I have to add to your method: First you have to soak the seeds to soften their coat for 24 hrs. This can be done by actually soaking the rockwool. Then you can go back to this method of keeping the water level low at 1 inch deep to keep the rockwool wet. I would put the lights on after I see them sprouting. They do give you enough time. Say several days up to a week. Everything else is great. Keep the dome on to reduce evaporation and raise humidity (think spring time). Add your nutrients only after you see the true leaves (the 3rd leaf). Put only the quarter strength recommended
To everyone having a problem with nats and fruit flies. Getting a strong fruit smelling gel hand soap ( grape Scooby doo works best from dollar tree) place about a 1/4 inch in a Dixie cup and leave several an area you are having problem in. I have done this as needed works great. They get in to and can't get out!
I don't plan on doing any hydroponics but I've watched your series anyway and will continue to watch. Gardening information is relevant - there is always something more to learn. Thanks. -- Sheryl
I have a couple questions... 1. Do you need to change the water for your hydroponic garden at all? If so, how frequent should you do this? 2. What is the best way to grow a full size plant in a 5 gallon bucket? I noticed you put more than one plant in a bucket .. I was just wondering about one big plant .
I used a heat mat for different types of lettuce,5 out of 50 cubes sprouted.I think the biggest mistake was not soaking rockwool cubes in water with properly adjusted ph
Holeless tray, rockwool seed starter, seeds, heat mat, grow lights. Put rockwool in holeless tray Make rockwool damp with ph7 water, Put 2-5 seeds in holes Put in heat mat and under light.
I start my hydro seeds in soil, in 2x3 trays, water them with a spray bottle with a diluted pinch of epsom salts and 3 ml of liquid fertilizer, and right when they're getting root bound I very, very gently take each plant out of its spot in the tray, one by one submerge them in a tub of water, and loosen the dirt from the roots with air bubbles from an aquarium pump. Then I drop the bare roots into the net cup and surround them with hydroton. Mind you, I only do 6 plants at a time and that probably takes at least a half hour. I definitely wouldn't want to do that for your size setup, it would take all day. But you're right, you don't want to put soil in that reservoir. Although if you don't have rockwool and you have just a handful of plants then you can do it that way too, you just have to be meticulous, gentle and patient to remove all the dirt without damaging the roots or killing the plant. I haven't killed one yet though.
That indeed is a great method, and I too have tried it. I like the effortless option the best, but true. If you can't find rockwool then you can totally just loosen the dirt away from the roots.
1-Can you use coconut coir? 2-I want to plant heads of lettuce. It is just my girls and I so we go thru one per week. Can I plant them a week a part? 3-At dollar tree they have plastic slotted containers for silverwar, spices - so would it work to use that to have your spinach in a row like you would in a soil garden?
Neat episode my friend. I have never grown hydroponically however I hear its something else. I don't have issues growing with soil indoors organically all winter but it takes some patients.
***** It is darn near amazing. A little disconnected from "gardening" because it is not at all dirty, or garden feeling. But it is what it is and I like it!
Good video Luke, It's been my experience to not use a seedling heat mat with greens (cool season crops, lettuce, spinach ect). The germination rates are lower and slower - because they germinate best in cool climate. The seedling mat reverses that. Just my experience.
Rockwool is very similar to ROXUL insulation. They are both green. They are both made from spun rock. ROXUL is flame retardant and ALSO made from slag (a byproduct from steel furnaces). ROXUL also has several additives that this grow medium DOESN'T have like a water resistant spray.
To feed as many people as we can we just MUST go with hydroponics. To be able to feed as many people who are poor, middle class or anyone who lives in a Food Desert where there is no nutrition, we MUST go with Hydroponics. People MUST have a choice. All GMO food must be taken out of our lives. We should never sever send it to other countries. Countries around the world should NOT be made to eat GMO food. America can make a difference in the world. We can be a Good and Great Start. the world will respect us and admire us. Thank you thank you for this site.
Is there an video on what to do next after sprouting? Should we be adding nutrient water to the tray everyday after sprouting? Can I just leave the heat tray next to a sun light window for the whole Time before I move the plants to my DWC system?
Fungus gnats are a problem indoors and that is why I'm looking into hydroponics--if there is no soil, then the gnats have no home. However, I have to chuckle about your comment that fungus gnats have no predators. There is an almost microscopic spider that loves them. Whenever those teensy spiders set up housekeeping, I go out of my way to protect them. They consume triple their own weight in fungus gnats about every other day--I know because I find dozens of little fungus gnat corpses beneath each tiny web. Go, spideys!! They're my newest best friends.
Thank you! That means a lot! Have you checked out some of our newer stuff? Because if you liked this, then you definitely will like what we have been doing. :D
I cannot imagine even being as close to it as excited as I am when I open up my three by threes and see a bunch of kush praying to my lights I doubt that growing vegetables would feel as good.
Are those LED Grow Lights? I have a florescent grow light with four bulbs in it. Is the LED a better (stronger / more light)?? Oh, what's your opinion on growing Grapes indoors - - they cost so much I would love to just grow some indoors nothing crazy just enough for the two of us ( wife & me) ....
