Tinker ☀️Okay, getting my hydroponics started up again!
Got some seeds planted a couple of weeks ago.
Growing Arugula, Kale, Butterball Lettuce, and a local variant called Tennis Ball Lettuce.
Time to set up my grow bins. I'm using the Kratky method. And I've got five gallon bins, so I should be able to grow five heads of lettuce in each bin (we'll see).
The seeds have sprouted and there's an inch or two of roots coming out the bottom of the rockwool cubes. Probably about time to move these into the bins!
Ok, had to make some emergency travel, so just now finally getting to move the seedlings over into the bin.
Note that there is some chlorosis (yellowing of the leaves) and some necrosis (leaves outright dying) - that's because I haven't given them any nutrients yet. Just been giving them water.
The bin has nutrients in it, so hopefully they can heal up. Moving forward, I (obviously) will need to move them over sooner... or just plant directly into the bins (I think I can do that with my set up...). And/or I can add some nutrients to the water just after the seeds start to sprout.
Rockwool with seedlings are being held in the holes by pool noodles.
#hydroponics #kratkyMethod #solarpunk #indoorGardening #urbanGardening
I took some more pictures of me adding nutrients to the water. I have a total of four bins on this shelf, but it can hold two more. So this shelf can grow 30 plants at any given time.
I'm going to go out and grab some 5 gallon buckets from firehouse subs (they sell their used ones for $3 a piece) and see about growing some tomato and pepper plants.
A little less than two weeks of growth.
Note: I left for a week and haven't done anything to them. The wall socket timer does 12 hours a day. The lights turn on and off by themselves. The greens drink the water as they need.
The arugula (over on the left side) has weaker stems. I need to set up a small fan to blow on the plants a bit. I'm told that will strengthen their stems as they grow.
One week update. (total grow time since being in the bins is just under three weeks)
Weekly Update (just under 4 weeks now).
See thread for build and progress.
Build info: https://infosec.exchange/@tinker/111326498680973802
Tinker ☀️ (@[email protected])
@emacymru - Ah! I see! I mean... it is a whole system, one I have built. The shelf is from ikea, but it's cheaper to use the wire frame utility shelves. The bins are from lowes - 5-gallon bins. $10 each. The lights are LED strip lights, three ft each. There are three on each shelf. T5 or T8 equivalent. Umm.... seeds are from seed savers, but we're setting up a seed library, so they'll be free. Plus you can harvest your own seeds. The pool noodle was a buck from the hardware store. The rockwall cubes are about 6 cents each cube. I use Masterblend 4-18-38 as the nutrient blend. It's a couple cents per five gallons of water. And I use tap water. I bought a $15 wall socket timer set to 12hr on and off. So once I plant them in the bins, I forget about them until they finish growing and I harvest them. The whole thing is really inexpensive and easy to build. #solarpunk #hydroponics #indoorGardening #urbanFarming
Weekly update (just under 5 weeks now).... WHEN DO I HARVEST THESE!?!?!?!
Some notes:
- I've only used about a third of the water in the bin (5 gallons total water in bin, 1 gallon for each head of lettuce... and I've only used a third of that).
- The leafy greens seem to be doing well under this amount of light, but the Arugula (pictured) and Kale (on the second shelf) seem leggy with smaller leafs. That would indicate that I'm not giving them enough light. So I might move them to a lower shelf and put more light there.
Also.... it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep my family from eating from them right now. - I mean... in the future, we can have "grazing" plants where folks just eat off the live plant. BUT RIGHT NOW ITS FOR SCIENCE SO HANDS OFF!!!!
See thread for build and progress.
