Kratky + LST Experiment

This coming Tuesday, it will be 5 weeks since germination. First time trying to grow using kratky method passive hydroponics. (been inspired lately watching guys like Peter Stanley's and Khang Starr's channels on youtube - these guys have serious skills growing and breeding hot peppers)

White Cookies fem from CK

view of her stalk and branching

From the top


Lemon Skunk fem from 34th Street Co.

I like the branching structure on this one too.


This is the second White Cookies fem from CK. I still don't know if I like this pheno better or the first one.

I do know it's a pleasure to LST this plant.

All three girls.


These seedlings actually got off to a rough start, initially, I was going to do soil, but I did something wrong and used another batch of soil by mistake that had a lot of bloodmeal in it, and I think that nuked the young roots on the seedlings. I caught it in time, and since I had been considering doing a kratky test grow, I told myself now was the time.
I carefully removed them from their pots. I cleaned the roots of all soil and installed all 3 in a rockwool cube instead. This I pushed into a net cup, I made the tall containers (just drilled a hole in the cap for the net cup) and a feed hole and a overflow hole. The overflow hole is so that I don't exceed a certain level where I want to keep my air-roots/water-roots level.
When I flip to 12/12 I have larger bins that I've started preparing. Root p0rn pics will be provided at transplant time.

comments welcome

This pretty cool. Looks like you’ve had a lot of fun growing these!!

It is a lot of fun actually, I'm just getting back into it. With all the working from home due to Covid, it was time to reboot some old hobbies

This looks like fun. Right after reading your post I went out and started a couple myself. I've been watching the same youtube videos you mentioned and I've been growing some lettuce in my window sill using the Kratky method. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out. These a looking great!

Kndreyn said:

This looks like fun. Right after reading your post I went out and started a couple myself. I've been watching the same youtube videos you mentioned and I've been growing some lettuce in my window sill using the Kratky method. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out. These a looking great!

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Thanks!

What do you feed it? nutes/water/ph?

Tap water and the veg mix from GH. 3 tsp/gal flora gro, 2 tsp/gal flora micro and 1 tsp/gal flora bloom. This mix brings my tap water down to about ph 6.3.
Definitely some faster growth for these than if I had put them in soil. We'll see after the taste test.

UPDATE


check out the DIY tube in front that shows your nutrient solution level.


A bit over 5 weeks veg

As promised

The two White Cookies


And off they go into bloom!

Up front: left - the Lemon Skunk from 34 Street Seeds Co and right - Afghani from CK.

Here's an idea for a water level indicator that works really well and is very simple to install. My rainforest has a water level indicator similar to what you made and it's hard to see the water through it.

Kndreyn said:

Here's an idea for a water level indicator that works really well and is very simple to install. My rainforest has a water level indicator similar to what you made and it's hard to see the water through it.

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That's a fantastic idea, thanks! I'll incorporate something similar in my next bin

I am going to be doing some breeding projects with a friend and I'm going to try your idea for the parent plants. I'll be trying them in quart jars. Kratky method. I think it's going to work perfect for what we need. I'm really glad you started this thread. Very interesting!!

Kndreyn said:

I am going to be doing some breeding projects with a friend and I'm going to try your idea for the parent plants. I'll be trying them in quart jars. Kratky method. I think it's going to work perfect for what we need. I'm really glad you started this thread. Very interesting!!

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for the love of making seeds
(recent batch I made)

but that's another story.

I just watched a youtube video on growing in Kratky. He started them on 12/12 right away, and it looked like he struggled towards the end. He could only add so much nutrients so he didn't cover the air roots. He suggested adding an air stone toward the end. I'm anxious to see how yours do.

so Kratky can take it through bloom?

if you add an air stone to kratky, doesn't that become basically dwc?

Dr.J20 said:

so Kratky can take it through bloom?

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The guy on youtube kinda struggled toward the end. He had to add a little bit of nutrients but not cover the air roots.

(sorry, not a hydro grower, just really interested in this!)

Dr.J20 said:

(sorry, not a hydro grower, just really interested in this!)

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I'm not either really. I grow in Promix mostly, and dabble with hempy buckets. And I like experimenting, so this has sparked my interest.

>so he didn't cover the air roots.
that sounds like he ran out of space and feeding became regular chore. I think that with a much bigger reservoir and a way to monitor your nutrient solution level, things become much more manageable. No airstones required.
There's a thing a discovered too from starting seedlings in rockwool and then going this route. You really have to follow the rules close for when the seedling first puts out a root that can reach the nutrient solution. From there, the plant will drink and the nutrient solution will drop. When you are comfortable with a satisfactory 'air-roots' size, begin maintaining the level to a point. I think that maintaining this balance of 'air-roots' to 'water-roots' is critical.