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 migraineur
Geezer
 
Registered: 02/15/10
Posts: 1,194
Last seen: 19 hours, 38 minutes
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 Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? 
#15025869 - 09/04/11 02:10 AM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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Hey,
I was wondering if there are any hydroponic vegetable growers here. If so then what do you grow and which hydroponic system do you use to grow them with?
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Fatwa on you!
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waixingren
Registered: 03/14/05
Posts: 2,634
Loc: SW Florida
Last seen: 7 hours, 35 minutes
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: migraineur]
#15045658 - 09/08/11 12:38 AM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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My first attempt at any hydro food. Zesty Salad Mix. A very complex and professional setup as you can see. 
  
I figured out that it will cost me about 90 cents per week to grow a full 4 foot row of lettuce like that. That includes nutrients, water, and electricity for the lights, water pump and air pump. The light is the most expensive coming in around 75 cents, im using a two tube shop light 40w per tube and 6500k spectrum. I'll be harvesting at about that age. I dont like them so much when the leaves get bigger.
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camelslaper13
slaperofcamels
Registered: 11/21/10
Posts: 127
Last seen: 2 months, 19 days
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: waixingren]
#15046135 - 09/08/11 03:24 AM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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I'm rooting some strawberry cuttings in jiffy pucks to put in a windowfarm. I haven't hung it up yet, so I don't have any pictures of it. It's just a couple water bottles connected together and a reservoir and an air lift pump. It's basically going to be like this one I saw on the interweb:
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 koraks
Registered: 06/02/03
Posts: 20,388
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: camelslaper13]
#15046151 - 09/08/11 03:31 AM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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Hey, that might actually work on my balcony. Do you have a link to a good site with some decent explanations/schematics/experiences?
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camelslaper13
slaperofcamels
Registered: 11/21/10
Posts: 127
Last seen: 2 months, 19 days
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: koraks]
#15046176 - 09/08/11 03:39 AM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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koraks
Registered: 06/02/03
Posts: 20,388
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: camelslaper13]
#15046231 - 09/08/11 04:00 AM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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Great, thanks for directing me to that site. Looks wonderful 
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migraineur
Geezer
Registered: 02/15/10
Posts: 1,194
Last seen: 19 hours, 38 minutes
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: koraks]
#15055750 - 09/09/11 11:37 PM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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That's quite cool. I think it would be cool to have a little setup to grow some bell peppers or something or maybe cucumbers on a trellis. I have no experience with such things though and only grow vegetables in soil at the moment.
Check out this "tomato tree" that Disney grew. You can find other pictures that show how big it actually is.
http://www.amazingtomatoes.com/training/training.html
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Fatwa on you!
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camelslaper13
slaperofcamels
Registered: 11/21/10
Posts: 127
Last seen: 2 months, 19 days
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: migraineur]
#15060323 - 09/11/11 12:27 AM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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Finally set it up. Shitty picture sorry. Can't wait till it looks like that one above. Spent $6 on the air pump, $2 on tubing. I've seen that tomato plant before, it's pretty amazing. Just shows how far some low stress training can go. It would be dope to have a canopy of buds hanging over your head like that!
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LunarEclipse
Mr. Dogma Free
Registered: 10/31/04
Posts: 10,716
Loc: The Hand
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: camelslaper13]
#15061729 - 09/11/11 11:17 AM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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This one is such a no brainer as a marketing idea. The pyramid and the trays. You let it overflow from a small receptacle up top to a tray about 1 1`/2x the size. The receptacle is your rockwell cube area for growth with little holes in it. The drips fill a larger grow tray to a larger one that fills your receptacle. Then you have to put a nice hawaaian water fall picture somewhere near the dripping overflowing water just for effect.
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Don't submit to dogma.
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Aleon
666
Registered: 05/26/11
Posts: 442
Loc: WI, USA 
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: LunarEclipse] 2
#15109328 - 09/20/11 11:21 PM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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Hey I have been growing plants hydroponically for almost 5 years now. I started growing plants with aqauponics at the beginning of this year.
Here are some pictures of my old aquaponics setup, i am in the process of moving it, because i need to use that room as a shiitake spawn room for my mushroom farm. Enjoy
3 8' DIY NFT channels above the aquaculture tanks holding tilapia and redclaw crayfish. Lettuce and bock choi.
Dark Opal and Genovese Heirloom Basil in a 4'x8' ebb and flow tray fed with fish waste water.
