New growers, start your engines!

ProGroWannabe · 08-06-2008, 01:37 AM

Thank you Bean Curd! Next installment is due this weekend.

ProGroWannabe · 08-23-2008, 01:43 AM

Hydro, dro, waterfarming...whatever terminology you prefer, this is the art of growing in a water-based media. Once again, this is not an "all-encompassing" guide. It is intended, as the articles that came before it, to be a basic primer for the new grower, and as such the material will be limited to what is most commonly used in the growing community.

Hydro is generally thought of as being best for commercial growers or those that are growing in an inner-city environment, where taking used dirt out to the backyard would raise strong suspicion or not be possible at all, since there may be no backyard.

For the new growers, hydro may seem a bit daunting. The most important part of hydro is the equipment choices you make. Not only in the type of system you choose, but the quality of the equipment you use to monitor your grow.

Equipment Choices
Aeroponics...
Many new growers underestimate just how important "user-friendliness" is in your first hydro system. For instance you might wonder "I think I wanna go with an aeroponics system since they grow weed so fast." Did you know that if an aero system suffers a pump failure, that plants die in a matter of hours? What if this happens when your at work? Yup...dead plants!! Aero can certainly yield very well, and fast, but as with everything else there are compromises to make, one is cost. For instance, as of this writing, General Hydroponics' AeroFlo2 systems start at 350 USD for their 20-site system. That doesn't include anything but the unit itself. No nutrients (nutes), no meters, no lights, etc, etc...

Another consideration is the all-important skill of reading your plants to determine their requirements. "What are these brown spots on my leaves?" If you don't immediately know the reason that plants show this 90% of the time, then aero is not for you. The reason for this is the time-frame issue again. In aero you just don't have time to try a half-dozen remedies for an issue without suffering major losses in either the health of your plants, or losing the plants entirely (death). You must know plants very well to be successful with aero. Once you gain some experience, give it a shot if you so chose. "How much experience is usually suggested?" That depends on an individual's own learning curve. Some folks learn faster than others, so for the faster ones, maybe they only need a few grows in some other system type to aquire the knowledge required. Others may choose to grow for years before taking the aero-plunge. Still others will never do aero. It's all personal choice once you get enough experience to KNOW if it's right for you or not.

Nutrient Film Technique
NFT for short...
NFT is not as commonly seen these days as maybe it should be. It is a very goos method for producing great growth in plants. It is similar in this respect to aero, but it must be noted that NFT is not "quite" as fast for most growers. However, you gain a bit more forgiveness in NFT than you have in aero. Don't get it twisted, this is NOT a large difference, but there is a small measure more forgiveness in NFT.

"So....what is NFT?" NFT is usually executed in narrow, shallow trays similar to rain gutters. Some have even used gutters to construct their systems. The theory incorporated in NFT is to "trickle" nutrient solution over the roots of the plants in the system at a very slow, but steady rate. In NFT, the nute solution is constantly pumped from one end of the channel to the other. The plants roots are constantly fed with fresh nutrients this way. When the nutes to the end of the NFT channel, they are then recirculated back to a central reservoir. It may be easier to visualize this as a circle. The plants are positoned every few inches along this circle. Nutes are pumped into one end, passing along each rootball, then back into the reservoir after serving all the plants in the circle.

"Sounds good so far, but how much does all this cost?" That's another great thing about NFT, most systems are homemade. The channels can be made from many things from large-diameter PVC pipe, to guttering as mentioned previously. Basically anything that can be made absolutely water-tight, and light proof can be used. The reservoir can be constructed from a 5 gallon bucket for small systems, or a large barrel for large systems. Since every single component in an NFT system can be sourced from many different places, it allows the designer/builder the ability to bargain-shop in order to save money.So, actual costs will vary greatly depending on what one has available to them. In a large city where home improvement stores seem to be on every block, it can be a very cost-effective system to build. However at the other extreme, if one has to mail-order everything, it may not be the best choice if one is budget-minded. Again..... as the grower, the choice is all yours.

