Hydroponics

Hello everyone. I have been growing various plants by the hydroponic method for about 8 years now and in spite of one or two early failures due to inexperience, over the last four years have enjoyed great success. Are there any other greenhouse growers using hydroponics? It would be nice to compare notes and possibly investigate new techniques with like minded people.

Get in touch TJ.

Hi Terence, glad to hear some one else is interested in hydroponics.  I'm just about to have a go this season (When it eventually starts)

Any advice would be apprciated

Paul

Hi Paul.

Glad to hear from you. I was beginning to think that I was the only in the UK using this method.

What sort of setup do you have, what method do you intend to use, and to grow what?

I myself like to grow Tomatoes, Lettuce, and Sweet Peppers mainly. Over the years I have had success with Cabbage, Calabrese, Peas, Onions.Runner Beans, etc.

I use 2 systems mainly NFT and Bubbler tanks.

Be only too glad to help with any advice I can offer, no point in you re inventing the wheel by making all the mistakes I did.

Regards TJ.

Hi, I've been fascinated with this especially for tomatoes! I'm wondering a) how much you have to top up, and b) how long a bottle of nutrient solution lasts. I think someone on a forum said a 15 quid bottle should last you a season, in which case I'd be happy. As far as I could see, you start your seeds on tiny bits of soaked rockwool in a propagator, then you stick them in bigger bits til you reach the rockwool block size. You then plant them in your nft system resting on top of a sloping capillary mat covered piece of plastic. The pump shifts the stuff to the top of the slope and gravity does the rest.

My questions, how often do you test your medium? How many plants can you get into say a 3 ft (1 mtr) pod? Also, it seems the support is the main problem.. any advice, or is wire from above the way to go? And the main one, on a hot day in the green house, even with shade, how much you top up each week?

Like I said, I've been interested, but until you know someone to show you, it's hard to justify the investment.

Hi BrummieBen,

Loads and loads of questions when starting out I know. Just to give you an idea, I grow ten Gardeners Delight Tomatoes in a 8x6 greenhouse. In 2008 I recorded  the exact nutrients used and also the harvest from that input.

Nutrient used 8.9 ltr, Harvest 63kg, Work it out.

I found that visitors to my garden were full of questions about my Hydroponic setup, and I was having to explain it all over and over time and time again. This decided me to put together a 12 page PDF document with pictures of my own experiences and this answers a lot of questions for beginners, that I could just email to anyone interested. I cannot see a way to upload this document to the forum but am happy email it to anyone interested.

Regards TJ