best system for tomatoes?

[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?

[GpsFrontier]

Well yes, given the question witch will die first a plant in a water culture system, or a drip system in case of a power outage, as I mentioned there are a lot of variables that will affect that outcome. But in general most likely the plant in the drip system would be worse off and/or die first. However power outages are not really a concern to me, but I know they may be more of a problem to people in other areas. We on occasion do get power outages, mostly between July and October (monsoon season). But they rarely last very long, we may have one or two that last more than an hour the whole season. The biggest issue for me with regards to power outages, is the timer. I just need to make sure my digital timer has a good back up battery in it (to hold the memory). My analog timers just start right back up where they left off like a analog clock does. At worst I just need to reset the time on the analog timers.

However if the digital timer dosen't have a good backup battery, all the timer settings will be lost. In that case even if the power is only out for a few seconds, the pump wont run again until I reset all the settings. But I wouldn't really have a problem if it didn't anyway, because I mostly use the digital timer on my drip systems. And when your using a lot of growing medium (like a filled five gallon bucket), the growing medium will hold a good amount of moisture for quite a while. Like I mentioned I did with my broccoli plants and often forgot to plug the pump back in, then didn't even know it for over 24 hours. Yet still never saw any signs of wilting from them. Realistically I could have just ran the pump once or twice a day (instead of the 7 times I had it set for).

what would be best for a tomato plant about 2x2x4 feet in size?

I'm not quite sure what you mean with this question? I'm guessing you plan to grow the plant up to 4 feet, but I'm not sure if the question is about lighting, type of system, watering cycles etc.. Or all of the above.

If your planing to use the 5 gallon bucket as both the growing container, as well as the reservoir (in the same bucket), that sounds like a typical water culture setup (weather you drip nutrients or not). I know your limited in space, but a typical drip system would have the growing chamber (bucket), and reservoir separate. I would also use at least a 10 gallon reservoir for the 1 plant. It's the larger reservoir size that will give you less fluctuations in nutrient strength, as well as pH swings (not the water delivery system, bucket, or growing medium). I can get 18 gallon storage totes at wal mart for about $4, and I use them for small reservoirs (I just light proof them first).

P.S.
I should say that you can grow tomato plants in any of the 6 types of hydroponic systems (drip, water culture, NFT, ebb & flow, aeroponic, wick). But just like anything else each type has it's own set of advantages and disadvantages, both in the type of system, as well as how it's designed and/or built. I don't want to make it sound confusing, I just want to help explain the pro's and cons, and hope to help you decide what works best for your situation. As well as be aware of likely issues before you experience them from my experiences (if I can).

[animus_divinus]

i guess in an absolute emergency for a day or so i could water it manually with a watering can while the power was down... what would be the best grow medium to hold onto moisture without it absorbing or bleeding off enough acids to change Ph levels?

[GpsFrontier]

My favorite growing medium is coco chips, and that's what I used in the 5 gallon bucket broccoli drip system. Coco coir and coco chips are basically the same thing, their both made from coconut husks. Both coco chips, and coir hold moisture very well. The difference is the partial size, coco chips are small chunks about the size of small wood chips you would use in your BBQ. Coco coir has a consistency more like potting soil or peat moss. Both are pH neutral, so they wont change your pH. Just make sure you rinse it real well, just to wash out most of the color. It can color/tint the nutrient solution. The color wont hurt the plants or anything, it just looks better to me in the long run.

The brick in the picture is a 2 cubic foot block. I usually fill the bottom of the 5 gallon bucket about 1/3 of the way with cleaned and sanitized rock to add weight, as well as aid in good drainage. Doing that, that one 2 cubic foot block is enough for 4, five gallon buckets. If you don't have a local hydroponic shop, you may be able to find it at a nursery. I recently noticed our local ACE hardware store carries it. It's also used as a landscaping ground cover.

[animus_divinus]

well.. i think ill look into getting the coco products around here.. im in a rather small town so.. no guarantees on that.. might just order it online

but yeah.. a drip system should do fine, ill get a cheap watering can for backup...

ill take a look at the different drip systems though.. some seem to use an aquarium air pump to move water, others are just a simple fountain pump, but they all seem to have a ring of black hose attached to a PVC T that dips into the bucket

lucky for me my local hardware store carries all this stuff in bulk so i can buy what i need for cents per foot

[perzyk]

Originally Posted by animus_divinus

well.. i think ill look into getting the coco products around here.. im in a rather small town so.. no guarantees on that.. might just order it online

but yeah.. a drip system should do fine, ill get a cheap watering can for backup...

ill take a look at the different drip systems though.. some seem to use an aquarium air pump to move water, others are just a simple fountain pump, but they all seem to have a ring of black hose attached to a PVC T that dips into the bucket

lucky for me my local hardware store carries all this stuff in bulk so i can buy what i need for cents per foot

You will need drip fittings as well... You can get them from an online hydro store.