Thread: Hydroponics

Originally Posted by dirtydog

Nawty for your hydro stuff you need poo, post your address so we can send you some

i'm sure via PM would work just as well....

I'm going to merge the juicy bits from the other thread with this one, so sorry for your OP moving downstream, Melv.

Hi Tom

Welcome

Hi Tom

this sounds like a nice project - a couple of nice little hydro tables with lettuce and tomatoes would be great - I have a fair sized balcony upstairs I don't use.

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

I'm going to merge the juicy bits from the other thread with this one, so sorry for your OP moving downstream, Melv.

No worries, it was intended to start something and it did so job done.

Found a few sites for hobby/commercial, some in Thai some are in English

ªØ´»ÅÙ¡ ÍØ»¡Ã³ì»ÅÙ¡¾×¢äÃé´Ô¹

ªÁÃÁ¡ÒûÅÙ¡¾×ªâ´ÂäÁèãªé´Ô¹

Accent Hydroponics 1997 (Thailand) Co.,Ltd

ackhydrofarm

Hello everyone!

Forgive me if I cock this up.... never tried this system before.........

Just a comment about using insulation type slabs..... don't do it

Insulation has a treatment which repels water.... not what you want in a root medium

Done a fair bit of hyrdoponic growing in the UK.... not expert by any means, but had success with various systems ( in private)

Pleased to discuss any aspects with you...... whatever crop you want to grow!!!

Interesting subject - Wiki throws up some info on this with a lot of links. It seems that rock wool is used but must be stabalised first

Hydroponics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This will give you some idea about rock wool as there is a shot of one on its side with roots showing through. tells you how to also

Hydroponics - Rockwool as growing substrate

Thanks everyone for the information, I will be heading down the same path, at some point.

Welcome Tom and biggrtiggr.

Grodan cubes are good.... used them before, but a bit expensive. Expanded clay balls are cheaper and despite claims to the contrary, can be used again a few times if cleaned properly. For growing many crops, aerated water systems ( aka 'bubblers') are bloody marvellous when you have mastered the basics of hydroponics. BTW..... living back in UK now, but wife is Thai, hence my visits to TeakDoor. Hope my credentials are good enough!

Something we should be able to get hold of fairly easily

Coconut fiber. Coconut fiber, also called coir, is rapidly becoming one of the most popular growing mediums in the world and may soon be the most popular. It is the first totally “organic” medium that offers top performance in hydroponic systems.
Coconut fiber is a waste product of the coconut industry and is actually the pulverized husks of coconuts. Coconut fiber is available in different grades, the lowest of which has an extremely high salt content that necessitates leaching before use.
The main advantages of coconut fiber are its oxygen and water-holding abilities. It can maintain a larger oxygen capacity than rockwool yet also has superior water-holding ability. Some research has also shown that coir might have insect-repelling abilities. High-quality coir (the grade commonly used for hydroponics consists of the coarser fibers) also has the advantage of not containing any, or extremely low, levels of nutrients, so it won’t alter the composition of the nutrient solution.


Alternative Hydroponic Substrates

Originally Posted by dirtydog

Nawty for your hydro stuff you need poo, post your address so we can send you some

Do you know how many comedians there are out of work ??

Originally Posted by biggrtiggr

Hello everyone!

Forgive me if I cock this up.... never tried this system before.........

Just a comment about using insulation type slabs..... don't do it

Insulation has a treatment which repels water.... not what you want in a root medium

Done a fair bit of hyrdoponic growing in the UK.... not expert by any means, but had success with various systems ( in private)

Pleased to discuss any aspects with you...... whatever crop you want to grow!!!

My kinda crop I think....wink wink nudge nudge.

Found this site some time ago, they seem to have everything needed. Also includes a map to their location.

Bangsai Agricultural Center : Bangkok, Thailand

E.G.

Originally Posted by El Gibbon

Found this site some time ago, they seem to have everything needed. Also includes a map to their location.

Bangsai Agricultural Center : Bangkok, Thailand

E.G.

That link is by far the best i've seen for hydroponic products in Thailand (which isn't saying much...), that would care of the nutrient side of things. Would be worth asking if they have rockwool, if not perlite or vermiculite would also be OK depending on which type of system you went for.

There's a link to Autopot's website in an earlier thread, they kind of work OK with soil but they can have problems if you use them with a hydroponic growing medium - and they're shite in hot weather conditions for long term crops like tomatoes.

Coco/coir can work exceptionally well but needs to be used as a "run to waste" style of system, this basically drips onto the top of the pot and has about 20% run off per feed. Great system, but wastes nutrients and water. The other thing would be finding the correct coir, it needs to be treated for use in horticulture and if it isn't it will tend to kill the plants.

If it was me i'd go to the company in the link above, looks like they're geared up to promote hydroponics, lots of Thai's seem to be very closed about sharing the knowledge for some reason. If you need anything clarifying let me know - I may drop in and say hello to those guys myself, looks interesting....

Cheers,

Tom.

Tom just for a rough guess how much in nutrients/cost would it be for something like 10 or 20 tomato plants?

Originally Posted by melvbot

Tom just for a rough guess how much in nutrients/cost would it be for something like 10 or 20 tomato plants?

Melvbot,

Hard to say as they're not listing any prices on the site...

It depends on allot of factors. If you buy the indivdual nutrients as powders that will work out loads cheaper - without meaning to be evasive all I can say is that it would work out at a fraction of the cost of buying the veg from the supermarket, and they'd be better quality.

If someone can get some prices for the nutrients then I could work out roughly how much the cost would be over the length of the crop you'd be growing.

Cheers,

Tom.

Nutrient Solution Concentration. 1:200
1 set ( A 500 ml 2 bottle + B 500 ml 2 bottle)
Price 350 Baht

Would it be easier to work out from this? ie rough amount of plants this would feed for one crop

After seeing that website with all the stuff, we didn't bother going to the place on Soi 38, as we don't think they'd be very helpful, as Tom said.

Hard to say as they're not listing any prices on the site...

Think i'm losing it, prices all over that site...!

OK, so there's two options there, liquid and powder form. Powders are always loads cheaper although they're only showing prices for the individual elements, not a complete mix. You'd have to mix them yourself, which is easy enough and this would be by far the cheapest option although you'd have to spend about 4000 baht buying all the powders up front. That would last you for the best part of a season at a guess and would produce a seriously huge amount of fruit or veg.

For the 5 litre liquid, say you had 10 fully developed tomato plants that were constantly fruiting, you'd need a tank of at least 200 litres, anything smaller and it would become unstable very quickly. At their dilution rate of 5ml per litre a 5 litre set would probably last around 2-3 weeks, but you'd be producing kilos and kilos of tomatoes in this period. You'd also be able to grow green peppers, cucumbers and any other vine crops with that mix of nutrients.

Not sure if Bangsai sell NFT channel like the stuff in the first page of this thread, looks like they have their own sort of DFT system. I'll go and have a poke around later in the week and see what the crack is. If not then Accent Hydroponics Thailand would be a good bet, or DIY it with guttering.

Hope that helps,

Tom.

Hello to Tom and the other one with a strange name!

Originally Posted by jizzybloke

Hello to Tom and the other one with a strange name!

Allo Jizzy...

I haven't checked lately but the system in the link I provided can be designed for just about any size. I was originally interested in a patio size table... they do have their own system for rooting as I recall.

E. G.