Perfect video.. considering loofah is an actual plant.. way better than pool noodles, and like you said rockwool. Been wanting to grow radishes hydroponically and got the idea from other video using a bigger tote container with 72 holes seedling trays, so now after watching this video, not only that I was thrilled to know about the loofah but also growing in mason jars? Hallelujah!!God Bless You dear!!!
Oh what fun! Only radishes I ever grow are French Breakfast! Get a nice, fresh loaf of French bread, some soft butter, some salt, and very thinly sliced radishes. Make a sandwich and celebrate Spring the way the do in France! Love the loofah idea Tikki! You're so creative! Thanks!💜
Wow, I never ate a radish sandwich as you describe, sounds delicious, do the French eat these for breakfast??? Maybe that's why they are called French Breakfast! Thanks for the comment Marty Rose!
Very cool! I sprouted radishes in perlite, then transferred to hydroton, with success. Someone said they germinated directly on hydroton by wetting a pebble, sticking the seed on, then turning over in the stack. Great job with the luffa!
I will not use rockwool so was scrounging around for alternatives. It never occurred to me to use Luffa. It's such a brilliant idea! Thanks for sharing it. 🪴
I love this idea. My loofahs didn't grow very well this year, but this is a wonderful excuse to try them again. I like that this is an environmentally sustainable media.
Hello, I discovered your videos this week and I love all these tests you're doing. Would love to see how longer cultures like peppers or tomatoes would do with loofah! Thank you so much for your videos, they're amazing!
Great idea!!! I saw folks growing loofahs in the community garden and didn't know why, but here is a great reason. I'm going to add loofahs to my square-foot garden that I am planting this month. I wanted to make sure my hydroponic indoor veggie garden was organic, so this offers a great biodegradable medium that I can grow myself. And I didn't know that I could grow radishes indoors hydroponically. So now I don't have to grow those outdoors and that makes more room for something else where those were going in my outdoor raised bed at the community garden. My target is to grow all my veggies between the 3 x 10 outdoor garden and the indoor hydroponic garden. So thanks, Tikki O, this is a super helpful video.
Love this. It's too late in Texas to grow outdoors, will try this indoors. Thanks for your detailed and simple step by step instructions. You're my new faorite follow.
You've found a way to not only eliminate the rockwool but also a way to save your seedlings without culling them... that's pretty impressive. I was thinking of doing celeriac and this video has completely changed my approach. Well done and happy growing!
OMG!! Thank you for this video!!! I love your channel so much! I have some spare radish seeds and wanted to do this experiment but was afraid I'd be wasting the few I have left! You're a lifesaver!!
Thanks kkuneho, you should buy some bulk radish seeds and grow them as microgreens, they are super delicious to toss in the salad and they grow in a week, so fast and easy. These took almost 3 weeks, so not so bad, and also delicious! Have fun experimenting!
Great ideas! If you are using rockwool, then you can slice one cube similar to the luffa making rockwool even cheaper. Luffa seems to work really well though!
WOW THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I AM COMING ACROSS YOUR VIDEO AND JUST LOVE IT- I WONDER IF THESE VEGETABLES YOU GROW WITH LIGHTS WOULD IT GROW WITHOUT LIGHTS - THX
Wow. I never thought about using luffa instead of Rockwood cubes. Nice. Thanks for the information. Great video as always. The roots look amazing. Radishes look great.👍🏾
I found this video while trying to research if loofah could be used instead of expensive grow sponges in an Aerogarden. I use them for seed starting as well as herb gardens, so I think the loofah would be great for seed starting!
I love your sense of adventurous experimentation Tikki! Those radishes look perfect! I once tried beets with the Clay pebbles and they didn’t do anything.
Thanks Sandra! I never tried growing beets except as microgreens. More food for thought....can you grow beets hydroponically? Thanks for the thought and comment, I appreciate it!
I loved this as I was wondering about radishes and hydroponics. Can you "re-grow"from the radish top like you did with the lettuce? Thanks for your videos.
This seems like a potentially really sustainable method of hydroponics. You could probably use this for regular gardens as well. You could grow your own loofah. I grew up on radishes yet seldom eat them today. This makes me nostalgic.
And there are so many different varieties of radishes....I think loofah needs a longer growing season than I have here in Zone 6, but for those who live in a more temperate climate they can grow loofah and then grow on the loofah, the cycle of life! Thanks for the comment Jeff!
Another great job! Thanks especially for doing a test of loofah as a substitute for rockwool. Very detailed, clearly explained the steps and provided good video. Very interesting!
Incredible!!! I am so impressed. Thank you so much for demonstrating this brilliant idea. I can now predict a run on lufa sponges on Amazon :) You are amazing, Tikki O :)
Great video. I was wondering, in many of your kratky set ups you use Grow Big. This time you are using Master blend. Is there a reason for the switch? I am on the hunt for the “best” kratky nutrients. Thanks so much for you brilliant videos!
