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  #1  
Old 08-24-2011, 02:23 AM
fintuckyfarms fintuckyfarms is offline
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Default Local Fair

Went to the local fair today (will be there all week) and there is nothing about hydroponics there at all. Tried talking to a few guys there from WSU (local college extension like master gardner) nothing...... interesting may have to do some sort of educational display next year.

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Old 08-24-2011, 07:51 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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I know what you mean, there is never any hydroponics related displays at any of our local functions either. I found out from our local master gardeners program that there's only one hydroponics farm in our county (unfortunately, I have yet to visit it). And the only hydroponics supply store within a 3 hour drive only just opened about 6 months ago. Also the only collage/school with courses in hydroponics in the state is at the university of Arizona's Controlled Environment department in Tuscon. That is about a 7 hour drive away from me, so I wont be able to commute even if I had the money to attend. Heck even our local library system only had one book on the subject of hydroponics at all to begin with, and someone checked it out and never returned it, so they don't even have that anymore.

I cant do much about the local schools courses, or libraries (unless I donate the books). But I plan to increase public awareness about the benefits of hydroponic farming myself. Of coarse I wont be able to do it all at once, but in time I plan to have a operating hydroponics farm growing all kinds of different fruits and veggies for our local community, and expanding it all the time. I'll be selling the produce fresh right on site, as well as showing the people how the plants are grown. Probably even having tours for the local schools. As well as having a booth at all our local functions to aid in awareness, along with druming up business. Even creating jobs in the industry as I grow and expand the business.

But ya, I know what you mean. It's surprising there is so little use of such a viable, productive, environmentally friendly way of growing produce. But along with the old timers that don't know any other way, or just set in their ways and don't want to try something new. In some communities the term "hydroponics" actually creates fear. I read about one community in particular that actually blocked the opening of a hydroponics retail store after already giving the OK, because the city counsel felt it would cause increased drug use in their community. That's just a case of a bunch of old farts that are unaware (ignorant) about the potential of hydroponics because all they hear about is drug busts on TV, so they think you cant grow anything else with hydroponics.

Sure there will be people using it to grow pot, but blocking the opening of a hydroponics supply store wont keep them from doing that in the slightest. What, is there some ban on having things shipped to their town? Pot growers have been ordering what they need online, and/or through mail order for decades? Only the old farts that cant use a computer don't know that. So their fear just hurts everybody else. All they wind up doing is limiting economic growth for their community, and making pot growers pay for shipping.
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Old 08-24-2011, 09:18 AM
jamromhem jamromhem is offline
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Why would pot growers pay for shipping? There are a ton of hydroponic stores online that give free shipping over a certain price. From my readings they spend a lot more than I am willing to on different nutrients and additives lol..

There isn't much here about hydroponics either.. Virtigrow is just up the street, but I was less than impressed with their settup. you can't really tell if they are doing hydroponics without knowing that they told you it, because you can't touch the plants to move a leaf or they yell at you....

There are regular events about an hour away in Orlando though. From what I understand there are hydroponic nerd collectives there that run hydro conventions. (kinda like a scify only with plants)
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Old 08-25-2011, 09:52 PM
jamromhem jamromhem is offline
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just an update. I refered to the people as nerds because one of them told me they were going to the "Hydroponicon" and that sounded a little nerdy to me :P Someone put too much thought into that lol
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Old 10-23-2011, 06:17 PM
fintuckyfarms fintuckyfarms is offline
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Soooo this month the fair board went to the state fair in Puyallup and saw something they want to create at our local fair. One of the boardmembers contacted me about helping them to create a "living garden" for fair. Basically that consist of raised garden beds that are started in the spring and harvested during fair by local gardening clubs. They asked me to do a hydroponic garden. TOTALLY overwhelmed but also inspired.

Any ideas??? Not much shade and our fair is 3rd week in August. I also will be going on a cruise mid June so something really simple that somebody else can help take care of.
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Old 10-27-2011, 01:34 PM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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At my son's Jr High they have 2 greenhouses and so my son asked whoever run's there program if they did hydroponic's. They said Hydrowho? so my 12 year old had to explain to a teacher what it was.....
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Old 10-27-2011, 11:31 PM
fintuckyfarms fintuckyfarms is offline
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LOL, basically the only people growing hydroponically in my area are not growing veggies;| Altough you bring up a good point, I might see about teaming up with a local FFA program thru the highschool.
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Old 10-28-2011, 05:05 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Hey fintuckyfarms, I read your post about creating a display for the fair earlier but got busy and completely forgot to reply. Not sure if you have come with something yet, but I have a few questions.

