Hydroponic Gardening DIY

I have been on the school of youtube regarding hydroponics and got to say have learnt alot, however we are very limited here especially with the nutrients.

So glad i have found this forum, reading from the start I have already learnt and confirmed things I thought I knew.

I have just started out and am trying the kratky method with some tom thumb lettuce. Wasn't sure what nutrient to use so went with "Seagro - Plant food", it has only been in a week and hasn't pegged off yet but will get some nutrifeed on the next one to compare.

Thanks for the info and hopefully this will take off a little better here in the east rand as stocks are VERY limited and a drive out to fourways to get stock is just ***.
 
@ZenBaas, the Dutch Bucket system works like a beast, especially with tomatoes. I am going to have to restart my greenhouse. When I bought my buckets, I went for cheap virgin plastic. I forgot to make sure that they were UV stabilized....All 40 of my buckets have perished, so have to throw them out. Lesson learned.
 
SirFooK'nG said:
@ZenBaas, the Dutch Bucket system works like a beast, especially with tomatoes. I am going to have to restart my greenhouse. When I bought my buckets, I went for cheap virgin plastic. I forgot to make sure that they were UV stabilized....All 40 of my buckets have perished, so have to throw them out. Lesson learned.
Click to expand...

Where are you going to look for buckets like that..? I've decided I'm removing my whole NFT setup to make space for more Dutch buckets. I prefer growing tomatoes in any case.


scully_g said:
I have been on the school of youtube regarding hydroponics and got to say have learnt alot, however we are very limited here especially with the nutrients.

So glad i have found this forum, reading from the start I have already learnt and confirmed things I thought I knew.

I have just started out and am trying the kratky method with some tom thumb lettuce. Wasn't sure what nutrient to use so went with "Seagro - Plant food", it has only been in a week and hasn't pegged off yet but will get some nutrifeed on the next one to compare.

Thanks for the info and hopefully this will take off a little better here in the east rand as stocks are VERY limited and a drive out to fourways to get stock is just ***.
Click to expand...

Plan ahead and drive once. ;) We are limited for choices but there are places that can accommodate our hobby.

On that note I need quite a few more bags of vermiculite or perlite.
 
Anyone know what nutrients the commercial farmers are using, maybe mixing their own? Surely they not using nutrifeed as it can't be viable on a large scale?
 
scully_g said:
Anyone know what nutrients the commercial farmers are using, maybe mixing their own? Surely they not using nutrifeed as it can't be viable on a large scale?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure you would mix it yourself if you have a commercial operation. While something like nutrifeed is a good general all rounder, if you are growing specific crops, large scale, you want to be able to adjust nutrients and mix specific combinations
 
Ok, same price as the Seagro that I got, just whether or not it has the right nutrients.

It doesn't seem as though anyone has tried the Seagro so will post my results as I go along.
 
Tom Thumb Lettuce

A week after "planting" the seed I transplanted into it's permanent home.

Germinated in rockwool.
WP_20151206_004s.jpg


Into the net pot
WP_20151207_002s.jpg


Final result
WP_20151207_004s.jpg
 
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scully_g said:
Anyone know what nutrients the commercial farmers are using, maybe mixing their own? Surely they not using nutrifeed as it can't be viable on a large scale?
Click to expand...
Some probably do actually use Nutrifeed (I know of at least one). I bought a 20kg bag now more than 2 years ago for R700 back then. They would probably get even bigger discounts.
 
scully_g said:
Tom Thumb Lettuce

A week after "planting" the seed I transplanted into it's permanent home.

Germinated in rockwool.
WP_20151206_004s.jpg


Into the net pot
WP_20151207_002s.jpg


Final result
WP_20151207_004s.jpg
Click to expand...
I'll be honest I don't like rockwool all that much any more for germinating seeds and getting the seedlings going. That is probably down to my initial experience with it and if good quality rockwool is used it works OK. Much prefer peat pellets which work out about the same cost wise.
 
I could only get hold of the bigger block of rockwool, so had to cut it up to smaller blocks. They say plant atleast two seeds in each as they might not germinate which I did. Both seeds in both rockwool cubes germinated, so I have had total success. I readd the beginning of the thread on your experiences with rock wool. I think you had a bad batch or maybe a different brand?
 
scully_g said:
I could only get hold of the bigger block of rockwool, so had to cut it up to smaller blocks. They say plant atleast two seeds in each as they might not germinate which I did. Both seeds in both rockwool cubes germinated, so I have had total success. I readd the beginning of the thread on your experiences with rock wool. I think you had a bad batch or maybe a different brand?
Click to expand...

Different brand. Complete and utter crap. Grodan is the only way to go for rockwool. That said I have grown a lot of seedlings in rockwool which worked fine but I definitely prefer the peat pellets now.
 
You can get nutrients here:

http://hortishop.co.za/

Mix A, B, C in different proportions as the plants grow. They're in Randburg which might be better than Pretoria but check what times they open because from what I remember they're not in a shopping centre so work odd hours.
 
maumau said:
You can get nutrients here:

http://hortishop.co.za/

Mix A, B, C in different proportions as the plants grow. They're in Randburg which might be better than Pretoria but check what times they open because from what I remember they're not in a shopping centre so work odd hours.
Click to expand...

+1, These nutes are the bees knees! Super growth with no burning at all!!! I dont even use an EC meter.

Got mine from groshop in Kenilworth Cpt.
 
Just a quick recap for those who are interested. The lettuce I planted using the Seagro nutrient eventually wilted and died. This was in the heat wave that we experienced but I had a couple growing in the Nutrifeed solution at the same time and they survived (see image below). I don't think that the Seagro is suitable for Hydroponics unless someone else can prove me wrong but for now I will stick to the tried and tested Nutrifeed.

My tom thumb Lettuce and basil

WP_20160123_001.jpg
 
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