Build info: https://infosec.exchange/@tinker/111326498680973802
Tinker ☀️ (@[email protected])
@emacymru - Ah! I see! I mean... it is a whole system, one I have built. The shelf is from ikea, but it's cheaper to use the wire frame utility shelves. The bins are from lowes - 5-gallon bins. $10 each. The lights are LED strip lights, three ft each. There are three on each shelf. T5 or T8 equivalent. Umm.... seeds are from seed savers, but we're setting up a seed library, so they'll be free. Plus you can harvest your own seeds. The pool noodle was a buck from the hardware store. The rockwall cubes are about 6 cents each cube. I use Masterblend 4-18-38 as the nutrient blend. It's a couple cents per five gallons of water. And I use tap water. I bought a $15 wall socket timer set to 12hr on and off. So once I plant them in the bins, I forget about them until they finish growing and I harvest them. The whole thing is really inexpensive and easy to build. #solarpunk #hydroponics #indoorGardening #urbanFarming
Here's a picture of the roots under the butterhead lettuce as an example. Note no algae growth. Water is clear and clean as when I put it in there. The lettuce is growing really well with full healthy leaves.
But I've only used about a third of the water I expected to so far.... guess I'll keep letting it grow!
Getting time to harvest my first crop! - Posted to Olio app for food give away / food swap.
Olio isn't as active here in the states, but it works really well for peer-to-peer food swapping!
If no one snags this within the week, I'll donate them to the local food bank.
Note: Coming up on the final updates for this specific thread (I'll add another post or two on lessons learned and take a final picture at six weeks).
Ok! Time to harvest!!!
This is about six weeks worth of growth - after the initial seedling sprout.
Next couple of posts will be lessons learned and some shots of the bounty.
(See prior thread for progress)
Build instructions: https://infosec.exchange/@tinker/111326498680973802
Tinker ☀️ (@[email protected])
@emacymru - Ah! I see! I mean... it is a whole system, one I have built. The shelf is from ikea, but it's cheaper to use the wire frame utility shelves. The bins are from lowes - 5-gallon bins. $10 each. The lights are LED strip lights, three ft each. There are three on each shelf. T5 or T8 equivalent. Umm.... seeds are from seed savers, but we're setting up a seed library, so they'll be free. Plus you can harvest your own seeds. The pool noodle was a buck from the hardware store. The rockwall cubes are about 6 cents each cube. I use Masterblend 4-18-38 as the nutrient blend. It's a couple cents per five gallons of water. And I use tap water. I bought a $15 wall socket timer set to 12hr on and off. So once I plant them in the bins, I forget about them until they finish growing and I harvest them. The whole thing is really inexpensive and easy to build. #solarpunk #hydroponics #indoorGardening #urbanFarming
Here's a shot of the Gold Rush and the Butterhead Lettuce.
And interesting thing... I allocated one gallon per head of lettuce... and it really only drank about a third to a half of the water allocated...
Roots are clean. No algae.
I noticed the Kale and the Arugula were leggy. They're still good to eat! I'll just move the next crops into more light (I'm adding a couple strips of LED grow lights to one of the shelves to give more light to those plants.
Troubleshooting light in hydroponics:
Plants are tall or "leggy" with long stems but narrower leaves than you expected: Means they aren't getting enough light so they put all the nutrients into getting closer to the light source so they can eat more. This means not a lot of nutrients go into the leaves and they dont grow as full as they could.
Leaves are full but the edges are brown: They have too much light! They are essentially getting sunburnt. Move them away from the light, lower the brightness of the light, or move to less light / turn off some of the light.
Leaves curl in on themselves: They are too hot. If you light or window is hot, move them away from the heat source.
Leaves curl but stems are long: They are both hot AND starving from light. Provide more light overall so they don't have to get close to the hot light source.
I gave four heads of lettuce away.
- 2x Butterhead
- 2x Gold Rush
I used the Olio App to do so. Right now, not a lot of local folks are using the Olio app for food swaps. So I cheated and got friends to pick them up through the Olio app. Figure we have to get some engagement first before others come along.
As I help more and more folks build out hydroponics, I'll continue to encourage the use of the Olio app to coordinate food swaps.
Here is WHAT IS LEFT OVER!!!! Note: This is just what I'm keeping for myself! This DOES NOT include the four heads of lettuce that I gave away.
Also it's packed in tight. So there's a lot here. I can't really capture it well on the camera, though I tried from different angles (including using the 5 gallon bins for scale).
This is a lot of lettuce. You can see the Kale and Arugula. There's a LOT of butterhead and Gold Rush.
