Guest guest Posted February 19, 2002 Report Share Posted February 19, 2002 > I was wondering about hydroponics. We have tomatoes, lettuce and peppers grown hydroponically during the winter here locally in greenhouses. What type of food quality can we expect from veggies grown hydroponically Hi a: Expect the level of nutrition in hydroponically grown food to be malnutrition. Albrecht, the soil scientist, explains that the nutrients in the water can not be at a high enough level for what the plant needs, without being toxic to the plant. The minerals can be in much higher concentrations in the soil, without being toxic to the plant. Chi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Daneen, This site would answer your questions: www.aerogarden.com The only thing i don't want about this machine is that it uses plant light that is flourescent. Flourescents are known to emit mercury. > > > > I have been thinking of this for several months now. I am thankful for the aerogarden (hydropohnics) i have. I use distilled water together with the plant nutrient (don't know if it has radiation though). Maybe next time i will just hydrogen peroxide drops. Yeah, truly they make the plants grow, flower and fruit. > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 I grow plants from cuttings using a hydroponic deep-reservoir system with a bubbler. I also build a hydroponic garden with grow columns and a recirculating tank for indoors to put over and around a sliding glass door. Fluorescent lights have the wrong light wavelength to grow plants well unless they are full-spectrum or plant lights. Halides are better. all good, Duncan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 MR CROW, very instresting regarding your Hydroponic system, any pics. would be great. Gerardo Barriga From: Duncan Crow <duncancrow@...> >Coconut Oil >Sent: Friday, October 21, 2011 9:54 AM >Subject: Re: hydroponics > > >Â >I grow plants from cuttings using a hydroponic deep-reservoir system with a bubbler. I also build a hydroponic garden with grow columns and a recirculating tank for indoors to put over and around a sliding glass door. Fluorescent lights have the wrong light wavelength to grow plants well unless they are full-spectrum or plant lights. Halides are better. > >all good, > >Duncan > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 22, 2011 Report Share Posted October 22, 2011 I don't have pics for my hydroponic systems but I'll describe two of them. The first effort worked admirably well; I simply cut 15 round holes in the top of each of two totes, filled the totes with solution, put in air bubblers using aquarium parts, and placed the baskets in there. I would put fresh salvia divinorum cuttings in there under a hood I made from 4 mil poly, box tape and bamboo stakes until the roots developed. Under just one light, the 2-tote garden was productive 12 months a year. My advanced hydro system was much larger -- designed to be an apartment-sized hydroponic garden in front of the 8 foot glass door -- but could be re-sized. I used a soldering torch and tapered bar to carefully heat and flare the holes in four 4 " predrilled septic field drainage pipes. They stand up in the corners of a 2'x10'x1' deep rectangular tank. I capped the columns at the top with a frame made of white 2 " ABS vacuum pipe. ABS frame hides water lines that recirculate water from a pump in the tank to the tops of the columns. ABS frame also hides wire drops to eight small high-output lights that can be raised and lowered by their wires. The tank, which is made with particle board shelving lined with a waterbed mattress material, kind of like a pond liner, has a styrofoam lid with 36 round 2 " cutouts for hydroponic baskets to nest in. The plants that are in baskets contact the water in the tank, which is a deep well recirc system. The recirc incorporates some air into the water. The four columns are full of rock wool, but pea gravel will sag less next time. Some of the water is pumped into the top of the corner columns to feed the plants and trickles down them into the tank. Pump outlet hose can be detached and put outside to purge the the tank. The whole rig is self-supporting in front of a sliding glass apartment patio door, the kind with the heater along under the bottom, with just one pipe strap to stabilise it screwed to the valance over the sliding door. Timers control the lights and the circulating pump. I have a list of Chinese longevity herbs that might be grown indoors; they and a few salad greens was the original idea but you can certainly grow an entire garden's worth of greens in there. Unfortunately for that project my wife Jo and I moved soon after meeting and there was nowhere to set it up so I had to dismantle it. If anyone on Vancouver Island wants to pick it up I'd sell the prototype to recover $400 costs. all good, Duncan > > MR CROW, very instresting regarding your Hydroponic system, any pics. would be great. > > > Gerardo Barriga > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 22, 2011 Report Share Posted October 22, 2011 Thank U. Gerardo Barriga From: Duncan Crow <duncancrow@...