best system for tomatoes?

[GpsFrontier]

The air pump running 24/7 wont even be noticeable on your electric bill, so I wouldn't worry about the electricity use. If you want to tell for yourself use this Electricity Cost Calculator, all you need to know is the wattage, and cents/kw-hr that's easily found on your electric bill. Then just put 24 in the section for hours, multiply the total by 30, and that will tell you what it cost to run it for an entire month. If the box dosen't have the wattage listed, multiply the amperage by the voltage, and that will give you the wattage. I don't have the box for my air pumps but I'll use the High volume air pump I linked in the to in the other thread as an example. That pump is 66 watts, and I pay 9.29 cents per kw-hr (that includes the base charge as well as surcharges). Using the calculator I linked to, that pump would cost me $0.15 (15 cents) to run all day long, $0.15x 30= $4.50 a month 24/7 all month long. The air pump/s you'll need wont be annoyware near that wattage. Found it, here's the air pump I grew my 8 lettuce plants with in a water culture system Tetra Whisper 60 Aquarium Air Pump - AquaCave (I got it at wal mart for about $12). Look under specifications, that air pump is only 4 watts. At the rate per kw-hr I pay, that pump only costs me $0.30 per month to run 24/7 all month long.

As for what size basket to use for a 2 foot tomato plant in a water culture system (bucket). Well I would probably use something like a 4-5-6 inch basket. But there are a lot of people who would say you can use a basket as small as 2 inches. And it probably would be OK for that small of a tomato plant, especially if your planing to support the foliage. But I just like having more growing medium around the main root-ball myself (again because it's more forgiving for the plant).


P.S.
I get heavy duty timers (15 amp) at Kmart for about $7. My largest water pump has a maximum pumping height of 8.7 feet, and will pump a max volume of 500 gallons per-hour, and is only 35 watts. So even if I had it running all day (24 hours), it would only cost me 8 cents (or $2.40 to run 24/7 for 30 days).

heres a little drip vs dwc question... should power fail, what will die out quicker?.. dwc wouldnt be able to aerate the liquid, and drip wouldnt be able to supply it

That would depend on a lot of variables, but in general I would say the plants in a drip system not getting any water at all for days would probably completely die before plants in a un-aerated water culture system that had plenty of water. The biggest factors being temperature, the type of growing medium used in the drip system, as well as how much growing medium is used, and relative humidity. As well as how much water volume is in the water culture system, and how big the plants are in either system. I live in the desert where relative humidity is very low most of the year (below 10%), and I often forgot to plug back in the pump to the timer after I did something to my broccoli plants (the same ones I linked to in the other thread that were in the 5 gallon buckets, that was a drip system). I used coco chips as a growing medium for them, and coco chips hold moisture better than most growing mediums. And even on days that neared 100 degrees, I saw no singes of wilting from those full grown plants over 24 hours later when I noticed that I forgot to plug the pump in the next day.

[animus_divinus]

well them.. im going to go deep water culture with a 5-6 inch pot... im going to build a box around the bucket with one side exposed.. that side might have a cage in front of it to keep it growing up in the box

the box will be line with white poster board, and the light will be mounted to shine from the side so that the entire plant will get even light, not just the top

in total for cost of electricity and nutrients, this is about a $10/month project in cost for the amount of tomatoes itll hopefully put out

now i just need to find a really high yielding indeterminate tomatoe plant to grow... would be nice of an heirloom variety worked, but as long as it was good for sauces as well as sandwiches it would be good

[animus_divinus]

so... anyone know a good heirloom plants that produces a high enough yield to do well in hydroponics?

[perzyk]

100 or 150 watt HPS or MH is way to small. It will work for small plants but once your into heavy veging with a thick canopy your simply not going to get the penetration that the plant needs. I wouldn't go any smaller than 400 watt.

[perzyk]

Originally Posted by perzyk

100 or 150 watt HPS or MH is way to small. It will work for small plants but once your into heavy veging with a thick canopy your simply not going to get the penetration that the plant needs. I wouldn't go any smaller than 400 watt.

One more thing. DWC is not as simple as mixing up some nutes and dumping them into a bucket. PPM and Ph have to be monitored very closely once you get into heavy veging and flowering/fruiting. Once the plant starts feeding heavy both PPM and Ph will change very quickly over the course of a day or two.

[animus_divinus]

im not worried about needing a lot of penetration, im mounting the light from the side

[perzyk]

Originally Posted by animus_divinus

im not worried about needing a lot of penetration, im mounting the light from the side

Yes but remember the plant is going to grow towards the light. Unless you are surrounding it with multiple lights (in which case you might as well buy a nice 400-600 watter) or you are rotating the plant every day, which would be a problem. Remember. Your only going to get out what you put in to your set-up. Lighting is the one thing you can't skimp on. Not just in lumens but spectrum as well. Do yourself a favor and get a nice light, say 400 watts and a Digilux MH and HPS bulb.

[animus_divinus]

one more question.. should my grow medium with a drip setup be all coconut coir, or a 50/50 mix with perlite?

[GpsFrontier]

Originally Posted by perzyk

One more thing. DWC is not as simple as mixing up some nutes and dumping them into a bucket. PPM and Ph have to be monitored very closely once you get into heavy veging and flowering/fruiting. Once the plant starts feeding heavy both PPM and Ph will change very quickly over the course of a day or two.

Even though I don't use a EC/TDS/PPM meter at all, controlling fluctuation in nutrient strength, as well as pH swings are some of the reasons that I mentioned that a drip system would be more forgiving. Specifically because those things would be easier to control, especially as the plant gets bigger. I'm really unclear how large the plants that animus_divinus is planning, but I'm assuming he's going to try prune the tomato plants to 2 feet wide and 2 feet tall. Even that size plant could probably drink at least 1 gallon of water a day (especially with fruit on it).

So using a 5 gallon bucket as a water culture system reservoir, that realistically probably wont have more nutrient solution in it than 4 gallons when full. If the plant drinks 1 gallon of water each day, that would increase the nutrient strength by at least 25% as the plant drinks up the water. And even if the water is replaced daily, that will result in nutrient strength fluctuations of at least 25% daily. Then along with pH fluctuations from the fluctuating nutrient concentration, unless the replacement water is pH adjusted prior to adding it, that will affect the pH as well. Using one larger central reservoir will have less fluctuation, as well as be much easier to control in my opinion. Though some people prefer using water culture for growing everything, so I guess it's just what works for you.

[animus_divinus]

well at this point i just dont have much opinion on DWC vs drip, i havent used either one... i was told DWC is more forgiving in a power outtage and i dont need medium... but realistically some pea gravel or perlite for a single plant is going to be rather negligable in cost... fountain pump and piping vs an air pump and bubbler.. its all going to come out to about the same which is what i was looking for more advice

what would be best for a tomato plant about 2x2x4 feet in size?.. im making the 150w light as efficient as possible by training to to grow in a cage and keeping it prune being surrounded entirely by pure white, plus other lights in the room im putting it into are constantly on... did all the calculations and such with the lighting, but the feed system is what im not so sure about

5 gallon buckets are really easy to get, and i was going to use it as both a platform and resovoir to keep it simple and uses the fewest materials...

if having a plant in a solid non-net pot filled with a grow medium and a drip system will mean less frequent solution changes and more stable Ph levels, then ill certainly go that route... but i havent done this yet, ive only read about it all in theory so far and was looking for the best advice as to what would be better for this one container system?