EXCELLENT!!!! This is exactly what I have been looking for. You really break it down for this newbie, I can't thank you enough. I have been gardening outside for the longest time and quite frankly, I am tired of all the bugs and plaint ailments that come with it. I work so hard and just like that, they can erase everything. Although I won't quit my outdoor gardening, I would like to supplement it, at least for now, with some indoor hydroponics. Besides growing my own food for the health benefits involved, we now have to be concerned about the cost and who knows what availability will be there for food in the future. Having a garden, indoors or out is food security that I need to have. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, it is greatly appreciated and I can't wait to binge watch later, for now I am off to the garden!
I remember when I first started into hydroponics as well. I was similar. Always trying to go full tilt hardcore and over do it. Good video but over thinking it can cause more damage than good. Also the TDS is not as big of a deal as you think. When you start adding nutrients it automatically increases your TDS. Biggest thing is make sure if you are using tap water, primarily city provided water that you allow the chlorine to air out. Hydroponics is also known as soilless growing. Best advice for anyone is that gather as much info as you can and go at it in your own approach. Learn as you go. No one is perfect and we all find our own learning curve based on our own environment. I encourage everyone to do this. Again good video. I can tell you like what you do.
i guess that depends on where you live.. where i am, my EC of the tapwater is 0.8 mS already, and that makes it difficult for any smaller plants that require lower EC, as it means i can't add sufficient - in some cases any - nutrients without overfeeding and putting the plants into nutrient-lockout.. also most manufacturers recommendations on how much nutrient solution to use, is based on RO water and this was only clear to me after i got an EC meter and actually measured what it meant to the EC to "use 2ml of this per liter of water"... let's not forget that the environment plays a huge role.. if you have a 15w LED for some plants, the nutrient requirements are completely different than when using a 1000w lamp, as the amount of vegetative growth will be completely different, so one general formula from the supplier can't really work.. (kind of like "give your cat one can of cat-food a day" might work well on a house-cat, but not on a tiger ;)) chlorine on the other hand isn't an issue where i live (it's not added), but i agree that in places where it is, it should be a priority to get it out.. and it's pretty easy to do anyways. with an air-stone it's even faster i've read.. now i just use RO water (the RO filter cost me less than 50 Euro, so that's the cheaper route than buying distilled), bring it up to about 0.3/0.4 mS with calmag and then still have a great base to add most nutrients for plants that are too young to go over 0.8 mS.. also i measure the solution each day, so i can see if my plants have too little, sufficient or too much nutrients in the reservoir.. if you measure a lower EC than when the solution has been in there (or the run-off in drain-to-waste systems), you know the plant used more nutrients than water, so it's good to raise the amount of nutrients by a tiny factor.. if the EC is higher than what you initially put in, then you know the plant used more water (or there might be a lot of evaporation), and it's better to lower the amount of nutrients, as you might overfeed it.. the perfect middle (a stable EC over time) is the perfect balance and usually that also means that the plant looks healthy. I measure that and PH daily and it's been working great, while before that i had quite a lot of under- or over-fed plants.. No matter what, i fully agree with you that everyone should try to do this, and that it's a good video. I've grown my first peppers hydroponically about 12 years ago, and up to this day i still keep on learning new things that help improve my harvests..
You can take a 50 gallon drum of tap water. Fill it and allow it to stand for 2-3 days. Chlorine will evaporate and the dissolved solids will fall to the lower 1/3 of the water area. You can then from top down slowly and remove the top 2/3 of the 50 gallons. That will give you close to fully distilled water.
Unfortunately, most municipalities now use chloramine instead of chlorine. Chloramine remains in the water a lot longer than a week, and is fairly inert, so it doesn't really evaporate off readily. As for dissolved solids settling out of solution, good luck with that.
@sabbracadabra I use a rodi system (reverse osmosis deionized water system)- it removes dissolved solids to about 1 part in a million. Just shy of what distilled water is. The only drawback is that it can use up to 4 gallons of tap water to produce a single gallon of 'clean' water.
Thank you thank you thank you! I’ve been struggling with hydroponics for awhile now, I’ve tried a few different methods and I’ve had some success but I haven’t been able to set up a multi-leaf type environment the will actually produce. I’ve done a lot of things wrong oh and one easy way to prevent algae on the clear white containers is to simply wrap them in tin foil with the shiny side out. I’ve found it to be a simple solution and I just use masking tape to tape it in place three or four long sheets of it is all it takes, it’s very inexpensive and looks nice and keeps your totes so clean you won’t believe the difference! Because if you have ever tried to clean algae out of a tote you will find it’s absolutely impossible to get it out of all the nicks and crannies and one thing I can tell you if you happen to have a tote that has been compressed together with glue the algae will eat through it and will cause your containers to actually leak and even if they are slow leaks it will cause your plants to die and you could end up with a very expensive clean up with algae water all over your floor in the basement. Also those empty distilled bottles if you wrap those in foil are great kratky style containers for your beginner plants like lettuce any leafy greens or beginner pepper or tomato plants. I found it interesting that you left your kale and basil in the smaller net cups despite putting them in the enormous large cups. I would have though you would have removed those so that the plants could truly stretch out and grow the way I’m thinking the small net cups will keep them restricted at that section? Did you eventually remove them? I’m new to your channel and I’ve subscribed and I look forward to catching up on all your content. I love your easy to follow straight forward instructions and provide much needed information. I’m still not convinced that distilled water or reverse osmosis water is truly needed I feel if our city tape water it okay for humans then it must be okay for my plants. Having said that I do always fill my containers with water and let them sit for at least 24 -36 hrs which allows the chlorine and any flouride to disperse/evaporate (I’m not sure what the correct term is)into the air and then I take my ph rating and I always have to use ph down to get it to the correct ph of 5-6. I find I don’t need a whole lot of it but I takes the water to where it wants to be. My understanding was ph testing should be done before any nutrients were added in? I noticed you did it after, does it make any difference ? One other question you mentioned you began your solution half strength until the plants got a bit larger and then you will change it to full strength once the plants are larger. So what I wondered do you dump out the solution that is in the bucket or do you just add more solution? How often do you have to add solution to your buckets? Or do you take a different bucket and mix up the solution and then just pull out the net cup and move it to the full strength solution bucket and then move the pump to the new bucket? Sort of like revolving buckets? And how often would this have to be done? Of course we are always looking for the easiest solution or path of least resistance. Just like water lol! Thanks again I look forward to trying all your suggestions!!🙏🏻🥰🇨🇦
Thanks for this, for me an introduction to hydroponics. After watching a program on UK tv called ‘Click’ which they showed a very automated, expensive way to hydroponics I thought that there must be a simpler cheaper way to do it. I will do more research and intend to try it for myself. Thanks again for your efforts in this production.👍😊
I just want to thank you for taking the time to do this video. I’ve watched a lot of videos on hydroponics and yours is the best I’ve seen hands down. I’m new to hydroponic gardening and can’t wait to get started. Two thumbs up!
