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Hi RON i got a problem with my water. I got 243mg of NA in my water. do you have any idea to correct this problem. what is the min-max value of NA for growing lettuce. Thanks in advance Danielle from Mirabel,qc wattech@total.net
Hey Ron, or anyone that can help -
We are in Germany and there is a LOT of lime in the
water.(I'm talking - I have to soak the dogs water dish in vinegar at least every
other week to get the lime out!!We do not want to be using expensive bottled water for our
garden - is there some easy way of removing lime from the water?? or cleaning the pipes in
the system so they don't get clogged??
Thanks in Advance!!
Melissa a.k.a. nutkin81@hotmail.com
I think you need a water softener device. They cost a couple hundred dollars.
Ron
I am only beginner on Hydroponics Worlds. I wanna know that why we must treat water with ozone and UV light for using in Hydroponics. I mean both UV and Ozone at the same time. Why we must use both for high expenses
We don't treat my water with UV and Ozone.
Ron
We are commercial growers of hydroponic tomatoes. We grow them under plastic. We are thinking of adding some HID lights to supplement the limited sunlight we get in New England during the winter. Does anyone have any advice or experiences in terms of types of lights to get; metal halide sodium, agrosun, etc., height from plant, length of time to leave lights on, differences in yield, ir cooled v. water cooled, etc? Thanks. Mike
Hi Mike
For cost per watt you use metal halide or high pressure sodium. 400 watt or even better
1000 watt.
Greenhouse tomatoes are indeterminate which means they grow and produce fruits continually
so they aren't affected by getting to much light. I would turn the lights on whenever it
got to cool in the greenhouse like at night or on a cloudy day. The lights would do double
duty. Give the plants light and heat.
Ron
how long does it take to grow a succesful carnation in hydroponic solution?
I tried to root a carnation I bought at a cut flower shop but it didn't work because it
was dormant, whatever that means.
Ron
Opportunities In Horticulture The Essential Information for A Profitable Business in
Community Based Horticulture
Venue Announcement
The next 2 day seminar will be at Malaspina University College Horticulture Department
2324 East Wellington Road Nanaimo, B.C.
November 6 & 7 9 am to 5 pm
Pre-registration required
For further details or interviews contact Growers Press Inc. PO Box 189 Princeton B.C. V0X
1W0 Phone/Fax 250-295-7755 or email grower@nethop.net
Attached are the course outline and brochure.
Man! I heard about that B.C. Bud you guys grow up their in Canada. Keep up the good work.
I have a system that is half grow rocks and half cocopeat. It has come time for me to start a new set of plants and I am having difficulty separating the rocks from the roots and cocopeat. Any suggestions? Thanks, GN
If you aren't transplanting but harvesting the plant then let the root ball dry out
helps to brake the roots from the rocks.
Ron
Hi! I'm trying to grow chili plants in the 11-plant garden. The recurrring problem I
have is that once the plants are transplanted into the system, the older leaves start to
show minute mottling on leaf surface and the new leaves that emerged are somewhat crumpled
looking and a bit distorted in shape. How do I remedy this?
Siti
Sounds like a nutrient problem to me but I can't tell you how to fix it.
Ron
hi Ron,
hi
what is the proper strength of the fertilizer
for veggies and tomato ?
600 ppm when the first leaves appears on up to as high as 1500 ppm when the plants are
fruiting.
do you observa a schedule in inceasing the strength of your plants as the growing stage
progresses ?
yes
when do you actually start fertilizer application ? by the time you sow them or when the
first leaf appears ?
when the first leaf appears
thanks
thank you
jobberoni
Hello everyone. I just joined the club. My question is this. I am planning on making a homemade hydroponics system with a 10 gallon aqarium. Basically the system consists of an aquarium with the nutrients in the bottom and burlap on the top holding the growing medium and a pump for aeration. I am planning on trying tomato plants in this system. Has anybody tried this or would I be better off purchasing a small commercial system?
