Hydroponic gardener in Berkshire

Hi,
I'd like to introduce myself.
I have a large indoor hydroponic garden in my study, where I grow a sizable part of our edible greens. It started off amidst the lockdowns, when I started to ask myself if I could do it. Extensive online investigation turned into big pile of pipes, more thinking, and few attempts, more pipes and studies, and then into sprouting and now harvests. Yeah, now I think everybody can, if they really want to. Indoors gives us all year harvests, why not do it?

I am also I fanatic potted tree grower, with 7 apple trees and two plums on our west facing large balcony. This comes from my love of apple trees but also absolute pet hate of lawn moving and other 'yard work'. Having run a smallholding for 12 years with all the livestock and some hectares of land, I decided to simplify my life and bought a penthouse with underground parking and lift to front door. Loving the freedom, no mud in shoes, but I was also missing all the fruit trees. So despite been told the trees would never survive west facing high up, I asked what if they would? It's been several years and they are thriving and produce massive harvests!

I strongly believe home growing should not be limited to just those who have their plot of land, and I thrive to develop new ways to get larger and more varied harvests from smaller indoor and balcony systems. I also have designed and constructed indoor green walls, and absolutely love my 450 litre heavily planted high tech freshwater aquarium, which also is a continuous learning curve.

Finngal

 

Hi Finngal,

Welcome to the Forum and Happy New Year.

I'm sure many of us would be very interested to hear more details of your hydro growing as its a subject often considered, but rarely ventured into.

Its not so much the hardware that puts us off, more the control and use of whatever nutrients are needed ?

We do like lots of pics or even Ytubes if you have made any ..

 

Hi there Ricky101!
Well, in terms of control I have made it pretty automatic, lights go on and off with timer and the nutrition solution pump (ebb-flow) works with timer. Solution tank is over 70 litres, which is enough for 3-4 weeks, but to get max yield I tend to check ph (around 6) weekly and add more water and nutrients.

In terms of what to use, I use a generic vegetable growth fertilizer + tomorite seaweed for flavour. You'll need an EC meter to check there are enough nutrients, and pick a value thats more or less ok for all plants. There are charts for that. And ph is typically 5.8-6.1, so need some acid to keep that in check.
I personally use also hydrogen peroxide every fortnight to ensure no bacterial colonization takes hold of the roots.
In terms of growth, its much faster than soil based.
Happy to offer my five cents if you want more tips

 

Hi,

That looks a very unusual indoor set up, more like a bit of wall art !

Think we would be looking more at a greenhouse set up as not everyone could accommodate an indoor set up like yours.

We do fishkeeping so have ph and such pumps and equipment to hand, and I do a lot of Arduino controller projects so it can readily be fully automated.

You say yours is an ebb and flow system, rather than continuous flow, any reason for this ? and how often do you flow ?
Also interested to know what medium you use in the plants pots ?

Think once the weather gets above freezing we mght look at setting something up in the greenhouse this year for toms and salad.

Sure we and others will be coming back with plenty of questions.

 

Yeah, its in my studio, so I wanted to create something pleasant to look at. I mean, if you're going to grow vegetables in your flat, you might as well make it look pleasant ☺️

I use ebb-flow simply to keep noise levels down. To make water rise to 2.2 meters and cascade it down creates..well..a spa feeling. It's s 65w fountain pump, if you know what I mean. To live in a spa was not my kind of idea, so ebb-flow became the chosen option. I flow 15 minutes every 90 minutes on daytime, and every 180 minutes night time. Lights on at 7am and off at midnight.

I sow on regular stonewool blocks, keep them on top of the aquarium to ensure base heating, and once they have sprouted trim and move them to a base tray on the top of hydroponic water tank.
In this point solution is third to half of normal strength, and I bottom watering only to encourage root growth. Water has to be changed regularly.

Once visible roots start to appear through the bottom, typically from few days to a week I put the entire plug into the bottom of a growth basket, at the very bottom, so that the roots get out. I then fill the cup with expanded clay pebbles (which are reusable)
And put that into the hydroponic system. And then wait and harvest.

Its important to ensure no light enters the water system, as it causes bacterial colonization, that can kill all plants. So all unused holes in hydroponics must be covered, and when growth pot is there, ensured that its full enough of pebbles so that no light enters. If any smell appear or roots start to yellow, pour hydrogen peroxide in flow stage to main tank (calculate amount like it was an aquarium spot treatment) and that solves it within few hours.

I heard many run ebb-flow just 4-6 times a day, but I noticed my tomatoes and butternuts were not happy with it, I think they just need more water. It also depends on how much ebb there is. My ebb is very small as the pipes only store few mm water, thus need more regularity. If its flat system, the roots benefit from airstone in the tank. With vertical the sheer drop solves the aireation.

My system is 40*200*230 cm. In terms of space, its like a huge bookshelf. High, but not much floor space.

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Finngal and Happy New Year to you.