It all started with my hate for dirt and the cannabis legalization... I got the very nice grow light and thought to myself there is so much light just in the room and now we are here

I also made some Time lapses but they are a bit out of date, but I finally have a new Camera(pi cam) for it. https://youtube.com/@canlapse

I have very hard water where I live. Sometimes, the EC of my tap water can reach up to 0,7 mS and a pH of 8,5, which makes it almost unfeasible to use it for my hydroponic stuff.

Generally, using tap water for hydro is generally not recommended, because most people don't know what's in their water, and some things can be detrimental to the plants' health.

I do know what's in there tho. Here in Germany, we have extremely high quality water and every supplier has to make the lab reports public.

I sometimes "cut" my reverse osmosis or rain water with a few parts, usually 1/4 to 1/2, tap water. This gives me a bit of a pH buffer and reduces the water consumption of my RO.

But still, adding tap water just adds "stuff", and this stuff can't be used by the plants. It's still just "waste".

A lot of what makes the water more alkaline and "hard" are carbonates, especially magnesium and calcium carbonate. The cool thing is, that those are not very stable and can be removed easily.
If you boil water, they get converted into insoluble limescale, which settles on the ground. If you then just use the already boiled water, it's already less hard and more stable.

You can even do it more effectively by using food grade phosphoric acid, which I use as pH down at 10% dilution.

Experiment

I added a few drops (~5) into my water kettle and got it to a quick boil.

Here's the pH and EC of my tap water before adding or doing anything:

Here's how it looked like just after adding the acid and boiling it:

And here's the morning after:

The EC effectively got reduced by almost half!

What happened is that the phosphoric acid neutralized the Ca- and Mg carbonates and formed according phosphates, which are all insoluble and precipitate out of solution, making it cloudy.

Hereby adding something removes things. Cool, right?

What's even cooler is that other minerals, which didn't precipitate out of solution, can then act as buffer compounds, making the nutrient solution more stable against pH fluctuations.

Application in everyday use

The effect isn't super strong. Using RO or rain water is still not optional for me, I need it.

But this technique allows me to use way more "cheap" tap water than before, and adds some nice benefits too.

It's winter right now. Go and make yourself a hotty. You'll feel better for a few hours, and when it's gone cold, you can use it for your plants.

Don't just waste energy by boiling water. Make use of it and then make your plants happy with it! 😉

geteilt von: https://vegantheoryclub.org/post/762372

They're small and idk 3 weeks old, no signs of deficiency aside from blossom end rot.

Was set up with Manutec 1L Hydroponic NK Plus For Fruit And Veg. Water is about half depleted, has been hot so possibly nutrients are concentrated?

pH had risen to about 7 from 6.5. I readjusted it to about 6.5. In dirt this range would be fine for calcium transport.

Oh hydroponic wisdom people, enlighten me. Should I just remix new solution? Add a supplement? Is pH for transport different in hydro?

A while ago I made a post on my project "Growing carnivorous plants hydroponically", because I was frustrated that pretty much no one tried finding suitable alternative substrates to peat or conventional setups.

You can find the initial post here: https://slrpnk.net/post/15097559

Nepenthes

Those seemed to be the easiest.

According to some sources, contrary to other CPs, they don't grow in bogs (very acidic, waterlogged, etc.), but rather prefer "normal" substrates, more similar to conventional houseplants, and even prefer more dim lighting conditions.

I was even able to find a few anecdotes of a few people here and there in some CP forums who at least tried growing them in inorganic substrates.

I bought two grown up plants a month ago and successfully transitioned them, but I already mentioned that in my last post afaik.

Both look relatively healthy. The transition from soil to hydro is super stressful for most plants, these included, and because of this the pitchers died back to regenerate the root system.

The greener plant already grew the first new pitcher, which I fed with a small shrimp I had lying around. I also fed the reddish one, but the (old) pitchers started stinking very fouly, so I had to empty them.

They are both living in LECA and get treated similarly to orchids.
EC 0,5 mS, normal pH, and indirect light. From what I've heard, the pitchers only form when needed, so if I overdo it with the ferilizer, they might die back. So I have to find an acceptable EC that they're happy with.

Both seem to regenerate from the stress pretty well and are already growing new leaves.