#solarPunk #mutualAid #hydroponics #urbanFarming #indoorGardening
Thoughts for the next crop....
1) I'm going to plant directly into the grow bin... I don't need to do a separate seeding phase and then move it over. I think it'll germinate / sprout right in the bin and then grow roots down into the nutrient water.
2) I'm going to harvest a week earlier this go around... at about five weeks. The leaves seemed fuller then.
3) I'm going to move the Kale and Arugula to more light and keep the light the same for the leafy greens.
4) I'm going to try to grow some spinach and bok choy this go around as well! Maybe swap out the gold leaf for some romaine lettuce. I did four bins this go around. I'll get two more for the kitchen shelf.
5) I really don't like using the rockwool. I mean.. it works GREAT. Like its awesome. But it's 6 cents a cube (expensive, right!?!?!). But I also don't like having to clean it off the plants when I harvest. I'm going to experiment with soil and hydroponic cups and see if that works. Dirt is... dirt cheap. Like... fractions of a cent per plant and much easier to clean off. I'll start a new thread on that. (note: I might still use up some of my rockwool this next go around, but I'll be phasing out of it)
6) I need to expand. Need to grow more. I'm going to build some more grow shelves. Maybe put them in the garage or spread them around the house.
7) I really want to grow two more types of items. Beans and Fruit Bearing Plants (Peppers, Tomatos, Cucumbers, Squash, etc.) - To that end, I'm going to start experimenting with Kratky reservoirs - Still cheap. Still passive. Still automated. Still hands off.
8) I'm going to get more people to use the Olio app for decentralized food swapping. Gonna push the idea that we give away at least 20% of our crop to our neighbors. We can feed everyone. We have the means of production here. We have localized coordination and distribution here. We are building post-scarcity food.
Alright... Lastly, I have enough photos and notes, I can build out a DIY How-To. Once I get that written, I'll add it to this thread and close it out. Cheers all!
#solarPunk #mutualAid #hydroponics #kratky #indoorGardening #urbanFarming #postScarcity
Next crop planted!
30 crops planted:
5x Buttercrunch
5x Romaine
5x Pak Choy
5x Arugula
5x Kale
5x Spinach
I'm not seeding separately. I planted right in the grow bins. We'll see if that works.
Using Kratky method. So I've poured as much water and nutrients as each plant needs and I'm leaving it alone for a couple of months. No pumps, no aerators, etc. Just a food safe plastic 5-gallon bin with water & nutrients and nothing else.
I also added more light. So before I had three LED T5s on both levels. Now I have four on top and five on the bottom.
I'm using rockwool held in with pool noodle sections (the light green circles on top). I'm going to be looking into using other mediums here in the future.
(See thread for previous build information and crop)
#solarPunk #mutualAid #hydroponics #kratky #indoorGardening #urbanFarming #postScarcity
Trouble with my hydroponics!!! Oh noooo!!!!
So, two of my crops failed to germinate in the bins (I'm seeding directly from the bins and not germinating separately / planting into bins after they've sprouted).
This was weird. - Four of the other crops germinated just fine.
So what's going on?
Got to thinking. I put water in from a different tap. Same water... right. So it's not a pH issue, etc. But the water was COLD from this other tap. Like really chilly. Whereas the four bins were filled up with warm water.
So I'm thinking, maybe the temp was too cold for the seeds to germinate.
I've started over, this time with warm water. Will watch if that helps. We'll see!
Nina Kalinina@tinker do you germinate them right in the hydro containers? My family used to germinate seeds separately from planting, by putting them in a little aerated aquarium, with scientifically adjusted water temperature and light levels (different from plant to plant). The seeds were from shady sources and didn't always germinate, but complex dances around them increased the odds
@nina_kali_nina - Yeah, I plant directly in the bins. Less moving parts and simpler.
tomwsmf@tinker I don't think it is your gear so much as seed types. When I am dealing with green leafies or herbs I have noticed that using warmer water to help germinate them seems to make a big difference. The germination rates seem much better.
I have not delved too deep into cold shocking for certain seeds, I have to get some more education on that.
I love interests that keep educating me.
