Food Gardening

[spog]

Weal, how have you setup your hydro reservoir to keep it from go off.
If been reading that it needs to be kept cool and away from light to stop algae growth,an esky perhaps ?
I did back away from a hydro but am now thinking of a small experimental setup to see if it's a goer.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

My hydro has a 2000 litre tank it is under a tree so the water is always cool, but spog if I was you just start with a 30 litre and a few pots, the smart valve is expensive for what it is, a small float valve will do to get started, the smart valve lets the roots take in oxygen by letting the water run low then the roots can breath. Don't worry about pH that can come later, if you want to run a few pots for instance 5 or 6 then get them with a deep tray, so if its 5 pots get something to set up the float valve up on the same level then connect all the pot trays with some 4mm hose from Bunnings and some grommets.
All you need to do then is get your part A and Part B and mix with water in your reservoir.
When I get time I will make a diagram, a picture is worth a 1000 words.

 

[spog]

2000 L ?.
Surely not a totally dedicated volume?
I'm thinking of an ebb and flow setup using,as you suggested some time ago 90 mm upvc pipe . I've got the general set out sorted by using the stormwater pipe mounted with a slight incline to help with drainage.
The idea is to go very basic then see if it suits etc, knowing SFA ATM ( auto correct has given the capitals) I'm planning on using a simple Kambrook dial timer as a controller for switching the old pond pump ,it works a treat in tests I've done .
The reservoir ..hmm undecided as yet but I'm not sold on a float valve ...yet.
So basically a small setup using a 20/30 litre reservoir in a fishbin with a lid.
But,yes always a but I've yet to build the greenhouse let alone set the hydro system up...while surfing the net for ideas/ info I found a site that I jumped into but when the talk became a bit " too green " I realised I hadn't looked at the site heading and was a whoopee weed growing site...whoa dude I hope my better half doesn't check the history .
Thanks for the reply and looking forward to the diagrams.
Cheers....Spog...

 

[louistoo]

Everything in the greenhouses is Hydroponic, it isn't a fertilizer as such spog it is nutrients, no chemicals, just nutrients. I buy mine in bulk, when I say bulk 5 kg of part A and 5 kg of part B 200 gram of each mixed with one litre of water each and then 500 ml of each mixed with 9 litres of water so ending up with a 10 litre batch of nutrient which is then fed into the water supply via a venturi system if using a pump. Depending on how many pots in a system say a dozen the nutrient will last for a couple of years and it is around the $100 mark, as for the growing medium almost anything will do, as long as it will not upset the pH as wood chips would, I tried the rice hulls and they worked fine but I tried the coir blocks from Bunnings and the plants died. I have read of growers using sand,coarse grit even textile waste in places where the clothing sweat shops are.
If using a gravity feed then using the smart valves is the way to go, the plant will only drink when it needs too.

Gday weal coir (bunnings blocks) is a great medium with excellent water retention, however it does require washing with fresh water until free of salt. Something to do with the production method in India or wherever it's produced. Anyway use your EC meter and rinse till levels are low enough to use and you're all good.
Set up looks great btw
Oh and regarding pH; different plant species have different pH requirements, in a medium with no organic pH buffering such as perlite, coir, vermiculite in a hydro environment, getting your pH right is necessary for plants to actually access the elements they require to grow or produce fruit.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Am going to go raid the Pub garden and grab whatever pods are left from the Tabasco, Peru Lemon Aji and orange scorp


Should get a bit of seed, but they will be third gen from the original seeds I plamted.

The Tabasco;s have been a monster every season self sown. Grow about 1.5, tall and just as round. You can pick 1kg off it and it doesnt look like you touched it

One thing I have learnt is that chilli seeds generally need to breakdown in the pod and rot, just like tomatoes

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I didn't realise you was so far ahead spog, if you use the black plastic tanks with a lid keep it in the shade it should be OK, I use a 2000 L tank as I run a lot of pots. What louistoo says is correct, when using rain water your pH is lower around 5.6 and the nutrient does take it down a tab further, if you have a pH meter which you use in your brewing you can add 'pH Up' to your water, but as you are just starting you will get a feel for what you are doing with a lot of reading, some plants do require different nutrient levels but that is something to work out down the track. You will need to get yourself a Nutrient meter truncheon I have a Bluelab but there are cheaper ones on eBay, but if you are going to stick with it get a Bluelab.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Best time of the year apart from harvest time, in and up Crystal apple cucumber, F1 Cucumber, Golden Bell, California Wonder, and Giant Bell Peppers, various tomatoes, more Caulies, Cabbages and Bok Choy .

