Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Ivy,

Here are the photos of the hydroponics I grow every "off season", so I can have them fresh, whenever I need them.

And here are photos of cuttings rooted in hydroponics, which is another great use for the hydroponics, esp. for herbs. I grow my basil every season from cuttings, for planting back outside, then again for bringing back in.

Herbs and greens are super easy to grow in hydroponics, as you are just aiming for leaf growth. When you are trying for flowering, and the resulting fruits, as in most vegetables, you have to change the nutrients, and adjust them for flowering, then fruit growth, then ripening, not to mention all the waiting! Herbs, esp. when grown from cuttings, are ready in very little time.

The system I use is the deepwater type, in those pots that have almost 7 gal of water, and I have an airstone in each one, plus a circulating pump with a sponge filter - something I got from my fish tanks. Keeps the water well oxygenated, and clean, as well. I use a cheap powder nutrient (Maxigro), and add something for the fungus gnats (same thing I use for potted plants - MicrobeLift), Hygrozyme (something that helps dead roots decompose, and feed the rest of the plants), and a couple other organic additions. And I have them growing under a shoplight with 2 T8 bulbs (32w each, 5,000k, 3300 lumens), and a T5 (54w, 5,000k, 5,200 lumens) next to it, running 16 hrs./day. If you have any questions, let me know. I'll be happy to answer them, if I can.

Dave -

Thank you posting the photos. Your hydroponic garden is amazing! Everything looks lush & healthy, so much better than the winter market. I have to show these photos to my husband as he has around 10 fish tanks and it would great to convert a few to herbs. He grows water plants in the fish tanks and pumps in CO2 to help them along so the transition would be easy. Convincing him will be the challenging part.

What happens to your hydroponic farm in the summer? Do you plant them outside? And in the fall do you start from seed? There must online organizations committed to this passion!

Reminds me I need to visit my local hyrdoponics store. The owner is soooo laid back, nice guy I need to get a set-up with a pump & filter.

Ivy,

It would not be easy to use an aquarium for hydroponics, as you need to keep the roots in darkness, ideally. Unlike growing plants in the aquariums, you don't want CO2 in the water (their chlorophyll is above the water), but rather O2, as their is no photosynthesis going on there, and this is why you want them in the dark, also. Algae would grow there in the light, and compete with the roots for the nutrients, and may coat them as well, like they do in plants in an aquarium, if it is not kept properly.

You can get those pots I have, which have that lip that the plastic sets on, with the cutouts that the small baskets drop into for the plants to grow in. You can also find some larger black, or otherwise opaque storage containers, which a piece of plexiglass can set into - I've seen them with the lip around the inside. Home depot used to have one a friend made a system with, but I don't see it, but then, it's probably called something weird. Here's a tote with that inside lip, to give you an idea of what I was talking about, though those are probably a bit flimsy. And there is a good white spray paint - Krylon Fusion - that bonds to the plexiglass really well. The one with the 9 holes in it I did many years ago (6 I think?), and it has not shown any signs of peeling, though I may have scraped some off.

Here's the type of filter that I have in mine, which an undergravel filter powerhead hooks onto, which keeps the water circulating and clean, and well oxygenated, in combination with a small airstone.

Once I start getting herbs from outside late in the spring, I use the very end of the herbs, tear these things apart, and clean them up, to get them ready for the fall. I kept the basils in one, just to see how long they would keep, and the Thai basil kept over a year, but by the end, it wasn't producing as well. I read an article later about basil grown in hydroponics commercially, and they said they keep them 6-7 months, but after that, the production decreases, which is what happens with me, though they are still producing in May and June. If this were my only source, I would probably plant on a rotating basis, and get a cutting or seed started, depending on the herb. I had to start my Italian basil from seed, as the cuttings just did not grow, even though the roots were 8" long! You just never know...I think I took cuttings too late in the fall. And one of my Thai basils looked much worse than the other, so much that I was ready to take that one out, then it took off. The dill and parsley were seed started, and just recently I started two culantros from seeds - something I tried before, but it wouldn't take.

