producing a ton of runners. I haven't been cutting them, I was going to try to get them to root but of course that wouldn't work with the clay medium i'm using. So I just recently cut all of the runners off. The runners were quite impressive, one of them stretched from the plant ( 4' off the floor ), down to the floor and had a couple offshoots. Was kind of shocked it was getting enough light down there to put out that kind of runner but it was growing quite well.

I'll send you a PM for those papers, that would be great.

Thanks!

[GpsFrontier]

Hello brandonbelew,

The water level dropped partially below the top of the intake screen on the pump. It was still pumping water but the water was going through the path of least resistance and making it to the rear two runs first, not leaving enough water for the front one i'm guessing.

Ah, the plants drank most of the water so water level drooped to much and the pump was sucking partial air. It's always one of the first lessons new hydroponic growers learn the hard way. Their amazed at how much water the plants will drink. When their small they don't drink much because they don't have much foliage to support. But as the plants get bigger and grow more foliage, they quickly drink more and more water daily, and new growers just aren't expecting it and are not ready for it. I don't know if you have seen it, but that's why I wrote this article What size reservoir do I need, to help people avoid learning this lesson the hard way.

Not only does low water levels run the risk of running the pump dry and/or killing the plants. But low water levels also affect the nutrient concentrations, and the fluctuating nutrient concentrations cause stress for the plants. The more the water level fluctuates, the more the nutrient concentrations fluctuate (normal, strong, normal, strong), and thus the higher the stress on the plants.

I need to redesign my tubes a bit, right now they drain completely when the water is off. I don't have an off cycle though, the water is pumping 24/7.

I'm sorry, for some reason I thought you were running it as a flood and drain system. Probably because earlier you mentioned you were having an issue with the overflow not working right all the time, so I assumed it was a flood and drain system. You don't need a water pocket (reserve) with a NFT system because you run the pump 24/7 and there is always supposed to be flowing water at the bottom anyway. The flowing water is the water pocket.

I have a 17 gallon tote that I started filling with 10 gallons. I've been increasing it to 15 gallons since I had my water issue. I've been putting nutrients back in, i'll stop doing that and just put the plain RO water in.

The bigger the plants get, the more water they will be drinking, so you'll want to keep an eye on the water level daily. You'll want to keep the water volume up/topped off so the water volume doesn't fluctuate to much. Like I mentioned earlier, when the water volume fluctuates, so does the nutrient concentrations. The more the water level and nutrient concentrations fluctuate, the more stress on the plants.

Just to be clear, you still want/need to do regular complete nutrient solution changes. Considering the current size of the plants, amount of plants, and total water volume you mentioned of 15 gallons, I would probably do complete nutrient changes every 2 weeks. In-between these complete nutrient solution changes is when you just want to add plain water back in order to replace the water the plants drink, thus keep the total water volume up and the nutrient concentrations from fluctuating. I always mark the inside of my nutrient reservoirs so I know exactly where the water volume should be, as well as know exactly how much the plants are drinking.

I am using vertigrow, I couldn't remember how the mix was setup when I wrote my post. I'm doing the 1/2 to 3/4 oz per gallon. I'm mixing it closer to 3/4 oz per gallon at the moment.

I'm not sure if your using them correctly because you say your using 1/2 to 3/4 oz per gallon of water. So just to be clear, first you should NOT mix the fertilizer and calcium nitrate concentrates together in the same container. Doing so will cause the calcium nitrate to bond with mineral salts in the fertilizer, and thus become useless to the plants. I use 2 one gallon water bottles. One for the calcium nitrate, and one for the fertilizer. I take a clean 5 gallon bucket and heat about 1/4 of the water to boiling point, then mix it with 2 lbs of the dry mix in the 5 gallon bucket. The hot water helps it to dissolve quicker and completely. Then I add the rest of the gallon of water and mix completely. Then I use a funnel and pour the mixed concentrate into the one gallon water bottle. After I clean the bucket out, I do the same thing with the calcium nitrate. So now you have two bottles of concentrates, one the fertilizer, and the other the calcium nitrate.

Now note mixing 2 lbs of dry mix with one gallon of water will increase the total liquid volume by about one cup (8 oz). So in the end you have one gallon and one cup. I also have a smaller water bottle with a drinking nipple lid (like on a sports bottle) I use for the extra cup of concentrate. The drinking nipple makes it easy to pour and measure smaller amounts. Trying to pour a tablespoon out of a gallon jug can be messy and spill a lot. But it's easy to pour out of the drinking nipple.

Now you say your using between 1/2 and 3/4 ounce per gallon. One ounce is 30 mL (two tbsp). I don't know if your saying your using 3/4 oz of each calcium nitrate and fertilizer, or calcium nitrate and fertilizer together. That's why I feared you may have mixed both concentrates together.

Total of 30 mL per gallon (or less) is fine
15 mL (one tbsp) per gallon (or less) of calcium nitrate
15 mL (one tbsp) per gallon (or less) of fertilizer
Total 30 mL

Total of 60 mL per gallon (or less) is too strong
30 mL (two tbsp) per gallon (or less) of calcium nitrate
30 mL (two tbsp) per gallon (or less) of fertilizer
Total 60 mL

You want to use equal amounts of each, and you don't really want to exceed 30 mL total (except for especially heavy feeders like peppers). You don't want to mix the concentrates together. You should be adding them to the full volume of water in the reservoir one at a time.

I'll send you a PM for those papers, that would be great.

Not a problem, you can either send me a PM with an e-mail address you want me to send the articles to, or e-mail me at the e-mail address on the contact us page of my website from the address you want me to send them to.

P.S. if you e-mail me at my website, be sure to mention who you are and you wanted me to e-mail you the articles on strawberries. I get lots of e-mails daily from all over the world, so I won't know who it is e-mailing me unless you mention it.