Kratky Hydroponic Lettuce Harvest - Cut and Come Again
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Publicado 2020-10-03
I read that hydroponic gardens can be much more productive than a traditional garden - growing faster and yielding more fruits/veggies per square foot - so that's what I built - a small hydroponic garden.
I wanted to build my system as cheaply as possible so I chose to use the Kratky method, meaning there are no moving parts here. Just two cheap storage totes full of nutrient solution and ten seedlings growing out of them (five per tote). I used General Hydroponics nutrients (link below). The T5 light (link below) was a little underpowered - I'll probably add two more before I transfer my saplings next time.
The seeds I started in rockwool then transferred into net cups with hydroton on top to hold them up straight (links below). The 1.5" Rockwool didn't really fit in the 2" Net Cups so I had to rip the corners off to make them fit. You don't want to squish Rockwool so next time I'll probably use just a piece of a rockwool cube instead of a whole cube. There's no reason to use a whole piece of Rockwool on one plant, even if Rockwool is relatively cheap.
Either way, I got three good harvests out of this run - probably 6 large bowls of lettuce in total. My starting volume was 12gal of solution per tote and I had about 8gallons left over, after the third run. The nutrient concentration stayed constant throughout.
If you have any questions about my setup please feel to leave them n the comments below and I'll answer as quickly as I can!
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**Support your local hydroponics shops if you can!!!**
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*these happen to be affiliate links but they are all products I use except where noted
Iceberg lettuce seeds: amzn.to/3i49OF5
Salad bowl greens seeds: amzn.to/365y5bI
Sunblaze 4-foot T5 High Output Fluorescent Light: amzn.to/3404AVX
2-inch Net Pots: amzn.to/3cBktpR
1.5-inch Rockwool cubes: amzn.to/3kRZMsM
2lb Organic Hydroton Clay Pebbles: amzn.to/3iqk8rh (Bought similar at my local hydroponics shop)
Smart Plug with Schedule and Energy Monitoring: amzn.to/3naHyol (Using an analog timer today but I'm switching to these for remote control/monitoring. I use these to voice control other devices in my home)
General Hydroponics Flora Series Nutrients: amzn.to/3cBMA89 (I used the "Light Veg" recipe - 5mL/gal)
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Storage Totes: bit.ly/3cVZ62A (Menard's but Lowes/Home Depot carry
Todos los comentarios (11)
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Added bonus that your son loved it! ๐๐ฝ๐๐ฝ
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Hi! I enjoyed your video and I love seeing like-minded people out there I have been doing this for many years and I have to say that I wish I'd have started sooner. Mostly because I don't like other people touching my food and I like to know where it comes from. As far as lettuce , grocery store lettuce is among the grossest veggie out there with so many fingers touching everything! As always I do experiment with my grows. I have raised dwarf cukes, tiny Tim and micro tom tomatoes for my salads in winter along with green onions , and home made goat and sheep cheese! I spend a lot of time canning , preserving my spring , summer , and fall veggies , but we do like to eat fresh when we can and the lettuce is the best way. I use different mediums from Coco coir , potting soil , rock wool , and Kratky. Just using my heavy duty 1020 trays I can raise thirteen huge lettuce plants in one tray. As I buy seed by the pound I solid seed lettuce in those trays using a shallow tray with minimal medium and then bottom water as all the roots are there as like the Kratky. This leads to several dense harvests of clip and come again. So instead of full grown plants you are harvesting a little younger , the taste is really good and starts changing around the fifth time. The lettuce is still good for you even when older. Done this way , minimal space and able to eat a salad every day. I also grow many kinds of sprouts and micro greens to add depth to the salads! Try that too!
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Great share๐โค
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Looking good man! Beard is giving my old mountain man beard a run for its money. I did the same thing in my basement this summer except lettuce wouldn't grow right so I'm sticking with broccoli, asparagus, bell peppers and brussel sprouts
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The plants are leggy because of a lack of light. Put more light and put it closer to the plants.
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Love it. How often do you have to add new nutrients? Have you considered an "Aquaponics" setup? I've been wanting to get one set up for a while now! And any chance we can see the insides of the tubs, or see how they are set up? Running water? Sprayers? Other?
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This is a big leap forward. Well done Phil. Love the details on the screen. We're trying to learn how to better utilize YouTube. Great to see the process and the process!
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You Should Try Russian Halva
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i could be way off, but when my lettuce grows into a stalk I think it's beginning to bolt. Tends to happen as the nutrients are running low and in excessive heat
