Organic Hydroponics

Soilless mix composed chiefly of peat moss is unquestionably, the most versatil, ph balanced horticultural medium. It comes under various trade names. Ask at your local hydroponics retailer about popular brands.

If plenty is used, feeding could be as minimal as once a week, such as when the medium begins to dry out. Soilless mix is best used to keep the workload down because it retains a lot of moisture and nutrients between periodic feedings (i.e. feeding once a week). Feeding immediately after it is daylight, or when lights start up is a good time to periodically saturate this medium.

Nevertheless, if soilless mix is fed continuously with a top-feeding hydroponic system, plant growth will be much faster. However, flow rate is critical with some soilless mixes. If the flow is too fast, water will form puddles and over-flow out of the containers. With soilless mix, continuous feeding works best with slow feeding and large containers. The grower should use a proper ph balanced water soluble organic formula, such as one from a commercial manufacturer, or from Chapter five in this book.

Another way to run solution through soilless mix is to set an intermittent timer to operate for a couple of minutes at a time, several times per day (i.e. six times).

BILLY BOB’S ORGANIC HYDROPONIC SYSTEM

(Using soilless mix - Complete Set Up)

Materials:

1. Two plastic flood tables (or whatever size is needed for growing space) available at hydroponic shops; or two sheets of ¾” plywood, six pieces of 1” x 2” wood (cheapest), and 17 feet of 10-foot-wide black poly plastic (thick). Available at hardware stores or building supply shops. Custom sizing may be needed for a particular room size. As an easier option, plant dishes, which are cheap and available at garden centers, can be placed under the containers.

2. Sawhorses to support tables

3. One five gallon bucket for each flood table, to catch run-off solution. Found all over the place.

4. One or two bales (3.8–8 cu. ft.) of unfertilized soilless mix that is pH buffered at near neutral (6.0–7.0) and is mainly composed of peat, perlite, and lime. Available at garden centers, mercantile wholesalers, and hydroponic shops.

Bales are often found in 2.0- and 3.8-cu. ft. sizes. (Room size is the important factor in determining the correct size. Note: One bale fills about ten five-gallon containers.)

5. 2-20 buckets (or 2-20 nursery pots). Available at garden centers and hydroponic shops. Also available at flea markets, second-hand places, and restaurants. The number of buckets depends on the size of the room. Smaller gallon buckets (ie) one to three gallon sizes are good for growing a large number of small plants. Larger containers(ie) five to 20 gallon buckets are good for growing a small number of large plants. Both methods are effective.

6. Fertilizing materials. See Chapter five for feeding and formulas for soilless mix.

Setting Up:

Now that the basic set-up is out of the way, the mix comes next. Lay down a tarp on which both bales of soilless mix can be opened and broken up.

Make several drainage holes (up to 75% hole space, meaning that only 25% of the bottom will be showing plastic) in the bucket (food-grade) bottoms, using a sharp knife, unless using nursery containers.

The containers with mix can be placed on a flood table. A simple alternative to the flood table is to use plant dishes to catch run-off solution, or a bucket can be placed under each flood table to catch the solution.

Wear a respirator, or at least some sort of dust mask, while mixing all these components thoroughly. If care is not taken here, sloppy mixing may be a high-risk activity, because masks keep materials such as soilless mix and other fertilizers from getting into the lungs.

Top up the buckets with the soilless mixture to one inch from the top.

Then, water them until they get a good soaking. Plants can now be transplanted into the mix.

OTHER MIX-MAKING OPTIONS

An option is to add worm castings (9 kg (~20 lbs) of castings per 3.8–4.0 cu. ft. bale) and / or ¼–½ bag of perlite or vermiculite. Adding inexpensive perlite is recommended for extra aeration in the mix and for its pH near neutral (7.0) characteristic.

The mix in this program is actually of organic hydroponic quality; to qualify in the soilless mix category, a formula must be less than 10% inorganic soil. This formula is much more than 90% soilless. The organic peat, gypsum, dolomite lime, earthworm castings, and perlite all qualify as soilless.

A. Flood and drain add on:

Instead of feeding the plants periodically from the top, the plants can be fed by flooding and draining the bottom roots as soon as they get to the bottom of the containers.

The plants will adjust and roots will feed while growing out the bottoms of the containers. This will be more productive than regular feeding. Plants will no longer need to be fed from the top.

When the top of the mix stays wet, air to the roots is lost. However, if the top of the mix stays wet, this moisture will act like a parachute if anything goes wrong with flooding and draining, such as perlite compaction clogging a filter, or bat guano clogging up pantyhose which will restrict the pumping capacity of the pump.

Adding this flood and drain option is possible during any part of the program. See flooding and draining in Chapter four for full set up.

