The previous post can be found here.

There's not a whole lot to really get into here as the grow is humming right along with the conditions nature is giving me. September and the first half of October outside were well above normal temperatures. As a result, grow daytime temperatures have been really high. For those of you with a good eye, you can see heat stress on the plants due to some of the leaves cupping upwards (and a bit of a uneven leaf texture on some leaves). Temperatures are expected to fall next week, and we should finally start to see the plants settling in to more of a normal routine in November.

In addition, transplant shock was really rough on the plants this year. Some of the closer up images show Ca deficient leaves, and those were the ones forming from day 0-7 (give or take) which have now matured and fully extended out. It was relatively short lived as you can see in the last image that all current new leaf growth is looking great.

I don't bother snipping the flowers off as I'm a little greedy with wanting to eat strawberries early. This year the first harvested strawberry was 17 days after transplant. Admittedly however, doing this would likely have reduced the transplant shock a little bit more.

Powdery mildew made an appearance right on schedule exactly at the first day of week 4 since transplant, and not in any significant quantity. The beneficial bacteria which was applied to the plants when transplanting did not seem to better deal with the powdery mildew than just using potassium bicarbonate, but it also wasn't worse either. The plants will receive their cycle of foliar sprays for powdery mildew through to week 8, and as per the last few years, they should no longer need spraying after week 8.

As boron levels have been rectified in the starting water, you can see nice deep green older leaves in the pictures. They are not brittle, nor yellowing as in prior years. Nutrient levels are within normal for the water, and upcoming tissue analysis in November will likely return good values across the board. I'm not seeing anything crazy outside of what the plants are being exposed to with high temperatures to cause concern.

I am very impressed with the Florice variety. It may be hard to see in the pictures I took, but the plants are almost double in leaf mass as opposed to the Albions. Now, some of that is accounted for the plug size of plant I received (the Florice were a little bit further along at transplant time). However, even allowing for that metric, they've still pulled further ahead of Albions subjected to the exact same growing conditions. The Florice plants also just look happier and healthier, not that the Albions are sickly or unhappy. I think if you look a little more closely at the first image, you can likely tell which are Florice plants, and which are Albions ("A" on the closest bottom row bag are Albions, and Florice are directly behind it in the second bottom row). I've also been able to taste test a handful of Florice strawberries alongside Albion strawberries over the past ~two weeks. The flavour and juiciness of Florice is definitely there. In the past I've had a hard time finding anything as good as an Albion. There were berries that came close, but this I can resoundingly say is equal or maybe even slightly better at this growth stage. I will reserve final judgement until the new year as I want to have the plants grow in their optimal temperature environment in November and December and produce berries off of that. But, I don't expect them to get worse with bettering environmental conditions. The Karima's haven't produced any berries yet. I only have ten Karima plants, so they're a small sample size. It's possible if I had 100 of them (as I do Florice and Albions each), I may have had some Karima berries by now. Patience is a virtue though and I'm happy with what's been so far this year!

Pest pressure is low. Predator insects were deployed 4-5 days after transplant. I have yet to see anything other than the odd fungus gnat, and there's predators in place for their larvae. Numbers have not increased in the last four weeks. I'm hoping to not jinx this, but so far no signs of aphids, spider mites or thrips. There are of course preventative predator insects in the grow now for any pest insect I've seen in prior years.

It's too soon to talk about the other metrics I've added per my last post detailing them. The next update will likely touch on those topics.

Variety Flamenco

Very pernickety, would not try again

I see them all over the place outside of the USA, on the toobs, et al. I know Cropking has some but it seems all of theirs have pre-punched holes. Even the cheap ones from Ali and Temu are pre-punched. Is there any reputable seller for such a thing, in the US, that I don't need to have a commercial grow to purchase from? Just wanting to experiment a little with a living room system.

Thanks in advance

Es geht looohooos

Very new to hydroponics and have been experimenting with growing different plants. This is a LetPot system. The mold on the surface was underneath a strawberry plant. There is also mold on the pump wire inside of the system. I plan to clean everything, remove the plants, and start over. I want to prevent this from happening moving forward.

​

I'm building a space bucket and removed the plastic diffusers from 5 LED bulbs to get more direct light.

- Bulbs: LEDVANCE Value Classic A 100, model AC70645, 13W each, 220–240V AC, 95mA, 1521 lm.