Deep Water CultureDWC is a very common method of hydro. It can be done nearly anywhere, is highly scale-able, and offers outstanding results with still more forgiveness than NFT. DWC can be executed in buckets, which are the most common container used, or larger tubs. DWC can also be ran as a run-to-waste, recirculating system, or as individual buckets entirely. "What's best for me since I'm just starting out?" Most would agree that a simple individual bucket grow is the least likely to cause complete crop loss. As has been stated previously in this series for the new grower, what you want resounding in all of your choices is reliability and user-friendliness. Individual buckets provide this since anything that happens to one bucket, may only affect that one plant (such as an air pump failure).

"How does DWC work?" In DWC, the possibilities in system design are nearly endless, but generally a plant is suspended in a net pot (with the net pot mounted in a light-proof bucket lid secured on the top of the bucket) above a volume of nutrient solution. There is at least one airstone mounted in the bottom of the container that is obviously attached on the other end of the tubing to an air pump. The theory is that with enough bubbles, the roots of the plant are exposed to highly oxygenated nute solution 24 hours a day. When the plant has very short roots, the bubbles popping just under them are enough to allow them to grow well. As roots continue to grow, they will grow down into the nute solution, and take up nutrients directly. The nutrient volume is changed out typically once per week with new solution so that the plant can continue to have all of the individual nutrients (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, and micro-nutes) available to them in the proper ratios.

Monitoring Equipment
With any hydro grow, one has to be able to tell at a moments notice what is going on within the nutrient solution. The pH of the nute solution controls what nutes are available for plant uptake. There are a myriad of different instruments to measure pH. From inexpensive liquid test kits, to pH "pens", to portable meters, to wall-mountable constant-read units. Most growers with moderately sized hydro systems use some form of portable instrument. Most commonly incorporated are pH pens and meters. These are typically mid-range in price and are widely available online as well as in local indoor gardening stores. A properly calibrated pen or meter will tell the grower within seconds what the pH of the nutrient solution is. Then all one has to do is note whether the pH is within the correct range or if it needs adjusting up or down.

The other essential piece of instrumentation for a hydro grower is an EC or TDS device. They are available in all the same forms as pH equipment. EC is a measure of electrical conductivity within a solution. TDS stands for total dissolved solids within a solution. Both allows the grower to note how "strong" the nute solution is, how much the plants are removing from the solution, and to judge approximate timing for the next reservoir change. Without a way to measure the amount of nutrients in the solution, a grower is doing nothing more than guessing. The bottom line is you MUST have the necessary measuring devices in order to grow hydro. Don't skimp here, you'll regret it. If you choose to grow hydro, you've also chosen to invest in good instruments.

This concludes the hydro portion of the New Growers Primer. Remember, though there may be an overwhelming number of choices to make in hydro, simplicity is key. The grower has to understand precisely how his/her system works, if they have any chance of diagnosing a future problem. Simplicity for our purposes also includes the use of the system. If you struggle to find time to properly maintain the system, or don't truly know how to, then you results will absolutely suffer. Finally, most agree that a simple system is a fun system. And since the fun of growing herb is what keeps most of us in it, take this into consideration as well.

Happy Growing!!

cell · 09-20-2008, 02:44 AM

This should be a sticky.

hailstone · 09-20-2008, 06:13 AM

Good articles. Entertaining to read.

ProGroWannabe · 09-20-2008, 05:03 PM

Thanks for reading these guys! I plan to tackle odor control next. Might take a weeks or so with my schedule now-a-days.

ProGroWannabe · 10-06-2008, 03:12 PM

Welcome to the latest installment in the New Growers Primer. In this episode we'll be going over the two most common methods of odor control.

Odor control by definition is the containment of an odor or odors either at the source, thereby eliminating the odor from being produced, or containing an odor after it has entered a given environment. What is important to note however, is the word control. And that is our mission as growers is to control all odors that may arouse the curiosity of other people.

"I don't have the money for good odor control. Can I just use an aerosol like Lysol or something?