Sarracenia

Since the last post, not much has happened.

Sarracenias need some hibernation, so I placed it into a clear box and put it outside at around freezing temperatures.

It looks like it's dying, but this is seemingly normal and healthy.

I regularly cut back the crispy leaves, and when I accidentally dropped the pot a while back ago, I saw new, healthy roots already forming.

Remember, this picture is already a month old, so they might look completely different by now.

The substrate is pon, which I soaked multiple times before with distilled water and then added fertilizer and a few drops of phosphoric acid (pH down) to an EC of about 0,3 mS to mimic the conditions of peat a little bit.

Seems to work fine for now!

Seeds

I bought some cheap seeds from a hobbyist and started sowing them a few weeks ago. Those were different Drosera, Sarracenia and Venus fly trap seeds.

I pre-treated them with a soak of gibberelic acid to make them germinate faster, and many of them are now outside next to the Sarracenia, because they need some stratification first.

I believe none of them started sprouting yet, but that apparently is relatively normal, so I don't panic yet ;)

As soon as a few of them germinate, I will post another update if someone is interested :)

I don't have a garden and need to utilize the most of my balcony space.

That's why I am thinking about building or buying a vertical hydroponic setup for the next season.

The thing is: pretty much all of the inspiration for setups I saw online were either aeroponic towers or NFT systems, both of which require a pump running 24/7.
I don't want something where one single pump failure, clogged nozzle or power outage kills everything. Also, I absolutely can't stand the humming or splashing of any pump.

I want to grow mainly small annual crops, like herbs, leafy greens and stuff like that. For bigger crops, like chilis, hemp, and so on, I have my drip system with pots.

While I theoretically have access to the grid, I prefer something either completely passive, or something that at least keeps the roots hydrated enough to survive a few days, even in summer sun.

Something similar to my solar powered LECA drip setup I posted a while ago: it's beneficial when the small pump is on, but the passive wicking of the clay balls keeps everything moist enough for at least a few days.

It doesn't need to be 100% passive, but it also shouldn't depend on electronic devices for survival.

What could you suggest?

When I did my routine inspection of my house plants I noticed small grey bugs bustling around in the root and lower stem zone.

This seems to affect a big portion of my ~50 plants. I didn't inspect every pot yet, but they are hard to notice, because they only swarm out when I shake the container or flood it.

I believe those are thrips or springtails, but I also believe it doesn't matter much anyway, because I want to get rid of them ASAP. But I can attach some microscope pictures if somebody is interested :)

I already treated a few plants over the last few days by filling up the pots with lukewarm water, a drop of very mild surfactant (Coco glucoside) and a splash of hydrogen peroxide. I let it soak for half an hour or so and then flushed it out in the shower.

This seemed to help, but would be a huge pain to do for every plant I own, and if there's one bug or egg left, I can do it again in a few weeks.

Therefore, I need some kind of insecticide. Neem oil is the old classic, but I don't want it to be in the substrate itself, because if it decomposes, it might leave a big mess.

Are there any more potent or common alternatives out there? Can you recommend something?

Any ideas what I should do next?

Edit: These seem to be springtails. Here are a few pictures under the microscope:

IT DECIDED TO BLOOM!

Spoiler, sad news

In dirt. Outside. Not in hydro.

What did I learn? Saffron crocus (Crocus sativus) seems to need a cold shock and/ or short days to get the signal to bloom.

This means, that I probably (hopefully) just need to wait until the days get shorter. Optimistically. Or, worse, it needs cold temperatures, which means, that I have to place every pot with the bulbs inside onto my balcony, making the indoor plant aspect obsolete.

Also, I accidentally dropped a pot, so I had to repot the already germinated bulbs.

I noticed that the skin of them peeled off and started rotting. I really hope that this won't attract too many fungus gnats, or I'll get mad. This means, that I have to flush the pots now regularily to get off any dead plant matter. This fucking sucks man.

I really really hope that I even like the taste of saffron. This is such a fucking pain. If it also tastes like grandpas' arse, like the only time I tried commercial saffron, I'm gonna cry man.

Cheers.

A month ago I made my first post about the hydroponic saffron (Crocus sativus).
Here's the post if you haven't seen it.

