Have a great invention to help with gardening? Are you the self-reliant type that prefers Building It Yourself vs. buying it? Share and discuss your ideas and projects with other members.
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November 20, 2008 | #1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Zone 9 Texas, Fort Bend County
Posts: 436
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Aeroponics trial # 2
This thread is a follow up from my previous thread.
(Aeroponics: Worthwhile, or waste of time? ) Well, my first little adventure with a homemade aeroponics unit went well, up until the point when the nutrients began to clog the fountain spray head. I looked in the bucket and noticed that the root growth favored the side that was getting more of the spray. The plant had gotten so rangey I went ahead and put it in the dirt. On to trial #2.... I decided to take my homemade single bucket system and try to make a true propogation using the fog device. I had no intention of paying hundreds of dollars for the systems, epsecially when they appeared to be made mostly of items that are available for much less. Pictured here is the ultrasonic fogger. Some of these are pricey, I shopped around and found one for around $30. (www.mainlandmart.com) Last edited by bigbubbacain; November 20, 2008 at 12:39 PM. Reason: better info. |
November 20, 2008 | #2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Zone 9 Texas, Fort Bend County
Posts: 436
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Here is the fogger in action
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November 20, 2008 | #3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Zone 9 Texas, Fort Bend County
Posts: 436
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Here's the subject: A very mangy looking 'Husky Cherry Red'. It actually sat in a peat pot for about a month before I got around to doing something with it.
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November 20, 2008 | #4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Zone 9 Texas, Fort Bend County
Posts: 436
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I cut the stem up to the next leaf node. It was dried out, so I cut away the dry area and dipped it in rooting powder before installing in the net pot. Aeroponic net pots actually use a neoprene collar to hold the plant stem in place and allow the net area to remain open.
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November 20, 2008 | #5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Zone 9 Texas, Fort Bend County
Posts: 436
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I used a hole-saw attachment for my drill to cut a 2 1/2 inch hole for this pot. I placed it under my grow light with the fogger and airstones in the nutrient solution, and then I had to leave town, once again. When I returned last night, I didn't even unpack until I went to see the results. The plant showed a marked improvement in top growth.
Last edited by bigbubbacain; November 20, 2008 at 12:42 PM. |
November 20, 2008 | #6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Zone 9 Texas, Fort Bend County
Posts: 436
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The root growth just blew me away! Look at those root hairs!
Sorry for all the posts. I just realized that I can attach more than one photo on the same post. Anyway, this excites me to no end. There are so many possibilities here for germinating seed, propagating cuttings, or even growing a plant to term. One observation I made is that while the fogger produces "cold fog", the device itself will give off heat. I obtained these results by keeping the device timed one hour on, 30 minutes off. The temperature never got out of hand. The airstone may not be necessary for adding oxygen, as the proponents of these foggers say that the device will ionize and oxygenate the air. However, I've noticed that the airstones help move the fog througout the bucket and towards the top. In my next trial, I'm going to try and germinate seeds. |
November 21, 2008 | #7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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Maxifort is doubtless a strong root stock, but you could also
try grafting with Texas Wild, Matt's Wild Cherry, or roots of some hybrid that typically grows a huge plant for you and has multiple known disease tolerances. In east Asia, they seem to prefer grafting to eggplant roots (survives nematodes and week-long flooding in the rainy season in mid-summer).
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November 21, 2008 | #8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Zone 9 Texas, Fort Bend County
Posts: 436
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Thanks Dice!
Are there any problems with grafting to Eggplant? Funny you'd mention Texas Wild and Matt's Wild Cherry. They're two of my favorites, and they do have disease problems in my area. |
November 22, 2008 | #9 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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Grafting with eggplants has variable results. One paper I read
studied grafts with an eggplant cultivar and a disease-tolerant tomato cultivar for roots and two different tomato cultivars for the scions. With one tomato cultivar, they got more production from the eggplant graft than from either the tomato-tomato graft or the ungrafted plant of the scion. With the other tomato scion they got less production from the eggplant graft than from the ungrafted plant. So no guarantee, but if the problems are typically root knot nematodes or bacterial wilt, it is worth a try with your favorite heirloom tomato, since those are two problems that eggplants in Asia seem to be immune to. You might be able to find some fast growing F1 tomato with the necessary disease tolerance (that you normally would not bother with due to lack of flavor) to try, too. Edit: The tomato cultivars that they used in the study just had numbers rather than names. I got the impression that they were commercial cultivars supplied in bulk by some seed company to farmers in Taiwan and elsewhere around Asia.