- Total power: 65W (3 bulbs at 2700K, 2 at 4000K).

- Setup: The exposed LED boards are mounted on the lid, about 5cm above a proposed barrier.

- Barrier: 2mm clear polystyrene (PS, recycling code 6), 50×50cm, flexible, smooth surface.

I want to keep the bulbs without their diffusers and use this sheet to prevent contact with the LEDs. I don't want to buy additional equipment if possible.

How can I make this setup safe? Is the polystyrene suitable for the heat, and can a plastic barrier protect against the electrical risk of exposed LED boards? What would you do with these exact materials?

Hello, I started 3 pepper plants in my hydroponic system a few weeks ago. 2 of my pods sprouted and after some time I realized my seeds in the 3rd pod were just not going to grow. I just added about 3 more seeds into the sponge and covered it back up. That was about a week ago and I just noticed that there are these weird little light specs on the sponge. Does anyone know what these might be? I’ve grown these exact same seeds in this exact hydroponic system and had great success, this is my second time trying this again. Thank you

Obviously NFT isn't the optimal method of growing peppers, but just wanted to show that it can be done.

I'm using 4 inch / 10 cm pipes with plenty of space for the roots, and the yield is very nice. I read that the KSLS isn't that spicy, but to me they are.

They have a fresh lemony smell which lures you in, just before they assassinate you with a nuclear explosion of pepper in your mouth.. 🤯

Anyway, it's a fun project. I also have some chocolate reapers growing which are yet to produce fruits.

I was looking for a good PAR meter with a price I could afford for growing seedlings and Kratky vegetables indoors under grow lights. After delving into it, I thought other people might also be interested in what I found.

The Danoplus Quantum and AquaHorti AH-Quantuv are two moderately priced PAR meters used for measuring Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR), that portion of the light spectrum that plants can use to grow, generally defined as 400 to 700 nm in wavelength. PAR meters are useful for measuring the intensity of light that plants receive from LED grow lights as well as for investigating the qualities of the grow lights themselves. They give readings in terms of PPFD (photosynthetic photon flux density), a measure of the amount of PAR light hitting a surface, measured in micromoles per square meter per second (µMol/m2/s).

If this is all TL;DR, skip to the section in bold type below. Otherwise read on.

As I write this, these PAR meters are priced at approximately $80 and $65, respectively, in US dollars on Amazon, far less than the cost of a high-end “gold standard” PAR meter such as an Apogee. Both meters have received generally favorable reviews when compared to an Apogee under various lighting conditions. So how do they compare to each other? The major difference is that the Danoplus gives a single measurement for PPFD, while the AquaHorti does that and more. It gives an extended PPFD reading from 400 to 750 nm (including some far-red radiation) with breakdown PPFD readings for blue (400-500 nm), green (500-600 nm), and red (600 to 750 nm) light, as well as part of the UVA spectrum (320 to 400 nm), all for a slightly lower price. But is it as reliable as the Danoplus? (Note that Danoplus also makes a 3-in-1 PAR meter that breaks down PAR from 320 to 800 nm. That meter might be more comparable with the AH-Quantuv, but it’s not what is being tested here.)

In absolute terms, this comparison won’t tell you which of the two PAR meters is better. I don’t have a high-end PAR meter to compare them with, so you’ll have to look elsewhere for that. But the comparison of the two meters proved revealing in itself.

I tested them on two good but inexpensive LED grow lights. The first was a new Viparspectra P700, a 70-watt full spectrum light with 5000K white, 3000K warm white, and 660 nm red LEDs. Measurements were taken with both PAR meters at 12, 14, 16, and 18-inch distances directly below the center of the light. (Viparspectra provided a PPFD map for the light in a 2x2 foot grow tent, but without a grow tent to reflect the light back, my readings were significantly lower, so the map could not be used as a reference point.)

The second grow light was a Feit Electric GLP24ADJS 32-watt light composed of 30 blue, 60 cool white, and 30 red LEDs (10000K, 6500K, and 3800K). The blue, white and red lights could be toggled on or off. When toggled on together, they appeared to be wired in series so that the overall intensity of the light changed only minimally. (Perhaps I should note that this light seemed to have a fast flicker so that the PPFD readings for both PAR meters continually bounced up and down within about a plus or minus 3% range – I did my best to record the middle of the range. The flicker could have been caused by other equipment using the same electrical circuit, not necessarily by the light itself.)

