Soilponics?!

R

Russgus

Member
Hey guys, just built myself an indoor hydroponic system for growing vegetables and proceeded to use soil in a coffee filter in a plastic cup with a hole in the bottom which is then stuck in the hole in the piping. I have zero growing experience and didnt really research before popping the seeds in and my question is was it stupid to use soil as a medium? Will this still work? There are tons of air bubbles on the cups when you pull them out because of the waterfall scenario that happens in the piping. Take a look at what I built! There is a water pump in the bottom left elbow that pumps water up to the top right, and from what I can tell there is tons of oxygen in the water. Hoping I wont drown the plants using soil..??20200316_125601.jpg
 
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Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
That is really rad. If it were mine, I'd use netpots and hydroton(expanded clay pellets). You're going to want your roots to dangle down in to the film of nutrient solution that's flowing beneath them. Soil will get far too wet and waterlogged, wicking it up with the roots.

Google NFT (Nutrient Film Technique) to read up more, bro.
Sweet build inside the case and being on the wall. Very cool ambience once there's some greenery in there.
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Airwalker16 said:
That is really rad. If it were mine, I'd use netpots and hydroton(expanded clay pellets). You're going to want your roots to dangle down in to the film of nutrient solution that's flowing beneath them. Soil will get far too wet and waterlogged, wicking it up with the roots.

Google NFT (Nutrient Film Technique) to read up more, bro.
Sweet build inside the case and being on the wall. Very cool ambience once there's some greenery in there.
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yes, you are dead nuts on. dump the dirt, insert netpots filled with hydroton. and make sure the wall is waterproof.
 
R

Russgus

Member
Airwalker16 said:
That is really rad. If it were mine, I'd use netpots and hydroton(expanded clay pellets). You're going to want your roots to dangle down in to the film of nutrient solution that's flowing beneath them. Soil will get far too wet and waterlogged, wicking it up with the roots.

Google NFT (Nutrient Film Technique) to read up more, bro.
Sweet build inside the case and being on the wall. Very cool ambience once there's some greenery in there.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the info!! I should have researched more before getting this going but I was too excited haha

And thanks for the compliment, it has a very nice ambience in person because you get to listen to the water trickle down it as well
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Russgus said:
Thank you for the info!! I should have researched more before getting this going but I was too excited haha

And thanks for the compliment, it has a very nice ambience in person because you get to listen to the water trickle down it as well
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if you ever want to improve that, build a few circles of that same idea and run your light in the center. stadium grows make the best use of a lumen.
 
R

Russgus

Member
rkymtnman said:
if you ever want to improve that, build a few circles of that same idea and run your light in the center. stadium grows make the best use of a lumen.
Click to expand...
Ahh that's a good idea, once I can actually get something to grow and survive and get the hang of this my new hobby may be constructing cool looking functional hydro systems..

I am still waiting for my led grow light to show up for this one but the whole coronavirus is delaying it
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Russgus said:
Ahh that's a good idea, once I can actually get something to grow and survive and get the hang of this my new hobby may be constructing cool looking functional hydro systems..

I am still waiting for my led grow light to show up for this one but the whole coronavirus is delaying it
Click to expand...
honestly, things will grow like crazy in your design. ditch the dirt though for sure. 3 keys to hydro: pH, pH, and pH.
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
Russgus said:
So if I went that route once the veggies began to sprout I would then remove them from the rapid rooters and put them in the hydroton?
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You'd wrap the rooter In Duct tape. I would actually reccomend root riot cubes and the tray they come with. That way your roots will fill the cube and reach the edges like when you buy tomatoes at the store and the roots are all over once you pull them out of their plastic case. You feel me? You want lots of established roots before going to your system. You could also, grow a plant to take CLONES from and grow ten on an Aero cloner and ha the easiest method for getting them into your system. Roots grow long and dangle down. You'd just work them through the netpot bottom and then fill with hydroton. Place them in the system and your roots would already be far enough down to reach the water film.
 
R

Russgus

Member
Airwalker16 said:
You'd wrap the rooter In Duct tape. I would actually reccomend root riot cubes and the tray they come with. That way your roots will fill the cube and reach the edges like when you buy tomatoes at the store and the roots are all over once you pull them out of their plastic case. You feel me? You want lots of established roots before going to your system. You could also, grow a plant to take CLONES from and grow ten on an Aero cloner and ha the easiest method for getting them into your system. Roots grow long and dangle down. You'd just work them through the netpot bottom and then fill with hydroton. Place them in the system and your roots would already be far enough down to reach the water film.
Click to expand...
Ahh I see, so I dont really even need the netpot to be submerged in the water flow? I can just put plants in that have long enough roots?

Right now I'm using these thin plastic cups that go far enough into the pipe that they can rest against the pipe right in the stream. I was thinking about just cutting a bunch of slits in them like a netpot and using them so I dont have to buy the netpots.
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
Russgus said:
Ahh I see, so I dont really even need the netpot to be submerged in the water flow? I can just put plants in that have long enough roots?

Right now I'm using these thin plastic cups that go far enough into the pipe that they can rest against the pipe right in the stream. I was thinking about just cutting a bunch of slits in them like a netpot and using them so I dont have to buy the netpots.
Click to expand...
Google Image search Nutrient film Technique. The pics will explain better than my words ever could. But how big are the holes you drilled?
 
R

Russgus

Member
After doing some homework on the ol google it looks like there are a few routes I can go with NFT, from using a netpot with a medium to using no netpot and no medium.. Looks like the commercial growers literally stick lettuce right into the pipe and good to go.. only crappy thing about my set up is apparently flat bottomed piping is better because of the more even water flow over the roots.
 
JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
Russgus said:
Thank you for the info!! I should have researched more before getting this going but I was too excited haha

And thanks for the compliment, it has a very nice ambience in person because you get to listen to the water trickle down it as well
Click to expand...
No hurt experimenting at all! If anything, it looks really cool! Yeah, dump the soil and go true "hydroponics", via NFT.
 
R

Russgus

Member
Thought I'd give an update on my system, so I didnt end up buying netpots or hydroton because I am on a 14 day quarantine and live in a rural area, but I came up with an alternative that seems to be working and as of saturday I planted some Romano beans and wanda peas and they are thriving!
 
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