I found this thru a guy who test hydroponic gardening. He posts his mistakes and experiments and he keeps it simple I may try this this winter. I've done hydroponic in the past and had little success with it because of the inputs required. He makes the inputs simple. This video discussed what he uses for fertilizer and why. This is a picture of his board used in the video.
I've also watched many of this fellows vids... Pity you're not likely to find a digital PPM or PH meter at any yard sales.
True.. But a farm estate auction in a box of junk... Maybe... I just love how he took a complex project and made it simple. =)
For a pH meter, I might suggest this one, that I picked up off of Amazon, a while back: New Mini Digital Pen Type PH Meter PH-009 I Multimeter Tester Hydro: Moisture Meters: Amazon.com: Home & Kitchen Currently $9.99 with free shipping (see alternate sellers), or $11.99 via Amazon (free shipping with Prime, or $35 purchase total for non-Prime customers). I have verified the accuracy of this one, against pH test strips I have, and it's pretty darn accurate for such an inexpensive device!
How to Make Biodegradable Plant Pots - Homemade Seed Starting Pots - YouTube More homemade seed pots. This guy shows 3 ways to make seed pots
It took me a while but here are the results of my low light window Kratky growing experiment. the 1st round not too successful I used coffee cans and planted 1" rock wool surrounded with hydrotone to keep down the algae a year later of the 6 I planted of 4 types of basil, cilantro, and rosemary, I only have one basil left, lemon basil is very hardy. the basil is on the left, I trimmed it back. on the right is fennugreek sprouts i will show how I made those in a minute the next picture is the roots of the basil plant, I had to dump all the water, clean out the algae and gently wash the roots to save this plant. I did not do this with the others and the algae got them. Remember this is a non cirulating growing method so you get algae if you don't make the sides dark. I will probably spray paint the sides and see if this cuts more light.
initially i set up these tubs with watercress and other greens. The watercress is increadably hardy for a non-circulating system like the kratky method. TWO Jello containers, one for the bottom and one for the top, the plants go in the one with the holes I put foil on the bottom to keep out the light and keep the algae overgrowth down I did the holes with a cheap soldiering gun the holes are to aerate the plants, I just pick up the top container 2x a day and drop them back in so that some air is forced into the water. I works really well for a non-circulating system. These Jello containers from Walmart lasted about 6 months with watercress and then I had to clean sterilize and replant . The mold and algae overgrow got too high for the plants to survive. I did not use the foil on the bottom on the 1st growth. Second experiment is next and it has the foil on the bottom
My next go around is when I added the foil and I went to dollar store and got these containers. I bought them because they don't show light thru the bottom and I don't have to use as much hydrotone in them. (will insert picture later of what i bought for $1 its not uploading) (insert picture of growth On the far left are all 3 water cress, they were all planted at the same time but I over did the antifungl on the two smaller ones. So they are a bit behind in growth. On the far right is the Parsley in the containers I made... shown below. Lids I just put these together and burned a length of hole in the ends so my drip feed cloth could be fed thru both ends and down into the water. I started with a felted Rayon as my wick but that brought on too much mold so I'm now just using a thin cotton from some old clothes. I will post more pics later... not uploading atm