Thanks you, I'm glad I can help. Here is a link to a playlist for a recent video series I just did. It shows I how started up a micro green tub hydroponically. Enjoy and best of luck! -Michael ruclips.net/p/PLq4N7s0bShHoOkp6d3u6xjPv5GK81vhwh
i used to take the small sub water pumps 1/2 in id hose and my cap net buckets mounted in the 5 gallon top. plug the hose and drill some to run around the base of my "tomato" plant basicly a drip/water fall/DWC so i could flush my CAP ebb and grow one pot at a time. my CAP ebb and grow is still rocking strong. always be sure to have a few spare pumps
You don't need net cups, you don't need rock wool, you don't need giant buckets unless you're growing plants that are going to get huge, like tomatoes. I use cut-up rubber floor puzzle mats to hold my plants over the water in the tub holes and it works just fine and allows the stems to grow without impeeding. There is no real "right" way to do it per se, as long as the plants can grow in water with nutrients everything else is up to your imagination and creativity. As a growing medium, I'm using my reptile's coconut fiber as a nursery "soil". Plenty of air, plenty of moisture, it works great. You don't have to go out of your way to get things, just find what you have available. The kratky method is, by far, the easiest hydroponic method out there I believe. You don't need any air pumps or anything. Standing water and let the water levels drop so the roots get both air and water. Easy. Lots of ways to grow food. C:
Great video ! Thank you so much for sharing your ideas with us. I am currently researching how to build a hydroponic garden. Your way is much easier than putting together a lot of pvc pipe and I know that I will be trying to duplicate what you have done. Thanks again !
This is the best explanation I've seen so far! Thanks! Been researching this all day and am shopping for supplies to start up our hydro garden. I love how you show what you do and explain it as you went.
I was always afraid to try hydroponics because it seemed so much more difficult than just soil-growing, but after seeing how much better it works (faster growth, better looking fruits/veggies, less water wasted, etc), if done correctly, i'm gonna give it a few tries.
great video, all in all. very easy to understand.. one recommendation though: never put the PH up or PH down directly from the bottle into the nutrient solution... it's much too concentrated and too acidic (PH-) or alkaline (PH+) and might chemically react with the nutrients that you just put in before, and can make them unusable for further use by the plants.. especially with Ph+ you can sometimes see that it forms a little cloudy area after dripping it in.. that means those nutrients were wasted. it's better to put the PH+/PH- into a shotglass with some water first and then use this diluted mix to put into the nutrient-solution.. given you also only need a little, it's also much easier to portion it this way, as there's a much bigger margin of error, than when it's highly concentrated :) edit: and please do yourself a favor and get a ph-meter and don't use the color tests.. PH uses a base-10 logarithmic scale, so PH 5.0 is 10 times more acidic than PH 6.0.. those tests just arent precise enough, and decent PH meters aren't that expensive (but yes, they do require some maintenance and regular calibration)
I grow hydroponically with DWC. I start with reverse osmosis water where the water is about 6 PPM to 8 PPM. Your water should be less than 20 PPM, ideally less than 10 PPM, to prevent nutrient lockout. I use a Hydrologic Stealth RO 200 reverse osmosis watering unit. I use a three part dry mix, which costs drastically less than the pre-mixed liquid nutrients. I use Masterblend 4-18-38, calcium nitrate, and epsom salt. I buy them from Morgan County Seeds. For greens it’s 10 grams / 10 grams / 5 grams per 5 gallons. For fruiting plants 12 grams / 12 grams / 6 grams. Young plants get a half strength dose. I pH with 5 ml of General Hydroponic pH up per 5 gallons to a pH of 6, measured with pH testing drops. I use similar 5 gallon buckets and trays. But they are black in color. There is much less algae problems if you use black color plastic. I drill the holes for the 3” net pots with a 75mm hole saw drill bit. Forward direction for the small pilot hole, reverse direction for the larger hole. The reverse direction for the larger hole produces clean edges every time. The mandrel that holds the hole saw drill bit must be able to lock in place so that you can drill in the reverse direction. I use air one-way check valves in each air line so that the nutrient cannot siphon into the air pumps. The check valves are available from pet stores. The fluorescent lights are good enough for greens, but you need more light for fruiting plants. I use a ceramic metal Halide light for the fruiting plants. High pressure sodium, Halide, or high intensity LEDs could also be used for fruiting plants, such as tomatoes or peppers. Greens grow better with DWC than Kratky, but fruiting plants grow drastically better with DWC than Kratky.