B. Top-feeding add-on:

Plants can be fed periodically or continuously with top feeding. For organic fertilizers, 1/4 inch lines are recommended to feed the plants. Plants can be top-fed in the soilless mix, or they can, be transplanted into a larger container of a different grow medium, such as clay, and then top-fed from there. Top-feeding details and full set-up are explained in Chapter four.

C. Drip Watering System add on

Hand watering can be done relatively quickly and is, of course, the cheapest way to go. However, installing a drip system (with or without a computer timer) may allow for easy living. With a drip system, gravity causes liquid to flow from a high elevation downward into the pots. Hand feeding is recommended for the beginner, to develop a more hands-on, personal feel to nutrient solution volumes. If amounts of solution are given, the results are better. Also, getting close to the plants allows for bug inspections, dead leaf picking, and leaf stroking.

Tools:

1. drill

2. 1” hole saw

3. a small drill bit (less than 1/8”)

4. handsaw.

Materials:

1. 20-gallon plastic garbage can for larger rooms, 10-gallon can for small rooms. Or, use whatever size is needed to give each plant the adequate amount of solution. i.e. two quarts (litres).

2. ¾-inch thru-hull fitting with o-ring.

3. Tap (for turning off and on).

4. PVC fitting with a ¾-inch threaded female end and a ½-inch end for the polybutylene tubing to fit on.

5. ½-inch PVC end cap.

6. 1/8” fittings to plug into header line (the same number as the number of plants). Use only one size for the job.

7. 20 feet of ½-inch polybutylene tubing(or what is needed).

8. 50 feet and probably more of 1/8 inch polybutylene tubing.

9. Silicone.

10. Inline filter unit and filter with ¾-inch threads (male and female).

11. Computerized water timer (optional).

12. Support system for the garbage can, as high as possible in a corner of the room, i.e., a very tall stool on top of a platform.

13. Sandpaper for plastic (any coarseness).

14. One small c-clamp (optional).

15. Hole punch for 1/8 inch fittings into header line.

16. Teflon tape.

(All materials are easy to find except for the timer, which is available at garden centers, hydroponic shops, and water supply businesses.)

Set-up procedure:

1. Using a 1-inch hole saw, drill a 1-inch hole in the side of the garbage can 2-3 inches from the bottom.

2. Insert the ¾-inch hull-thru fitting. Make sure the o-ring is on the inside of the can, and the threads are on the outside of the can.

3. Cut the fitting at the end of the threads furthest from the garbage can. This cut should be vertical and uniform. Sand the plastic particulate before screwing the tap on, using the Teflon tape between the threads. Teflon taping between all the other threaded fittings helps prevent leaks.

4. Connect the inline filter, which will give decent results and be easy to clean. The entire water-holding unit should be located high in the comer of the room. A platform built of plywood scraps or other junk gives support for the liquid solutions.

5. (Optional) Fasten the computerized timer, if it is part of the project. If it is not included, then fasten the female end of the ¾-inch PVC fitting (part #4 in material list) to the inline filter.

6. Gently connect the ½-inch tubing to the last fitting so that it is secure, yet allows for easy removal of the line to clean the filter. This should hold sufficiently, but a small c-clamp may also be added to the connection for extra safety.

Some fertilizers, such as bat guano and Sea mix™, water with particulate, and other forms of debris can clog the inline filter, the 1/8 inch fittings, or the ½-inch tubing.

However, many fertilizing mixes will not clog the lines too. Monitoring the system carefully so that disasters such as plants going without solution does not occur. Clean the filter frequently by rinsing it with plain water and removing the ½-inch end cap and flushing system with plain water. Blowing into the ends of 1/8 inch end tubing helps remove clogs, but if that is necessary, a flush of the system may be necessary.

If the computer timer is part of the program, it should be set to run for plenty of time, so that it will not shut off during the drip process. Using the computer is risky business, because it may be used when nobody is home. Why else would it be needed? Calendars do work. If premises are vacated, electronic malfunctions, battery failure, clogs in the system, or fluke leaks are all possible.

Going without the computer and taking advantage of the ease a drip system is already beneficial. An entire two-room system offers the opportunity to take up to five days off at a time without missing a feeding once watering frequencies are known. Since raising lights, clean-up work, misting, picking dead leaves, bending plants (see Page 45 and pages 200-202), checking for bugs, checking timers, etc., go along with the job, any more than a few days off is foolish. Freedom is an advantage of this cultivation system, because some hydroponic growers suffer from fear of leaks, pump failure, clogged lines, ph problems, etc.

Two advantages of organic hydroponics are the usage of low radioactive fertilizers, and flavor. But, two much organic fertilizers that don't get flushed out can lower the grade too.