First, I'll start with the bad news: No saffron for me this year :(
It hasn't flowered yet, and probably won't do that for the next months.

Crocus sativus is very boring. It looks absolutely unremarkable, similar to grass, is mostly passive/ hibernates most of the year, and only blooms in late fall for a few days, and then goes back into stasis for the rest of the year.

Also, I had a few fungus gnats here and there, because the bulbs had some kind of skin around them, which is decomposing now. But I don't see this as a big problem. I already added some beneficial microbes when I planted it, and those do their job pretty well. I just flush the container every few weeks to get out all organic stuff.

The good news is, that most of them look very healthy!
The roots already expanded quite a bit, in a few cases, they already colonized the whole substrate. Especially those in LECA look the best. My biggest one is already ~15 cm tall.

Some things I learned:

• The plants grow very slow, and therefore, don't like too much fertilizer. I try to keep my EC around 0,5 mS for the winter, and experimentally increase it on one test plant to see how much they tolerate and how they react to it.
• They are boring and passive. I will keep them in pots until I can split the bulbs next year, and then either plant them as co-plants somewhere, or just place them outdoors to save some space and pots.
• You'll have to be very patient. The amount of bulbs I bought (about 40 pcs) isn't enough. You need about 100-150 flowers to get one gram of saffron. And those need some space. Growing them indoors feels a bit like waste when I think about what else I could grow instead.

Pictures

My pot with a citrus tree sapling in it:

Here's a picture from Wikipedia how it might look like when it blooms.

I've always had struggled with mold in my cat's grass.

Now, I tried growing it in straight tab water, without nutrients. I might add some fertilizer down the road if it lives long enough. But normally this shouldn't be needed, since it only lives for a few days or two weeks max, and the nutrients included in the grains should be enough for that.

I germinated it in a sprout glass, and when the first roots formed, I transferred it into my custom net cup and added some LECA on top.

One thing that always gets told is "Hydroponics is very clean and doesn't need microbes".

Sure, mycorrhiza shouldn't play as much of a role in hydro as it does for soil. The plants get all their nutrients directly from the fertilizer, and waste products should get flushed out regularly.

But, especially in the beginning, I always had trouble with root rot. Besides leftover organic matter and insufficient aeration as possible culprits, I think not having well established beneficial bacteria/ fungi was one reason the pathogenic microbes took over and killed almost everything in the container.

To counteract this, I recently bought water soluble microbes (a mix of dozens different fungi and bacteria) and tested them, especially in semi-hydro.

I'm not sure if it had any effects. For the already established plants, the effects were way less significant than for new ones.

One thing I definitely noticed is the very pleasant "earthy" smell, similar to a rainfall in the summer, when I stick my nose into the substrate.

And, those plants, where the roots got damaged (e.g. my ginger where I continually harvest, or recently transitioned plants with leftover soil) got some fungus gnats. Really not a lot, just here and there one or two, but there are some! They also disappeared a few days later and didn't multiply.

The thing is, many hydro growers put A LOT of effort into keeping everything very clean. Some even proposed to include the ORP value (oxygen reduction potential) just as much as pH and EC, because it tells you how hostile the environment is to microbes and/ or how well stuff can decompose.

I just don't know how I should keep my setup THAT clean outside. It's just normal for me that small insects, leafes and other stuff fall into my reservoir.

And this litter needs to decompose somehow. And I'd rather have it decomposed by a well established microbial culture than some pathogenic stuff that lands on there.

Am I just messy, and I should take hygiene more seriously, or is this totally fine? What's your point of view on this topic?

This is another appreciation-post on how awesome semi-hydro/ LECA can be.

Today, I want to show you how my propagator dome works and how to build one for yourself very easily!

TL;DR

• It uses inorganic media like expanded clay pebbles, Seramis, pon, perlite, or whatever you choose.
• You fill small modified cups with the media and then place your seeds or cuttings in them.
• The media is completely inert and can be sterilized, so you don't have to worry about mold, fungus gnats, or whatever!
• You can't over- or underwater it, it's always moist, but very well aerated.
• This is my personal aerocloner-killer!

Why I build it (backstory)

I've always had trouble getting seeds started, especially for soil plants. They almost always got moldy and the success rate was low, especially due to waterlogging. And because I didn't want to mix soil with hydroponics, I had to search for an alternative.