> >Coconut Oil >Sent: Saturday, October 22, 2011 9:07 AM >Subject: Re: hydroponics > > >Â >I don't have pics for my hydroponic systems but I'll describe two of them. > >The first effort worked admirably well; I simply cut 15 round holes in the top of each of two totes, filled the totes with solution, put in air bubblers using aquarium parts, and placed the baskets in there. I would put fresh salvia divinorum cuttings in there under a hood I made from 4 mil poly, box tape and bamboo stakes until the roots developed. Under just one light, the 2-tote garden was productive 12 months a year. > >My advanced hydro system was much larger -- designed to be an apartment-sized hydroponic garden in front of the 8 foot glass door -- but could be re-sized. I used a soldering torch and tapered bar to carefully heat and flare the holes in four 4 " predrilled septic field drainage pipes. They stand up in the corners of a 2'x10'x1' deep rectangular tank. I capped the columns at the top with a frame made of white 2 " ABS vacuum pipe. ABS frame hides water lines that recirculate water from a pump in the tank to the tops of the columns. ABS frame also hides wire drops to eight small high-output lights that can be raised and lowered by their wires. The tank, which is made with particle board shelving lined with a waterbed mattress material, kind of like a pond liner, has a styrofoam lid with 36 round 2 " cutouts for hydroponic baskets to nest in. The plants that are in baskets contact the water in the tank, which is a deep well recirc system. The recirc incorporates some air into the water. The four columns are full of rock wool, but pea gravel will sag less next time. Some of the water is pumped into the top of the corner columns to feed the plants and trickles down them into the tank. Pump outlet hose can be detached and put outside to purge the the tank. > >The whole rig is self-supporting in front of a sliding glass apartment patio door, the kind with the heater along under the bottom, with just one pipe strap to stabilise it screwed to the valance over the sliding door. Timers control the lights and the circulating pump. > >I have a list of Chinese longevity herbs that might be grown indoors; they and a few salad greens was the original idea but you can certainly grow an entire garden's worth of greens in there. Unfortunately for that project my wife Jo and I moved soon after meeting and there was nowhere to set it up so I had to dismantle it. If anyone on Vancouver Island wants to pick it up I'd sell the prototype to recover $400 costs. > >all good, > >Duncan > > >> >> MR CROW, very instresting regarding your Hydroponic system, any pics. would be great. >> >> >> Gerardo Barriga >> > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 22, 2011 Report Share Posted October 22, 2011 Duncan, They are plant grow lights. They have three oval loops in a unit. You can see them at this website incl. the plant food. http://www.aerogarden.com/accessories-cat-index The machine has a bubbler to provide oxygen. It tells you when to put water and food. I have harvested three times from one seed and it is still producing more seeds. Kinda amazing. We have tasted mustard, bok choy, tatsoi, etc. They truly taste just like those planted on soil outside without radiation. > > I grow plants from cuttings using a hydroponic deep-reservoir system with a bubbler. I also build a hydroponic garden with grow columns and a recirculating tank for indoors to put over and around a sliding glass door. Fluorescent lights have the wrong light wavelength to grow plants well unless they are full-spectrum or plant lights. Halides are better. > > all good, > > Duncan > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 22, 2011 Report Share Posted October 22, 2011 Fluorescents have to be very high-output or they do very little and they have to be close to the plants because they are low light. Halides are better, especially halides in a plant light enhanced form. I picked up some useful techniques from a legal marijuana grower; the hydroponic shop owner knows a lot too all good, Duncan > > > > I grow plants from cuttings using a hydroponic deep-reservoir system with a bubbler. I also build a hydroponic garden with grow columns and a recirculating tank for indoors to put over and around a sliding glass door. Fluorescent lights have the wrong light wavelength to grow plants well unless they are full-spectrum or plant lights. Halides are better. > > > > all good, > > > > Duncan > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Hi , Thanks for letting us know about these. I have always wondered if they really worked and your experience is awesome! I'm definitely ordering one - or two or three. Do you buy your seeds from them as well or do you have another source? Best, Dee > > Duncan, > > They are plant grow lights. They have three oval loops in a unit. You can see them at this website incl. the plant food. > > http://www.aerogarden.com/accessories-cat-index > > The machine has a bubbler to provide oxygen. It tells you when to put water and food. I have harvested three times from one seed and it is still producing more seeds. Kinda amazing. We have tasted mustard, bok choy, tatsoi, etc. They truly taste just like those planted on soil outside without radiation. