DWC/NFT HAS ROOTS BLOCKAGE

The roots has finally grown big enough to block the flow of water thru the pipe.  This in turn is keeping nutient from reaching all the plants.  Many leaves are turning brown.  Will be shuting down this system shortly.

Need to use a ladder to reach the tops the cherry tomatoes now, which are approx. 11 feet above the ground.

New pictures the zucchini plants

7-4-2010

6-29-2010

Zucchini plants are growing little faster than I expected.  Last year I put 2 plants to a bucket. This year I put 6 plants, with the intention of pulling out 2 plants from  each bucket.  But now the roots have all grown together.  I'm worry that the root mass will be to dense and the water will not drain from the buckets.  Time will tell.   

Nylon Trellis added for plant support

Here I'm holding a left over piece of the nylon trellis that I just added. The trellis has 7 inch squares. The actual piece I put on was strench out to be 5' x 10' in size. Ten foot sections of 1/2" conduit were added to the long edges of trellis to keep the trellis strench out.

Support structure in place for zucchini plants

New 3' x 9' support grid was built and put in place today. This is using the same style 2" x 4" fencing as last year. This will provide each hydro bucket with 27 square feet of support.

Plant support to keep plants from being wind blown

1 1/2'" diameter pvc piping structure added. Temporary strings were then added to keep the plants from being wind blown during thunderstorms. The 1/2" pvc pipe was added for support to the first two plants. Will be replacing the strings with a nylon trellis later.

Current picture of NFT\DWC system

Plants has already double in size.

New Hydro Bucket system up and running.

New hydro bucket system running and planted.

Getting nutrient tank ready fo new system.

Spend the morning digging a hole to sink nutrient tank into. It will be about 3/4 of the way into the ground. This is a new three buckets system for my zucchini plants.

Pavers added to top of walls.

Did pickup patio pavers to top off the tops of both walls. This also gives the walls an extra 2 inches of height, which allows the NFT tubes to clear the top of the nutrient tank ( See third picture ).

Still need to cut a slot this one paver to allow the electric line to pass thru.

Here you can see that the NFT tubes just clear the top of the nutrient tank. I also decided to reused the old tubes for one more year.

Tomatoe Plants Still Growing

Tomatoe plants are still growing and starting to get top heavy. Going to have to add some ropes later to keep the whole structure from leaning.

Strawberries Plants Replaced

Strawberries crowns never took, so I pull them out. Just finished replacing them with flowers I got from lowes for 6 cent apiece. The two impatients were put in with the strawberries crowns orginally, that why their so large. I m amazed that they are doing so good, for being shade plants. That are in direct sunlight for 8 hours a day.

Little Giant Pump Installed

When my local hydroponic store and ask them about the little giant. They said it was a little on the expensive side, but one of the most reliable pumps they carry. So I purchase one and installed it today.

Some Current Picture Of The Hydro Buckets

Rhubarb coming along nicely.

Close up of the zucchini forming.

Over all picture of the Hydro Buckets.

The Recovering NFT Tubes

This is now the NFT main system looks as of today. You can see where I removed four plants from. The blue bucket in the center of the photo, houses the air pump to keep it dry from rain. I am really surprize how well the plant have recovered from past heat wave we had.

Support Structures On Hydro Buckets

Here's a current photo showing some of the the various support structures in place to date.

There is a 3' by 7 ' grid with 2" squares over

the zuccihini and rhubarb, which is in front of me in the photo. Behind me is a a grid of poles making a 2.5' deep by 12' long structure for the tomatoes and cucumber plants.

Top Heavy

Upon checking the NFT tubes after work today. I found that one large tomatoe branch had collapse from weight of the rain on its leaves. Good news is the branch didn't break, it just buckle. A couple of tomatoe clips and the branch was back good as new. Also all the tomatoes plants in the Hydro buckets are getting top heavy and leaning to one side. Time to put the support structure up. This will be done this week, weather permitting. Still need to move the vertical NFT tubes to the sunny side of the house.

Current Pictures

Zucchini

Rhubarb
Zucchini

Cucumbers

New Grow On Strawberry Crown

Spotted some new grow on one of strawberry crowns today. Good sign that they all will all grow this season. With all the over cast and rain the past 2 weeks, I was afraid they might rot. Also based on garage roof over hang above the vertical NFT tubes, there will be be very little sun light reaching it. There fore it's time moved it to the sunny side of house next week .

New Ph Meter

Purchase my first pH meter today. With all rain the past several weeks, I was sure that the pH level would be running high in nutrient tanks. Normally I don't bother with adjusting the pH level of water. I had borrow a pH tester from a friend last year and found that my tap water ran a pH of 6.0. Good enough for me to use without making adjustments. Upon checking all my tanks, found their pH was running 8.1. Now the trick will be to keep the pH level down around 5.5. Its been raining here ever other day now for the past 2 weeks. I highly recommend that you check the pH level of your nutrient tanks after each heavy rain.