1. Does it need to be grown in a raised bed?
2. What kind of space are you working with?
3. You mentioned that there wasn't much shade, is a shade cloth cover an option?
4. is this going to be a permanent structure (during the fair), or something that's movable? If it's not able to be moved then it will need to be setup and grown in place well before the fair starts.
5. You mentioned they want to be able to harvest while the fair is going on, how much do they want to be able to harvest?
6. Are they paying for the display? If so do you know what type of budget you have to work with?
7. Are you/they wanting to grow more than one crop for variety?
8. You mentioned it would be running through august, have you decided how you are going to keep the nutrient solution cool through the summer months?
9. What is your average summer temps?

Depending on the answers, some of the things I could see being a hit growing during summer are strawberry's, small watermelons, cantaloupe (sorry I forgot your allergenic to cantaloupe), tomato's, peppers, as well as many herbs. Particularly any summer fruit.
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Old 10-29-2011, 03:18 PM
fintuckyfarms fintuckyfarms is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GpsFrontier View Post
Hey fintuckyfarms, I read your post about creating a display for the fair earlier but got busy and completely forgot to reply. Not sure if you have come with something yet, but I have a few questions.

1. Does it need to be grown in a raised bed? No, I think I can do anything I want.
2. What kind of space are you working with? They haven't really told me and I am familur with the area they want to use and I don't think space will be an issue.
3. You mentioned that there wasn't much shade, is a shade cloth cover an option?Yes that is an option and I can poss use the north side of the exhisting barn, but that might be too much shade.
4. is this going to be a permanent structure (during the fair), or something that's movable? If it's not able to be moved then it will need to be setup and grown in place well before the fair starts.Since I only live 5 minutes away it could be either. I think I would prefer to move it up there a week or so before fair but I am open to suggestions.
5. You mentioned they want to be able to harvest while the fair is going on, how much do they want to be able to harvest? I think it is more to show the public what it looks like, I would have to have a ginormus greenhouse to give something to everyone at the fair.
6. Are they paying for the display? If so do you know what type of budget you have to work with? They have not yet mentioned any budget, but I was thinking about seeing if our local hydroponics store might sponsor me for some of it.
7. Are you/they wanting to grow more than one crop for variety? I believe so, however I also plan on using some professional displays with color pictures that should be sufficient for information and demonastration.
8. You mentioned it would be running through august, have you decided how you are going to keep the nutrient solution cool through the summer months?I am thinking about putting one in the ground, maybe using the little cooler I made for another and I also have an old freezer that I might utilize coiling some hose in it.
9. What is your average summer temps?Summer can range from May to October and anywhere from 70's to 110.

Depending on the answers, some of the things I could see being a hit growing during summer are strawberry's, small watermelons, cantaloupe (sorry I forgot your allergenic to cantaloupe), tomato's, peppers, as well as many herbs. Particularly any summer fruit.
I am already thinking about zuchinni, sugar peas, bush beans and I think I might try the pumpkins and tomatoes in buckets. I also think I might show a nursery in a clear container so people can see the roots hanging down.
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Old 11-01-2011, 03:29 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Hello fintuckyfarms,
Well if it were me I would want/need to know what type of budget I was working with. Without that, there is just no way to know if you will be able to cover all your bases and have the funds to complete it, as well as maintain the plants and systems you plan. If you forget about something, or try to cut spending later because you don't have any more money to work with, and the plants suffer, it wont be a good display and turn people off from trying it themselves. After all, if a grower that knows what they are doing cant get it right, they will feel it isn't worth trying.

From your reply I'm guessing that the fair isn't planing to fund anything, leaving you to fund it yourself. That poses two options, how much money are you willing to spend on your own dime, and/or if you will be able to somehow make any money off of the deal (to at least recoup your upfront expenses). If you can work some things out with sponsors, that's great. But I would recommend to get all the pledged money before you begin to buy and build anything, and don't get too commercialized, or that will turn people off from your display as well.

