looking into starting a system

[sean]

Hi the last few days i have been reading up on hydroponics and am thinking about building a simple system to start off with to learn the basics. I have seen some vids on youtube and found this on and thought a deep water culture would be a easy start YouTube - Deep Water Culture hydroponic system design and build 18 Dec 2010
Just wanna see what the pros input would be thank you ahead of time

[GpsFrontier]

That video is from halfway, a member of this forum. He generally posts updates on it in this thread. http://www.hydroponicsonline.com/for...r-culture.html You can also see the link to his blog with updates and videos of all his hydroponics in the signature of his posts.

The water culture systems work great for most plants, and are probably the easiest and cheapest to build. I'd say definitely a good choice for your first grow. But also many after that as well. I'll be putting some lettuce into one again in a couple of weeks.

[sean]

I'm looking at starting to order and buy supplies this upcoming weekend. The one thing i haven't gotten is with the nutrients. With what i have read and seen online the company General Hydroponics makes three types of Nutrients a floragro a floramicro and a florabloom and u mix each into the water and the amount depends on the type of plant and at what stage the plant is at. I understand there is more then one company making nutrients and that there are more then just these three types. but are theses three good enough to keep the plants alive or is there others that needed to be added.

[GpsFrontier]

sean
The flora-grow, flora-micro, and the flora-bloom are not different types of nutrients. They are all part of (one) 3 part nutrient that general hydroponics calls the flora-series. But as you mentioned it is designed to be mixed differently depending on the type of plants your growing (but you need all three parts for it to work).

Flora series
Gro
Micro
Bloom

Hydroponic nutrients come in all kinds, and from many different company's, and in one, two, and three part solutions. As well as in both liquid and dry form. So there a lot to choose from. Ya, General Hydroponics has probably the most experience in the field of making nutrients their is (not that other company's nutrients don't work well). So Ya, General Hydroponics nutrients will keep your plants alive and healthy, as long as you fallow directions (use all parts etc.). When I started growing hydroponically, the flora series nutrients is what I used because I wanted good results, and I haven't had any problems with them. Though they are not the cheapest on the market, and when you decide to expand your hydroponic gardens, you may eventually start looking into cheaper options (and as you gain experience).

[sean]

alright thanks for sorting that out for me. when starting from from seeds the way i understand it is i can just start them normal in soil and just wash them off when ready to put them into the pots with ease. I'm planning on using jiffy pellets or can u start seeds in a hydroponic system.

[Pineywoods]

Here's a link to a very easy to build system.

Hydroponic Production Systems & Specialty Crops: Building a Floating Hydroponic Garden - Greenhouse Setup - Hydroponic Greenhouse - Virtual Field Day - Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences - University of Florida

[GpsFrontier]

You can start seeds in a hydroponic system, provided you make sure the moisture level the seeds get is adequate. Too wet and the sprouts will drown, and too dry and they wont grow. I have never started seeds in a hydro system because it just seems a bit impractical to me. I don't see a need to run the the entire system, use all that water to fill the system etc. just to sprout some seeds. I like to wait until they get a couple of inches tall before I place them in their permanent home. Also I always start more than I need, and choose the best ones to put in the system.

From what I hear the jiffy pots and rapid router pots work well, but they do hold a lot of moisture. So I would take care to make sure they don't remain saturated in the system. If they stay real wet all the time it could lead to stem rot for plants that get that real easy like tomato's and strawberry's.

P.S. Thanks Pinewoods, I have seen that video before, it is a nice easy to build system. They also have a few systems in there that peek my interest. Particularly the stackable tube setup (you see in the very beginning), however I don't think I would design it as a drip system because I wouldn't want to deal with all the individual drip lines.