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Save your money. The little hydroponic kits " work " in that they can grow a few ounces of real leaves, which amounts to just a couple of leaves every couple of days if you don't overpick them. Most food plants grow much too large for such a small grow station. You'll see; it'll grow cress and oregano fine but food veggies are pretty big for such a setup. Sprouting your own sprouts nets bigger returns of biological value. A 4'x8' flood table and single 1000 watt bulb would be more appropriate for growing some of the food for one person indoors. The hydroponic system I built was only 2'x10' with 120 grow stations, probably not big enough yet. Here's a short video of a flood table of a size that might help: Here's a video that explains how to set one up: all good, Duncan > > Hi , > > Thanks for letting us know about these. I have always wondered if they really worked and your experience is awesome! I'm definitely ordering one - or two or three. Do you buy your seeds from them as well or do you have another source? > > Best, > Dee > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Duncan, Just as a 2 x 10 foot table was too big for your apartment, a 4 x 8 ft. would be too big for inside my house. These pots are perfect, however, for starting plants from seeds which I can then plant outdoors. I live in Florida and my son has already built a wall of containers for plants all around our deck. A couple of the large hydroponic kits will also supply salad greens for the times the weather doesn't permit growing outdoors and the cost will still be less than the $400 you spent on the one you can no longer use (not to mention all the work involved). Dee > > > > Hi , > > > > Thanks for letting us know about these. I have always wondered if they really worked and your experience is awesome! I'm definitely ordering one - or two or three. Do you buy your seeds from them as well or do you have another source? > > > > Best, > > Dee > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 I'm envious; growing in a subtropical climate no doubt introduces interesting possibilities I'm temperate rain forest here and don't have outdoor space with dirt that's any good for growing, being recently glaciated it's primarily silt and clay. I made a couple of piles of good compost though with my son at his place and using it the next year we made a humdinger of a producing garden in just 7' x 22' outdoor space May-October. We also had enormous summer squash vines growing right out of the compost pile and several yards across the neigbour's unkempt back corner too. I understand growing seedlings or buying them and transplanting them to dirt, which is what I did in some cases afer sprouting food seeds in layers of wet paper towel. In indoor gardening, bare-root hydroponics produced consistently well and was less work than dirt for me; I was shipping bare-root plants. I still use dirt for local plants. all good, Duncan > > > > > > Hi , > > > > > > Thanks for letting us know about these. I have always wondered if they really worked and your experience is awesome! I'm definitely ordering one - or two or three. Do you buy your seeds from them as well or do you have another source? > > > > > > Best, > > > Dee > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 For those of you with an interest in HYDRO-ponics, you might also consider AQUA-ponics...the Marriage of 'Aquaculture' (growing aquatic animals, ex, fish, freshwater shrimp, etc) with 'Hydroponics' (growing plants without soil).... ....in AQUAPONICS, one uses the fish waste-water (transferred by pump/pvc pipe) to fertilize and nourish the plants (which are grown in clay pellets or other media in grow beds). And one uses the plants (and nitrobacter bacteria, which break down the ammonia'd 'fish water' to a form plants can use) to clean the fish water. One throws in, say, some commercial catfish pellets to the front end, and harvests veg and - occasionally - fish (tilapia and catfish are most typically grown in USA) from the back end. And add water occasionally to compensate for evaporation. No need to buy spendy-n-mysterious hydroponic chemicals, hmm. And :: can be truly and completely organic, depending on what one feeds one's fish. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/information.html Very big in Australia, where water is at a premium; google 'Murray Hallam' on you tube or http://www.aquaponics.net.au/ For micro-backyard-use, consider barrel-ponics: http://www.saveourskills.com/complete-guide-barrelponics ....or google-up-yer-own. ~ ruby ~ > > > > I have been thinking of this for several months now. I am thankful for the aerogarden (hydropohnics) i have. I use distilled water together with the plant nutrient (don't know if it has radiation though). Maybe next time i will just hydrogen peroxide drops. Yeah, truly they make the plants grow, flower and fruit. > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 That is such a beautiful concept... and very kind to the earth... it demonstrates the cycle / circle of life... one thing we may view as waste is a source of food for another organism... is there concern at all about bad bacteria from the fish water?... I had heard of one of these that 'went bad...and a major 'clean-up needed to be done... wondering if it was just poor maintenance or hygeine for the operation that was the cause... d ________________________________ From: arubyinthedust <arubyinthedust@...> Coconut Oil Sent: Monday, October 24, 2011 9:19 AM Subject: Re: hydroponics  For those of you with an interest in HYDRO-ponics, you might also consider AQUA-ponics...the Marriage of 'Aquaculture' (growing aquatic animals, ex, fish, freshwater shrimp, etc) with 'Hydroponics' (growing plants without soil).... ....in AQUAPONICS, one uses the fish waste-water (transferred by pump/pvc pipe) to fertilize and nourish the plants (which are grown in clay pellets or other media in grow beds). And one uses the plants (and nitrobacter bacteria, which break down the ammonia'd 'fish water' to a form plants can use) to clean the fish water. One throws in, say, some commercial catfish pellets to the front end, and harvests veg and - occasionally - fish (tilapia and catfish are most typically grown in USA) from the back end. And add water occasionally to compensate for evaporation. No need to buy spendy-n-mysterious hydroponic chemicals, hmm. And :: can be truly and completely organic, depending on what one feeds one's fish. