Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evoloving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
Interesting! What does your hydroponic system look like? I bought one to grow my leafy things (lettuce, spinach and kale, also herbs). I can’t imagine growing zucs from it!
When I first became interested, I looked online for a "hydroponics" system, and thought, no way I'm going to shell out bucks for something I don't even know about.
So I began to research, and checked videos on the Ytube by people who are doing DIY hydroponics and all sorts of things.
Looks like the Lockdowns generated a LOT of interested around the globe for hydroponics.
Anyway, I was pretty eager, and just started with the lowest of low expenses. Bought some tiny plastic pots in lieu of net cups, poked holes in the bottom. Bought a sack of tiny pebbles from a decorative store for a few bucks. And went from there.
$5 Tupperware (food grade), a few plastic containers. Met with limited success. Gradually upgraded and learned. Objective: learning.
The zuccs grew in a 25 litre (7 gallon) storage container. Appropriate size holes drilled in the lid for the net cups to go in. Used the Kratky method. Learned a bunch, especially about not putting too many plants in one container (they suck up the nutrient bath too quickly in the hot sun (summer here)). https://ibb.co/tCN60Zn
Cucumbers grew in a 1.4 gallon foodgrade bucket (previously for yoghurt), holes drilled in top. Surrounded the bucket / container with a wire lattice for the cucumbers to climb up. Again, Kratky. https://ibb.co/dMYrTQx
Also grew tomatoes (unsuccessful), peas (successful) etc.
Zucs look great! I need to let my cucumbers climb this year. Picking them on the ground is hell for my back.
I have plenty of space for gardening, and I'm certainly grateful for that. Hydroponics though, if managed properly, can produce better and more consistent results. I think in many cases it would be preferable to have a small hydro garden than a large in-ground.
Wow - I may have really wasted money for mine. But it fit the space I have perfectly, bought it outright, and now can keep fresh greens all year long. But by the time fresh produce gets here, it isn’t any good nutrient wise, so I take that into consideration of justifying the cost.
Do you have an outdoor garden? I am still working on mine. Hope by the end of this summer I can get all the root veggies I need, and with the hydroponics continue fresh greens, and canning my apples and raspberries, I’m set. Well, I could get some chickens? 🤷♀️😜
If it served the need and was timely and convenient, nothing wrong with that!
In our case, there are numerous factors, including space, that make certain options unfeasible. Also, my primary intent is to learn and build up knowledge about this area, for future use and to support others, so the low cost approach works.
Sadly, our circumstances are such that an outdoor garden in terms of planting in the yard, etc, isn't possible. Another reason for me to explore hydroponics. Perfectly scalable. You can do it with one or 3 plants, or 1000.
Goal: Vision
Getting some land out of the city, where we can plant fruit trees, have some chickens and perhaps a goat or two, or more. Have occasionally experimented with jamming (making jams, from fruit in the yard of a house we lived in back then), making wine (fermenting, etc), but until the present time, unable to realize the dream. So far....
I bought a “lettucegrow” system. I don’t have much space in my garden for lettuce, and it is supper easy to use. This way, I have fresh lettuce and spinach and herbs all winter long (Alaska) and can use my garden space for the bigger stuff and stuff that needs soil (carrots, potatoes, beets, etc…)