Setting it up and growing it in place before the fair starts has the advantage not needing to make it mobile. But on the other hand the fair may not have that space rented (thus not able to be used) before that time period. And unless security is provided, you may have people vandalize your setup. But making it mobile poses problems as well. Things like zuchinni, sugar peas, pumpkins and tomatoes are all vine crops to the best of my knowledge, and that will make it very difficult to move them to the location. The hydro systems, as well as the trellises they are growing on will all need to be moved together or you will damage the plants. But if you time the starting of your plants right, you may be able to move them before they get to big. But that assumes the fair is a couple months long, not just a week or two, or the plants will not get big enough to harvest before it's over. Also I believe pumpkins are a fall crop, so I'm not sure they will be ready to harvest during mid summer. Just my opinion, but if you want to get the kids interested, grow some fruit too, most kids aren't to excited about vegetables.

P.S.
If you want buckets to grow things in, I would recommend to go around to local restaurants, bars etc. and ask them if they will save what they would otherwise be throwing out for you. Some do return them, but a lot of them get thrown out. You will need to clean them out, and probably light proof them, but that will help your budget out a great deal. Anything you can use as a growing container, reservoir, even just buckets for cleaning or storing things. If you can get them free it will help your budget. Also if there are any construction sites around, they may have things they are throwing out you can use as well. I got all I wanted of 4 and 6 inch tubing from the sewer company for free that way, and their storage yard was only 3 blocks from my house.

Also all those buckets you see in the pictures of my greenhouse build were free from a local restaurant, he sets them aside by the trash bin for me to pick up. I go buy there about once a week. So far I have gotten about 20 buckets that range from 2 gallon, to 4 gallon square buckets, to the 5 gallon buckets. So look around and ask people for what they would normally be throwing out anyway. It's been my experience that people are generally happy to help you out, especially if it's not costing them anything. And most people would rather have things reused or recycled anyway. Just ask to speak to the owner of the business about it.
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Old 11-02-2011, 11:18 PM
fintuckyfarms fintuckyfarms is offline
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Thanks for the ideas!
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Old 02-04-2012, 06:53 PM
fintuckyfarms fintuckyfarms is offline
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Default Can I use your photos?

So I am starting to gather the specifics for my fair display. I am wondering if I can use some of your photos for examples of the different types of systems and to show how sucessfull hydroponics is. If you agree, you can either give your consent here or e-mail me at fintuckyfarms@charter.net

Thank you in advance, Tracy
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Old 02-06-2012, 07:10 PM
fintuckyfarms fintuckyfarms is offline
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So super great news regarding the fair display!!! They got back to me today and want me as a planner/consultant/meet & greet person. Fair is paying for everything starting with a $500 budget (awaiting final aproval 02/14) and they have got the on site grounds guy involved and he is very excited to take care of the system on a daily basis; I just have to train him. I don't have to use any of my personal supplies and they will let me have a sign up sheet to start a hydroponics club. CAN'T even tell you how excited I am eventhough it's gonna be a lot of work.
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Old 02-07-2012, 06:41 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Hello fintuckyfarms, Sounds like like great news. I'm not sure what your planing exactly, but I would suggest treating it like a business and make a budget. Decide what systems you want to do, the plants that will be in it etc.. Then make a list of everything you'll need to complete and grow everything. Get prices for it all, and add it up. $500 is a good chunk of change, but wont go too far for a large display. Especially with multiple systems, as well as when you add up all the small things, and/or if you need to have anything shipped to you. I know it will be a lot of work, but I know you'll be successful, and you'll even do ten times as well the next year.

P.S.
I don't know if your interested in any of the pictures that I have taken, but I'll e-mail you in a day or so. Also I would like to know what you have in mind for the hydroponics club? That's an interesting idea, and maybe I can fallow suit here in havasu. Got a Name for it yet? Something Like "Hydro growers of ????." Do you plan a weekly newsletter, website, regular monthly/weekly meetings, forum, etc.. Do you plan a separate group for pot growers and fruit and veggie growers (or plan to filter them out) so pot growers don't wind up being the majority of the club, then turning off the fruit and veggie growers?
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Old 02-07-2012, 01:30 PM
fintuckyfarms fintuckyfarms is offline
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GpsFrontier, I just want to thank you for all of you advice and wisdom. I have learned so much here and I love that you let everybody do their own thing while giving some constructive feedback and some life lessons you have gained with experience. I learn from everything you say but still feel that I can do my own thing and will still have your support. Anyway thanks for being here even though I know you have your hands full trying to start your own project.