I have heard of stranger hydro gardens so you should give it a try. Don't forget about
the algae problem, when light hits water.
Ron
Hello Ron (and all!)
I have been messing with the Gurgle Garden idea for a while ... and I keep having the same questions pop up ... "Is this right?" and "is there supposed to be more water moved than just a drip here and there?" ...
I have tried restricing the air flow to the "T", restricting the air flow out of the "T", moving the tube connections around, drilling the open side of the T to allow more water in. nothing really helps the situation. (bummer, huh? One of the more simple planters and *I* cannot get it to fly, but the average third grader can! 8-) )
It seems like I end up with one of two basic problems: <A> too much air flow up the tube toward the planter (giving almost zero water droplets); <B> too much air flow out of the open side of the T (giving almost zero water droplets again).
Feel free to call me an idiot. I have numerous times, especially in light of the fact that this is the garden plan model you suggest to NINE YEAR-OLDS! haha
(as a temporary solution) I ended up just using a pump out of my wife's indoor water fountain and puting the end of the tune on a Aquafarm-type of loop with holes drilled along the loop .... at least my squash plant (which was transplanted from a flood-and-drain) is not looking so "weepy" ...
Oh well, back to the grind ... thanks for listening and for any suggestions you might have toward my gurgling problems.
<mailto:gurgle@gardener.com> gurgle@gardener.com
My air pump failed and I had to do the same thing you did to save my banana tree. I got
a new design in mind that might help.
I will try and draw it up.
Ron
I am now trying to put together a 11 plant garden for growing tomatoes and other vegetables inside my home. What things should I know before growing produce indoors? I need to know what kind of environment to provide for my plants. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.
The closer you can simulate natural growing conditions the better your plants will do.
Like light and temperature of the growing area. And of course supplying the correct
nutrients to the plants.
Ron
i am planning on an undergrad thesis on hydroponics could you suggest some possible
areas where i could make a study on? please?
-pat
hi guys i am fairly new to hydroponics and want to build the 11 plant garden. i understand all about building it but dont understand the folowing: do you just stick your medium in the pop bottles then plant your plant and turn the water on? what is the whole thing about the PH? what is it suppost to be like? do you use a grow medium? or do you just make something to hold the top part of the plants out of the water? what size of pump shuold you use for the 11 plant garden? sorry for all of the questions but i really need to know. -jon borrderjon@aol.com
I put my plants in 16 oz
plastic solo cups with holes burnt with a soldering iron. The cups are filled
with grow rocks. The solo cups sit in the 2 liter bottles.
pH should be between 5.5 and 6.5 for most plants. A 60 to 120 GPH pump will work.
Ron
Ron, Have you heard of a product the will move the light rays from one area to another? What I want to do is have the light in one room and the plants in another. I have a problem with heat. When have 30 - 1500 watt bulbs running and the room gets rather warm. I am trying to find a way maybe with fiber optics or a light pump to transfer adaquate light into the plant room. Place, power and money are not the problem. Heat is. We have a 2500 sqft underground bunker we are using beside a stream that we have used to generate powerwith. Have you heard of any body pumping light from one room to another. CJ
Hi CJ
I have built grow rooms for clients where I used glass enclosed hoods with 4" vented
hose to a blower to vent the hot air outside the room. I still had to add an airconditioner
to cool the room.
I did see a sky light system where they used a flexible shinny tube that reflected natural
sunlight through your roof about 6 feet to a bathroom. You could use something like that
and save money on power.
Ron
Just started the "Baby Bloomer" and want to know more about growing strawberries.
My question to you is, "Can you grow strawberries if you didn't have a "Baby
Bloomer". If the answer is yes then you might be able to grow some strawberries
in your bloomer maybe.
Ron
Could someone recommend a good portable ph/EC meter. I would like to see a resolution of .1 or .2. Thanks in Advance, Brian
I like that Dip Stick from Australia for a EC meter. The Truncheon $110.00 and as for a
pH meter I use a $7.00 kit that you drop in a sample of solution to get my pH because I
haven't found a good pH meter yet that lasts longer than a year.
