Outdoor Hydro Herbs and Leafy Greens

starke · Apr 23, 2019

AgentPothead said:
What's up with only having a few hydroton balls in those bottom ones?

I germed the seeds in a mix of about 70% vermiculite and 30% perlite because all the seeds were so tiny. When I transplanted into the solos the root systems were still tiny and I was afraid all hydroton would not have enough root contact so I transplanted into my normal Hempy perlite and hydroton mix. They will go from this into the straight hydroton.

Ganoderma · Apr 23, 2019

starke said:
So a friend gets divorced and somehow the misses and I end up with some odd lumber and about 40 feet of four inch pvc left at our house. I could not stand the thought of putting the stuff in the landfill so I got to thinkin'...

...and came up with this out of the junk I had available:

View Image

View Image

Forty five plant sites. The "netcups" are solos that have had a close encounter with a soldering iron. Multiple times. For each cup. What a pain in the ass.

Using my old sump pump from feeding the ladies to push the nutes which will be Jacks and Calnit unless I find something better.

Planning on running some annual herbs and spinach to start. Maybe some leaf lettuce but it's a little warm here for that now. Probably in the fall.

The unit is located on the front porch and receives a mixture of full morning sun and partial afternoon shade.

Next step is to germ some seeds and veg until they are big enough to put in the cups. I'm already documenting a Grow Diary and a Tester Grow but I'm hoping to keep a running narrative going here as well, mostly for my own records so I can keep track of what is or is not working.

Next update when I have some plants in the cups. (This will take a minute.)

Peace,
starke

ps: I call the color scheme "Caribbean Soul meets Gay Pride...with a touch of 'Go Gators'". The grand-kids think it's cool anyway.

I love the colors, it make it very colorful compared the standard "PVC white".

AgentPothead · Apr 23, 2019

starke said:
I germed the seeds in a mix of about 70% vermiculite and 30% perlite because all the seeds were so tiny. When I transplanted into the solos the root systems were still tiny and I was afraid all hydroton would not have enough root contact so I transplanted into my normal Hempy perlite and hydroton mix. They will go from this into the straight hydroton.

Gotcha, that makes sense. :tiphat:

starke · Apr 25, 2019

Note to self: Decreased off interval from 45 minutes to 30 minutes and decreased on duration from two minutes to one minute. Pump now cycles once every 30 minutes for one minute.

starke · Apr 30, 2019

Weekly Update

Weekly Update

The woody stemmed rosemary cuttings all rooted and were transplanted to soil solo cups yesterday.

Transplanted the lettuce, basil, spinach and parsley yesterday into the system. I waited too long to transplant and the seedling roots had all become too intertwined to separate. As a result, instead of having plenty of seedlings to fill all the cups, I now have clumps of seedlings in a few cups. Need to plant something else to fill out the top rows but have not decided what yet.

Chopped five big leaves off the chard and chopped them up in our salad last night. Tasty.

Still running 1.0ec at 5.8ph but that is subject to change after I see how everything adapts to the transplant over the next couple of days. Have not switched to RO yet and am still having to add ph down every other day. May try a 50/50 well/RO mix to see if that will slow the ph swing.

Fully synthetic hydro system components and synthetic man made nutes...but all organic pest control:

Peace,
starke

OG_NoMan · Apr 30, 2019

Very cool and great use of material. What are you or will you be doing about rez temps? I would imagine it would need to be chilled?

starke · Apr 30, 2019

Since this is a flood and drain type system the roots do not remain in solution so I am not too worried about solution temp. I feed my ladies in their Hempy buckets with solution that is typically 78 - 80 F.

starke · May 7, 2019

Weekly Update

Weekly Update

The good news is everything in the system has grown like crazy this past week, with most plants at least doubling in size from last week. Here is how they looked at 7:30am this morning - about an hour after sunrise:

The bad news this is how they looked three hours later in the full FL morning sun, even with the feed/water interval backed down to a flood every 10 minutes:

As I mentioned in the first post, the lettuce, spinach and chard are fall crops here so I wasn't expecting much - but damn - they were sure looking pretty. The misses has ordered me some 40% shade cloth so I.m going to give that a try just for the heck of it. Even if I have to wait until fall for the greens, I've learned the concept will work anyway.

