WWShadow
Well-Known Member
I officially suck at germinating seeds in peat pellets and rapid rooterplugs! Since I finally settled on doing aero, I don't need the peat pellets disintegrating into the tubes and clogging things up. I think I keep getting too much water in the pellets. Anyway I took a seedling tray and filled it half full of hydroton (3X rinsed & soaked in 5.5 ph water), then I spread a bunchof seeds across the hydroton and using ph’d tap water with 1/8 strength gh bloom nutes (left-over’s ). Bam, I”ve never seen seeds sprouted so fast! Using a seedling heat mat @ 85°F covered with 2in dome. Corn & Okra were doing really well. That gave me two weeks to finish the aero unit. Using Ten 10’ 4”PVC tubes, w/3”netcups. I started building the stand and drilling out thetubes. Just an FYI for all the DIYers, it’s probably best not to attempt to usepower tools while under the effects of vicodin and muscle relaxers! I had aggravated my back several times just getting everything loaded and unloaded. Without thinking, I just popped the pills and kept on going.
Which would have been ok except I got a 3 ½ in hole saw and didn’t even realize it until it was too late. I am putting this here so perhaps no one else will make my stupid mistake. I know very well to double check everything before cutting or gluing etc. First time I ever had vicodin, so I wasn’t expecting that much of a hit.
I started this mess around mid-march. I finally got back on my feet enough to get it finished up. All I lack is attaching the pump and testing for leaks. I am betting there will be a few leaks. These storms the past few days have pretty much kept me from doing anything out doors but tomorrow I plan to have it finished up and tested.
As for scattering the seeds and covering them with more hydroton, I have to say it works great. Broccoli,which I had 0% success with last year, is booming this time around! I just haveto get he stuff into the hydro unit so it has room to grow! I did lose about 15seedlings overall, not too bad all things considered. I wasn’t able to get out and make sure they had water if they needed it for nearly a week. I think from now on if I continue to start seeds in this manner, I’ll use at least a 6’ deeptray, place the seeds into the net cups, and bury the cups in the hydroton. Those plants seemed to do the best, though they were not in cups. maybe hook up a flood & drain system so if I get laid up again the seeds/seedling will get enough water to survive. Learning as I go, lol
My “greenhouse” ended up being a carport purchased from Sam’s club! As the covering deteriorates, I will replace it with polycarbonate sheeting. I bought brass misters from outdoor misters. If they clog too much I’ll just drill out the sprayer tubes and run it as NFT. I don’t know if flood & drain wouldwork in this setup, I may find out, lol
Lowes has some green sprayers that work much better then the red ones from home depot for a low-pressure system, just in case anyone is interested; so anyway the holes on the tubes that were too large were patched. It looks likecrap but that is what I get for trying to keep going when I should have taken abreak until I found out how hard that crap was going to hit me. This is the 4thchange on pain meds. Shit keeps being pulled from the market…
So starting from 11/2 months behind, the plants may be a bit stunted but I think if it works at all it'll be fine!
I'll try and get some pics. I gotta tell ya the patched tubes look like crap, I'm so not happy with myself on that point but just gotta carry on and not do that again!!
Peace,
Which would have been ok except I got a 3 ½ in hole saw and didn’t even realize it until it was too late. I am putting this here so perhaps no one else will make my stupid mistake. I know very well to double check everything before cutting or gluing etc. First time I ever had vicodin, so I wasn’t expecting that much of a hit.
I started this mess around mid-march. I finally got back on my feet enough to get it finished up. All I lack is attaching the pump and testing for leaks. I am betting there will be a few leaks. These storms the past few days have pretty much kept me from doing anything out doors but tomorrow I plan to have it finished up and tested.
As for scattering the seeds and covering them with more hydroton, I have to say it works great. Broccoli,which I had 0% success with last year, is booming this time around! I just haveto get he stuff into the hydro unit so it has room to grow! I did lose about 15seedlings overall, not too bad all things considered. I wasn’t able to get out and make sure they had water if they needed it for nearly a week. I think from now on if I continue to start seeds in this manner, I’ll use at least a 6’ deeptray, place the seeds into the net cups, and bury the cups in the hydroton. Those plants seemed to do the best, though they were not in cups. maybe hook up a flood & drain system so if I get laid up again the seeds/seedling will get enough water to survive. Learning as I go, lol
My “greenhouse” ended up being a carport purchased from Sam’s club! As the covering deteriorates, I will replace it with polycarbonate sheeting. I bought brass misters from outdoor misters. If they clog too much I’ll just drill out the sprayer tubes and run it as NFT. I don’t know if flood & drain wouldwork in this setup, I may find out, lol
Lowes has some green sprayers that work much better then the red ones from home depot for a low-pressure system, just in case anyone is interested; so anyway the holes on the tubes that were too large were patched. It looks likecrap but that is what I get for trying to keep going when I should have taken abreak until I found out how hard that crap was going to hit me. This is the 4thchange on pain meds. Shit keeps being pulled from the market…
So starting from 11/2 months behind, the plants may be a bit stunted but I think if it works at all it'll be fine!
I'll try and get some pics. I gotta tell ya the patched tubes look like crap, I'm so not happy with myself on that point but just gotta carry on and not do that again!!
Peace,
