Arugula seedlings

Assistance.

When I do my gardening and hydro, I try not to use any harsh chemicals, since I am eating the crops and well, not all chemicals are good.  So, I use NEEM oil a bit, and it helps keep aphids and spidermites at bay.   Short of a nutty-smelling work area, it seems to do ok.  I believe it slows down the metabolism of the bugs once they ingest it and its organic and safe, so it works well.  The next item would be some foliar spray to use on the plants now and then, help with some extra nutrients in the cloners or just when the plant is a little stressed.

Not shown in this picture is some anti moth corn BT spray for outdoor crops, should I ever attempt to grow corn again in such a squirrel infested area.

Someone always says to grow sacrificial dill and chives to attract the aphids and leaf suckers to them, but I just check my plants regularly.  Im eager for the spring to get here and then we'll have some crops outside with natural predators (bugs, birds) to take care of the little stem suckers.

Transplants

After a week or so in the cloner, my tomatoes and basil cutting are rooted and loving life - they have secondary roots going on and I move them into either a bigger hydro system or into dirt, depending if these are going to be given to friends, family or used in my own hydro or (in the spring) outside garden.  So far, the peppers are the biggest challenge, most likely due to their woody, rigid stems and I have to research it further.  No plant death, but no roots being created either, so its a mystery for me at the moment.

I have to just keep an eye on the transplants and keep the deadly aphids and smidermites away, it seems that it happens in my grow area, and its most likely my own carelessness.  Rule of thumb is never to bring hydro plants inside from the outside world - dirt, air, wind, bugs, you name it - thats where they come from.  If you're desperate, buy a bag of ladybugs and let them chomp and clean up the local pests.

The tomatoes are producing nicely, and I continue to pollenate them with the electric toothbrush.  I have some new Ramapo tomato seeds which I put into starter cubes, the brown dirt-colored ones, the name skips me at the moment, but I picked up a 5x10 tray of them and dug out some old seeds I had saved.  I had a 40% success rate on germination with a heated seedling mat, so that's not too bad.  I will take pictures of them this weekend and post them, they're about 3-4 inches high now.  Some were transplanted into my 11-pack ebb and flow system, and some I planted in dirt since I will be moving them outside in 8 weeks or whenever the frost is passed here in NJ.  I plan on getting another greenhouse put in in March/April, so those will be put in there as well.  I have no patience for squirrels and other biting varmints, so Im going to be taking another hard line against them this year.  We will see.

Nutrients

For the most part I have used Botanicare and General Hydroponics nutrients and Ph control.  My local hydro store, www.hydro77.com carries a wide selection, although they're not always the cheapest.  They are convenient and have a few people on staff who know what they're talking about.  I was tired of having such large containers of nutes all over, so since my growing space is limited, I picked up a few glass/rubber eye dropper bottles since I don't whip up more than a few gallons at a time when I do refresh/flush every few weeks.  The eye droppers give me a better control over how much I measure in.  Maybe a graduated cylinder or other measuring glass would be better, but for now, this keeps the counter less-than-cluttered and they're all ready for me to even mix up a small amount for seedlings, young plants.

Thankfully I have not ever burned my plants.  Short of them getting too close to the lights, they have been ok. Chemical or nutrient burn hasn't been a problem short of in a seedling batch where I mixed in the wrong batch of water, and quickly noticed the next day some browning of arugala seedlings.  I flushed them and gave them the right low-to-no nute water.

We'll see how long it takes the Ph Down to eat through the rubber stopper on the dropper, but I bought a case of 24 online for about $15, so it wasn't bad.

The first crop is always the tastiest, that is if you've done your job as Plant god and supplier of nutrients.  Too much and you burn your plants, too little and your plants could wither away, or just have some small amounts of growth that you are not a happy plant parent at the end of the cycle.