The best source I have found for hydroponics is Cheap Hydroponics, though, like Paul, I have a local shop, and I get most of my stuff there. Cheaper when you factor in the shipping, and he gives me discounts, because he is the first one I think of when I have extra peppers and other plants in the springtime. Plus, his wife is Vietnamese, so he likes all the oriental things I bring them!

As many herbs as I use, I can't put a dent in what these things produce. And check out the size of this parsley! The black pots they are planted in are 3", for a size reference, to give you an idea how huge this parsley has gotten. And here's the funny part - I planted some plain, Italian flat leafed parsley seeds, thinking it would grow to a smaller size that the "Gigante" variation. So much for that! LOL

Beautiful.....wish I had the space and patience to take this on

So, I've migrated from my old system (which couldn't run more then a couple of months, really, since it mostly involved the plants sitting in stagnant water) which I used for a couple of years to this system. I'm also changing my starter system a little, and will probably have a light dedicated to the starter set-up. I'll need to re-do my automation a little I think; probably water level measurement, with flow measurement of water in to determine how much fertilizer/hydrogen peroxide to put in (which I'll also eventually automate, but requires lots of valves, etc. and those things tend to be damn expensive, not to mention flow meters are expensive). Eventually I'll want to put a PH meter in there, but those are quite expensive for a good one, but the automation should be fun too. And with wireless logging, of course

Paul,

I assume you used to have a deepwater system - is that where the stagnant water developed? This should not happen in any system, but can when there is not enough oxygen. Is that why you use the hydrogen peroxide? I used that in the beginning, but it didn't help much, and it has fallen out of favor in commercial hydroponics. When I started out it was touted as the cure-all, but now most hydroponics suppliers don't even stock it! This is because they have realized that it killed off not only the bad bacteria, but the good bacteria, as well as the very beneficial mycorrhizae. Dead roots are what cause the stagnation you refer to, but beneficial bacteria break them down, as long as the water is well oxygenated, and while H2O2 does add oxygen, it is much better to simply aerate it more. As I mentioned, I also use Hygrozyme - an organic additive which helps break down the dead roots, to make it easier for the bacteria to digest, which adds nutrients for the plants. I add it seldom - I just finished a 500 ml container I got at least 4 years ago - as I rarely have to change the water. Another thing they touted when I started was to change the half the water once a week, probably to sell more nutrients! But I don't even do that with my fish, and the reason for that is to get the "nutrients" OUT of their water, but those are good for plants, I figured. So I just added that sponge filter to a powerhead, pumping about 120 gal/hr (the faint heat of the motor keeps the water around 75º, as well), and I added a little "composting" bacteria, for fish tanks, and have never had a problem with the water becoming stagnant. And the roots are pristine on all of the plants, unlike the early days, when there were some really disgusting balls of slime, when I was killing off those bacteria.

I break my systems down for a summer break, not so much to clean them, but because the plants have just gotten too large, and I am getting my garden harvests. So I don't run them all year - if I did, I would have to do some rotating with some new ones at all times. Many herbs slow down after 6 or 7 months, so this works out about right. I have never grown fruiting plants - takes too long to get the first tomato/pepper, or whatever, plus the nutrient changes needed aren't worth the trouble for me. The herbs are the "lazyman's" plants, and I use them almost daily.

What do you grow in your system? Is it located in a separate room or greenhouse area, and if so, are you considering a CO2 booster? Just curious, since you are mentioning all the other additions to your system.

Oh you give me way too much credit. My system was some pots in a pan of water. No pumps, etc or ant thing else. It worked amazingly well for quite a while actually for herbs and salad green. I am considering hydrogen peroxide because the the salesman recommended it and he has probably grown a few herbs. But I'll wait and see. This time it is herbs and salad greens again, no flowering stuff, though the guy said alpine strawberries are worth a try. We'll see, but yeah seems like too much trouble.

I just grow in the basement. I was kind of sorry to buy something, but my free time has taken a dive, so less DIY then before.

Paul,

I as assuming you had a larger setup, considering the equipment you were talking about. Seriously, though, you should research peroxide and hydroponics - my local store stopped stocking it many years ago, and he told me about the problems with it, and when I checked the six hydroponics sources in my bookmarks, only one of them still carries it, and the other hits I got were all items warning against using the items with "chlorinated water or hydrogen peroxide".