outdoors commercial setup, input needed

[jon1978]

Hi all, new visitor first time poster.

I am planning an outdoors commercial operations in Seville, Spain. The setup I am planning will be about 7 hectares of NFT/ aeroponics when it is in full production but due to economic constraints I will start with about 0.1 hectares only.

I plan to purchase a few cheap plastic greenhouses for seeding purposes and then move them outdoors when in vegetative. Later I will setup a few real greenhouses for production during November-February.

What I am thinking mostly is the ground: should I put plastic wrap on it first? In just the greenhouses or on the fields aswell?

Another thing: how long will the NFT/ Aeroponics units last outdoors in the scorching spanish sun?

Can I run a septic dispersal under plastic? It does not seem proper to me.

Thankful for any responses.

[jon1978]

I bump the thread with a new question:

Is there a good doser on the market for use on multiple lines? I won't have electricity at first so it can't be too consuming or too expensive.

The alternative is to set up one for each line but given that I won't have good theft protection on the property it feels awkward.

[GpsFrontier]

Hello jon1978,

should I put plastic wrap on it first? In just the greenhouses or on the fields aswell?

I wouldn't use a solid plastic wrap. I would use a weed barrier. It will block weeds and most pests, but still allow water to pass through. If your not concerned with weeds you could use decorative crushed rock. 2-3 inches of decorative crushed rock wont exactly stop weeds, but it will keep dust from kicking up when it gets windy, and allow water to soak in the ground while keeping the area mud free when it gets wet. I don't know about Spain but here in Arizona, decorative crushed rock comes in many sizes and colors, as well as prices ranging from about $20 a ton to about $60 a ton. And we get free delivery when we buy 8 tons or more.

how long will the NFT/ aeroponics units last outdoors in the scorching spanish sun?

That depends on the UV protection rating of the material you use. As an example if you use rain gutters and/or down spouts, their made to be outside in direct sunlight all year long, and are made with UV resistors already in the material. However if you plan to run NFT system in direct sunlight all year long including summer, your likely to encounter high water temperatures and high root zone temps inside those tubes/gulleys.

Can I run a septic dispersal under plastic? It does not seem proper to me.

I can't answer that. You should ask the local city planer or contractors, they would know about your city building codes.

Is there a good doser on the market for use on multiple lines? I won't have electricity at first so it can't be too consuming or too expensive.

First, why would you want or need them if your running a NFT system? Injectors/dosers are used in non-recirculating systems. Are you planing to run your NFT system as a non-recirculating system?

Second, even if your using a Injectors/dosers, you could install it before a manifold that splits the water line into as many lines as you need. As long as it can handle the water volume. If not you can get a higher output injector and/or use more than one. Either way, you would install it/them between the water source, and manifold that runs a feed line to each tube/gully. But you will need electricity. I believe they are basically just a low voltage solenoid, that open and close based on water flow, so you may be able to easily set up a battery bank to run them off of. Then charge the battery bank with a trickle charger that automatically regulates voltage (so they don't overcharge the batteries), as well as charge them using solar cells to charge them or as a back up if the power goes out.

The injectors wont use much power at all, but you'll want to calculate how much power you'll need for the pumps and fans etc. etc. also, to figure how many batteries you'll need and solar cells you'll need to keep them charged.

[jon1978]

Originally Posted by GpsFrontier

First, why would you want or need them if your running a NFT system? Injectors/dosers are used in non-recirculating systems. Are you planing to run your NFT system as a non-recirculating system?

Thanks for the response.

It will be a circulating system but running from a reservoir with a computer controlled nutritient, pH and EC management. I won't be able to maintain a good crop without 24/7 control of that. What I want is to use several different chains with different crops and in the beginning preferably one controller for all chains. I know one from Agro that does it but if it is too expensive I will probably go with one like Bluelab for each chain. I am mostly concerned about theft before I can maintain good security.

Second, even if your using a Injectors/dosers, you could install it before a manifold that splits the water line into as many lines as you need.

I understand all that, but I don't want the same nutritients and EC in all chains and I don't want to disconnect one while I prepare the second or the third. That is why it needs to be "multitasking".

[GpsFrontier]

First, Injectors aren't intended to be used in recirculating systems. Their intended to inject a concentrated nutrient into a flow of fresh water only. That creates a nutrient solution and eliminates the need for a large reservoir of circulating nutrient solution.

The problem with collecting that water in a reservoir, and recirculating it again through the injectors is the nutrient strength will continually go up and up into toxic levels quickly. How do you plan to solve this problem?

If you want to grow multiple crops, with different nutrient needs, you'll need multiple reservoirs. The problem with using one reservoir and injecting different nutrients or levels into the nutrient solution in the line to different crops and recirculating it back to a central reservoir is all the different nutrients and/or levels will mix together. Not only does that defeat your purpose of separate nutrient levels, but it still has the issue of the nutrient strength continually going up and up into toxic each time the nutrient solution passes through the injectors.

[jon1978]

Originally Posted by GpsFrontier

The problem with collecting that water in a reservoir, and recirculating it again through the injectors is the nutrient strength will continually go up and up into toxic levels quickly. How do you plan to solve this problem?

I fill up the reservoir before dawn and set the nutritients to be dosed when the reservoir is at full. After that only pH and EC will be corrected until the next morning. I thought this was common practice for all reservoir users? You think all reservoir users are doing it manually?

The reason for choosing reservoirs is primarily water consumption but I am not competely sure I will go for it as I already have a pressurized system from the Guadalquivir river and as I don't have power it might be easier for the aeroponics units. I am probably going to go reservoirs for the NFT and pressured for the aeroponics.