@Meadow Apple The much higher light intensity from my 315 watt Sun Systems Ceramic Metal Halide light (about $400) makes a huge difference with fruiting plants, like peppers and tomatoes, verses trying to use fluorescent lighting. The fruiting plants will grow under fluorescent lighting, but their growth is very poor compared to using the Ceramic Metal Halide light. The fluorescent lighting is good enough for non-fruiting green plants. I still test pH with testing drops. I need to break down and buy a digital pH meter, then I can test pH more accurately. But I don't think that pH is that critical as long as the testing drops have the "yellow" color.
After watching so many videos, and getting so excited about starting mine,Your video seems to be the most explanatory and easiest one I have seen.Thanks for pushing me to actually do this.:)
Good beginning tutorial. I would have liked to see the plants when they were fully mature, as that is the only way to know if you can produce enough to eat during the winter.
How often do you fertilize? And do you just add to the existing water already in the buckets? Or do you have the empty to bucket completely and start fresh?
Hi, I am Orpha and I am 73 years old, have become interested in hydropnic and I am about to get stated, I am acquiring the supplies before getting the seeding. I like your manner and matter of fact attitude. If I have question once in awhile may I come abroad and ask your advice? I have subscribes so that I don't lose you, lol. Thank you do much.
My first seeds have just begun to sprout! I'm a new subscriber and love your simple approach. Thanks for explaining your methods and especially the reasons behind them. A stupid question if you'll permit me - I'm growing in my basement up north of you in Ontario, Canada. I introduced a temperature gauge last week and was surprised it was only 21 degrees Celcius in the basement. That's just shy of 70 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm running a heat mat under the seeds. It seems to be running north of 80 degrees. Is that too high? Should I be concerned? Any comments would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!🥴
After researching Aquaponics, Hydroponics & soil growing, its a fact that hydroponics grow larger plants in a shorter or equal amount of time especially cannabis & in all seasons w/a Greenhouse like I am using in winter. I liked your instructional video a lot, for the simple fact we new-beez's need various options. As I said After researching many videos many people don't tell us why and a shorter route. Thanks so much and ill follow your videos, Keep on teaching because it means the world to us on strict budgets.
@Meadow Apple I've tested your theory many times and your right outdoor plants do grow bigger when planted in direct soil but they don't grow nowhere near as fast If they are grown in the same size bucket hydro wins easy hands down
I don't use those blurple lights also I'm talking performance indoors out performs outdoors specially where I stay I only get about 5 hours of direct sunlight so Im limited to what I can grow but I can grow all year round indoors
@Meadow Apple I see where your coming from but doesn't that contradict what you were saying in your original comment by adding a light outdoors also I would need artificial heating aswell I also grow cannabis so humidity is a big issue aswell and not having enough light effects my yields alot As for my lighting indoors I use a hlg 550 v2 rspec hlg300 v2 rspec for flowering and 2 sf4000 for veg And the difference between yields is night and day also I don't have to deal with pest indoors and I use less water and less nutrients indoors using rdwc
Tons of great info thanks. The “Lava rock” is pumice stone formed during volcanic eruptions when hot pressurized lava is ejected. Lava rock is the common name. . . Pumice Stone is the other name I think you were looking for.
thanks for all the info. I planned on visiting a hydro store on Monday but not sure I have to with all the info in this video! I bought wool rock and tiny cups last year which went unused. now that I am ready to try my hand at a small hydroponic garden I'm wondering if the wool rocks and cups are too small or does it really matter once the roots are established? the cup measures 2" across top whereas the wool rock is about half the size. or do I remove from the small cup and transfer to a larger one during its final weeks?
This was a great and very easy video to follow so thank you for that! I do have question's though.1) The PH UP you show in video, was by Botanica but there are several. Your picture on your bottle is a flower, does that matter for food? 2) What do you do once the plant starts growing? Do you transfer it to something else? 3) How often do you add more water? 4) How often do you add the flakes?
Loved it! Thank You for making it so simple that I can start this today. Be blessed and please continue to put this valuable content out there. I’ll share and tell others
dude!!! i have grew dwc for many years now.. you sir hit all the speaking points of things to be aware of. the tds, the ph.. i was all about that.. but this last grow i did,, i took it a bit farther on the ph and never tested the level.. and all grew amazing.. you wanna know how?? i think we dont need to scare people and make it look like a big monster that its not. and just so you know i have about 15 years of growing in water... but damn man.. great job!!
Hi sir, great information which I have been looking for from so many days. Apart from videos do you have any website regarding hydroponics so that we all can follow and get updated about your work. I am really interested to learn hydroponics and every little detail about it from basics.
I use because expanded clay pebbles and 10 inch net pots in 5 gallon buckets, or I also have green tree 2 1/2, double buckets where one is for flood and drain second is for pebbles, but always flooded
Brand new to this world i want to start some tomato, bells and other peppers today and transplant out side in May. Next year I’ll start in mid February and transplant in mid April. I bought the two inch net pots and the Rapid Rooter pods. Are these units big enough to grow for three months?
What's the easiest way to germinate seed into seedlings ? I am located in S. Texas where temps vary each day. No basement, just garage, suggestion? Really enjoyed your video.