Some people use rock wool for that, but I always found it too expensive and impractical.

Propagation via cuttings has also been hard for me. Like most people, I started with just a glass of water, but this very often caused rotting due to a lack of oxygen.

So, I built an aerocloner this year. This is basically an aeroponic cloning unit, where cuttings are placed in, which get sprayed with small droplets all the time. It worked really great, but my main issue with it was the noise. It needs an air pump running 24/7, which I found annoying.

I also needed a separate dome just for seeds, which feels redundant.

Many people also just place their cuttings into peat or coco, and they root very well too, as long as they get enough oxygen.

How it works

All semi-hydro substrates have some intrinsic wicking capabilities due to capillary action. This means, that if they stand in water, it gets drawn up all to the top, making the whole medium moist.

In between (and IN) the beads is a lot of empty space. Media like those can only store 30% water or so in their pores, and the rest is air. Air the roots need to breathe!

This means, that the LECA is always wet, but never water logged or compacted like coco, soil or other organic media can be!

Advantages

• Inorganic media are inert, they don't decompose or get eaten by mold or bugs
• As long as you refill the water in the tray once a week or so, you don't have to worry about too dry conditions, both the substrate and the air humidity. And even if you forget to water, it will stay moist for more than a few days after it has run dry.
• No waterlogging (anaerobic conditions due to overwatering) possible.
• Roots are already adapted for both soil AND hydro environments.
• No fungus gnats or other bugs, because they can't eat or live in the hostile substrate.
• Added stabillity for cuttings.
• No spillage, no mess.
• The LECA beads are very easy to remove without harming the roots.

How to build it yourself and use it

What you'll need

• A humidity dome/ seedling starter (available everywhere)
• A bright spot, e.g. your grow tent or windowsill
• (Optional: heating mat)
• A few small cups with lids, optimally made out of HDPE or PP
• A nail, lighter and something for holding
• Destilled water
• LECA or another medium. I like LECA with a small size (4-8 mm) the most for this use case, especially for cuttings.

Preparing the cups

• Separate the lid from the bottom
• Heat a nail and melt a few holes into the bottom. They can be very small, and 4 are sufficient. Try to make the edges as smooth as possible. Too many holes can make removing the roots harder.

• Burn a hole into the lid and but a section off. Otherwise, it will be hard to remove.

• Fill it up with your medium
• Turn it around, take your cutting and push it into the hole while shaking lightly. That way, the stem will just slide into it without effort. Turn it again and give it another small shake. The medium is now locked up and the cutting can't move.

How to use

• Moisten the LECA with a spray bottle. If they are dry, the wicking won't work as great or will take longer.
• Try to water the tray, not the top of the substrate at first. Fine seeds might get washed out otherwise.
• You can just sow the seeds directly onto the substrate and put the lid on it. As soon as they germinate, the roots will "burrow" themselves very lightly into the pores of the hydroton and be fixed there.
• Some heating from below with a heating mat is beneficial

Here are some pictures of a cactus (right after germination) and some cuttings (Tradescantia, hops, Ctenanthe) I made just a few days before:

I've become a huge fan of semi-hydro over the past year.

I've planted all of my 50 house plants into LECA (expanded clay pellets) or pon (special gravel mix consisting of lava rock, pumice, and zeolithe), and they're doing absolutely great. (Too great if you ask me. They've become a weed in my apartment 😁)

Recently, I got into carnivorous plants.

Literally everyone is growing them in turf/peat or moss based substrates, and nothing else. As we all might know, those substrates not only attract pests (fungus gnats, etc.), but are not that great for the environment.

This is why I came up with the idea of using hydroponics.

As soon as I began researching, I've come to the conclusion, that there's sadly pretty much no overlap between the hydroponics community and carnivorous plants community.

So, I started an experiment.

I've put my just-bought Sarracenia, previous in soil, into pon with a very small grain diameter. This keeps the plants very moist, way moister than LECA would, at least the big marbles.

I soaked the granules with distilled water a few times, and then added a drop of diluted phosphoric acid to a pH of 4,5 and EC of 0,1 mS.