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/information.html Very big in Australia, where water is at a premium; google 'Murray Hallam' on you tube or http://www.aquaponics.net.au/ For micro-backyard-use, consider barrel-ponics: http://www.saveourskills.com/complete-guide-barrelponics ....or google-up-yer-own. ~ ruby ~ > > > > I have been thinking of this for several months now. I am thankful for the aerogarden (hydropohnics) i have. I use distilled water together with the plant nutrient (don't know if it has radiation though). Maybe next time i will just hydrogen peroxide drops. Yeah, truly they make the plants grow, flower and fruit. > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 I think aquaculture would be well suited to a type of catfish called Basa , which is a true catfish that USA catfish lobbyists don't want us to call a catfish because it tastes so much better than channel catfish. These are not bony and while harvested fairly small and the fillets are a manageable 3/4 lb. per side. They grow practially in any ditch full of water like a carp. all good, Duncan > > > > For those of you with an interest in HYDRO-ponics, you might also consider AQUA-ponics...the Marriage of 'Aquaculture' (growing aquatic animals, ex, fish, freshwater shrimp, etc) with 'Hydroponics' (growing plants without soil).... > > ...in AQUAPONICS, one uses the fish waste-water (transferred by pump/pvc pipe) to fertilize and nourish the plants (which are grown in clay pellets or other media in grow beds). > > And one uses the plants (and nitrobacter bacteria, which break down the ammonia'd 'fish water' to a form plants can use) to clean the fish water. > > One throws in, say, some commercial catfish pellets to the front end, and harvests veg and - occasionally - fish (tilapia and catfish are most typically grown in USA) from the back end. And add water occasionally to compensate for evaporation. > > No need to buy spendy-n-mysterious hydroponic chemicals, hmm. And :: can be truly and completely organic, depending on what one feeds one's fish. > > See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics > > http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/information.html > > Very big in Australia, where water is at a premium; google 'Murray Hallam' on you tube or http://www.aquaponics.net.au/ > > For micro-backyard-use, consider barrel-ponics: > > http://www.saveourskills.com/complete-guide-barrelponics > > ...or google-up-yer-own. > > > > ~ ruby ~ > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 Hi Duncan: Not to be argumentative, but I have never tasted _any_ farmed fish of any species that equals the wild variety... and wild channel cat is pretty tasty IMHO. But freshwater bass beats it a mile if it comes from good water. Strangely, largemouth bass and striped bass, though unrelated, taste remarkably alike and the meat looks the same. Largemouth bass are sunfish and stripers are true bass. Largemouth can do quite well in a small farm pond, but carp can breath air, so do well in smaller ditches with low oxygen as you suggest. What I am saying is that if I had a pond, it would have largemouth bass in it and I could enjoy catching them too. Regards, Jim I think aquaculture would be well suited to a type of catfish called Basa , which is a true catfish that USA catfish lobbyists don't want us to call a catfish because it tastes so much better than channel catfish. These are not bony and while harvested fairly small and the fillets are a manageable 3/4 lb. per side. They grow practially in any ditch full of water like a carp. all good, Duncan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 Hi, Don - I am not *aware* of any diseases fish get which may be communicated to humans (and I have been keeping aquaria for lo, many years now) or to plants (edible or non-edible), for that matter. That said, an aquaponics systems *does* need to be kept in Balance....as far as pounds-of-fish v. cubic-feet-of-bacteria-colonized-grow-bed(s)-filtering-those-fishes'-body-wastes\ ....and :::: pumps need to be run consistently, with a back-up power source in case of electrical outage...an electrical outage would cause one's Valued Nitrobacter (bacteria) to suffocate/starve, so that they would discontinue their conversion of fish waste, hmm, causing ammonia spikes, and also cause one's fish to be deprived of oxygen, which could cause fish death, and so forth, and so on....snd as with any aquaria, one should avoid overfeeding, and take out dead fish, and depending on what fish one keeps, one might need auxiliary heat in winter, and so forth and so on. ~ r ~ > > > > > > I have been thinking of this for several months now. I am thankful for the aerogarden (hydropohnics) i have. I use distilled water together with the plant nutrient (don't know if it has radiation though). Maybe next time i will just hydrogen peroxide drops. Yeah, truly they make the plants grow, flower and fruit. > > > > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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