I was looking for the promised link for the TDS meter (Total Dissovled Solids). I don't see the link. Also I am curious, where you bought your metal racks in the background ? They look well built and sturdy. Thanks for your concise video manner. :)
Hello my friend, I have a great work and idea. I would like to learn a lot from you about hydroponics at home. I liked it very much. I hope to provide me with everything I need step by step, thank you
I noticed you keep the pump outside the container, feed the airline into the bucket and use an air stone to splash water up to the roots. Another approach I've seen is to have the pump inside the larger container, and feed water through a PVC network in the container, and into little spray heads, tapped into the PVC so that water is sprayed in a controlled way onto the roots. Can you explain the pros and cons of your method vs the other? your method seems much easier and lower cost as well.
Thanks for the vid and for not adding music! I'd really like to try this outdoors but agree there are a lot more variables - bugs, excessive heat, evaporation etc. I may try in a screened porch which gets great light. On your setting fruit comment I think you need to hand pollinate - just based on what I've heard prior. May want to try that with a Q tip or similar / or look for a vid on it.
I have been wanting to get into Hydroponics, and your videos have made me feel extremely comfortable trying this out. I can not wait to get started. Have you done anything like cucumbers. My main thing I want to grow are Pickling cucumbers, I know they are like 99.9% water, so I will need to monitor this. Any advise would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Nicholas, thanks for watching! One thing to keep in mind is temperature. I grow in my basement where it's always 68 degrees. Its perfect for lettuce, spinach, etc. However in the past I've had difficulty getting fruiting plants (like peppers) to flower. My best advise is to just get started and learn along the way. Best of luck and keep in touch! I'm planning more hydroponic content for this winter.
Hi, thank you for this video! Very informative. Do you repot them in bigger net cups for better yield or are they just always in the small cups? Also, have you tried growing tubers like potatoes, carrots and beets?
Hi awesome video, very detailed! Where I’m from there is no hydroponics fertilizares supply but rather traditional agriculture fertilizers (liquid and dry). How to make a hydroponic mix from it?
Depends on what you’re growing. Some plants like peppers love the heat. You will use more water and solution though through increased consumption and transpiration.
Several years ago I was trying distilled water with a salt water fish tank. Great plan until I tested the copper content in the water and it was ridiculously high. In an invertebrate setup, this would have easily killed everything, Would the tds meter reveal any issues such as this ?.... very nice video... I’m now a subscriber !
you never mentioned where you got the black lids for the pails... does lowes sell them or hydroponics or amazon? also please please do not use curly fluorescent bulbs, even tubes if you break one, you poison your whole home with mercury... you cannot vacuum or sweep it up... save for leds then cheap out on the tubs and pots... this is the best vid yet, i like the tower setups with pumps, but this looks like fun. try a bit of sponge, rubber bands or o rings to absorb vibration contact sound between airstone and bucket/tote bin and let me know if it cuts down your sound any...
Um maybe you should watch the video again as he did tell us/you where he gets his as well as a couple other places we can get them. I'll give you a hint to one of the places he mentioned. First word what kind of growing is this? Second word store. 😂😂😂
EXCELLENT!!!!
This is exactly what I have been looking for. You really break it down for this newbie, I can't thank you enough.
I have been gardening outside for the longest time and quite frankly, I am tired of all the bugs and plaint ailments that come with it. I work so hard and just like that, they can erase everything. Although I won't quit my outdoor gardening, I would like to supplement it, at least for now, with some indoor hydroponics.
Besides growing my own food for the health benefits involved, we now have to be concerned about the cost and who knows what availability will be there for food in the future. Having a garden, indoors or out is food security that I need to have.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge, it is greatly appreciated and I can't wait to binge watch later, for now I am off to the garden!
I remember when I first started into hydroponics as well. I was similar. Always trying to go full tilt hardcore and over do it. Good video but over thinking it can cause more damage than good. Also the TDS is not as big of a deal as you think. When you start adding nutrients it automatically increases your TDS. Biggest thing is make sure if you are using tap water, primarily city provided water that you allow the chlorine to air out. Hydroponics is also known as soilless growing. Best advice for anyone is that gather as much info as you can and go at it in your own approach. Learn as you go. No one is perfect and we all find our own learning curve based on our own environment.
I encourage everyone to do this. Again good video. I can tell you like what you do.
i guess that depends on where you live.. where i am, my EC of the tapwater is 0.8 mS already, and that makes it difficult for any smaller plants that require lower EC, as it means i can't add sufficient - in some cases any - nutrients without overfeeding and putting the plants into nutrient-lockout.. also most manufacturers recommendations on how much nutrient solution to use, is based on RO water and this was only clear to me after i got an EC meter and actually measured what it meant to the EC to "use 2ml of this per liter of water"... let's not forget that the environment plays a huge role.. if you have a 15w LED for some plants, the nutrient requirements are completely different than when using a 1000w lamp, as the amount of vegetative growth will be completely different, so one general formula from the supplier can't really work.. (kind of like "give your cat one can of cat-food a day" might work well on a house-cat, but not on a tiger ;))
chlorine on the other hand isn't an issue where i live (it's not added), but i agree that in places where it is, it should be a priority to get it out.. and it's pretty easy to do anyways. with an air-stone it's even faster i've read..
now i just use RO water (the RO filter cost me less than 50 Euro, so that's the cheaper route than buying distilled), bring it up to about 0.3/0.4 mS with calmag and then still have a great base to add most nutrients for plants that are too young to go over 0.8 mS..
also i measure the solution each day, so i can see if my plants have too little, sufficient or too much nutrients in the reservoir.. if you measure a lower EC than when the solution has been in there (or the run-off in drain-to-waste systems), you know the plant used more nutrients than water, so it's good to raise the amount of nutrients by a tiny factor.. if the EC is higher than what you initially put in, then you know the plant used more water (or there might be a lot of evaporation), and it's better to lower the amount of nutrients, as you might overfeed it.. the perfect middle (a stable EC over time) is the perfect balance and usually that also means that the plant looks healthy.
