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My thanks to (Mr?) Trics, or if I may presume to call (him?) frosty?
(vegantheoryclub.org)
If you thought the title was funny you should look into a Tom Lehrer whom I am ripping off.
Got some hydro going, which is good as a bad week of depression combined with a hot sun killed my ground veggies.
Wow, well done!
What varieties did you go with? It looks like tomatoes and squash?
Disclaimer- The following is meant to be helpful, not critical, judgemental, or telling you how to do things. Apologies if this is out of line.
Perhaps you already know this, maybe others don't- Your main enemies in these systems will almost certainly be temperature and light, especially if they are staying outside. The lighter plastic on the buckets will definitely let through enough light for algae growth, which can snowball into other problems. The darker plastic on the larger container will heat the water significantly when the sun is on it if the foliage doesn't cover most of it, etc. Whether or not it's enough to cause problems will depend on your setup.
Neither of these are unusual or unexpected issues but both can bring these setups to their knees and cause you grief. There are lots of different ways to combat these issues but avoiding them altogether is definitely preferable!
It looks like you've got a great start on things. All methods of growing have their own challenges and learning curves and hydro is no different, but the problems are usually pretty easy to stay ahead of once you have a feel for things.
Good luck and well done!
instead of paint can you cover them in paper or something to dampen the light?
Lots of things will work depending on how intense the light you need to block is. If it was me I'd be cautious about using anything that will hold or absorb water so you don't accidentally make a mold factory.
A personal favorite is radiant barrier, found commonly with insulation materials at hardware stores. There are many varieties of it from bubble wrap to foam based but the idea is the same- At least one side is reflective and usually covered in mylar/something highly reflective. It's more expensive to get going but it doesn't break down and is easy to keep clean and reuse. It can also be easily shaped to wrap things like buckets and whatnot.
Another option people commonly use is pieces of extruded foam. NOTE: Not all foam is created equal. Expanded foam is typically frowned on for use in these systems, but it all comes down to personal preference. Not everyone has the same standards for what they feel is ok and I don't personally use expanded foam. It's too pourous and sheds particles far too readily for my liking. Having said that, many of your commercial farms raising plants to be sold in nurseries in the spring are using expanded foam as rooting material, so make of that what you will. When using foam you can even bypass the use of a lid entirely and float your plants in your res if that's something that interests you.
Aluminum tape is another option for low effort light proofing. Most stores will sell huge rolls of it for a reasonable price and it holds up well enough long term. One advantage this has over paint is that it's much easier to take off some tape and replace it if it's damaged or your setup changes instead of trying to strip old paint and start over.
Depending on how intense the light source is something as simple as a space blanket/mylar sheeting can even be used. Most of this material is semi transparent, but it will still block a fair bit of light. Keep in mind if you aren't careful this material can accidentally make your heating problem worse, not better, so I don't like using it outdoors where I can't keep an eye on things.
Not everything needs to have the light blocked.
If you're growing under artificial light and you aren't going to keep the res going more than a month or so between restarts you don't necessarily have to block the light. Greens like lettuce, spinach, etc grow so rapidly that you will likely exhaust the palatable growth before algae or anything else has a chance to start causing you problems. In these cases you can simply wash and disinfect your equipment and start over.
Twitter and it's consequences has been a disaster for the human race.
Yeah I wrapped the black tub with aluminum which I hope reflects enough. We have had some heat and nothing is dead so seems ok.
I noticed the algae, I guess I should wrap the white ones too to at least reduce growth. I figure I'll burn that bridge when I get to it. Might need to cycle water to add more nutrients if the plants start looking sad.
Very true lol. I don't ever want people to think I'm trying to tell them what to do or that my way is better than something else. There are countless ways to be successful and I don't want to accidentally discourage someone. Call it a character flaw from someone who hates to be told "that won't work."
Algae is a bastard. Once it's there it can be hard to get rid of, and even a die off sucks because it poisons the res. Sometimes it will coexist without much issue but it's usually a time bomb.
Hmm that's not good about algae. I had not considered that they could utter death curses.
Well there isn't a huge amount at the moment. Unless I want to create an enormous hassle for myself I suppose I'll just have keep an eye on the plants and utter a hearty "she'll be right".
If the algae is happy in the res it's fairly harmless for awhile. It steals nutrients from what you're trying to feed but not serious until it starts to die off or becomes so prevalent that the roots of your plants are being strangled.
Something that catches a lot of people by surprise is how quickly issues can develop in hydro compared to more traditional media. You have little to no buffer in hydro systems and certain things will go from nothing to disaster in next to no time. Algae can definitely be one.
I suppose I'll just have to see what happens. I could do a massive clean or whatever but it'll just get back in. Since there are 2 tomato buckets if something does go wrong I'll probably get advanced warning.
Appreciate the heads up, I tend to take an approach of extremely simplicity adding complexity as needed when trying something. Only one way to get a feel for how problematic algae is haha.
If I build the nft or dutch bucket I'm sketching out (I want 100% solar power so nft may be unsuitable since cloudy weeks happen) it's gonna have to deal with algae blowing in on the wind. What do people do to handle that?
You and I should get along just fine.
Nothing different really, but it isn't the same technique so the algae isn't as detrimental either. NFT systems are sometimes cleaned between runs, sometimes not. Depends on how it's set up. The algae growth is mainly contained to the rails since that's where all the light is. Your res would ideally still be dark and unable to support algae growth.
The same applies for dutch buckets more or less. The algae will only be where there is enough light to support it. You'll see it at the top of your hydro medium and at any openings in the system (depending on how it's transferred from bucket to bucket) but the res should be your stronghold.
Dark and cool is the name of the game no matter what.
Australian summer says "hi" :p 40 C shade temps are pretty normal... now. The concrete gets hot enough to cause serious burns on feet (and dog paws) in the sun.
I guess I'll have to burn that bridge when I get to it.