Welcome to my hydroponics channel! Join me as I delve into the world of hydroponics and try my hand at growing fresh vegetables. I'm a just a hack who's still learning the ropes, so expect a few rough edges along the way. While I'm no expert, I'm eager to share my experiences and demonstrate that anyone can grow fresh produce using hydroponics, regardless of space or season. On this channel, you'll see my current and future hydroponic setups and follow along as I experiment with different techniques and methods. I'll share my successes and failures, as well as tips and tricks that I've picked up along the way. Whether you're a seasoned pro or a fellow beginner, I invite you to join me as I hack my way into hydroponics. I'm going to need all the help I can get, and who knows, maybe you'll learn something from my experiences. Let's grow!
Love watching Hoocho. Your folding technique is next level. The ends are so clean. I also like your take on spikes. A simple design. I plan on using black 121 liter trash cans as nutrient storage. It will be interesting how quickly you go through your nutrients once the fruiting plants really get going.
Why do you germinate in your rockwool in a separate container? Why do you wait to transplant until the roots are so far along? Personally I pre germinate seeds on a wet paper towel in a sealed container or even a zip lock bag. Once germinated and sprouted after like 3-4 days, I transplant the sprouts to rockwool and into an nft. I have adjustable height grow light strips which I start out at about 1 inch from the sprout and adjust height as they grow. My perspective is that you are creating stress on a plant when you extract it and its root system. That’s almost a definite shock to the plant. Not trying to upset anyone. But I wonder if you would have as great results as I have with reducing your interactions with the roots.
same it was either migro array four, atreum hydra 3200, and this one. i decided to buy it from amazon instead of manufacturer due to recent bad reviews.
I have no complaints about it other than I can’t dial down the red. Seems it makes my leafy greens flower prematurely. Great for flowering/fruiting tho.
It’s all in shade at different times of the day but it mostly gets a good few hours of direct Sun at this time of year. Unfounded I have a tiny back yard 😩
I watched your latest video.... you reference hoocho far too many times. Try to find your style not his. Put the hard work in the comments ( hoocho never replies to comments) . Watch your videos with a critical eye and before long you will be flying. Good content.... thanks
Not really... Maybe a little. I have a couple of tomatoes where the roots have grown down into the channel but the roots have also spread out on top of the channel (between the bag and the channel top). I have noticed that these roots seem to transport liquid (whether from up in the bag or down in the channel) which then slowly pools and eventually drips out of the system. It's a very slow process so not impacting nutrient usage too much. Also whenever I find this I carefully trim these excess roots off. Note I always leave the hydroponic roots that hang down into the channel. I think the plants need these.
Yes the nutes do drop the pH by about 0.2 in my case. I factor this in with my pH adjustment. Adding acid into a nutrient solution can cause certain salts to precipitate and pull minerals out of solution… Probably not enough to have a noticeable impact… but this is why I adjust pH first.
For your thrip and aphid infestation, mix up Yates Organic Nature's Way Fruit Fly Control as per the instructions on the packet (then keep in the fridge so the remaining packet contents remain active for 2+ years) with one dissolved aspirin per 2L of water. Spray on both sides of the leaves & any fruit. Works FANTASTIC. Will kill the ants too. Plants that are stressed will put their effort into producing seed. Too hot, too cold, under attack from pests, wrong nutrition (note some of your leaves are too yellow, so ditch your nutrient if older than 5 or 6 weeks & mix up a new batch) and many plants automatically go to seed if the day length is not steadily increasing. So start with 10 hours/day under your lights & increase by 20 minutes each week. Do not expose your plants to more than 17 hours of lights per day, as they must "rest". Hope this helps.
Thanks! Sorry. Just saw this. Had to change my settings to see this comment for some reason 🤷🏻♂️ Great tip for the aphids. The nutrients are ok I think. Everything growing well at the moment (although still have a few aphids). I monitor and change at least monthly. Everything has stopped bolting since I turned off the spider farmer light.
Hi Hydro Hack. In addition to using microfibre cloths (described in my message below) with rain gutter grow systems, you can also use them with large pots for larger plants. Drill a hole to suit a top hat grommet in the side of a plastic basin (drill it down low near the bottom). Bunnings sell 4L, 9L & 16L plastic basins. The top hat grommet you want is for 6mm internal (11mm external) plastic tubing. Note this is not the usual 4mm tubing which easily blocks up. Drill a hole low down in the side of your down-spout gutter to fit another top hat grommet. Push fit the 6mm hose into both top hat grommets (you can also get 6mm barb fittings for this poly hose if you prefer). The water/nutrient level in your basin will now be the same as your float valve level in your down-spout. Now place your pot with the microfibre wicks hanging out the bottom over the basin. If the pot is heavy, place an upside down small pot in the basin, or some concrete blocks to support the bottom of the pot with the wicks in it. You can also connect multiple down-spouts together using this same technique, meaning only 1 float valve is required (if all rain gutters are at the same ground level). Give it a try & if happy with the results, you can teach Hoocho some more techniques:)
I had the same idea (external container for float valve) but was thinking more for a larger wicking grow bed. I was thinking it would mitigate against roots impeding the float. Too fiddly for multiple rain gutters (none of which are at the same level in my garden). Also potentially creates a single point of failure if something goes wrong. But I’ll be sure to suggest it to Hoocho at the next amateur hydroponics convention 😂
You can dig the plastic basins into the ground a bit or raise them up a bit with soil or use wood/brick as chocks. Doing this will allow you to use a single float. For redundancy you can always parallel up two floats. I use some round 50L growers pots on top of the plastic basins for larger plants with 2 or 3 microfiber cloths as wicks hanging out the bottom. Remember that the maximum capillary action of good potting mixes is around 400mm tops.