I measure that and PH daily and it's been working great, while before that i had quite a lot of under- or over-fed plants..
No matter what, i fully agree with you that everyone should try to do this, and that it's a good video.
I've grown my first peppers hydroponically about 12 years ago, and up to this day i still keep on learning new things that help improve my harvests..
Great video. I would love to see more.
Thanks for all of the details everyone else just tells you how to set up the buckets
God bless you for sharing these videos. You are helping people help themselves and this is the best way of doing it.
You can take a 50 gallon drum of tap water. Fill it and allow it to stand for 2-3 days. Chlorine will evaporate and the dissolved solids will fall to the lower 1/3 of the water area. You can then from top down slowly and remove the top 2/3 of the 50 gallons. That will give you close to fully distilled water.
I wonder that makes sense for fish so it makes sense for plants as well
Unfortunately, most municipalities now use chloramine instead of chlorine. Chloramine remains in the water a lot longer than a week, and is fairly inert, so it doesn't really evaporate off readily. As for dissolved solids settling out of solution, good luck with that.
@sabbracadabra I use a rodi system (reverse osmosis deionized water system)- it removes dissolved solids to about 1 part in a million. Just shy of what distilled water is. The only drawback is that it can use up to 4 gallons of tap water to produce a single gallon of 'clean' water.
Wait - what ?? ... tap water has chlorine ???
Such an abundance of knowledge here for anyone starting up. You really do a great job simplifying things. I'll be sure to watch your other videos.
Thank you thank you thank you! I’ve been struggling with hydroponics for awhile now, I’ve tried a few different methods and I’ve had some success but I haven’t been able to set up a multi-leaf type environment the will actually produce. I’ve done a lot of things wrong oh and one easy way to prevent algae on the clear white containers is to simply wrap them in tin foil with the shiny side out. I’ve found it to be a simple solution and I just use masking tape to tape it in place three or four long sheets of it is all it takes, it’s very inexpensive and looks nice and keeps your totes so clean you won’t believe the difference! Because if you have ever tried to clean algae out of a tote you will find it’s absolutely impossible to get it out of all the nicks and crannies and one thing I can tell you if you happen to have a tote that has been compressed together with glue the algae will eat through it and will cause your containers to actually leak and even if they are slow leaks it will cause your plants to die and you could end up with a very expensive clean up with algae water all over your floor in the basement. Also those empty distilled bottles if you wrap those in foil are great kratky style containers for your beginner plants like lettuce any leafy greens or beginner pepper or tomato plants.
I found it interesting that you left your kale and basil in the smaller net cups despite putting them in the enormous large cups. I would have though you would have removed those so that the plants could truly stretch out and grow the way I’m thinking the small net cups will keep them restricted at that section? Did you eventually remove them? I’m new to your channel and I’ve subscribed and I look forward to catching up on all your content. I love your easy to follow straight forward instructions and provide much needed information. I’m still not convinced that distilled water or reverse osmosis water is truly needed I feel if our city tape water it okay for humans then it must be okay for my plants. Having said that I do always fill my containers with water and let them sit for at least 24 -36 hrs which allows the chlorine and any flouride to disperse/evaporate (I’m not sure what the correct term is)into the air and then I take my ph rating and I always have to use ph down to get it to the correct ph of 5-6. I find I don’t need a whole lot of it but I takes the water to where it wants to be. My understanding was ph testing should be done before any nutrients were added in? I noticed you did it after, does it make any difference ?
One other question you mentioned you began your solution half strength until the plants got a bit larger and then you will change it to full strength once the plants are larger. So what I wondered do you dump out the solution that is in the bucket or do you just add more solution? How often do you have to add solution to your buckets? Or do you take a different bucket and mix up the solution and then just pull out the net cup and move it to the full strength solution bucket and then move the pump to the new bucket? Sort of like revolving buckets? And how often would this have to be done? Of course we are always looking for the easiest solution or path of least resistance. Just like water lol! Thanks again I look forward to trying all your suggestions!!🙏🏻🥰🇨🇦
Thanks for this, for me an introduction to hydroponics. After watching a program on UK tv called ‘Click’ which they showed a very automated, expensive way to hydroponics I thought that there must be a simpler cheaper way to do it. I will do more research and intend to try it for myself. Thanks again for your efforts in this production.👍😊
thank you for being someone to use this for something other then MJ 👍
I just want to thank you for taking the time to do this video. I’ve watched a lot of videos on hydroponics and yours is the best I’ve seen hands down. I’m new to hydroponic gardening and can’t wait to get started. Two thumbs up!
Thanks you, I'm glad I can help. Here is a link to a playlist for a recent video series I just did. It shows I how started up a micro green tub hydroponically. Enjoy and best of luck! -Michael ruclips.net/p/PLq4N7s0bShHoOkp6d3u6xjPv5GK81vhwh
Grass and Garden TV
i used to take the small sub water pumps 1/2 in id hose and my cap net buckets mounted in the 5 gallon top. plug the hose and drill some to run around the base of my "tomato" plant basicly a drip/water fall/DWC so i could flush my CAP ebb and grow one pot at a time. my CAP ebb and grow is still rocking strong. always be sure to have a few spare pumps
This is JUST the video I've been needing! Thank you for explaining and demonstrating. Best I've watched so far.
Great startup info with an excellent demonstration on growing seedlings the hydroponic way!!
This video and DWC itself may well help all of us get through the current pandemic.
Exclnt vid.