This is how the roots look after not only one week:

And the plant itself:

Pretty good if you ask me!

Sadly, Sarracenias need to hibernate, and this one started going crispy even in the store, which is apparently normal, so I've put it into my cold garage for a month or two.

I also started growing Drosera and Sarracenia from seed, but they didn't germinate yet. I got a lot of different seeds from a hobbyist, but growing CPs from seeds is a huge pain from what I've read.

Here's a picture of my seedling/ cutting station: I will make a post about the station soon!

I also sew a few of them directly into the pot and covered it with foil.

In theory, the combination of fine substrate with high water level should provide the plants with enough moisture, while also letting the roots get exposed to a lot of oxygen, which keeps them very healthy.

But swamp plants are just different maybe, I don't know. Let's see...

And, last but not least, I bought two Nepenthes a few days ago. I already placed one of them into LECA (8-16 mm).

They apparently grow similar to orchids, and not like swamp growing plants like venus fly traps or Drosera. So, they rather need a airy substrate, normal pH (about 6) and even tolerate fertilizer.

They looked like this when I bought them:

I will keep you all updated!

Tags for search engines: LECA, hydroponics, hydro, semi hydro, carnivorous plants, VFT, Sarracenia, Drosera, Dionaea, Nepenthes, fertilizer, experiment, inorganic media, peat alternative, pumice, Seramis, pon

I have been contemplating to set up a small vertical hydroponic system, but I am struggling a bit to come up with plants I would actually like to eat that would fit well.

Stuff like tomatoes or pepper just seems to grow way too big to function well in a typical vertical setup, and I am not a big fan of leafy salads to eat.

I found a nice small cabbage (Japanese Tatsoi), which is quite ok, but other suggestions would be welcome.

I bought a few bulbs two weeks ago and planted most of them into LECA (indoors) or soil (on my balcony), but also one into a Kratky pot.

I don't think I can harvest this year yet, but we'll see.

In this one also grows garlic and strawberries. It's meant to hibernate this winter, and then in the early spring, I'll place it outside.

I want to present you my setup I "invented" myself. You can imagine it as a recirculating drip system, but mixed in with semi-hydroponics and a wick setup. And all of that completely "passive"!

How it started

Initially, I wanted a completely passive wick system. I'm a really big fan of passive hydroponics, e.g. the Kratky method or LECA (semi-hydro). While I also like DWC systems and all those others too, they almost always need access to the power grid.

So, I built my wick system myself and transplanted one of my plants from a DWC system into the passive wick system.

By doing that, I damaged quite a lot of roots, and that, in combination with lots of debris from the environment (seeds, leaves, etc.), and stagnant water, caused anaerobic conditions. It smelled horrible, and the plants looked very sad!

Adding peroxide daily and changing the water every few days didn't help. I had 3 identical systems, and all of them behaved the same.

There had to be some kind of oxygenation!

When I was able to flush it all out somehow, everything worked again as it should be after a few weeks. There was no more smell, the pH stabilized, and everything was fine.

Then, one more problem showed: the wick wasn't strong enough. When it was hot outside, especially my hemp plant (lots of surface area, high water demand) looked very thirsty.

It was also hard to adjust the solution, the whole system was very inflexible.

So, I had to make an upgrade!

The current setup

My current drip system is almost the same as the wick system before, but with an added water pump and drippers. You can see the schematics in a second.

How it works

When it's sunny (and hot!), the plant needs way more water. Gladly, we have our solar panel. As soon as the sun comes out, the pump turns on and feeds the plant.

And when it's really hot, the big surface area of the substrate below cools down the roots by evaporation, so they are always optimally saturated with oxygen.

Because the nutrient solution is constantly moving, it doesn't need to be additionally oxygenated with an air pump. The LECA or lava stone is so porous, that it traps just enough oxygen, and the high surface area allows beneficial bacteria and fungi to settle. If any organic debris falls in (insects, pollen, leafes, etc.), it just gets eaten by the microorganisms. I changed the nutrient solution rarely, and it always worked fine.

In the night, or cloudy days, the pump is off. Then the plant feeds itself from the moist clay balls or the wick below.

And, when it's rainy, the rain washes off all salts from the minor crust that has built up.