Apiary@tinker sometimes seeds just don’t germinate. I’ll usually throw at least two in each pod just in case.
@Apiary - yeah, I do, too. In this sense, it was grow bins that had five slots each. So I used 10 seeds. Two types of seeds didnt work. Four others did.
I finally just replaced the seed type with two others that i know grow well in this type of environment.
Саша Морс, here we go again...@tinker just getting starting on my shelf setup.
Do you change light intensity or move them based on age of starts?
@alexmorse - Naw, I just put them up there and go.
I had 3x lights per shelf last go. Decided to add one more to the top and two more to the bottom. The arugula and kale were leggy before so I figured more light would be better.
Each 3ft strip can be turned off individually, so I can always tweak it like that if need be.
Kiwiii@tinker I just wanted to let you know that your account is pretty much the first i'm seeing after joining this site and I really love what you're doing. I have a 200 sq foot plot at my community garden in addition to a couple aerogardens that were gifted to me back in 2020. Seeing your posts inspires me to try to diy a hydroponic system in my apartment instead of relying on my areogardens haha.
@tinker
Great setup! I have a couple of misused shelves I need to use this on. Much thanks .
Great setup! I have a couple of misused shelves I need to use this on. Much thanks .
Nonya Bidniss 🥥🌴@tinker I saw a video of a guy who just cuts up tiny pieces of rockwool from the cube, he showed how the tiniest bit of rockwool would do the job and he basically has enough to last a lifetime from one package.
@Nonya_Bidniss - Yeah, it's great isn't it?!
Hydroponics is really really inexpensive as long as you ignore all the ads trying to sell you over complicated pieces of shit for a thousand dollars.
William@tinker @Nonya_Bidniss have you looked at buying a rockwool insulation batt from a hardware store? It would give you literally several thousand "cubes" to propagate in once cut up.
Also, vermiculite is awesome for a lot of this sort of thing. If you had, for example, a little 3D printed basket to hold each plant, that could hold a little handful of vermiculite with the plant. Less nasty to clean off than rockwool I suspect, and also buyable in 100L bags.
@phenidone @Nonya_Bidniss - Yeah, I'm wanting to move away from rockwool altogether.
I haven't considered vermiculite, but will look into it. Cheers for the lead!
gmoke@Nonya_Bidniss @tinker The best rock wool comes from Normandy. All those who really know want that Norman Rockwool.
(Sorry, not sorry)
mask-wearing, socially distant entity@tinker Thanks for the excellent write-up, including what different states mean. Very helpful. I am really looking forward to seeing your posts on tomatoes, cucumbers and squash. (Peppers = 🤢) Those are my jam. 💜 Thanks again!
@geekgrrl - Absolutely! And cheers!
Andy@tinker I love to see Olio in the wild as I helped work on the mvp of that app many years ago
@andysomniac - DID YOU?!?!?! Thank you so much!
I really wish it was more popular here in the states. I really only see it being used in the UK.
But I'm sold on the idea. Just need to get more folks using it here.
I wish they would expand their Food Hero program here in the states. Not sure what needs to happen for that to start.
@tinker yeah I used to work for a small agency that built mvps for companies and act as their tech team until they could move it in house.
I do not know how their business operates, but I think it’s one of those fun “we need to reach a certain use to be able to argue it is worth focusing on an area” situations, but I do not know
@andysomniac - Yeah, fair. Anyhow, that's so cool! Hehehe
wuest@tinker my rec from experience: avoid soil, look into pon (diy is dirt cheap). I'm personally not a fan of rock wool; it's not sustainable, splinters suck just like fiberglass splinters, I don't want it around my food.
Filip 🌱 🦀@tinker how would you go about also extracting seeds maybe? I am thinking of how one would grow your yield when seeds were borrowed from a seed bank
@hhg - You let one of your lettuce plants bolt, go to seed, and then harvest them.
what I'm doing is using these five-gallon bins to grow the heads of lettuce. And then I'm using a separate 1-gallon bin to grow a single head of lettuce purely to let it bolt and go to seed for harvesting.
@tinker ah I see, that makes a lot of sense! Thanks! Looking forward to see how the next batch turns out! Do you harvest by eye or actually use the "scientific" (really don't know the proper name) timeline?