Bumped the feed to 1.4ec and still keeping the ph around 5.8.

Next update in a week. Should be interesting to see what survives.

Peace,
starke

DARKSIDER · May 8, 2019

Best of luck starke that's a shame about the heat but like you say the shade cloth may help a lot heres hoping so :good:

Palindrome · May 8, 2019

Yeah hopefull the shade cloth will do the trick, it's looking soo nice in the first pictures.
Great to see the system preform!

GOT_BUD? · May 10, 2019

I'm pretty sure I would do the same thing in that heat. But I'm not a heat tolerant variety.

I'll stay up Nort' and freeze my balls off 5 months out of the year instead.

starke · May 14, 2019

Weekly Update

Weekly Update

Everything survived another week except one spinach plant. An insect,(I'm betting a caterpillar), chewed off the main stem right at the level of the Hydroton. Everything also actually grew like crazy in spite of the heat.

I have just been draping the 40% shade cloth from the back of the unit to a couple of ropes just enough to keep it off the plants. Going to come up with a more permanent solution this coming week because it seems to be working, even for the lettuce:

In fact the lettuce did so well the misses chopped it back right after the pics above and we have enough for a salad tonight:

Will be interesting to see how much it grows out this coming week since it is cut completely back to the level of the Hydroton.

Peace,
starke

Palindrome · May 14, 2019

Looking delicious there, great to see the shade cloth did the trick.

Im working on making a small aquaponic salad bed in the garden, placed in the middle of a raides soil bed. Hope it will work as well as your psychedlic art work!

starke · May 14, 2019

Palindrome said:
Looking delicious there, great to see the shade cloth did the trick.

Im working on making a small aquaponic salad bed in the garden, placed in the middle of a raides soil bed. Hope it will work as well as your psychedlic art work!

Aquaponics has always interested me. Hope you will put some posts up. Would love to see it.

Palindrome · May 15, 2019

Im taking pictures on the go, will post something once I get it to work.
There is still gonna go a bit of time, got a big hole to dig and the truck just came with soil and mulch.

It was booked Monday next week, but I guess they had extra time.

DARKSIDER · May 15, 2019

starke said:
Everything survived another week except one spinach plant. An insect,(I'm betting a caterpillar), chewed off the main stem right at the level of the Hydroton. Everything also actually grew like crazy in spite of the heat.

I have just been draping the 40% shade cloth from the back of the unit to a couple of ropes just enough to keep it off the plants. Going to come up with a more permanent solution this coming week because it seems to be working, even for the lettuce:

View Image

View Image

In fact the lettuce did so well the misses chopped it back right after the pics above and we have enough for a salad tonight:

View Image

Will be interesting to see how much it grows out this coming week since it is cut completely back to the level of the Hydroton.

Peace,
starke

Nice one starke. glad to see you fixed it :tiphat:

Green Squall · May 16, 2019

You should plant some Bok Choy in there. Easy to grow and its delicious.

starke · May 16, 2019

Green Squall said:
You should plant some Bok Choy in their. Easy to grow and its delicious.

Never even crossed my mind. Thanks for the excellent idea.

Rico Swazi · May 20, 2019

Looks yummy starke, well done so far.
I'd bet you could rock some root crops like radish, Kohlrabi and turnips in that colorful contraption of yours.
Plants are really liking what you are doing with the shade cloth. Dialing it in!

If you like kale, I have found the tuscan kale variety slow to bolt

been almost a week for the lettuce
anything worth picking again?
rock on

starke · May 21, 2019

Weekly Update

Weekly Update

Found a solution for the shade cloth better than the rope I was using but still not what I would call an elegant solution. The plants have continued in their growth and even the lettuce is making a comeback in spite of the heat. 95 here today, 97 tomorrow. Will be cutting a bunch of basil soon for some pesto.

Peace,
starke

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