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.

Low Water Press With New Pump

After putting in the new pump, I now notice all the 1/4 inch feed lines have barely any water coming out. The old pump only had a output of 210 GPH, where as the new pump has an output 300 GPH. The only other different between the pumps was that the new one could pump to a height of 8 feet and the old one only 3 feet. In my setup, I only need to pump to a height of 2 feet. Any way, I going to put another pump in this coming weekend. Did some checking with other folks. They all recommended getting a the little giant pump.

PUMP FAIL

During my late evening check, I found the pump on Hydro buckets unit one wasn't running. Lucky me was that Home Depot was still open. Installed a new pump and was back up and running. All the 1/4 inch lines had to be cleaned to get the water flowing smoothly through them again.

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.

Plants In Hydro Buckets Doing Good

Tomotoes plants now have green fruit approx. 2 inches in diameter on them. Still using grow formula fertilizer, will be switching over to the bloom formula this weekend.

The zucchini plants doing extremly well in the last past heat wave had. I have the same plants at a community garden plot and they are only about 10 inches tall. Here they are close to being 36 inches tall. Pick the first zucchini last Sunday, along with my the first two cucumbers.

Next Morning Check

The four plants from the day before are still wilted. I removed them this morning to let move air circulate the remaining plants. All other plants are looking OK.

NFT, Late Evening Check

Cooler air has moved into the area this evening. All but four plants are showing signs of recovering. Will check again in the morning.

NFT, All Plants Showing Signs of Wilting

NFT main system. The heat index is now 95, all plants are starting to show signs of wilting. Looks like if this heat wave keeps up, all the plants will die. Adjusted the pH to 6.0, Hoping this might help the plants accept more water.

Plants Under Stress In NFT Tubes

NFT Tubes main system. Four plants have started to wilt. The heat index is currently at 108. I believe the plants are unable to to take in enough water due to their small root system. The same plants in the the Hydro Buckets are doing just fine in this heat. Not sure if the problem just due to lack of water or if the plants can't get air either. In any case, I added a air pump and air stone to the nutrient tank. Also increase the slope of the tubes to get more fresh water pass the roots. Checks the plants again that night and notice some were recovering from the heat.