What's also cool is that you can just remove the plug from the end of the tube and then flush the reservoir or take a sample to check the EC and pH.

Schematics

1. Outer container, holding the nutrient solution
2. Inner container, holding the substrate and the plant
3. The Wick, drawing up water and filtering it
4. The substrate (LECA or lava rock)
5. USB-powered fountain pump
6. Solar panel with USB ports
7. Tube with holes or drippers
8. Optional: a water level indicator and some cover plate against direct sunlight

How to build it

• You need a big plant pot as the outside container, and a smaller one that fits right in.
  I got mine from a local nursery, the pots are literally everywhere!
• Now, you drill or burn some holes into the inner pot. I recommend adding them not directly on the bottom, but a few fingers spaced above. That way, the nutrient solution can form a small puddle, that feeds the plant and keeps the substrate moist, even when there isn't any sun for a few days. I did both and both worked fine.
• Now, add a wick. I used a kitchen towel made out of polyester. Don't use cotton! Any organic material will rot in a few days!
• Then, fill it up with your substrate. Lava rock is cheaper and gives the plant more stability, but is very hard to wash off and can damage the roots. LECA became more of my choice, as it is very easy to clean, is more lightweight, and draws up moisture better, but is also more expensive and provides less stability.
• Add the pump to the reservoir, and make your dripping tube. I bought special sprinkler-drippers, but you can also just pierce some holes into the tube. I did that in the beginning too, and it worked fine. The pump is a cheap one (7€) from Amazon/ Pet supply store, and the sprinklers are bought dirt cheap.
• Add some cover to the surface. I didn't notice much algae build up, but even if those aren't a problem, too much direct sunlight might evaporate too much moisture, and leaves fall onto the substrate.
• Finally, plug in your pump into the solar panels. The solar panel is bought from Amazon, and is pretty inexpensive. Make sure it is water resistant! Ideally, the maximum power generated should be double of the pump.

I don't recommend buying a pre-made solution with the combination of pump and solar panel. I already saw quite a few of them in my garden center, but they are absolutely not modular. If one part breaks, you have to replace the whole combination.

In total, the setup is pretty cheap, at least for home use. I used it for this grow season and I already bought parts for a few more next year!

Pros and cons, compared to other systems

Pros

• Doesn't require "sterile" conditions, not as much as other systems.
• Absolutely great for bigger plants, e.g. tomatoes, cannabis, peppers, etc., as the substrate gives a lot of stability for the roots.
• Doesn't require electricity/ power from outside.
• Very reliable. Even, if the pump or anything else breaks, it won't end in a total disaster.
• Silent. Almost all systems that use an air stone or spray nozzle generate a lot of noise, this one doesn't.
• Easy sample taking. Just grab a jar, remove the plug from the tube, fill up the jar, measure your EC and pH, and done. No need to disturb the roots or lift a lid.
• Lightweight. You only need enough water for the pump to cover, and the LECA isn't dense.

Cons

• You need to clean a lot of LECA in the beginning.
• Slightly higher starting costs. Hydroton is expensive, and you need the pots, pump and solar panel. But, it's also not much more expensive than other systems.
• If you have a slug infestation, like I had, it is horrible! The moist clay pebbles are the perfect home for any snail. If they die, they leave a lot of biomass and dirt.
• Hard to check the water level and root health. In my DWC, I just lift the lid a few cm, here it's harder. You'll notice when the nutrient solution is empty, because then the pump will run dry, and it becomes loud, but the water level indicator is a thing that I will definitely add next year.

"Indoor plants not only add a touch of greenery to your living space but also purify the air and boost your mood. While traditional soil-based planting is popular, growing plants in water, known as hydroponics, is gaining traction due to its simplicity and aesthetic appeal. In this guide, we’ll explore which indoor plants can be grown in water, how to care for them, and other useful tips for successful hydroponic gardening."

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/12178994

For those of you who are doing hydroponics, what do you think of this system? Is it a good system for a beginner on a budget? Or is there a better system?

I have recently started playing with hydroponics in my balcony. I had success with jalapeños in a simple bubbler setup. Also tomatoes worked great in an ebb and flow system. Basil works, coriander is a bit iffy, dill does not grow. How do you know what will work and which plants need what kind of nutrients?