Ron
We are in a Agriculture class in Decatur, Illinois and we have a hydroponic test kit and we have just set up a hydroponic area where we are growing lettuce. We are trying to find out what is the exceptable ranges for growing lettuce. The ranges such as Nitrate Nitrogen range, Phosphorus range, Potassium range, Ammonia Nitrogen range, Sulfate range, Iron range, and Calcium and Magnesium range. This would help us a great deal if we would know these things.
A standard lettuce formula like 8-15-36 has a
Total Nitrogen (N)...............8.00%
Nitrate Nitrogen..............7.00%
Ammoniacal Nitrogen......0.5%
Phosphoric Acid (P2O5)......15.00%
Potash..................................36.00%
cool, dude. just what i needed to do my research paper on. and i was looking for pictures and this is a perfect website. bu-bye adell, 7th grade
I am a student doing research on hydroponics. I am going to test how the different plant nutrients affect plant growth. I'd like to know which nutrients are the most essential (I'm assuming phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium) and how I might go about setting up different nutrient solutions to be able to do the experiment
I WANTED IT TO KNOW HOW TO START A CHEAP HYDRO SETUP. JUST ONE TO GROW TWO OR THREE PLANTS?I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE IT I GREW ON ORGANICLY IT TURNED OUT IKAY BUT I DID'NT DO ANYTHING FANCY TO IT.
For your gallon system, do you feed the plants at intervals or continuously?
Ross
intervals
Ron mother plants are producing seeds. already took several cuttings and are doing fine. My question is if there are no males in the next garden will these clones be fertile,all my books say clones are the exact same as the parent. THANKS AGAIN NO SEEDS PLEASE
Clones are the same as the parents. If you don't want seeds then don't clone any plant
that even looks like a male and get rid of it.
Ron
TO THE DUDE LOOKING 4 A PHOTO TRON DON'T BUY ONE! THERE'S SIMPLY NOT ENOUGH LUMMENS 4 GOOD BUD DEVELOPMENT. I HAVE 1 WITH ALL THE GOODIES ($600. WORTH OF EXTRAS) HOWEVER I HAVE ABOUT A 98% SUCESS RATE USING IT 4 A CLONE CHAMBER. 4 THAT KIND OF MONEY YOU CAN BUILD 10 OF RON'S SYSTEMS & HAVE THE BEST LIGHTS ON THE MARKET PEACE OUT
Could any one tell me what the feeding cycle would
be for a hydroponic garden. What i mean is how many times does the pump feed the plants in
a 24 hr cycle. How many times and for how long of a duration do they stay on thx
Stuck in the mud.
It depends on how much moisture your medium holds between watering. If you use rockwool
then you wouldn't water as much as with a medium like grow rocks. I flood my gardens about
three times an hour. It only takes 5 minutes to flood my gardens then 20 minutes later I
flood again and so on. You don't need to water at night because without photosynthesis the
plants can't utilize the nutrients in the water.
Ron
I was wondering what would be the cheapest and easiet hydro system to make how much would this cost I only need one to grow 3 plants. What type of lighting is the best to use.
No such thing as cheap and easy especially when it comes to lighting.
GREAT SITE!!!! I haven't done any hydroponic gardening or soil gardening for that matter, but have been interested in it for many years. Your plans for the 11 plant garden are interesting and simple. I have a question though what size reservoir does it use? Some folks have asked about the "555" timer, Radio Shack has a book p/n 276-5010, that shows schematics for all sorts of devices that may be helpful w/ automation.
11 Gallon
O.K. I'm a little slow. Looked all thru previous messages for size of reservoir, then found it hiding in "Order Your Own Hydroponics Garden". Thanx anyway, Chris in N.C.
I'm trying to build a aero flo look a like. flood and drain system. I planned on useing pvc as the grow chambers. Can anyone tell me what size pipe to use? And any other ideas that will help with this project?
