Thread: Hydroponics

I have been playing with it on a small scale for years.
Have my set up now running completely on solar.
can be a bit fiddly at times but well under rated.

We had flood and drain systems running for a few years - just vegetables. They were easy to set up and pretty tolerant. Eventually results declined which I think was due to bacteria overload - just couldn’t get them performing again using the same equipment and containers. I think I should have renewed everything and started afresh but I wasn’t willing to do that.

I’m now thinking of doing it again but to grow orchids - exotic ones like cattleyas and Oncidiums. I really don’t know how it will work because these plants are epiphytic, but it has the potential to remove heat and drought stress. The conventional argument against hydroponics for orchids is the risk of propagating diseases if all are bathing in the same water but I’m willing to give it a try.

I have a Hydrowall which essentially is a 150L tank with a garden bed in the top and a “wall” with 6 troughs behind it; coir and/or pearlite is the growing medium and the water is pumped to drippers in the bed and in the top row of troughs where it trickles down. I used to use an electric pump but went looking for a solar version a few years ago and came across “Mr Stacky” products. The solar pump is very good and their lineup of hydroponic tower things is pretty good… and of course like anything half decent there are Chinese knockoffs available at a lower cost. The advantage of the stacking system is that it breaks down for easy transport to a new location whereas my hydrowall is somewhat less portable.