Thx
You don't need net cups, you don't need rock wool, you don't need giant buckets unless you're growing plants that are going to get huge, like tomatoes. I use cut-up rubber floor puzzle mats to hold my plants over the water in the tub holes and it works just fine and allows the stems to grow without impeeding. There is no real "right" way to do it per se, as long as the plants can grow in water with nutrients everything else is up to your imagination and creativity. As a growing medium, I'm using my reptile's coconut fiber as a nursery "soil". Plenty of air, plenty of moisture, it works great. You don't have to go out of your way to get things, just find what you have available. The kratky method is, by far, the easiest hydroponic method out there I believe. You don't need any air pumps or anything. Standing water and let the water levels drop so the roots get both air and water. Easy. Lots of ways to grow food. C:
Wow. I am so very impressed. I’m retired, bored and wanting to do something useful for family and neighbours..looks like I found it.
Great video ! Thank you so much for sharing your ideas with us. I am currently researching how to build a hydroponic garden. Your way is much easier than putting together a lot of pvc pipe and I know that I will be trying to duplicate what you have done. Thanks again !
This is the best explanation I've seen so far! Thanks! Been researching this all day and am shopping for supplies to start up our hydro garden. I love how you show what you do and explain it as you went.
I was always afraid to try hydroponics because it seemed so much more difficult than just soil-growing, but after seeing how much better it works (faster growth, better looking fruits/veggies, less water wasted, etc), if done correctly, i'm gonna give it a few tries.
I sometimes wonder if you can make the water of hydroponic and spray your soil plants
@@J2DaB33 you can water your plant using hydroponic nutrients
@Jonny Sandtrap just ph balance the water to the recommended level and mix your hydroponic formula in that water. Put in soray bottles and you are set
@@PropagandaMinister you mix your nutrients Together Like Me 3 part. ----- 1. First
Then adjust ph. 🗿
This video is perfect and filled with so much great information. Thank you!!!
great video, all in all. very easy to understand.. one recommendation though: never put the PH up or PH down directly from the bottle into the nutrient solution... it's much too concentrated and too acidic (PH-) or alkaline (PH+) and might chemically react with the nutrients that you just put in before, and can make them unusable for further use by the plants.. especially with Ph+ you can sometimes see that it forms a little cloudy area after dripping it in.. that means those nutrients were wasted. it's better to put the PH+/PH- into a shotglass with some water first and then use this diluted mix to put into the nutrient-solution.. given you also only need a little, it's also much easier to portion it this way, as there's a much bigger margin of error, than when it's highly concentrated :)
edit: and please do yourself a favor and get a ph-meter and don't use the color tests.. PH uses a base-10 logarithmic scale, so PH 5.0 is 10 times more acidic than PH 6.0.. those tests just arent precise enough, and decent PH meters aren't that expensive (but yes, they do require some maintenance and regular calibration)
Learned a lot! Bought system but wasn't sure how to start. Thanks for sharing with those of us who want to start and to be successful.
I grow hydroponically with DWC. I start with reverse osmosis water where the water is about 6 PPM to 8 PPM. Your water should be less than 20 PPM, ideally less than 10 PPM, to prevent nutrient lockout. I use a Hydrologic Stealth RO 200 reverse osmosis watering unit. I use a three part dry mix, which costs drastically less than the pre-mixed liquid nutrients.
I use Masterblend 4-18-38, calcium nitrate, and epsom salt. I buy them from Morgan County Seeds. For greens it’s 10 grams / 10 grams / 5 grams per 5 gallons. For fruiting plants 12 grams / 12 grams / 6 grams. Young plants get a half strength dose. I pH with 5 ml of General Hydroponic pH up per 5 gallons to a pH of 6, measured with pH testing drops.
I use similar 5 gallon buckets and trays. But they are black in color. There is much less algae problems if you use black color plastic.
I drill the holes for the 3” net pots with a 75mm hole saw drill bit. Forward direction for the small pilot hole, reverse direction for the larger hole. The reverse direction for the larger hole produces clean edges every time. The mandrel that holds the hole saw drill bit must be able to lock in place so that you can drill in the reverse direction.
I use air one-way check valves in each air line so that the nutrient cannot siphon into the air pumps. The check valves are available from pet stores.
The fluorescent lights are good enough for greens, but you need more light for fruiting plants. I use a ceramic metal Halide light for the fruiting plants. High pressure sodium, Halide, or high intensity LEDs could also be used for fruiting plants, such as tomatoes or peppers.
Greens grow better with DWC than Kratky, but fruiting plants grow drastically better with DWC than Kratky.
@Meadow Apple The much higher light intensity from my 315 watt Sun Systems Ceramic Metal Halide light (about $400) makes a huge difference with fruiting plants, like peppers and tomatoes, verses trying to use fluorescent lighting. The fruiting plants will grow under fluorescent lighting, but their growth is very poor compared to using the Ceramic Metal Halide light. The fluorescent lighting is good enough for non-fruiting green plants.
I still test pH with testing drops. I need to break down and buy a digital pH meter, then I can test pH more accurately. But I don't think that pH is that critical as long as the testing drops have the "yellow" color.
What a very well done video. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your expetise
After watching so many videos, and getting so excited about starting mine,Your video seems to be the most explanatory and easiest one I have seen.Thanks for pushing me to actually do this.:)
Aquaponics for those looking to add fish. Nice work brother. Keep it up
Good beginning tutorial. I would have liked to see the plants when they were fully mature, as that is the only way to know if you can produce enough to eat during the winter.
Thank you. I appreciate your video. You taught me. I am nervous but looking forward to getting started.
How often do you fertilize? And do you just add to the existing water already in the buckets? Or do you have the empty to bucket completely and start fresh?