Hi Hydro Hack. Instead of using the cotton rope for your wicks, consider using microfibre cleaning coths. The best I've found are the Morgan Microfibre Cleaning Cloth - 20 Pack from Bunnings Hardware in Australia. AUD$10 for a pack of 20. Each cloth is around 40cm x 30cm. The wicking action is a combination of the material used in the wick, the weave of that material & the surface area. Needless to say, the surface area of a single cloth is much more than 2 pieces of rope. The cloths above are a combination weave of polyester & polyamide, hence they don't rot like cotton. I've been reusing the same ones for 4 years & they are still in good nick. You can even sterilise them in the washing machine before reusing. You can test the wicking abilities of different cloths by pegging them to the rim of a bucket. Add in some water & observe how quickly each cloth wicks up the water. After your tests, why not pass this information on to Hoocho, so he can learn something from you :) Please keep up the great vids!
I live in the desert with extreme heat and drought. Hydroponics greatly reduced the amount of water needed to grow my fruits and veggies. I’ve moved and no longer have a yard so I’ve brought my hydroponics indoors where I have better control of light, temperature and humidity. I mostly use a DWC system which allows me to customize the nutrient solution to the particular plant in the bucket. (plants that bloom/produce fruit vs greens)
Biggest mistake was trying to combine leafy greens and fruiting plants in the same system. Different nutrient and light requirements. If I did it again I would also make the holes in my rails round and bigger instead of square. Much easier to cut and would allow me to drop peat pellets in (the square holes are too small).
Is this your down spout base not made of pvc? If it's made of pvc then just cut out a flat piece and weld it with pvc cement. You can get clear pvc cement. Much better option then using the heat gun and inhaling chlorine gas.
the other thing you changed for the basil is added light from the pepper level. maybe its too much ? i would say same for the nutes too much maybe ? i have seen others run 1/2 strength nutes and everything be fine just not quite growing as fast... thanks for the vids good luck
Good point. I haven’t actively calibrated but the ph reading on water out of the tap aligns with the generally accepted value in our area so I don’t think it could be too far out. I have no idea about the TDS meter. Will have to look into it.
So the nutrient levels for all the plants are probably different. Fruiting plants and greens take different levels. I would also say more fan. Hoocho had similar burning issues with not enough fan. Good luck. PS after the plants have bolted they will taste very different sometimes. Like coriander will taste soapy and other greens might go bitter. Things will work out. The rig your running could easily run more then one res. I do like the design. The local weather should be ok as long as the water is not to low. Like a fish tank heater may work for those nights. Home hydro is fun. keep it up man.
They’re actually not doing too well right now. It’s the middle of winter and I think it’s too cold. The chilies are all ripening while really small and the leaves aren’t looking so healthy. If I had my time again I don’t think I would do chilies in the NFT. I’ve been running the res at about ÉC 2.2-2,4ish.
nice build mate regards the light hanging height, it depends on growth stage. best look into DLI (Daily Light Integral) = density of light (x) hours of light there is a couple apps built to gauge PPFD & DLI (PPFD Meter or Photone) PPFD meter is more accurate if using the suggested 3rd party sensor it also has a built-in par map creator helpful for visualizing light uniformity, these convert LUX to PAR. if 100% accuracy is preferred PAR meters start from $500AUD efficiency comes at the cost of uniformity, dimming and closer light placement will be more efficient but will have worse uniformity (PPFD and DLI is your focus)
I seen you adjusted the ph of your water out of the tap and then add your nutrients ,The water needs to be ph adjusted after you add the nutrients ,as they will lower the ph . this maybe why some of the plants have issues .All the best ..
Thanks for the suggestion. I saw somewhere that adding acid to nutrient solution can cause some salts to precipitate out of solution but I don’t really think it’s a big deal. I also re-check my ph after adding the nutes and it only drops about 0.1 so still within range. Also I find my ph gradually increases over time so I’m ok with it being a bit low to start with.
Love the system mate! My wife and I just started some lettuce and herbs this past weekend using Hoocho's cotton wool technique. We are growing Kratky method, so we will see how they turn out! Cheers, and good luck!
Nice update. I had exactly the same happen to one of my corianders! Looked just like yours. Kratky system with 1.6 EC. I had two corianders in two different mixed plant systems, so ended up moving it to the other box and problem went away. So, even though I set up the EC and PH the same in both, it could have changed over time due to the other plants taking certain parts of the nutrients. From what I read, coriander seems to like higher PH than average. Perhaps that could be it?