@hhg - Sooooo.... I'm approaching this scientifically, right? Ummm... a couple of things.
Most of the guides on how much water a plant needs and how long it takes to grow are for outdoor gardens. Not for hydroponics.
Like. A head of lettuce takes 1 gallon... but mine took a little less than half a gallon.
Also, I'm using the kratky method of hydroponics. I'm doing this because its really inexpensive, simple to build, passive, and hands off.
I could get a higher yield by a little bit if I pushed a lot of tech and pruned and tweaked, etc., but its not worth the time and effort for me. I'll just grow another head of lettuce and call it a day as long as I dont have to touch the thing after I plant it and until I harvest it.
I am taking notes and tweaking as I go from crop to crop.
So, for example, I'm taking note of how much light a plant requires. Right now I can see that Arugula and Kale need more light than Butterhead and Gold Rush. So for the next crop I'll move those into more light while keeping the light the same for butterhead, etc.
Also, I'm growing some plants individually and just letting them grow for as long as they will until they bolt. Then writing that down. I'll do a bracket and see when the best time to harvest is per plant moving forward.
The big thing is... I have a crop yield right now. I and my friends are eating.... right now. It wasn't perfect, but it certainly was good enough. I'll tweak as I go, but I won't wait to understand it perfectly before I plant.... I'm just gonna keep planting.
@tinker yeah makes sense. I was not sure if you looked up when the harvesting time is for each and worked off of that or kind of improvised, since, as you said, I thought most guides are not for hydroponics and fewer are for the Krakty method
@hhg - Yeah... I just sort of shot towards what some of the guides said... and then have been watching it... and guessing...
I'm winging this whole thing, lol!
Ana Hevesi@tinker this is really helpful, thank you!!
@anthrocypher - Cheers! Let me know if you have any questions or if I can address anything else!
John Francis@tinker you timed it perfectly, the next 8 weeks are always a low point for the lettuce market in North America.
I've used a similar deep-water setup, but with aeration in the water... seems like it's unnecessary? I also found it necessary to change the solution every 2 weeks.
Finding dry hydro nutrients is hard here. Everyone wants to sell jugs of unconcentrated liquid, which doesn't go far with solution changes and bins holding 12L of solution.
@johnefrancis - Yeah, I'm using Kratky method, so no pump or aerator needed.
And I don't change out the solution, it just drinks whats needed.
In fact, I have so much left over, I'm going to continue using this nutrient water in the next go around! I'll add new nutrient water to it to fill it up to the top.
nonlinear@tinker I'm starting hydroponics when I'm back from my trip... I'll do the milk box version to start.
I'll def keep you posted, since it's a game of modulation and communication is key.
What do you do when it gets super cold? Does it grow or I should wait?
@nonlinear - I grow it indoors. So if it gets super cold, I turn the thermostat up, lol! Hehehe
@tinker hm. Maybe I could move them indoors. I dunno. A lot to learn.
Simple Nomad@tinker I had missed the earlier thread and when I viewed it some of the pics were no longer there. Maybe a blog post that covers all of this start to present? That would be awesome, I grow some simple spices in an AeroGarden and want to up my game so to speak.
@simplenomad - I definitely will move this to a blog post. This was a running observation post, but now that its concluded, i can move it over.
That said, in the mean time, if you visit this thread directly on my server (infosec exchange) it will have the pictures. Sometimes they old stuff gets deleted from your server after a time.
Direct link to start of thread here: https://infosec.exchange/@tinker/111115820446219760
Tinker ☀️ (@[email protected])
Attached: 4 images Okay, getting my hydroponics started up again! Got some seeds planted a couple of weeks ago. Growing Arugula, Kale, Butterball Lettuce, and a local variant called Tennis Ball Lettuce. #hydroponics #solarpunk #indoorGardening
Jake
George 🍦🚲 🥾 ✌️🌎 🌌@tinker beautiful, and growing time from sowing to harvest is not different than my experience growing outside
🏴Hamid 🏴@tinker Great job! I'm so glad to see Kratky going on in the wild