Here's an article posted to Self Sufficient Me that was written by Clissa https://selfsufficientme.com/fruit-vegetables/simple-hydroponics-a-short-term-solution-to-growing Enjoy and discuss if you wish 
Simple Hydroponics - A Short Term Solution to Growing
- Thread starter Mark
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- hydroponics
Basically it’s a Krakty system which I posted about here. https://www.selfsufficientculture.com/threads/kratky.1796/
Great idea for fire areas but also for drought and everywhere as we all need to be conscious of water usage.
This system is great for leafy greens in particular.
Great idea for fire areas but also for drought and everywhere as we all need to be conscious of water usage.
This system is great for leafy greens in particular.
Yes Kate, it basically is the Kratky system.
I was just trying to find the simplest system that anyone could set up for as little money & bother as possible.
I didn't give it a name in my article because I didn't want people to get hung up on investigating deeper intricacies.
They can find out all the extra information here in this thread on the forum if they want.
I was thinking that people who had been through the fires were already stretched in every way.
Maybe they wanted to give their kids something to do growing a bit of food.
Anyway here are some update photos 18days later.
I have renewed the solution, moving up from half strength to full strength.
The old solution was still good in every way, had a good pH of 7 and smelled fresh.
But the plants indicated they needed more nutrient.
Some have got heaps of beaut white roots while others are existing well enough with little extra roots.
Its really interesting how they differ in that regard.
Flowers already on tomatoes and cucumbers and I've already had one salad meal of lettuce leaves off the lettuces.
I could also pick the basil to thicken that up too.
In the next week I'll find some 4-5lt buckets with lids to move the cues and tomatoes into.
Due to the rain, I located the table just under the edge of the shelter because rain water can wash into the containers which would dilute the solution.
However that small change in location has been enough to prevent sunlight all day so some plants are a bit leggy.
But once they are moved into larger containers they should be ok to tolerate some rain water washing in.
Here are a few photos.
I was just trying to find the simplest system that anyone could set up for as little money & bother as possible.
I didn't give it a name in my article because I didn't want people to get hung up on investigating deeper intricacies.
They can find out all the extra information here in this thread on the forum if they want.
I was thinking that people who had been through the fires were already stretched in every way.
Maybe they wanted to give their kids something to do growing a bit of food.
Anyway here are some update photos 18days later.
I have renewed the solution, moving up from half strength to full strength.
The old solution was still good in every way, had a good pH of 7 and smelled fresh.
But the plants indicated they needed more nutrient.
Some have got heaps of beaut white roots while others are existing well enough with little extra roots.
Its really interesting how they differ in that regard.
Flowers already on tomatoes and cucumbers and I've already had one salad meal of lettuce leaves off the lettuces.
I could also pick the basil to thicken that up too.
In the next week I'll find some 4-5lt buckets with lids to move the cues and tomatoes into.
Due to the rain, I located the table just under the edge of the shelter because rain water can wash into the containers which would dilute the solution.
However that small change in location has been enough to prevent sunlight all day so some plants are a bit leggy.
But once they are moved into larger containers they should be ok to tolerate some rain water washing in.
Here are a few photos.
Looking great, I think it’s quiet fascinating seeing the roots.
Rain is awesome for our fruit trees, gardens, dams, tanks etc and so wonderful to see it out west as well. But yes not good for hydroponic type things. I’ve shut mine down over the wet season now, will start up again once it cools a bit.
And this is not just the hydroponics, I find it to hot and humid for me and the veggies whether in so or hydroponic so good time for a break.
Rain is awesome for our fruit trees, gardens, dams, tanks etc and so wonderful to see it out west as well. But yes not good for hydroponic type things. I’ve shut mine down over the wet season now, will start up again once it cools a bit.
And this is not just the hydroponics, I find it to hot and humid for me and the veggies whether in so or hydroponic so good time for a break.
Short update.
Despite the rain and the plants living life under a roof, I've managed to harvest enough Basil to make pesto, lots of lettuce leaves and the cues and tomatoes both have babies !
Despite the rain and the plants living life under a roof, I've managed to harvest enough Basil to make pesto, lots of lettuce leaves and the cues and tomatoes both have babies !