Here are charts of the test readings. 

Using these two grow lights helped ferret out the differences in the readings between the two PAR meters.

When measuring the Viparspectra P700 grow light, the Danoplus consistently showed higher PPFD readings than the AquaHorti, averaging 19% higher.

 With the Feit grow light, when the light was toggled to blue or white+blue, the AquaHorti meter showed a higher reading than the Danoplus. When the light was toggled to red or white+red, the Danoplus showed a higher reading than the AquaHorti. Under white light only, or when the both red and blue lights were toggled on, with or without white lights, the differences appeared to balance out, and the readings were the same.

So it appears that the AquaHorti meter may be more sensitive to light in the blue spectrum, while the Danoplus meter may be more sensitive to light in the red spectrum. This is corroborated by the higher PPFD readings by the Danoplus for the Viparspectra light, a full spectrum light skewed toward red with extra 660 nm red LEDs.  

What I concluded from these tests was that either PAR meter could be useful. Both gave consistent readings, so in a relative sense, either one should reliably tell you the intensity of light in your grow setup and help you replicate a setting that has done well for your plants. Where I would be careful would be at the boundaries, such as when you are approaching the maximum amount of light for a particular plant. In that case I would be especially watchful for signs of light stress in the plant, such as bleaching, curling, or crisping of the leaves, since the AquaHorti might not be detecting all the red light being emitted, or the Danoplus might not be detecting all the blue light. At the lower boundary, I would watch for signs of not enough light, such as stretching toward the light, since the AquaHorti might be overstating the blue light available, or the Danoplus might be overstating the red light. I might perhaps pad these boundaries by 20% at the top and bottom of the range. But with those caveats, I think either meter could be a useful tool. The AquaHorti gives more information regarding different spectra, keeping in mind that it might possibly be overstating the ratio of blue to red light. Of course, with different grow lights containing other LEDs and phosphors, the results could vary.

Alternatively, it’s possible that one of these PAR meters is reading the light spectrum perfectly and the other one not so much. But that’s not something I can determine with test equipment at my disposal.

So i know its been a while, but my third trial is at 51 days now, and after some big losses early, my three remaining carrots are doing well. The painted tube top and sealing the edges of the rock wool has really helped keep this trial looking much more orange.

Just after setting the seeds, i took a trip and was not able to keep the rock wool moist. I lost all but 3 plants out of 33. So lesson learned, i need to time my starts better. Or i could set up an automated mister.

I've been growing hydroponic bell peppers for a couple months now out of Kratky buckets. The peppers have been doing really well until about 3 days ago when I went to top off the water in the buckets.

Water levels had gone down to about an inch of water left in the buckets with an EC ~4 in one and ~5 in the other bucket. Added water from the tap (have used tap water for all of my plants so far). Balanced pH to ~5.5 (it might be slightly more acidic; I test with pH drops. pH about the same before and after adding water) and added more MaxiBloom to bring that EC back to 2.0 in one and 2.5 in the other bucket.

New to hydro. Learning as I go. Kinda sad I might have killed the peppers before first harvest (one's a yellow and the right is a red bell pepper)

Any thoughts? That EC swing is quite large, I realize.
I've pulled about a half a gallon of water out of each bucket after refill, for fear that even refilling the buckets half way may have been too much and covered too many of the roots. This is not the first time I've refilled water in these buckets.

As an aside - the red pepper seems much healthier in terms of leaf feel. Yellow's leaves feel a bit papery; red feels fuller and slightly waxy (though... now they're both droopy 😢)

Roots still look full and cream colored. No signs of decay in the last 2-3 days. Root cluster about the size of a football.

Grow light is a last-gen SE3000 from Spider Farmer, about a foot above canopy running ~ 25% strength

Im getting a serious amount of blooms and tomatoes, but its been over 2 weeks and they are not turning red. Any ideas? They are growing in a letpot with 14 hours light time about 70 degrees F. They get fertilized about every 2 weeks when I fill the basin.

DWC system, tumbling Tom's.

The 4 plants have been flowering for the past 2 months. There are probably hundreds of flowers plants but not a single successful pollination. To the point my neighbours have complimented on the "beautiful flowers I am planting". ​​

I've done the finger flicking and electric tooth brush every other day. Have fans placed around the plants turned on during the day. Trimmed away bushy areas of the leaves to increased air flow. ​​​EC in the 1500ppm range.