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-- alias Last edited by dice; November 22, 2008 at 11:51 PM. Reason: added info |
December 11, 2008 | #10 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Zone 9 Texas, Fort Bend County
Posts: 436
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I decided to expand my little idea here and see how this works for germinating seed, since those Aero Garden units claim to do it. I bought a Rubbermaid 16 gallon tub with lid. I added the same air pump, same air stones, and still only one ultrasonic fogger. I used some disposable plastic wine glasses to act as Bell jars over the seeds.
Anyway, it's now day five and 15 out of 24 have sprouted. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is for me because I have a great deal of trouble getting seeds to sprout and keeping them healthy until they get to the garden. Anyway, here's a what it looks like: |
December 11, 2008 | #11 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 73
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Bigbubbacain I lost interest in building the aeroponics system last year because of the pricey equipment. I may build one now that you have found the parts so cheap. A couple of weeks ago on the Science channel, I saw a program that discussed how they work by not heating the water but actually vibrating or bouncing the molecules into fog. That’s why I am puzzled about the heat build up in the nutrient solution. Do you think it is the transformer heating up? What’s the wattage on the unit? karpes
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December 11, 2008 | #12 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Zone 9 Texas, Fort Bend County
Posts: 436
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Karpes:
I'm afraid that some of these manufacturers of the foggers aren't entirely truthful. There is a potential for heat to develop, but that is related more to the size of the container and the amount of liquid being used for the nutrient solution. I originally used a 5 gallon pail, and that only gave me enough room for 2 gallons of liquid because it's also important to have enough headspace for the fog to build up. It's easier to maintain the temperature with a larger container. The wattage on the transformer says 29W. The output is rated at 900 mA. The heat issue I had before was because I let the fogger run constantly. I now have it on a timer: 1 hour on, 30 minutes off, and the airstones run constantly. I've used a probe type thermometer to check the temp of the seeds in the rockwool - both covered and uncovered. The temp has never exceeded the mid 70's, so everything seems to be good for me so far. There's nothing quite like a "trial by fire" and as usual, I'm leaving town in a few days. I only hope there's something I want to see when I return. Last edited by bigbubbacain; December 11, 2008 at 09:33 PM. |
September 13, 2009 | #13 |
Tomatoville® Administrator
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: The Bay State
Posts: 3,207
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Any updates yet?
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Mischka One last word of farewell, Dear Master and Mistress. Whenever you visit my grave, say to yourselves with regret but also with happiness in your hearts at the remembrance of my long happy life with you: "Here lies one who loved us and whom we loved." No matter how deep my sleep I shall hear you, and not all the power of death can keep my spirit from wagging a grateful tail. |
September 13, 2009 | #14 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Zone 9 Texas, Fort Bend County
Posts: 436
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September 13, 2009 | #15 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Zone 9 Texas, Fort Bend County
Posts: 436
|
I decided that I might be better understood if I backtrack just a little and added new photos. So here goes.
When I tried this for the first time last year, I wasn't successful on my first attempt. Thinking that I was doing the right thing for starting seeds, I used a either a small cube of rockwool or one of the formed peat inserts made for hydroponics I applied seed and place one of these inserts in each of the net pots. Equalizing the moisture was a tremendous problem for me. Either my seedlings dried out or they rotted to mush. I also didn't like the idea of having the rockwool around my young seedlings when they were planted outdoors because of all the algae that accumulated. I found a way around this problem by planting the seeds bare in each of the net pots. I use a small square of cheesecloth for the roots to attach to and also to keep the seeds from falling out. Look to the back and you can see one of the seeds that didn't germinate. Last edited by bigbubbacain; September 13, 2009 at 05:13 PM. Reason: more info |
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