Hi, I am Orpha and I am 73 years old, have become interested in hydropnic and I am about to get stated, I am acquiring the supplies before getting the seeding. I like your manner and matter of fact attitude. If I have question once in awhile may I come abroad and ask your advice? I have subscribes so that I don't lose you, lol.
Thank you do much.
My first seeds have just begun to sprout! I'm a new subscriber and love your simple approach. Thanks for explaining your methods and especially the reasons behind them. A stupid question if you'll permit me - I'm growing in my basement up north of you in Ontario, Canada. I introduced a temperature gauge last week and was surprised it was only 21 degrees Celcius in the basement. That's just shy of 70 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm running a heat mat under the seeds. It seems to be running north of 80 degrees. Is that too high? Should I be concerned? Any comments would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!🥴
This is a good video to cover the basics. Thank you. It gave me a lot of awareness and information.
Thank you sir for your time 👍🏼
Thank you so much for this video! I am just starting with my romaine lettuce seedlings and growing venture and this info is so helpful 😍
After researching Aquaponics, Hydroponics & soil growing, its a fact that hydroponics grow larger plants in a shorter or equal amount of time especially cannabis & in all seasons w/a Greenhouse like I am using in winter. I liked your instructional video a lot, for the simple fact we new-beez's need various options. As I said After researching many videos many people don't tell us why and a shorter route. Thanks so much and ill follow your videos, Keep on teaching because it means the world to us on strict budgets.
@Meadow Apple I've tested your theory many times and your right outdoor plants do grow bigger when planted in direct soil but they don't grow nowhere near as fast
If they are grown in the same size bucket hydro wins easy hands down
@Meadow Apple yes mate same feed same time same size pot different pH
I don't use those blurple lights also I'm talking performance indoors out performs outdoors specially where I stay I only get about 5 hours of direct sunlight so Im limited to what I can grow but I can grow all year round indoors
@Meadow Apple I see where your coming from but doesn't that contradict what you were saying in your original comment by adding a light outdoors also I would need artificial heating aswell I also grow cannabis so humidity is a big issue aswell and not having enough light effects my yields alot
As for my lighting indoors I use a hlg 550 v2 rspec hlg300 v2 rspec for flowering and 2 sf4000 for veg
And the difference between yields is night and day also I don't have to deal with pest indoors and I use less water and less nutrients indoors using rdwc
@Meadow Apple wow you sir definitely know your lights I'm actually learning from your comment any suggestions on a pre assembled light for veg
Very well explained video. I have watched lots of videos already on hydroponics, but yours one I found very very helpful specially for beginners.
Thank you!
L
Tons of great info thanks. The “Lava rock” is pumice stone formed during volcanic eruptions when hot pressurized lava is ejected. Lava rock is the common name. . . Pumice Stone is the other name I think you were looking for.
What did the small seedlings grow in to root before transplanting over to the blue florescent tube?
Thanks for all the great information
Nice project. Thanks for sharing. How much would electricity cost be if you left the lights and pumps running 24/7 for a month?
thanks for all the info. I planned on visiting a hydro store on Monday but not sure I have to with all the info in this video! I bought wool rock and tiny cups last year which went unused. now that I am ready to try my hand at a small hydroponic garden I'm wondering if the wool rocks and cups are too small or does it really matter once the roots are established? the cup measures 2" across top whereas the wool rock is about half the size. or do I remove from the small cup and transfer to a larger one during its final weeks?
Really great video. Better than most I’ve seen so far
Well done video. Thanks for sharing your subject knowledge.
You can boil tap water to remove devolved solids. Figure to add this since dissolved water prices have gone up in price
This is one of best video on starting hydroponics I've seen so far ..... thank you very much for explaining every step!
Thank you . I really learning alot.
This was a great and very easy video to follow so thank you for that! I do have question's though.1) The PH UP you show in video, was by Botanica but there are several. Your picture on your bottle is a flower, does that matter for food? 2) What do you do once the plant starts growing? Do you transfer it to something else? 3) How often do you add more water? 4) How often do you add the flakes?
Loved it! Thank You for making it so simple that I can start this today. Be blessed and please continue to put this valuable content out there. I’ll share and tell others
dude!!! i have grew dwc for many years now.. you sir hit all the speaking points of things to be aware of. the tds, the ph.. i was all about that.. but this last grow i did,, i took it a bit farther on the ph and never tested the level.. and all grew amazing.. you wanna know how?? i think we dont need to scare people and make it look like a big monster that its not. and just so you know i have about 15 years of growing in water... but damn man.. great job!!
Thanks! Stay tuned for more hydros this winter! -Michael
Sir, can you tell me what type of solution you use, how to use it in this system, i am beginner
14:16 and the name is on the bottle and in the description.
Hi sir, great information which I have been looking for from so many days. Apart from videos do you have any website regarding hydroponics so that we all can follow and get updated about your work. I am really interested to learn hydroponics and every little detail about it from basics.
I use because expanded clay pebbles and 10 inch net pots in 5 gallon buckets, or I also have green tree 2 1/2, double buckets where one is for flood and drain second is for pebbles, but always flooded
Brand new to this world i want to start some tomato, bells and other peppers today and transplant out side in May. Next year I’ll start in mid February and transplant in mid April. I bought the two inch net pots and the Rapid Rooter pods. Are these units big enough to grow for three months?
What's the easiest way to germinate seed into seedlings ? I am located in S. Texas where temps vary each day. No basement, just garage, suggestion? Really enjoyed your video.