Tomatoes etc hardening off.

Progress of Caulies and Cabbages.

Curds starting to form on Caulies.

Carolina Reapers potted up and forming more leaves.
Tip if you hadn't noticed labels on plants are the plastic knives bought from Salvos, not $2.00 shops money goes to good cause

 

[Camo6]

Spent the last few weekends making a raised garden bed for growing veggies and hops. Probably went a little bit overboard with height but my back will thank me later. Which is good because shovelling eight cubic metres of soil from the driveway didn't do it any favours. Will be nice to think of all the money I spent on homegrown vegetables only to watch the girls grimace and push it off their plates.

 

[shaunous]

Always love your setup WEAD. Plans to build something similar soon.

 

[Dave70]

Spent the last few weekends making a raised garden bed for growing veggies and hops. Probably went a little bit overboard with height but my back will thank me later. Which is good because shovelling eight cubic metres of soil from the driveway didn't do it any favours. Will be nice to think of all the money I spent on homegrown vegetables only to watch the girls grimace and push it off their plates.

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Dude..

 

[Camo6]

Dude..

I'm a tight arse with a beer gut. It did me good both mentally and physically.

TBH, I'd tee'd up the boys to help but needed to get some hops back in the ground and wouldn't ask them on Father's day weekend.

 

[Airgead]

Which is good because shovelling eight cubic metres of soil from the driveway didn't do it any favours.

Worst thing is, you will need another couple of cubic meters in a month or so to fill them back up after the initial soil settles.

My raised beds settled by about a third.

 

[sp0rk]

Going to do some raised beds this weekend to get some chillies in the ground
Looking at cutting up a few 220L HDPE drums into 3 rings (with the top & bottom removed), then fencing them off so the greyhound that loves to dig doesn't get into them.
The ground temp here is stupid hot all summer, so hopefully that'll get me some super hot fruit

 

[Camo6]

Going to do some raised beds this weekend to get some chillies in the ground
Looking at cutting up a few 220L HDPE drums into 3 rings (with the top & bottom removed), then fencing them off so the greyhound that loves to dig doesn't get into them.
The ground temp here is stupid hot all summer, so hopefully that'll get me some super hot fruit

My old hop pots were halves of a 220l barrel so I cut the bottoms out and have placed them at either end of the trellis in an effort to contain the cascade and chinook I'll replant.

 

[sp0rk]

My old hop pots were halves of a 220l barrel so I cut the bottoms out and have placed them at either end of the trellis in an effort to contain the cascade and chinook I'll replant.

I used a 220L cut in half for my hop pots while we were still in Coffs Harbour, worked very well, probably could have done with a little more drainage though (I didn't cut the top/bottom off, just drilled holes)
But we get like 1/10th of the rain here that Coffs had, so it probably wouldn't be a problem

 

[Curly79]

Was just filling 2 cubes with Perc/Met and hot water for cleaning and wondering if I could be using this to water the veggies once it's done its job? 50 Ltrs is a lot of waste especially since we are in tank water. Thoughts? Cheers.

 

[manticle]

Fully biodegradeable if it's pure.
May affect pH but I throw mine on the garden all the time and it's thriving.

 

[Curly79]

Excellent. Thanks

 

[Mardoo]

Awesome. I've been wondering that myself.

 

[spog]

Worst thing is, you will need another couple of cubic meters in a month or so to fill them back up after the initial soil settles.
My raised beds settled by about a third.

When I filled my raised bed the first thing that went in was broken pavers/rocks etc. Then a layer of pea straw with dynamic lifter then ****** soil lawn clippings,leaves and so,the last 400 mm was a mix of good soil and compost.
As the pea straw and compost broke down the level dropped a good 150 mm which I've topped up and the bed is chockas with worms. = win.