I definitely will have a solid plan with both design and budget. I am thinking about doing some vertical towers one with strawberries and one with some eye catching color either flowers or some heat tolerant veggies. I also want to do a "nursery" with some small plants started after I get back from the cruise but old enough to have some roots hanging down in the solution. The bulk of the display will be education boards with everything from history to small window gardens to large commercial projects. I plan to talk about the different system basics and how there are so many variations on each. If I
have space and $$$ left over I might try for that pvc vertical set up you designed for me. I also will be given fair entry so I plan on getting some shirts made with the hydroponics club name and be available for questions a couple of times a day. I also wanted the picts not only for the display boards, but also kind of an idea book so people can see all the different designs and applications.

The club name and how it will work have not gotten much thought. I work for the sheriffs dept so if I know about an illegal grow I have to report it so that could be touchy. (Would appreciate some ideas on that). Personally I couldn't care either way but I don't want to be around it because..... wait for it.... I'm allergic to it. Knew that would get a laugh out of you. Besides I don't really know all the much about it and don't know how much of a help or support I would be for somebody interested in that type of growing.

I would love to do some sort of web page, but I don't really know that much about it. I will probably have to ask my son to help me with that part but I could also just have a facebook page. That I know I can do! Probably will be referring lots of people to this site since it's so awesome! I probably need to set up a separate e-mail address also for people that don't have facebook and design some sort of busn card or pamphlet to give out.

I have lots to do but it's my son's 22nd birthday tomorrow so I have that to do also. I want to have everything done and in place except for the last minute stuff before our cruise in June, I hate waiting last minute for stuff but if I don't get done I will have almost a month before fair at the end of August. AND I still have my systems to plan cuz I want some more of that zuchinni.

I will be greatfull for ANY ideas anybody out there has!
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Old 02-08-2012, 06:23 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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fintuckyfarms
Thank you for the very kind words, I really appreciate them. I always try and help as much as I can, and that may vary depending on the time I have right then. But at the same time I always try not to sound like my preferences are the only ones.

It sounds like your doing very well at planning things out. It also sounds like it will be a well rounded, and even educational display. Even the small starts with roots they can see will be a great display. People seem to be fascinated to see the roots they normally wouldn't see because their in soil. Also the Idea booklet is a great idea, I cant tell you how many ideas I get from seeing other peoples designs. Simply seeing all the types of systems, and different designs will be very inspirational (and get that hamster turning the wheel in peoples heads). It's too bad I wont be able to get up there to see it, but I hope you'll post pictures and let us know how things went.

I hadn't ever thought about starting a hydroponics club. Well nothing beyond my hydro website which I haven't had time to update, but is planed to be a interactive site for growers to communicate, and without people trying to sell them stuff. But I like the idea of a local club as well. Perhaps even using a library, or local collage meeting room (possibly even for free because it's educational), or at least for a real low cost. That way they can meet other local growers face to face and talk about their grows, as well as make friends with like minded people and share ideas.

Is there anything your not allergic to (LOL)?? As for pot growers, I don't have anything against them, and I don't know what the laws are like in Washington state. But here it's legal to grow it for personal use (a certain amount anyway) if you have a medical card. Each time I go to our local hydro shop, well lets just say I have never met anyone there that is really growing fruit and veggies. That just tells me most of the local interest seems to be in growing pot.

I personally would like to change peoples stereotype thinking that pot is the only crop you can grow hydroponically. When people hear the word "hydroponics" they automatically associate the term with growing drugs. Therefore they never even consider it as an option for growing anything else. That's what I want to change. It is just imbedded into my vocabulary now that when I tell people about my greenhouse plans/operation I always use the term culinary herbs." If I didn't they would automatically think I was talking about growing pot. I didn't even realize I used that therm (it's so automatic), but I was registering for a free class for business retail tax a few days ago, and after I finished my sentience she said "good, I was holding my breath". Until I specified the herbs were culinary herbs, her mindset was automatically assuming pot because I was growing them hydroponically.

How I would do things with regard to the club if it were me would vary depending on your local laws. But for me here regardless, I would want to make sure people knew it was a fruit and veggie growing club only, and simply wont tolerate illegal acts, and will even report any illegal acts. Make it well known in the clubs literature, but not focusing on it in hopes to not feed into peoples already stereotype thinking, and thus possibly scare anyone from trying hydroponics. That alone would probably filter most of them out. If the people in the group are really only interested in growing fruits and veggies, that should weed out (no pun intended) anyone else wanting to test the clubs real intentions. The pot growers wouldn't have anyone to talk about growing pot with. Another way to drive home the fact it's a fruit and veggie growing club, is starting with the club name. Perhaps something like "Hydroponic fruit and veggie growers." Or a sub title/slogan like:

