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How did know know or find out what Ph the plants need in their nutrient solution? Is there like a hydroponics for dummies book i'm missing out on. or anything else that might be helpful reading?

I was thinking of building a few of your windowsil hydroponics stations and some of your cfl lights to put in my kitchen. I would like to grow a assortment of herbs but i'm not sure which ones i can put in a system together, or how many different systems with different solutions running at once i'll need.

Aproxamately how much space between the top of the plants and the light do i need?

I live in wisconsin, do you think i need to keep the herbs away from a window this time of year because of the cold that radiated from the window?

I really apprecaite your videos and website about hydroponics and gardening in general, mostly because it's very hard to find people doing this to grow actual helpful things in the kitchen, i.e. not marajuana. So again, Thanks.

SleestaksRule's picture

Here's a chart for different herbs: http://www.tomorrowsgarden.net/node/12

Herbs are very easy to grow and I found are not too picky.  Keep a PH of 6.0.  Use 2 42 watt CFL bulbs and they'll do great. Keep them about 4-5 inches above the plant.  When I made that windowsill video is was cold and snowy outside.  There wasn't a cold draft though.

 

Here's the same unit in time lapse with CFLs.

 

 

slcourtois's picture

So i went out to my local Hydroponics store (yay that i'm lucky enough to have one here in the fox valley (Grow Big Hydroponics)) and picked up some basic stuff like the ceramic pebbles, rock wool, net pots, and some growing solution. I Chose General Hydroponics FloraGro because the guy working there said it was a good place to start for beginners being not to expensive and works pretty well. Have you ever tried/ had sucess with FloraGro? its  2-1-6. Should i have gone with something a little higher on the end for herbs?  i have 9 spaces in my windowcil planter because the only container i found with a flat lid was a square so its a 3 rows of 3. 

 

I've gone to the garden shop as well and picked up some basil, parsley, cilantro, rosemary, sage, and spinach. Do you see any problems with these herbs in the same machine?  Do you happen to know the prefered pH and ppm for cat nip?

 

How do you adjust your pH if it's a little out of wack? Do i need a kit for that? all i have now it a basic pH test kit with the tube and the drops.

 

If i start out using RO water can i just add in my nutrients up to the ppm i'm looking for or do i still have to test the RO water for ppm?

 

Thanks for all of your great information, i really appreciate the sharing of knowladge. 

SleestaksRule's picture

Lots of people use the Flora-series.  I never tried them but should be fine.  For the PH I just use lemon juice to bring the PH down and baking soda to bring the PH up.  Works great.  I was using the drops/tube to test and when I ran out I bought a digital meter.  Test your PH only after you mix the nutrients into the water.  Do you have a meter for checking PPM or are you going off the bottle?

 

Oh, also those seeds will work fine together.  Spinach and Rosemary are stubborn to germinate.

I'd love to see what you made.  Could you snap a photo and upload it here?  Just click "FULL HTML" (below) and then click upload image (above).

slcourtois's picture

SleestaksRule's picture

That looks really nice.  If you're going to do spinach you might want to start it in a wet paper towel inside a ziplock bag.  Spinach seems hard to germinate and I wasted so many rockwool cubes on it.  Once the roots come out in the paper towel I just cut around it and put it in the rockwool.

slcourtois's picture

So this is my light set up, it's the best i could find at the moment, 2 full spectrum bulbs. The highest wattage i could find. In this cheap farm reflector, i plan on 2 of these for my unit.  I'm not sure what i'll use for reflectors around the whole unit, but maybe just a space blanket or something since it seems like that foil wrapping paper is all sold out up here everywhere.

SleestaksRule's picture

I think all you need are 2 42watt bulbs and those look like what you have.  Menards carries a great selection.  The mylar blankets you can get at Target and I think Walmart may carry them.  The one I bought was from Target for around $2 in the camping/outdoor part of the store.  That's really cool.  I have my original one going now with basil.  Working on a video today for it.  They are still small but I know in 30 days they'll be 1 foot tall and flowering.

slcourtois's picture

They are full spectrum lights, they aren't specifically grow lights, do you think that will work out ok? Yeah menards is great, we also have a lowes in town here but i find menards to have a bigger light selection and to be a little bit cheaper, which is something i'm glad for since the inital start up costs for hydroponics makes it a expensive hobby. I think everything i have bought just for this all together puts me right around $100. Hopefully i will get many good batches of fresh herbs and veggies to make it more economical in the long run.

Hydronewbie's picture

I started my hydro unit two weeks ago... Two butter lettuce, one mesclun lettuce, one pepper, one dill, and one green bean. My unit is five gallons and I used GH Maxigro as instructed in your video. At that time the PH was 6.0, I haven't checked it until today and it's about 8.0. Should I lower the PH or should I dump the nutrient solution and mix a fresh batch? The plants are are growing well and do not show signs of stress. Would love to upload pictures but am not sure how. Do not see a place to upload.

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."

SleestaksRule's picture

You can upload a photo by selecting "Full HTML" below the comments box.  Then click on image above the comments box and select upload.

I'd keep the same solution and either use PH down or lemon juice.  I was using lemon juice but it's not very stable.  You could probably keep the same nutrient solution for 2 more weeks since the plants are still young.  I'm just starting a new grow today.

Hydronewbie's picture

Thanks. I used a teaspoon of citric acid and it seems to be holding so for. Also, I am using two 100w equivalent CFL Daylight bulbs. Do you think it's enough light? They seem to be doing well.

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."

SleestaksRule's picture

I never used anyrhing smaller than 42watt (200 watt equivalent) so I'm not sure how they'll do when they get bigger.  You could always step it up if they look stretchy/leggy later on.

Hydronewbie's picture

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."

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