Awesome video exactly the same system I'm doin
good video
it was helpful and simple. i enjoyed it
I was looking for the promised link for the TDS meter (Total Dissovled Solids). I don't see the link. Also I am curious, where you bought your metal racks in the background ? They look well built and sturdy. Thanks for your concise video manner. :)
I just noticed i have the same rack but mines is painted
Hello my friend, I have a great work and idea. I would like to learn a lot from you about hydroponics at home. I liked it very much. I hope to provide me with everything I need step by step, thank you
Thanks for this video. Never thought of this, so much easier!!!!THANKS
How do you check the water level and fill when the plants get big?
Question, if you have a 3x4’ plant how do you feed it?
Also how do you keep a watchful eye the water level?
I noticed you keep the pump outside the container, feed the airline into the bucket and use an air stone to splash water up to the roots. Another approach I've seen is to have the pump inside the larger container, and feed water through a PVC network in the container, and into little spray heads, tapped into the PVC so that water is sprayed in a controlled way onto the roots. Can you explain the pros and cons of your method vs the other? your method seems much easier and lower cost as well.
IS THE BLUE LOWE'S BUCKET BPA FREE or will it leach "bad stuff" into the plant roots?
very good tutorial.
Great analysis thanks for sharing
Thanks for the vid and for not adding music! I'd really like to try this outdoors but agree there are a lot more variables - bugs, excessive heat, evaporation etc. I may try in a screened porch which gets great light. On your setting fruit comment I think you need to hand pollinate - just based on what I've heard prior. May want to try that with a Q tip or similar / or look for a vid on it.
Thanks. I've learned to hand pollinate with a straw or an electric toothbrush.
Hey Michael, is there a specific air pump that you'd recommend for this?
Great instructional video. Thumbs up, saved and subscribed! Thank you.
Thank you!
Thank you for this excellent and informative video. Missed this growing season but planning for next year. Have to grow outside though
Good video man.. a lot of information .. you just earned a new sub
I have been wanting to get into Hydroponics, and your videos have made me feel extremely comfortable trying this out. I can not wait to get started. Have you done anything like cucumbers. My main thing I want to grow are Pickling cucumbers, I know they are like 99.9% water, so I will need to monitor this. Any advise would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Nicholas, thanks for watching! One thing to keep in mind is temperature. I grow in my basement where it's always 68 degrees. Its perfect for lettuce, spinach, etc. However in the past I've had difficulty getting fruiting plants (like peppers) to flower. My best advise is to just get started and learn along the way. Best of luck and keep in touch! I'm planning more hydroponic content for this winter.
Hi, thank you for this video! Very informative. Do you repot them in bigger net cups for better yield or are they just always in the small cups? Also, have you tried growing tubers like potatoes, carrots and beets?
I watched all the way up! nice vieo! thank you very much!
Thank you for this video!
Good work man, thanks for the video!
Good information. Please make the volume louder if possible, on your videos. Thanks!
Great video! I hope I can find some of those supplies where I live (not in the US). How often should I rebalance the PH level of the water?
I was looking for a way to grow food to help others... This is a great way to do that. Thank you for the share
How often do you change the water once it's started?
Awesome video... Thumbs up! Subscribed! Keep em coming good sir. Thank you.
Thanks for watching! -Michael
Could you show examples of your definitions of 'seedlings' and at what point in their size do you shift the nutrients?
I change the nutrients to the higher strength about 2 weeks after germination.
@@GrassandGardenTV do you ever add more nutrients as the plants grow??
Yes
very very good and informative...what do i d for growing lettus from samen and/or grown seed ?
Hi , how long time you can use your nutrition solution ?
NICE PRESENTATION, THANKS!
Thanks for making this video. Can you post a link where you got the big net cup for the 5 gallon bucket? I would love to start this in my house!
Hi awesome video, very detailed! Where I’m from there is no hydroponics fertilizares supply but rather traditional agriculture fertilizers (liquid and dry). How to make a hydroponic mix from it?
Thank you for the help
Thank you for the detailed explanation. Would need help to set up the project. Based in Bulawayo Zimbabwe.
How long is a long time for the nutrients?
Awesome video thank you for sharing. How well would this work in hot climates?
Depends on what you’re growing. Some plants like peppers love the heat. You will use more water and solution though through increased consumption and transpiration.
Hi thanks for sharing the vid. Your vid has the plants from seedlings. Does it work the same from the seed stage
after 3 to 5 days my nutrient level drops and i need to top it up..do i top it with nutrient mix or just water ?
Several years ago I was trying distilled water with a salt water fish tank. Great plan until I tested the copper content in the water and it was ridiculously high. In an invertebrate setup, this would have easily killed everything, Would the tds meter reveal any issues such as this ?.... very nice video... I’m now a subscriber !
I would assume a TDS meter would show copper. My distilled water has less than 5ppm TDS.
you never mentioned where you got the black lids for the pails... does lowes sell them or hydroponics or amazon?
also please please do not use curly fluorescent bulbs, even tubes if you break one, you poison your whole home with mercury... you cannot vacuum or sweep it up...
save for leds then cheap out on the tubs and pots...
this is the best vid yet, i like the tower setups with pumps, but this looks like fun.
try a bit of sponge, rubber bands or o rings to absorb vibration contact sound between airstone and bucket/tote bin and let me know if it cuts down your sound any...
Um maybe you should watch the video again as he did tell us/you where he gets his as well as a couple other places we can get them. I'll give you a hint to one of the places he mentioned. First word what kind of growing is this? Second word store. 😂😂😂
Thank you Michael, this was extremely helpful.
Glad it helped!
Thank you for this video I will be watching them want to start hydroponically I haven't watched it yet but I'm going to
Super and very useful video. This is prakash from India. I want full details sir.
Thank you so much. I think I can start after watching this
How often do you need to add water or nutrients. I'm considering trying this. Also any idea if this will work outside in natural light.
Yes it will work outdoors
Are the tubs some special food grade variety ?