What is the ideal spacing for lettuce? Thank. Edwin
12 inches
I Am Holding A Halogen's, 150 Watts, 3000 Lumens Its For General Lighting But If I Can Use A Couple Of These Instead Of The $2-300 And Up Light Bulb For The Plants Through The Winter. We Can All Benefit From This Knowledge. Please Let Me Know About This, And I Need To Know How To Set Up An Aquarium for DROSERA CAPILLARIS
You might be able to grow capillaries but you need metal halide or high pressure sodium
to grow plants.
Ron
what exactly is hyfroponics? who found out about them or discovered this could work?
I don't know what hyfoponics is but hydroponics is growing plants without soil and it
has been around for about 70 years.
Ron
Hi Ron. I built a 4 plant system based on your 9 plant system design. I plan to grow a pepper plant, a tomato plant, a tobacco plant, and a cucumber plant. Now, what I need to know is, how strong of a pump do I need to run this system. I can get a 60 galoon per hour pump for 20 bucks at the local hardware store. Do I need one stronger than this? Also, what is the best nutrient mix for your money? Thanks in advanvce.
60 gallon pump would be ok for the 11 plant.
Ron
Hi My Name is Keena, I'm an 8th grade student in FL. I am in an association called TSA
(technical student association). As one of our first activities we have to do a project
(of course). In groups of two we had to pick either Aeroponics or Hydroponics and make a
display board w/ report and make a working model. I picked Hydroponics, but I don't really
know too much about it. I know what Hydroponics is, but I'm still kind of shaky. I want to
do a really good project to help me on competetion level but I can't buy a kit, it doesn't
need to be big and fancy, and I don't want to spend alot of money..............CaN ANYONE
HELP ME??
I saw the picture of the Hydroponics gardens you had, but they are way too difficult, Can
you show plans for simpler ones, and cheap parts, also would a fish tank pump work??(tryin
to save money)
Hi Keena
Yes a fish tank pump would work if it is a submersible pump.
Ron
Date:
Hi. My name is Jon Whitsitt, and a friend and I are conducting and experiment with hydroponics. Our teacher wants us to mix all the nutrients ourselves, and we only need something called "trace elements" if anyone could give us a hand, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your help.
Hi Jon Whitshit
I'm sure you heard that before.
Here are your trace elements you will need.
Iron (Fe)
Manganese (Mn)
Boron (B)
Zinc (Zn)
Copper (Cu)
Molybdenum (Mo)
Chlorine (Cl)
Ron
Thursday, October 14 16:00 CST
How much water, per minute, should move through the http://www.hydroponicsonline.com/gurgle.htm up the tube to the planter/grow-rocks? a few drops? an ounce? a few ounces? a pint?
thanks
About an ounce.
Ron
Hi Ron. Got a question or (2) for you. First I've read on several posts here that you
should run your pump 24/7 to save wear and tear on it, but then it is also said to run the
pump on x/off x. So which is it?
I run my pumps 24 hours because it's less hassle and my plants don't
seem to mind the extra watering when it's dark.
Also found a site that was saying that you could take 1/2 the output from the pump
and have it spray back into the reservoir directly and that this action alone would oxygenate the solution enough for health plants. Does
this sound right?
Yes that is an excellent way to add oxygen to your reservoir and at
the same time cut down on the flow to your garden. I used to poke holes in the hose just
above the pump to relieve the flow to the garden. Ron
Am assuming that the pump in that case does run 24/7. If it works it would be one less
piece of equipment to worry about. Thanx in advance. Chris from N.C.
My group in class has to do a project comparing hydroponics and aeroponics. Can you please tell us what would be the cheapest and quickest way to grow mint with hydroponics?
Thanks for a very informative site, keep up the great work Cheers Brad
i love hydroponics, i wish that it actually worked
Yea and all the pictures of plants on this web site are plastic. Maybe you are the one
who doesn't actually work.
Ron
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