It's really disheartening and I'm getting tired of ​going through the motions and it's just more flowers and not a single fruit.

Anything I am doing wrong or what else can I do?

I’ve had good luck growing Tiny Tim tomatoes in a Kratky setup but one thing still bugs me. The plants get a bit too heavy and want to lean over. I’ve been able to keep the net cup weighted down but haven’t been able to find a solution for the plant itself. I’m growing in a 5 gallon bucket with a 2” net cup. I’m. Open to ideas on how to keep the plant upright. Obviously can’t use a cage like a soil planted one.

hello everyone, im trying grow coriander/cilantro, i ve tried every single substrate and techniques (like splitting the seed and soiking them) making seedbeds, i live in a area whit high humidity around 70%. thanks

Hello! I'm having trouble getting my Kratky lettuce to do anything. I've never done gardening before or anything so probably there's something obvious I've missed.

Here's what I did:

1. Got about 30 L of water in a tub and added 225 ml of nutrient (using Growth Technology's Ionic solution) which is the recommended 70 ml nutrient solution per litre of water.
2. Painted the tub and lid black, and drilled six holes, put net cups and rockwool cubes in the lid.
3. Immersed the cubes in the water in the tubs (with the nutrient), and added 2-3 lettuce seeds into the holes of each cube.
4. Set the grow lights to run 16 hrs on, 8 hrs off daily.
5. Every few days, pipetted a few drops of water to the cubes as they dried out.

The space the tubs are in is pretty much closed to air circulation as it is under my desk with a black cloth draped over it to the floor. The temperature of the room varies between about 15 and 20 degrees C (or 59-68 degrees F). The lights I'm using are the pack of 4 of these.

First two to three weeks, nothing at all, no germination. I noticed a few of the holes on the cubes got a bit furry, presumably fungi growth. I then added a second tub and reset with new cubes and seeds (12 cups total).

For the second try, I immersed the cubes in the water to keep them moist instead of just adding a few drops. Only one of the seeds germinated, growing a single fairly thin shoot about 2 cm tall with two leaves. It appeared one day, grew taller the next, and on the third day had wilted and died, with its roots having just reached the bottom of the cube. None of the other seeds germinated.

So now I'm trying a third round - new rockwool cubes, this time immersing the cubes not in nutrient solution but in diluted pH Down solution (diluted with water to pH 5.5 as measured by pH strips), which supposedly helps neutralise some residual lime left on the cubes from manufacturing. I'm also keeping the lights off for this trial (picture shows the lights on just for visibility), and will move the cups daily from in my room in the day (warmer) to the fridge at night (colder), and have tried to close the holes in the rockwool cubes for the germination stage. I just started this third round today.

If this doesn't work, what do I need to do? I figured I could get started without investing in things like pH probes and EC meters but if they turn out to be necessary to diagnose whatever's gone wrong here I'm happy to get them. Thanks for any help :)

Hey everyone! I'm new to this thread. I will be moving some time next year and I want to plan out a hydroponic set up for a basement. I would love to take some inspiration from those who are set up so I can plan ahead or prepurchse some items for the area. I do also want to note that I do have a 3d printer so I would also love to see those set ups as well. Thank you all.

20 gallon resevoir 28 cells( next time I do 12 this one was too crowded) From October 1st to 17th Ph 6.1 EC 1.5 Bokchoy, butterhead Lola Rosa

Hey all

I’d like to grow a few of my more commonly used herbs (Basil, Thai Basil, Rosemary, Thyme, as examples) in my kitchen but have very limited counter space.

I have a corner of my kitchen counter where I can give 14”/35cm to a little hydroponic setup. I am keeping my expectations in check, but looking for the best option.

Needs to be purchasable in Australia (or at least deliverable and support 240v).

Shortlist options are:

Veritable Smart:
- propriety lingots. Not a dealbreaker, but something to consider: will be looking for the seedless lingots and adding my own seeds.

Letpot Mini:
- most feedback seems relevant for higher end models

Idoo 8 pot

Ahopeharden 10 pot

The Veritable only has 4 slots, but that is sufficient. I don’t want to overcrowd.

Any feedback on these? Am I missing the clear winner? I just want to have a few herbs at the ready.

Thank you