My roma's started Nov 9, 2010 as 3 inch high seedlings are now full grown and have produced about 3 lbs of tomatoes so far.  They started ripening about 2 weeks ago, and I have been enjoying the crop:

I used botanicare grow, bloom, micro and some "ripe" when I got along to having a lot of green fruit hanging on the vines.  Again, the whole ebb and flow system is housed in a bedroom inside a 6x6x8 grow booth.  Lighting is a 400W HPS light with a standard reflector.  Also sharing the nutes and home are some hot chili pepper plants shown below:

They're hot, but not quite habanero, but I'm going to let them grow a bit and see how much bigger they get.  I have used some in my hot sauces and hot jelly that I make.  I pollenate both plants with a small $5 kids electric toothbrush every few days and visibly I see plenty of pollen out and about.  A small fan keeps the plants tossing around and keeps fresh air cycling through the system.  I try and keep my TDS anywhere between 1500 and 1800 for now, and I just use a small handheld meter to keep me in line with nutes.  Ph is tested via vial and drops, and I check it every few days to be in the 6.x range.  Flushings happen ever 4-6 weeks, depending on the TDS readings and I top off the water every 4-5 days now that there is fruit and the plants requirements are much higher.  I have a small 12v pump which pumps out into the drain in the bathroom, then I reverse the pump and pump in tap water.  Once that's filled, I drain it once more, and pump in PH and Nutrient adjusted water.  Its a 25 gallon tank, so it takes about 10 minutes through a standard garden hose attached to the pump. 

The end result today, was a very nice salad with some hydro basil added in for a little extra flavor.  Short of making my own olive oil, salt and pepper, I feel very proud as I always do for bringing all these plants to fruition.

Lettuce is a mix of varieties which I grow in dwc, ebb and flow mini systems and grow trays.

Ok, off to eat lunch. :)

Hydro Systems 1

The following are pictures of my first homemade hydroponic systems, which I began building a few years ago.  Some of these are still in use, just in a larger scale.

The first was a drip system which the first tomato pic in post 1 is using:

Following the success of this drip, I made some modifications to prevent some of the algae buildup, such as covering the clear tubes with tape/paint, and making sure I put covers over the hydroton clay pellets.

The next system I found online, I'll have to find the link to credit the author, but here is a photo of the building of the "11-pack" as I called it. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/05/hydroponics_onl.php is the closest I could find to the original author, so if you find the original link, please reply/post it for me here.  Using leftover 2 liter soda bottles, some pvc, a pump and a rubbermaid tub, it worked like clockwork, and add a timer and you're all set.  This unit is still working, and its modular in a way that the cups and holders just get cleaned and replaced when they wear down.

This unit just needs some regular bleaching/cleaning between crops, and occasionally the roots will grow down into the tubes and a coathanger is required to snake them out.  Low maintenance and I intend on making another one this spring for outdoors.  Hot peppers and tomatoes have lived together in harmony in this hydro system.  I used general hydroponics powdered nutrients and had very good results with them.  The regular rainwater-ph adjustment was the only other issue I had since the covers on the plant bases were not that good.  Just something to improve this year with some light "sheet plastic".

I will post more pictures of my past and current crops in the days ahead.  Drop me a note if you have any questions.

About me.

Hi there.  I've been doing hydroponics for a few years.  Originally starting with the aerogarden, I soon began to build my own DWC, ebb and flow and other variants for for growing.  Being in the NJ area, the zone isnt perfect for a long outdoor season, so most of my hydro is done inside.  Currently my equipment exists of a few 400w lights, HPS and MH, fans, some homemade ebb and flow units as well as a 6x6x8  growbooth with a Botanicare ebb and flow.  Hot peppers and tomatoes are usually my choice of crops, but I keep herbs handy and peas and beans are always on the list.  I hope to post some pictures so you can get an idea of what I have done in the past, mistakes I have made and what I did to overcome those challenges. I will try and post regular pictures and as many data points and values I can. My arch nemesis the spidermite (and aphids) will also portray a piece in the story, as the neverending battle explodes regularly.  I will skip around chronologically due to the nature of how long I have been doing this versus my blog time.

Any questions, feel free to email me and ask.

Hydro973