I have used Johny's Selected Seeds, Jung's, Gurney's, Burpee, Totally Tomatoes, and there are MANY more sources, do a Google search. Home Depot and Menards price their seed packs at .10 after planting season and most seeds are still viable for at least the next planting season.
Kratky teaches how to make a DIY float valve. Its keeps the water at a preset water level for a long while until the bucket with your hydroponic fluid runs out. Then you just refill it every couple of months. Maybe every month to be safe
I'm using recyclable stuff to make a float valve. A yogurt container as a reservoir, some old tubing from a failed drip system and a drip nozzle, a large Rx medicine bottle and cap, some Styrofoam from a package, and I bought a roll of soft foam. I melted holes onto the bottom of the medicine bottle and a hole into the cap. I poked the drip nozzle into the hole in the cap. Then, I cut the Styrofoam using a hot wire into the shape of a cylinder that fits ideal the medicine bottle. I placed the medicine bottle inside my dish and added water and trimmed the Styrofoam down to that it floated to the top where I wanted my water level to be. The I attached a piece of sift foam onto the top of the Styrofoam. The sift foam will push against the nozzle when the water is high enough and keep the water from flowing through from the reservoir. I attached the irrigation hose from the nozzle to my yogurt cup by poking a small hole into the bottom of the yogurt cup and shining the hose in ti plug it. Now I just fill my dish with water to full, and then add extra water to the yogurt cup and place it on a shelf higher so gravity works the water for me. I used this to keep my mister tank full when growing oyster mushrooms. It kept the humidity a good level so the didn't dry out. I hope to try a float valve like this for a kratky system. I only cost me money for the adhesive soft foam. Everything else was going to be trash. I may eventually need to buy more drip nozzles or I may see of it works with just the hose end and foam. Thanks for reminding me of this project. CHEERS!
nice job with the loofa discovery! and good rockwool 411, i wasn't aware of any issues and am glad i haven't used any. also, btw, i scored a buy one get one free katchy system from their site last week. it pays to sign up for their email news. :-)
Free Katchy....I could use another one, although my gnat problem has diminished greatly from just the one system. I'm also using BTI when I water my soil plants and that has helped as well. Thanks for the info!
@@TikkiOOO nice. i hope mine is helpful as well. i've had issues since i brought all of my plants in last year during hurricane season. i won't be doing that again!
Merci pour cette video, j'etais surpris que personne n 'est pensé a utilisé le luffa pour remplacer la laine de roche ou les billes d'argile. Apres ce qui est pénible avec le luffa c'est qu'il faut bien enlever les graines qu'il y a l'intérieur . Dans les caraïbes , il y en a beaucoup et ca pousse facilement
Hi, im a beginner in hydroponics here in india. Learning so much from you, thanks. I watched your video where you used paper towel instead of rockwool and was wondering ,can i use like cotton for its bed ? Im sure i can make some kinda wick out of it. What do you think ?
The only way to know is to try, I've seen burlap used, and hemp, so maybe cotton would work too. Give it a try and let us know! Thanks for the comment!
@@TikkiOOO Thank you , will do. Im using the 4-18-38 blend with epsom , calcium nitrate , magnesium sulphate and some micronutrients. What are you using for your peppers , if you dont mind me asking.
Hi d.t., what are Oasis cubes made out of? The radish leaves did not look or feel good, so I didn't eat them, but I grow radish microgreens and those are super in salad and in omelets and even in soup, they give a nice kick. Thanks for the comment!
Really enjoyed this video! I didn't realize radishes grew this quickly or could be grown using the kratky method. Was the flavor different or better with the cherries vs the breakfast? I'm interested in growing my own food and want to maximize yield and it seemed like a big size difference.
Thanks Munchy for the comment...leafy greens and herbs do really well, and I've had success with tomatoes and cucumbers, the peppers grew but didn't taste so good, I'll have to try that again. As for the radishes, they both tasted the same to me, but I don't have a sophisticated palette, so maybe someone else can see a difference, they were good!
@@TikkiOOO bell peppers? I wonder if you pruned them to keep them smaller than 8 inches? In one book about kratky method they say it's important for the plant to produce sweeter peppers.
This is absolutely BRILLIANT. I was looking for a video on how to grow loofah in hydroponics, but this is such a surprising find. Because if I can grow enough loofah to replace rock wool in the hydroponic system I'm working on... THATD BE INCREDIBLE.
What’s the distance to your light? And did you have them under lights when they were first in bowls in just luffa? Or on heat mats? Thanks in advance! Setting up some hydro now!
and you could grow your own loofahs out in the garden and keep the seeds. so you'd have a constant supply. how do you come up with this stuff? lol thanks for doing these videos. they can't be easy
I should....they grow wild outside in my garden, but that would be fun. I wonder how long it would take to get a crop indoors hydroponically? Thanks for the thought TheHappyCoder!
Thanks Carl, they didn't look/feel tender, I am used to eating the leaves as microgreens, these looked too tough to eat. Maybe if I sauteed them? Thanks for the comment!