PinkChucky15 yay! good :D I will tell you what though.... Nothing beats traditional gardening videos. This series is fun, but it is not dirty! I need spring to come soon.
Hi Luke. I live in Florida, and am wanting to pick up hydroponics as a hobby so I am a novice. My question for you is are the lights necessary? I have a Florida room that I was going to dedicate to this that gets plenty of sunshine. Will the light in y florida room suffice to sprout the seeds?
hi thank you for your video very useful !!! one question if we don't have the lighting like you have just for simple home !! is that ok to use the window we have lots of nature lights coming in the house ! as we leave some were green and lots of sun light every were with big windows !! and wen is good time to expose my baby germinated herbs !! thank you so much just like to know as i just started and really appreciate your help !!
Great video. Just now coming to hydroponic. Question: do you continue to use the heat pad once seeds have sprouted? I’m thinking the heat from the grow light is all that’s required. Again, you make this process, & so many I’ve seen on your other videos, so easy to understand. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
I noticed your foam bed is not floating. Is that to allow air to the roots. Do you let the seeds grow so the roots can reach the water before you take them out of the rock wool?
I am wanting to use an Ebb & Flow system using clay pebbles - Once you get the seeds started in the rockwool, do you have to remove them from the rockwool?
I love the stand that you are putting the seeds on. Is there an episode on how you built it and if so, which episode. Thanking you in advance for all you do.
Really inspired by this video!... I am going to start doing hydroponic. But i would like to know that which crop would be best to start and which plants would be best according profit and growth rate.
So i live in the country, so I only have well water. Do you recommend i buy spring water at the grocery or something else? Or could i use softened water? I don’t mind buying a jug of water to start the seeds but if i put them into a hydroponic system later that could get expensive.
I have seen people do organic hydroponics, I think, but they had a whole big setup in a greenhouse. I agree that it would not make sense indoors, if only because it defeats the purpose of doing indoor hydroponics. You're not doing indoor hydroponics because you want a complex germ ecosystem in your basement, I don't think. I'd love to try it later in life when I get a greenhouse, but for now I'm trying to keep it simple since I'm a beginner and I live in an apartment.
Really I can't sleep without watching your wonderful hydroponics video lecture. But how do call the material you used for nursing the seeds? can I use any other improvised material or better still use soil first?
I get what you say about soil, but I had much better luck starting seedlings in soil, rinsing in water, then placing into rock wool. My rockwool seedlings did not have the same root growth.
One question, I have started plants inside and watered w compost worm tea. so i have seen plants died, and smely and fungus mold on top, and flies swiring around. now, everywhere on the internet had been growing w worm manure or tea. so, should i just delete these trays or put them outside overnite, and tomorrow put them in the compost. cause, the greens are not going to be good w fungus...right? my house does smell funky w moldy, yes. but maybe i should only attempt to grow microgreens, an not semi adult plants, right? then how can I get itready to be planted outside in the cold. or just to forget it....rest, and only grow in water? ask . please tell me...thank you. I don't want to die in toxic air in the lungs, and especially air in the winter when everything is kept closed.
We don't have any hydroponics shops in the area, so I bought a starter kit from an online hydroponics shop. The rockwool cubes it came with do not absorb water: they are hydrophobic. I even left them overnight in water but they still are completely dry and float on top of the water. All the videos I've watched so far show rockwool absorbing water like a sponge. Is this an alternative type, or is this a fake kit? I sent the shop an email but they haven't responded.
am a student of agriculture based in uganda and i would love to teach this farming method to children and women in the local setup what are the alternatives i can use to set up a hydroponic garden. electricity is scarce please advise othrwise
Nabasenero, I hope you have continued to pursue this incredible project. There are simple ways to capture the sunlight and convert it to solar power. Research simple designs and equipment. This will give you endless amounts of energy to power your hydroponic garden. Good luck!
Thank you for posting the video.....My question is, Is it a lucrative process ? I mean u spent lot of electricity for heating, lighting, irrigation...for basil or cilantro..does it give a reasonable return of investment ?
Not if all of your light has to be artificial, unless your are super high density with a lot of volume. For home application it's best to take advantage of natural free light as much as possible. Basement gardens are for doomsday preppers or people who can't do math.
Thanks for the video. I have started some tomato seedlings in 3" net cups with clay pebbles. They are around 10 days old and 1 or 2 true leaves appear on them. I am doing it krtaky in small plastic jar. The roots are not coming out of the net cup. The water is just touching the bottom of the net cup. What could be the issue?
Great video. But just so I'm clear - it took 20 minutes to explain - put a seed in a piece of wet rock wool above a heating tray, and turn on the LED light above it. That's basically it right?
He has his own style of displaying content, if you're looking for a 30 second get to the point style instructions there are plenty of videos. You clicked on the video knowing it's long beforehand, isn't it a bit hypocritical being snarky at MIGardener know that information.
