Hydroponic Seed Starter

[RootLoops]

here is something i made last night to put seeds or seedlings in to give them a good boost before setting out. it's pretty basic, i used plastic bathroom cups with the bottom cut out and a jiffy pellet inside.

i cut so that there would be a lip left in the bottom of the cup that will hold the jiffy pellet in



and then put the seedlings or blank jiffy pellets into the cups which are suspended over the nutrient solution. i'll need to get more air stones and a second pump but for now it's a start



a side view of the workings, the tub will be blacked out to keep algae from growing in the reservoir but i left it uncovered so i could get these pics, today sometime i will cover the outside of the tub with aluminum tape(because i already have some)



the lighting is a t8 shop light i got for 20 bucks, the whole thing sits on a coffee table under our microwave/coffee pot area




i moved all the squash seedlings into it and most of the other seedlings i had that i could fit in a jiffy pellet, they all went in there last night, soon i will add some nutrients to it to give them a little taste of it at .5 ml/L

once the seedlings are ready to go out i'll cut the little white cups off and plant out the jiffy pellet as i normally would

that's it so far i will update this as it goes along!

[Cole_Robbie]

I like the re-purposing of the cups, very nice.

[luigiwu]

I just saw this method for the first time a couple days ago. Keep up posted on how it does. I would be interested to hear you kept other ones growing seperately/normal and compare how the two do.

How many weeks do you have to go before plant out? I wonder if that cup is big enough...

[RootLoops]

i have no idea how long it will take this is my first run with it, but the pepper plant in my closet garden has gotten very nice sized in just a couple weeks. i shouldn't have called this a seed starter though, should have said seedling starter the seeds will germ in a heat mat seedling dome thing then they'll go in here to fatten up before going out. i'll keep progress updated on here and see how they do. it's pretty boring until the roots hit the nutrient solution but once they do they take off like a rocket.

i still have to figure out scheduling and all with this, how long they stay in etc. the cups will be cut off when it's time to plant them out. i was going to order some net pots but i couldn't wait for the shipping lol i had all the other parts ready to go

thanks for the replies, luigi on the next batch that goes in i'll keep some out to compare, i hadn't thought of that thanks!

[RootLoops]

a couple roots are showing through today but only on the squash. not much to report on this one, i switched them around so that the older ones were above the bubbles so i'll have to hand water the others when they need it.

it should be warm enough soon to put the squash in the dirt and then i'll move some more things into this starter. i also plan to cut some mesh to use instead of the jiffy pellets next time. i covered the tub with aluminum foil tape to block out the light but a good bit still gets in through the top, i'll black it out at some point.

i topped the basil in the closet yesterday and put the top in here to maybe take root to go out in the garden

[RootLoops]

the above photos ^^^ were taken on 3/29 according to google +, so that makes about nine days from then until now:


here they are today, everything in there is looking great, i moved a tomato sprout and a hot pepper sprout in there the other day to see how it does from such a small sprout. roots are finally starting to poke through the bottom of the cup on some of the small stuff, the peppers and tomatoes, and the cabbage(or broccoli, lost the tags) the squash roots are crazy!













i haven't changed the tank yet but i added a homemade "bubblestone" that i used and old section of soaker hose hooked to the fish pump to make, it works pretty frakkin' well so far, i'll get a pic of it later when the phone is back here. once i change the tank i will probably up the nutrients to 1ml/L, or possibly .75ml/L. after reading up on transplanting from hydro to soil i think it will be fine, i plan to add a few drops of superthrive to the res and also to the soil i'll move them to at transplanting.

i also added two doors with plexiglass windows my mother in law found in her attic the other day, i still need to hinge it up but for now it keeps the cats out better than the garbage bags i had tacked over it. there are also two tomato plants that my buddy gave me, jetstream hybrid from a school plant sale, i'm gonna graft heirlooms onto those at some point.





the basil cutting has nice roots forming, it never wilted though i never sprayed it or kept high humidity. the tip of the cutting was just above the bubbling solution, i figure this tub would make a great rooter and i'll probably end up getting some neoprene plugs to use for that.

[Stvrob]

Last year someone posted a project here that I think you would be into. It was a hydroponic lettuce "tower" made of PVC, with growing ports in the side of it. It was definitely very cool, I will try to find the thread...does anyone else recall this thread? it was about 1-year ago.


Edit....I think this is the link...http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...ighlight=tower

[RootLoops]

that's so freakin cool!! thanks for digging that up! i bet strawberries would be awesome in that, i'd have one in every corner of the house lol. i like organic gardening and all but i really love hydroponics, i'm gonna start playing with aquaponics once we have our own land and i can build a permanent structure so i can blend the two (organics/hydroponics)

[RootLoops]

i moved the biggest squash plants out of this yesterday and into cups of ultrasorb to help harden the roots up before transplant, i fed them with a 1 ml/L nutrient solution. i added some new seedlings of various varieties but they are in cups with no holes right now as the nutrient solution currently is too high for brand new seedlings, however i have one tomato sprout exposed to the nutes from the day it sprouted as a test to see what they can take.







i put all the squash in the closet under the MH light, they are just in red party cups with pin holes in the bottom

[Cole_Robbie]

Nice plants.

Last year when I sold seedlings in those cups at market, it seemed like there was always a customer singing the Toby Keith song 'Red Solo Cup....Let's have a party.'

[RootLoops]

anything that attracts them to your plants is good!

[RootLoops]

i moved the two jetstream tomatoes outside in the shade to harden off and they will go into mounds with corn beans and squash to use as the base for grafting heirlooms onto.

i moved some cabbage and peppers outside to a small spot by the walkway, and a lettuce i think. they probably wont be at the right time to taste good but i can grow it for worm food and aesthetics.

everything still looks good in here, the basil cutting has a bigger set of roots now. the squash i transferred to cups of Ultrasorb never showed any signs of shock. the Ultrasorb should help harden the roots up before planting out, i hope anyway.

so far this has been worth the effort, the seedlings shoot up fast and i don't have to bother with any dirt or worrying about the cats digging in it. i'll be making more of these over the summer and fixing a place in my partners spare bedroom to keep going all year and get an earlier start next season.

[tqn626]

Those are some awesome looking plants. I've been dabbling in non-circulating hydroponics myself. Trying to go all organic with it. I don't think it possible, everything i tried is dead. Still testing out weird methods.

[RootLoops]

Originally Posted by tqn626

Those are some awesome looking plants. I've been dabbling in non-circulating hydroponics myself. Trying to go all organic with it. I don't think it possible, everything i tried is dead. Still testing out weird methods.

here is your solution! pun intended! these are the first and only(that i know of) organic hydroponic nutrients

http://www.ez-gro.com/products?page=...l&product_id=1

it's certified for use in organic gardening and you need no air supply or pumps of any kind for Deep Water Culture, you also don't need TDS meters or pH equipment

[Cole_Robbie]

I think it's a lot easier if you use an air or water pump for aeration, as well as pre-mixed organic nutrients if you go the organic route. I think most Earth Juice products are organic.

I looked into getting my hydro lettuce certified as organic. Any plastic the solution touches had to be "food grade," which I think is a dumb rule. But even worse, I use a water pump for aeration, and apparently there is no such thing as a water pump made out of food grade plastic. So to make my lettuce organic, I have to invent, design, and manufacture a product that does not yet exist.