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Question of the Day: How do you normally pay for purchases in stores?
Hydroponic Gardening DIY
- Thread starter Zenbaas
- Start date
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- Tags
- garden growing hydroponics rockwool
XennoX
Expert Member
Don't you find that the longitudinal stiffness is a bit too flexibile? I don't know about you, but the structural engineer in me goes "DEM MOMENTS!" in the longitudinal direction.
Electric
Honorary Master
I buy direct from greenfingers in 5l containers.
At builders it's also under R100 if I remember correctly.
Regarding topping of the plant.
You are trying to get it to bush over growing tall.
A bushy plant produces more leaves & flowering points.
Just remember to not allow the new side shoots to get to tall either.
It's a constant game of pruning for best coverage of foliage.
The more you prune the more you harvest essentially.
You can even go as far as topping the basil flowers which can extend the actual veg stage a bit resulting in a longer harvest period.
Harvest being the leaves in this case and not the flower/seeds.
SirFooK'nG
Executive Member
Its holding up fine for me, no sagging (yet .. touch wood)... the PVC conduit & plastic makes it nice and taught...
XennoX
Expert Member
Not really talking about sagging. I'm talking about if it rocks back and forth (i.e., deflects) easily if you push it in the longitudinal direction. Unfortunately because of my studies I just look at that and see the lack of cross bracing in the longitudinal direction and I cringe. Granted the cladding my provide some bracing but I not so certain.
SirFooK'nG
Executive Member
It does have some give. You are correct. But its surprisingly sturdier than it appears.
Don't mean to high jack, but all the growers visit this thread 
I have two planter boxes that currently has some lettuce and chili growing, and hopefully my heirlooms tomotoes, peas and other lettuce will sprout and be added.
It is starting to get really hot and I have a problem with the boxes drying out it seems. If I water with a can, it is too heavy, and quickly fills my drip trays.
I want to potentially cheaply build a drip irrigation system. I heard that these work very well, with little water waste.
As I understand, you need a special regulator valve for your tap, and obviously various other pipes and outlet "drippers"
Where can one get this stuff, preferably in Cape Town?
Again sorry for the hi jack
I have two planter boxes that currently has some lettuce and chili growing, and hopefully my heirlooms tomotoes, peas and other lettuce will sprout and be added.
It is starting to get really hot and I have a problem with the boxes drying out it seems. If I water with a can, it is too heavy, and quickly fills my drip trays.
I want to potentially cheaply build a drip irrigation system. I heard that these work very well, with little water waste.
As I understand, you need a special regulator valve for your tap, and obviously various other pipes and outlet "drippers"
Where can one get this stuff, preferably in Cape Town?
Again sorry for the hi jack
can somebody pse tell me what the cost is of running these lights:
2 x 600w lights which are on for 18 hours per day @ 934 "units" for R1000.
for the life of me i can't work it out :-( because there's w, Kw, Kwh???????
thanks
2 x 600w lights which are on for 18 hours per day @ 934 "units" for R1000.
for the life of me i can't work it out :-( because there's w, Kw, Kwh???????
thanks
XennoX
Expert Member
E[sub]kWh[/sub] = P[sub]kW[/sub] * t[sub]hrs[/sub]
So 600 W = 0.6 kW. This means 2 of them equals 1.2 kWh for 1 hour. Thus for 18 hours you have 0.6 kW * 18 h * 2 = 21.6 kWh. Depending on how much your supplier is charging you per unit it will give you an estimate of how much you will pay.
Tomatoes moving nicely along. The wind had blown the hell out of them and I thought the stems had broken a few times but they are resilient plants.
Love how nice and big the basil leaves get.
Pak Choi growing nicely as well.
SirFooK'nG
Executive Member
Awesome stuff.... My tomatoes have yielded more than I can handle.... I'll never plant more than 2 plants again...
That's good to hear. I eat tomatoes like crazy so I'm looking forward to munching away!
SirFooK'nG
Executive Member
I've probably picked 5kg worth at least.... I figure around 200 tomatoes. Got another 30 to pick already again.... I've given to all my family, the maid and gardener twice each.... Just way too many...
edit: OK, I totally underestimated my quantities. Just picked 117 tomatoes which filled my bucket. I have done that at least 5 times before ...
edit: OK, I totally underestimated my quantities. Just picked 117 tomatoes which filled my bucket. I have done that at least 5 times before ...
Last edited:
Now I have a question about Pruning. This Valentine tomatoe is growing quite bushy. There seems to be two main offshoots now. Should I consider trying to prune it into a single main trunk or allow it to carry on growing like it is..? I think there is a lot of energy wastage growing so many lateral offshoots as well but I'm not sure how to go about it.