There are a few big problems with this logic. Number one: using an aerosol effectively would mean one has to regulate the dispensing of the aerosol. Is someone going to be available every 15 minutes of every hour, of every day, just to spray? Not likely. Plus, most aerosols are made to cover odor, not eliminate it. There are timed dispensers, but that leads us to problem number two. Major issue number two is coverage. Even with a timed dispenser, a grower still gets very limited coverage area. For any grow space bigger than a one-plant-cupboard, an aerosol just won't spray far enough to reach all the air that needs to be treated. Use an aerosol dispenser for entryways, so that those entering are greeted with fruit or berry aromas instead of the luscious scent of your prize herb.
The bottom line is that security is job one. This is the first thing a new grower should be shopping for. But sadly, most are busy drooling over lights, hydroponics systems, and that latest and greatest nutrient that promises the biggest yields ever seen by man or beast. Get your odor under control by doing your homework before you start to make that odor. This way, you can rest assured that if the police come to the door looking for your neighbor, they won't be calling their buddies to investigate the weed smell coming from your house. Odor is THE leading cause of "tips" that police receive by way of a phone call. Don't make a stink!

"If aerosols won't work, what other options do I have?"

There are a few options available to the home grower. Since this is the New Growers Primer, we'll stick to the two most basic types, ozone generation, and carbon scrubbing. Both options can be highly effective against odor if used correctly. Neither will be effective if haphazardly thrown together without adequate forethought.

"What is ozone generation? It sounds complicated."

Ozone generation, or the act of creating ozone molecules is really not that complex at all. What happens on a molecular level, is that there is an extra Oxygen molecule (O1)that becomes attached to a standard O2 molecule (pure oxygen). Once attached, the molecule now becomes O3 and is very unstable. Once this "radical" comes in contact with a positively charged odor molecule, it attaches to the odor molecule and oxidizes it, and since the radical has a negative charge, the two are naturally attracted to each other. In this process, the additional O1 molecule that we generated, and the odor molecule, are both "burned" and destroyed, leaving the original O2 molecule that we started with. Pretty cool huh?
A much simpler way to understand what is going on is to realize that ozone is created naturally in nature in several forms. In a thunderstorm, the intense electrical discharge of lightning through oxygen-filled air creates the exact reaction described above. That's why the air smells so "clean" during, and right after a thunderstorm. Another of natures means of producing ozone is through the sun's UV rays. As oxygen rises in the atmosphere, it comes in contact with UV rays that are many times stronger than what we see on the earth's surface. Once the oxygen comes in contact with rays of necessary strength, the reaction occurs that creates ozone. This how our "ozone layer" in the atmosphere is maintained.

"OK, I got it! But how do I harness this at home for use in my garden?"

There are many products available that have been engineered specifically for low-volume use. The majority of these units are designed to mount inside ductwork so that the air flowing through the duct is deodorized. This is perfect for us growers, since the preferred placement of an O3 generator is on the exhaust side of our airflow, not the intake.

"Why not the intake?"

Ozone can be destructive in large amounts. Remember how it works? When it comes in contact with an odor molecule, it oxidizes it. Well, you don't want this reaction taking place on the surface of your prized buds. So mount the generator inside the exhaust-side ductwork.

"If it's so destructive, can I breathe it, or will it harm my lungs?"

This is the very reason why an ozone generator must be run on a timer--to limit exposure. Ozone concentrations of between .02ppm and .05ppm are considered safe by the EPA and OSHA. Most O3 generators cannot even be modified to produce more than these amounts. If it is of concern to you, there are ozone monitors that one can employ to keep track of the levels being produced.

Ozone generation is a very cost-effective solution to odor control if used wisely. A notable, but often overlooked benefit to ozone generation is the fact that most commercially available units that utilize the UV-type generation method, are silent. This can be a huge benefit in maintaining a stealth, low profile, grow. So now that you are educated on how ozone is produced, applied, and installed, you have all the knowledge you need to decide if ozone is the right odor control solution for you.

Next....Carbon Scrubbing!