Club name (something like)
"Hydro Growers of Washington"

Sub slogan (something like)
"Growing better produce to feed your family hydroponically'"
or "Growing hydroponically for better fruit and veggies"

Basically just something to drive home that the club is about growing fruit and veggies (food) and not pot. If I had time to deal with it (and depending on your local laws), I may find a friend with a medical card that was interested to run a separate club for "legal" pot growers, but again wont tolerate and will report any illegal acts. Perhaps even put the Sheriffs office emblem next to the statement with a number to report illegal acts to. That alone would probably be enough to scare off anyone doing anything illegal.

As for a website, I wouldn't' even consider doing a hydro club without one. There are just so many ways a dedicated website is better than a Facebook page. Starting with an easy to remember domain name, easy to spell, and descriptive. When people share things in conversation with their friends that will be extremely important. Descriptive for two reasons, first so it makes easy scene and easy to remember, second for search engine rankings. If your familiar with Facebook, that's fine have one of those also, but a dedicated website will be 100 times better in the long run (even if only one or two pages). I know Facebook is huge, but there are lots of people who don't use any social media (I don't myself). Beyond that without writing a book, there are just so many differences between Facebook and your own dedicated website.

I can help you with that, but I will need to talk to you to find out your level of experience. I don't really have a lot of time these days, and I don't think you will either. So it would need to be something you can handle comfortably. But depending on you and your sons comfort level on the computer, I'm sure I can find a reasonable option for you. The cost can range from free, to less than $10 a month. If your not selling products you wont need secure ordering, and even reduces website design difficulty and costs. My "Home Hydro Systems" website costs me $6.99 a month. But there are some you can do free (well after you pay for the domain name that you can get for between $2 and $10 a year). And range in difficulty from click and build, to creating your own website template like I did with my site.

Jeff
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Old 02-08-2012, 10:19 AM
fintuckyfarms fintuckyfarms is offline
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GpsFrontier, thanks for the kinds words but I give credit where credit is due; and my husband will tell you it's also true with the opposite.

My youngest is actually in college for computers and he has designed web pages for class. I think I have a free website thru charter that I started forever ago. I will look further into that to see if that is an option. I'm pretty comfortable with computers and usually pick up new programs pretty fast. They are always throwing new software at work to keep up with the industry. I hear our radios are going to a touch screen system like our phone system next.

I have been playing with some names that include "gardner" instead of "grower". So far I like Hydroponic Gardners of the Tri-Cities and Tri-Cities Hydroponic Hobby Gardners. I was thinking of a mission statement but a moto is much sorter. I also like backyard gardners but I think there is already a web page with that name. I think our laws here a probably very close to your own in regards to weed. Hey, I think I can work that into the moto. Gardening w/o bending or "weeding" lol.

I actually came across the term water culture inplace of hydroponics yesterday and thought that was interesting.

As for what I am not allergic to... that is a very short list and why I carry an epi-pen everywhere! My family use to tease me I was gonna be the girl in the bubble for the next movie in the series.

As for the photos on the web, if they don't have a copywrite I should be able to use them correct? I don't know the rules regarding that but I would like to compile several photos, maybe a couple of hundred for the ideas book. I think I have plenty of time to request premission on any that may be questionable.

If I can find my charter website I will post a link here so you can see if something like that will work. I think I just used word or works template to create it.
I found my charter web page but it's not working probably since I created it in 2007 and haven't touched it, so I deleted it and can start another. Is 20MG of space big enough for what I need? That is the limit on my free page.



Tracy

Last edited by fintuckyfarms; 02-08-2012 at 10:44 AM.
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Old 02-09-2012, 03:32 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Hello Tracy,
"Water Culture" is only one type of hydroponic system. There are 6 types (Water Culture, Drip, NFT, aeroponic, Ebb & Flow (also called flood and drain), and Wick) Some people refer to a Water Culture system as a blubber system, or DWC (short for deep water culture). But the term "Water culture" is only referring to one type of hydroponic system.

It sounds like your son will be able to help you with a website, probably better than I could. Although I have been using computers for more than 15 years, and have had websites for about 5 years now. I have never taken any computer classes in school at all. I never even took typing.