All of the HID's are on light rails.
Door to aquaponics room, 2 100gallon fish tanks on right, feeding all the plants. 4'x8' ebb and flow tray with vertical NFT channels on the left.
This is were the seedling start, this is also fed water from the tilapia and redclaw tanks. There are seedlings of lettuce, beets, choi, watercress, radicchio, basil, beets, chard, mizuna, tasoi, and more
4 2'x4' ebb and flow trays fed aquaponics water.
Redclaw crayfish in a separate 100gallon tank than the tilapia, but still connected in the same aquaponics system
When i move this i am converting most of the growbeds to raft(DWC) style aquaponics. Ill post pictures in a month or 2 when im done.
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"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
~Anais Nin~
“Serenity is not peace outside of the storm, but peace within the storm.”
~Zoltar~
Everything we have ever been told is a lie.
Anybody who tells you something is lying, even me.
Seek the truth.
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Beanhead
appreciating aesthetics
Registered: 10/11/08
Posts: 13,261
Loc: Geospatial inversion
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: Aleon]
#15113130 - 09/21/11 07:42 PM (1 year, 7 months ago) |
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 very nice setup
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Torn by thoughts
nothing else on my mind
Questioning doubts
leaving confidence behind
As I stand powerless by the sidelines
watching it fade away
My reflex is to prevent it
but maybe this just isn't my play
Edited by Beanhead (09/21/11 07:42 PM)
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migraineur
Geezer
Registered: 02/15/10
Posts: 1,194
Last seen: 19 hours, 38 minutes
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: Beanhead]
#15116224 - 09/22/11 10:52 AM (1 year, 7 months ago) |
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FARK. I wrote a big message but something went wrong.
How much did that setup cost you?
What do you do with all the produce and has your grocery bill gone down much or do the lights make it not so cheap?
I thought it'd be cool to have a hydroponic vegetable setup in my garden in a greenhouse or something without artificial lights.
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Fatwa on you!
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peternincompoop
Curious
Registered: 06/28/11
Posts: 103
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: migraineur]
#15122448 - 09/23/11 02:08 PM (1 year, 7 months ago) |
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Camelslaper thanks for the windowfarms link! That shit is amazing I can't wait to try it! Its hard growing any kind of plants in a small apartment but that looks awesome
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Aleon
666
Registered: 05/26/11
Posts: 442
Loc: WI, USA
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: migraineur]
#15122782 - 09/23/11 03:28 PM (1 year, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
migraineur said:
FARK. I wrote a big message but something went wrong.
How much did that setup cost you?
What do you do with all the produce and has your grocery bill gone down much or do the lights make it not so cheap?
I thought it'd be cool to have a hydroponic vegetable setup in my garden in a greenhouse or something without artificial lights.
Setup would've cost me alot, but i already had most of the equipment collected over the years of urban gardening.
I would eat alot of the food, and sell the basil to coops, a noodle company that infuses basil into their noodles, and at farmers markets.
Light are expensive, but you can definitely save money once everything g is "dailed-in".
IF you can skip grow lights you will be much better off. I designed a system for use in urban environments (apartment with an extra spare bedroom).
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"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
~Anais Nin~
“Serenity is not peace outside of the storm, but peace within the storm.”
~Zoltar~
Everything we have ever been told is a lie.
Anybody who tells you something is lying, even me.
Seek the truth.
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Prisoner#1
Even Dumber ThanAdvertized!
Registered: 01/22/03
Posts: 168,388
Loc: Pvt. Pubfag NutSuck
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: Aleon]
#15128653 - 09/24/11 07:35 PM (1 year, 7 months ago) |
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my brother has the idea that he should raise fish forr rale to some of the
local markets, I think I've convinced him aquaponics is the way to go,
hopefully in the next few months I can get the hoop houses up
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there are 923 words in the english language that do not follow the "I before E"
rule, there are 44 words in the english language that follow the rule. this is
the shit our education funding is paying for and these liberals want more money
for education to keep making students stupid
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Aleon
666
Registered: 05/26/11
Posts: 442
Loc: WI, USA
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: Prisoner#1]
#15129115 - 09/24/11 09:39 PM (1 year, 7 months ago) |
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In theory aquaponics can be profitable, but i warn you... There are very little (you can count them on your hands) successful Commercial AP operations. I have visited one of them (nelson and Pade). And they make all their money from teaching classes not selling fish or plants LOL! In general you always lose money selling fish. All the profit is in the plants. Not to mention %99.99 of fish feed contains GMO's. I had to spend an arm and a leg to get one of the only organic certified fish feeds, its made for koi but i use it for my tilapia.
