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Gardening

In reply to the discussion: My hydroponics thread, 2014 [View all]

Major Nikon

(36,814 posts)
8. Update: Second week in April (how-to for the easiest hydroponic method)
Sun Apr 13, 2014, 05:35 PM
Apr 2014

My seedlings are coming along nicely. Since the roots of my lettuce seedlings are just starting to emerge from the rockwool blocks I decided to get 4 of my Kratky buckets going. Since Kratky is the simplest method for hydroponic growing I'm using, I thought I would write this post in more of a how-to format in case anyone else wants to try this. The Kratky method lends itself very well to lettuce and that's what I'd recommend starting with. You should be able to get some of the stuff at your nearest hydroponics store, or you can order online.

Materials:

Lettuce seedling in a 1.5" rockwool block. See post above for how to start the seedling.

2" netpot (I cut the bottom circle out of mine just to make sure the roots emerge properly)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HXF0VU

~ 1 gallon wide mouth bucket with lid. I'm using left over 3lb coffee cans from the coffee fund at work. You want something that holds about 1 gallon because that's about how much 1 head of lettuce is going to consume from start to harvest. You will not be adding additional water with this method.

2" drill bit/hole saw

Hydroponic nutrients. You want to use hydroponic fertilizer for a number of reasons. I'm using a 3 part solution which can be tailored to various N-P-K ratios for various crops. To keep things simple, I recommend this one or something similar which should work quite well for most varieties of lettuce:
www.amazon.com/General-Hydroponics-FloraNova-Grow-Pt/dp/B003Y36BJO

1) Mix the nutrient solution. For FloraNova Grow, 1 tsp per gallon should be about right. You'll want to correct the PH to 5.5-6.5. Most municipal water supplies run in the 7-8 range. To bring the PH down you can add lemon juice. For a few bucks you can get a PH test kit at any aquarium store. If you just want to guess at it, I would go with about 1 tsp of lemon juice per gallon of water which should get you in the ballpark, but I highly recommend a cheap PH test kit.

2) Drill a 2" hole into the lid.

3) Place the net pot into the lid, put the lid on the bucket, and fill with nutrient solution until the water just comes up to the bottom of the net cup or just to the point at which the bottoms of the exposed roots will be submerged in the water.

4) Put the seedling block into the 2" net cup.

That's about all there is to it. Just give it a good source of light and in about 30 days you should have a nice head of lettuce. You should not have to add any water or do anything to it until harvest. You do want to keep it out of the rain as changing the water levels in the bucket will be a very bad thing. I'm trying 3 different varieties of lettuce (bibb, red, and romaine) to start with. With a grow light indoors you could actually do this year round, which is what I plan on doing if all goes well. I hope to be able to produce about 4-8 heads of lettuce each month this way. Hydroponic lettuce goes for about $2 ea at the grocery store from what I've seen around here and the heads are quite small compared to what I'm seeing on the youtubes from other hydroponic growers.

My hydroponics thread, 2014 [View all] Major Nikon Mar 2014 OP
Bookmarking for when I have more time to read the links... great stuff, Major. opiate69 Mar 2014 #1
This guy's youtube channel is pretty good Major Nikon Mar 2014 #2
Learning more than I ever wanted to know about fertilizer Major Nikon Mar 2014 #3
I bought a copy of Resh 2 years back and it is mostly so dense and technical that KurtNYC Mar 2014 #4
I thought about trying an Aerogarden to do seedlings Major Nikon Mar 2014 #5
Update Major Nikon Mar 2014 #6
Update: First week in April Major Nikon Apr 2014 #7
Update: Second week in April (how-to for the easiest hydroponic method) Major Nikon Apr 2014 #8
Any fungus gnat isues? I had a situation this winter indors and it sucked. bettyellen Apr 2014 #9
I haven't seen any Major Nikon Apr 2014 #10
When I googled the gnat, 90% of issues were with hydro people, so I wondered. They can damage bettyellen Apr 2014 #11
Root damage can lead to pythium root rot which is a serious problem with hydro Major Nikon Apr 2014 #12
Interesting. I'm mostly outdoor but starting seeds a bit. Big problems are keeping cats from bettyellen Apr 2014 #13
Update: last week in April Major Nikon Apr 2014 #14
Update: First week in May Major Nikon May 2014 #15
Update: Second week in May Major Nikon May 2014 #16
Update: 3rd week in May Major Nikon May 2014 #17
I got a harvest from my Kratky bucket lettuce Major Nikon May 2014 #18
It's been a couple of weeks since the last update Major Nikon Jun 2014 #19
That's a nice-size zucchini laundry_queen Jun 2014 #20
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