Hydroponics - at Home and for Beginners

Step 6 Introducing Plants and prepping medium

I will be buying plants that have already started. I want to grow herbs to start off as I love having them fresh for cooking. So obtain your plants. If you will be starting from seeds, read the next step.

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A special note about Rockwool
Rockwool is made from fiberglass... So precaution must be taken. Wear a dust mask while handling and as instructed, soak the medium in water. Water keeps the fibers bound together which further reduces any inhalation risk. The risks involved are no more than handling fiberglass insulation or accessing an attic with fiberglass insulation - just wear a mask ;)

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Using a pot, scoop out pot fulls of growing medium. Rockwool will shrink a little, so add a little more - you do not need this for fired clay. If you have 6 pots, take 6 pot fulls of medium and put it into a large bucket, bowl, etc. Fill this bowl with water and estimate how many gallons you added. Then measure off the appropriate amount of nutrient solution. Completely soak the medium.

While the medium is soaking, wash off all of the dirt from your plants. ALL of it - but take care not to damage the root system. Place a little bit of growing medium in the bottom of a pot, then place the plant in and fill the pot with your medium.

Put the lid on your container, and press the pot into an open hole. Repeat for the rest of your plants.

Comments

[cowsclimbtrees]

I was wondering if you could use lava rock as the medium. Do you think it would throw off the ph balance due to the high mineral content?

[streetpunk99]

this might sound stupid but can you use a type of fishtank gravel? i dont have any hydroponic shops near me and only have things avaliable from places like walmart and homedepot. Any ideas if the smaller gravel wont work?

[shortw]

In aquaponics we use quartz-gravel, which would be like uncolored fish gravel.
Aquaponics is basically the same, but live fish are used to make the plant food.

[streetpunk99]

I have glass marble size beads i guess they'd be for a fishtank as decoration, clear and look to be about the same size as the fired clay you can buy, these should be ok right?

[shortw]

You are thinking about the hydroton and they range from 1/4 inchto 1/2 inch. Remember, the roots need to stay in the dark. Glass marbles would be fine if they are not translucent.
The reason we try to use quartz, because is tends to be the most neutral media. Other media may affect your ph, but if you use glass marbles that is a neutral media also. Plastic would be ok as media, but for larger plants it may not be heavy enough to hold the plant in place.

[streetpunk99]

thanks, i might look around to see if i can find something more suited for the project, like i said before though i only have regular stores around me no specialty stores. there are a few hobby shops around im wondering if i can find something in there closer to what i need.

[shortw]

I meant to tell you that once my tank is cycled, that I will be using river gravel from Lowes hardware for my growing bed.
Walmart and /or Homedepot should have the gravel and it would be cheaper.

Here this is what I thought getting after my tank is cycled, but I need to check the ph for that gravel first. http://www.lowes.com/pd_92130-66882-92130_4294857240_4294937087_?productId=3047340&Ns=p_product_quantity_sold|0&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl_Bagged%2BRock_4294857240_4294937087_%3FNs%3Dp_product_quantity_sold|0

[shortw]

You may look and find some river gravel at construction sites or a garden center and you could check it yourself if it would change the ph.
*Get your water and let it sit for 24 hrs and aerate it. Some new/fresh water from the tap or from the well will show a higher ph until it will air or gas out. *
After 24hrs check your ph. Wash some of your gravel in regular water and let the gravel dry.
*Check your ph
* Now put a handfull in your aired out water,( that you let set and aerated for 24hr earlier )
* Let the the water with gravel sit for 24hrs-48hrs.
* check the ph again.
If the ph does not change or only change a little bit, you should be ok.
But if it changes a lot then I would not use it.

Here is a website for aquaponic, my username is Johann.
http://aquaponicscommunity.com/forum

This should give you a lot of useful information.
I know it is not hydroponics, but they are somewhat related.
Aquaponic, is using fish instead a liquid fertilizer, but the rest is pretty much the same.

[streetpunk99]

thanks lots of good information, this is my first attempt at something like this so its all a little alien to me.

[shortw]

Your welcome, I noticed the link for lowes.com does not work directly, but you can copy the link and past it in your browser and just hit enter. Sorry for that. This will get you to the pea-gravel I thought I will use. I went to lowes hardware and in realty the gravel looks a lot lighter in color then the picture and looks like quartz.
You may want to search the internet for a hydroponic forum, this would give you a better answer to you questions.
Good information leads to a very good start. So I would advise you to join a hydroponic forum if you thinking about doing hydroponic, this way you could ask questions there and you would get better answers. Good luck, if you got any more questions please let me know and I see what I can do to answer it. Let me know how it works out.

[Pentacle]

Wow. Your sink looks likes my sink. Blue sponge, George Foreman grill sponge, sink stopper and all. LOL.

[SerenityGene]

Rockwool is NOT fiberglass.

[trebuchet03]

Semantics....

Rockwool is a vitrified substance.... Processing for making rockwool (rotary drum, compressed air jet, etc.) is also used in making many fiberglass varieties.

Throw some glass insulation (from the hardware store) and some rockwool under a microscope and the difference will be clear - there isn't any (except maybe color - which comes from the binding agents used) :p We tend to source rockwool raw materials from waste whereas fiberglass materials we try to recycle from old glass or, as in the case for more structural glasses, we use more virgin materials (silica sand, limestone, soda ash and alumina, feldspar , magnesite, and a few other ingdients I can't recall at the moment).


You should really read more Shakespeare ;)

[SerenityGene]

Put Glass and Plexiglass under and the difference will be clear - there isn't any... Try using standard housing insulation in a hydroponic setup sometime. There is a reason why No hydroponics site sells it as a grow medium.

[trebuchet03]

That's right! The difference is in the binder (which is why I mentioned color). The binding agents used in home insulation aren't appropriate for growing plants - and because they're baked in, you can't really remove it :)

[HydroGrower92]

True.. But alot of people refer to it as fiberglass because of it's structure and texture. But you are right.. It is not fiberglass, it is a result of heated and spun rock.. much like cotton candy, for those who don't know what rockwool is and doesnt know the process of making

[eddierath]

how far into the solution should the medium be? completely submerged?