Not to say it cant be done, but i think hydroponic or mushroom farm would be a good start then invest your profits from those into AP and diversify. Just my opinion. Also IMO build a raft/dwc system. From my experience the other styles are pretty week. That why im taking mine down and it switching to raft/DWC.
Just a general estimate, but its normally up around $100,000+ to get a decent sized AP facility up and running. I visited one AP farm (KP simply fresh) and they had spend 35K just on LED lighting for supplemental lighting in the winter. He has been running that place for years, and they are yet to turn a profit.
JUst trying to help not discourage. START SMALL is the best suggestion i can give with AP.
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"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
~Anais Nin~
“Serenity is not peace outside of the storm, but peace within the storm.”
~Zoltar~
Everything we have ever been told is a lie.
Anybody who tells you something is lying, even me.
Seek the truth.
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Prisoner#1
Even Dumber ThanAdvertized!
Registered: 01/22/03
Posts: 168,388
Loc: Pvt. Pubfag NutSuck
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: Aleon]
#15133764 - 09/25/11 08:59 PM (1 year, 7 months ago) |
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I'm pretty sure I can develop a feed that's cheap and certifiable though I
wont seek certification, this would be more the hobby for him, certainly not
commercial. he'll most likely start with a couple of 250gal tanks and a few
handfuls of fish. his sales would most likely be in the local stores and
maybe a few restaurants. there's not many around here that deal in fresh to
start with.... kinda sucks. thanks for the advice, as things get started I
may hit you up with a couple questions... you've obviously ventured into
realms I havent even thought of until recently
most commercial feeds leave a dog food flavor in the fish
I just looked for organic fish foods, apparently it is a rarity
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there are 923 words in the english language that do not follow the "I before E"
rule, there are 44 words in the english language that follow the rule. this is
the shit our education funding is paying for and these liberals want more money
for education to keep making students stupid
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Brainiac
Rogue Scientist
Registered: 04/29/06
Posts: 13,259
Loc: 與您的女朋
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: Prisoner#1]
#15134329 - 09/25/11 11:06 PM (1 year, 7 months ago) |
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Look into black soldier fly as a feed.. As you can compost with it....An cool link http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/
Edited by Brainiac (09/25/11 11:17 PM)
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peternincompoop
Curious
Registered: 06/28/11
Posts: 103
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Re: Any Hydroponic Vegetable Growers Here? [Re: Brainiac]
#15149017 - 09/28/11 09:20 PM (1 year, 7 months ago) |
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Aquaponics can work if you can find a cheap and sustainable protein source, like black soldier flies which can live off kitchen compost. You can supplement the fish food with azola and lettuce greens. People who are into eating local will pay top dollar for local produce year round, and especially for a local source of sustainable tilapia
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Aleon
666
Registered: 05/26/11
Posts: 442
Loc: WI, USA
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Unless anyone here has ACTUAL experience with alternative fish feeds such as black soldier fly larvea or azola i wouldnt be so quick to state that it works. I know MANY people who have tried to use alternative feeds, everyone has failed. The fish just wont grow fast enough; also the amount of time and labor involved in making your own feed would set you back so far on profits you'd never get outta the RED($) or have time for anything besides making feed. And if you do figure it out, patent and sell it, cause youll be the first to make it work. One thing ive learned about aquaponics, is that many people will say things work before they have even tried it. I dont know why, but its not as easy as everyone makes it out to be IMO. Very time consuming, fish need to be feed 3-5 times a day by hand, and every who doesnt grow aquaponically will say "get an automatic feeder!". But its not that easy. They clog, also a machine can never assimilate information and adjust to each scenario like a human can.
Prisoner#1 if you are serous i will answer whatever questions i can, but i am still learning alot too, so most likely ill be pointing you to others sources i have found to be reliable (b/c there are alot of shysters out there). I highly suggest touring AP farms before you invest.
Good luck!
--------------------
"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
~Anais Nin~
“Serenity is not peace outside of the storm, but peace within the storm.”
~Zoltar~
Everything we have ever been told is a lie.
Anybody who tells you something is lying, even me.
Seek the truth.
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