It's not even 15 minutes long, and on top of how to start the seeds he teaches you about root rot, fungus and fungus gnats, what material you can't use to grow in, what rock wool is, what you need to start the seeds, that your system can't be organic for hydroponics, what heat mats do for the seeds and how hot they get, what the humidity dome does and helps with, and that nasturtiums are a very healthy plant to eat. If people want a one line answer, use google.
Love your videos, great job. I am just starting out and experimenting to what works. So far not such good luck. The heat mat, do you need to have one if you live in the warmer climate ! I know my area where I have been stetting up gets up to at least 85 90 degrees. Is this to warm? Will this work for seeds?
I wonder why there are tons of videos showing how to put a seed into a cube, but they mostly stop there. The interesting stuff comes afterwards. What do I do if they, don't sprout, how big do they need to grow to be transplanted, how much roots do they have to develop, how can I support water root growth and suppress root air pruning, do I feed the plant nutrients before transplant, how can I prepare them for transplanting shock.. so many questions that arise after the seeding.
It just became legal in my state to grow six plants per person per household and I am just wondering what is the easiest and most efficient way for a beginner to start using hydroponics
Will hard water kill the seeds? I have a pond rearing crayfish and would like to use aquaponics on top of it but the water is pretty hard as calcium carbonate is a form of salt.
Great how to video Luke. I definitely will be trying nasturtiums this year. I will have to get some grow mats. I guess it is time to start rosemary and lavender in order to transplant in the spring. Any other things I should be starting this soon? Thanks for all your help guys. Happy New Year!!!
My first thing to plant is onions on Feb. 20th, then tomatoes, peppers, eggplant March 15th, then cabbage, broccoli, kale, etc. march 25th, then basil and lettuce april 5th. beans, lettuce, spinach, parsley, dill, corn, radishes, etc. I direct sow.
People who over value organic agriculture, simply just don't know alot about the scientific method of researching information online. Look i'm not biased, i would have loved to be an organic farmer, but theres really very few upsides to actually growing organic if you've ever actually looked at the data out there. When you grow in a hydroponic medium with hydroponic nutrients, you're delivering the essential nutrients the plant needs directly without needing to wait for any other organism to break down the matter into usable nutrients for your plant. So look guys i know organic seems cool, but the fact remains that organic farmers need 25-35% more land to grow the same amount of food, and when you compare it to hydroponics, it ends up being 60-65% more land. With a ever growing population we need the space efficiency if we don't want to continue to tear down forests for farmland. Now you can choose to do with this information as you please, but understand that if you intend to debate me on this, that you at least use an empirically accurate argument.
Excellent video and how-to instructions. A couple of questions: Can these rockwool cubes be reused or they are good for only one use; also, is there is another non-organic seed-starting medium as alternative to rockwool? Thanks
How do you start the seeds? I hate paying so much for seeds. I want a sustainable continuous cycle where I can do everything from start to finish and that includes the seeds as well.
Ok,i watched your video about how to make the grow bed and the video about how to grow the seeds. Maybe missed it Sir,but in your BIG grow bed is there some form of Oxygenation in the water? And how often do you have to add more water to the bed? I really like the Bucket idea because that'd be much easier to get started with to test run with it. Do you have a video for that one as well?
+MIgardener | Simple Organic Gardening & Sustainable Living. The Rockwell (I think thats how it's spelled) ,Is there a substitute you can use like the SoloCup substitute for the actual holder?
To every one who thinks he talks too much.. If you want a one line answer USE GOOGLE! He teaches you about root rot, fungus and fungus gnats, what material you can't use to grow in, what rock wool is, what you need to start the seeds, that your system can't be organic for hydroponics, what heat mats do for the seeds and how hot they get, what the humidity dome does and helps with, and that nasturtiums are a very healthy plant to eat. Maybe you already know this stuff and that's why you think the video is too long, but a lot of people, myself included, don't know any of this stuff. So all those little tips and tidbits helped me out A LOT! THANK YOU LUKE for being so in depth in everything you do. I know this video is old, but all the impatient people are ridiculous.
Rene Mace not completely, it is actually just the same mixture of hydroponic solution. Never change the water, just add a bit at a time to compensate for lost solution.
Any growing media other than soil should be a ph between 5.5 an 6.5 . Anything in soiless or hydro will not absorb all the nutrients necessary in a ph above 6.5 .
I thought the ph that is suggested on the packaging for the rockwool was 5.5 and to use a lemon or a ph down solution to bring the typical city water down from around 7.5.
City water is generally between 6.9-7.2 and this is only for starting seeds. Once they sprout they will move into the grow solution which is pH of about 5.7
My question is.......was that shirt made with a sharpie right before you started the video (sponsorship needed in the video?? ........just bust out an old shirt and a sharpie)??
In hydroponics, water type usually doesn't matter (for most growers). If by "best results" you mean lots of plant growth, what matters is the nutrients in the water, the quality of the light, and how much oxygen your roots get, not how "filtered" your water is. :)
hi luke. very interesting! do I need those hanging lights? i'm in a small west facing condo. also, I don't have the stone things. it's some kind of black foam moss. can I use it to start my seeds?
