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.

Pump failure

Another pump wore out. Second pump in 4 years, not bad. Came home tonight and found the pump on the NFT/DWC system making a strange sound. No water was being pumped. Switch out the pump with another, was back up and running.

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.

First plants are in the NFT/DWC

The first plants of season are in. Still would like to rise the tubes up another 4 to 6 inchs. This would allow me drain the water back into the nutrient tank from the side instead of the top. This would also permit the lid to be place back on the tank.