I'm not familiar with charter web hosting, though that wouldn't be unusual. There are literately thousands of company's that provide web hosting. I did a quick search for charter websites and am not sure if this is it: Charter. I didn't try looking to see if they do web hosting, and what packages they offer in case that wasn't it. I am guessing that one offered a free website it wouldn't be a dedicated website, but likely rather a sub domain like how Facebook works. The easiest way to tell is the web address (URL). If the web address is something like this "www.charter.com/websitename" then it's a sub-domain. If it reads like "www.websitename.com" then it's a dedicated website. Everything after the .com is a sub-page of the website name that's before the .com. If I'm not mistaken, any free web hosting is probably going to be a sub-domain.

You can use any form of webpage that you want, and whatever is easiest for you. Especially now that you have so much going on, and probably dont need something else on to do on your plate. Then when you do get time, switch over to a dedicated site then. The biggest problem with that is links bookmarked will still go to the old page, but you can create a message there saying the website has moved, and leave a link to the new site. After a few months most people will have probably found the new site.

"20MG of space " Do you mean 20 GB or 20 MB? I haven't seen MG used as a space size before. 20 GB (GigaBytes) should be plenty for starting out. 20 MB (MegaBytes) wont hold many pictures unless you re-size them small. As an example my free Yahoo e-mail account allows me to send 25 MB of attachments in each e-mail. Less than that for a website is quite low. But you could use it as a starting point for now, though you will probably quickly out grow it. I did a quick search for "Free Web Hosting" and quickly found this www.wix.com/, They say "Unlimited Pages and Unlimited Bandwidth Free Web Hosting

Though I would personally want to start with a dedicated website, even if it were only one page until I had time to add more and update it. I'd for sure want the standard "About Us page" as well as "contact us" pages. Then I would want other pages to fallow like Current Club News, Articles, Members list, meeting Information, Pictures, What's new in hydroponics (general news story's), Hydroponic information, Useful Links etc. etc.. Anyhow you can start real simple, and get quite elaborate if you want.

Using photos you find on the web can be complicated. I'm no lawyer but as far as I know if there is no copyright, you should be able to use it. But finding out if a picture is copy protected can be imposable. You may find the same picture on dozens of websites, but they may not be the owner. Pictures from .edu (educational websites) aren't copy protected as a general rule, however occasionally the educational institution may pay for the rights to post some pics to illustrate things better. Same goes for .gov websites.

I have done many searches for different hydroponic systems using different keywords, and with the search engines image function. I save many of them in folders on my computer, but if it says this picture may be copy protected I rarely save it. I'll never remember later when I want to use it if it said that. Bottom line I just try not to use pictures I think may be copy protected, but it's my understanding if I somehow did and the original owner had a problem. I would receive a cease and desist request to take it off the website, and that would be easy enough to do. However if you were selling the pictures, or using them in something you were selling, they could probably sue for damages. I don't sell anything on the hydroponics website, and for the GPS website I used to have, I used images from Garmins website which I'm sure were copy protected, but as a dealer for them I cant see them having a problem with me using their pictures to sell products for them. To date I have never had any issues/problems about the pictures/images I have used. But again I'm not a lawyer.
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  #19  
Old 02-18-2012, 07:10 PM
fintuckyfarms fintuckyfarms is offline
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Location: Southeast Washington State - Right on the line of growing zones 6b & 7a
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So the fairboard OK'd the concept and the budget part goes to vote on the 28th. The fair board GM is gonna try to get sponsors in addition to the budget like Lowes or Home Dopey. They are also gonna help with the displays and have set a side a spot on the east side and the south side of the AG barn for me. The grounds guy will help with digging holes and water supply. They were asking if I can use wine barrels for the nute reseviour to match the "old west" style bldings. I said I would check into it, any ideas on that as to how the nutes would react to the wood? They are planning to keep the public out of the garden area with a split rail fence that matches the "decor".

Last edited by fintuckyfarms; 02-18-2012 at 07:13 PM.
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Old 02-20-2012, 03:03 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Home Dopey??? I've never herd them called that one before.

I wouldn't use the wine barrels alone. Just seems like opening the door for to many possible problems, especially with residue left in the wood from the wine in used barrels, as well as possibly even pH issues. I would use plastic barrels or (clean) trash cans inside the wood barrels. That way you wont have any issues with the wood or residue left in it, and still be able to keep the desired look from the outside. That's assuming that using above ground reservoirs will stay cool enough that time of year in that area. Otherwise they would be in the ground where the barrels wouldn't be seen anyway.

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Last edited by GpsFrontier; 02-20-2012 at 03:28 AM.
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