Latest / Hydroponics Daily / THE ABSOLUTE BARE MINIMUM HYDROPONIC CHECKLIST

Transcript

THE ABSOLUTE BARE MINIMUM HYDROPONIC CHECKLIST · Hydroponics Daily

• 0:00
  Hello there and welcome back to
• 0:01
  Hydroponics Daily, your go-to podcast for everything soilless cultivation.
• 0:06
  I'm your host Dr. Russell Sharp and today we're talking about an improvement
• 0:11
  I've made to the hydroponic growers toolkit.
• 0:14
  So talked about this on a previous episode and
• 0:17
  I'll put the link in the description for the podcast but
• 0:20
  also if you email me or if you email Utreema
• 0:24
  then on the bottom in my email signature there is
• 0:27
  the link to the hydroponic toolkit anyway and what
• 0:30
  it is is basically it's a google sheets document and
• 0:33
  it contains all the conversions that you might need if
• 0:37
  you're running a hydroponic setup so ppm to percentages moles to milligrams
• 0:42
  liquids gallons to liters liters to gallons potassium to potassium hydroxide
• 0:48
  potassium oxide and things like this so um all those sorts of conversions it's got useful links.
• 0:54
  So working out symptoms of nutrient deficiency, when is it going to be the last
• 1:01
  frost if you're growing outdoors or in a polytunnel, all the news articles and news websites,
• 1:07
  all the trade shows that I go to, the links to this podcast,
• 1:11
  the links to all the products that we sell or that we recommend.
• 1:15
  And then we have a feed chart and then we have different information about different hydroponic systems.
• 1:20
  But the improvement that we've, and we also have an equipment
• 1:23
  checklist sorry and we list all the equipment that a new grower a beginner would
• 1:28
  require the cost and some comments about that and then the equipment an expert
• 1:32
  would need and then the new sheet on the toolkit is a checklist and a checklist
• 1:38
  of all the tasks that you have to do on a daily basis in a hydroponic system and.
• 1:43
  The tasks that you have to do when you're irrigating your crop or when you're
• 1:45
  changing the irrigation, the weekly tasks, the monthly tasks,
• 1:50
  or the tasks you have to do at the end of harvest.
• 1:52
  So we'll quickly go through those because they're really interesting,
• 1:54
  and you might have some additions or thoughts about those.
• 1:58
  So you can find these on the toolkit, so check that link out anyway.
• 2:02
  But the first one is check for pests, disease, or disorders. That's a daily task.
• 2:07
  Always look on the underside of the leaves with a hand lens to check for mites
• 2:10
  and thrips and downy mildew, things like this.
• 2:13
  Then the other one that i think you should check on a
• 2:15
  daily basis is the dampness of the growing media regardless of
• 2:18
  where the growing media you're using a visual check and just
• 2:21
  by touching it by touching it you you'll sense
• 2:25
  the temperature and therefore how much how wet it is next one
• 2:29
  you should have the current maximum and minimum temperature and
• 2:32
  humidity either using a maximum thermometer or
• 2:35
  hygrometer or a data logger some sort of one
• 2:38
  is fairly cheap and cheerful data as long as you can get now so
• 2:41
  that's it the flowering plants plants stroke a
• 2:44
  leaf to stimulate a systemic defense response and reduce
• 2:47
  stretch so there's an alternative to growth regulators
• 2:51
  if you're producing a tall plant like legal
• 2:54
  cannabis or chrysanthemums or something like this then you could you can stroke
• 2:59
  the leaves to stimulate a systemic defense response that's a daily task you've
• 3:04
  got to empty dehumidifiers of their water that's a daily task making sure they're
• 3:08
  kept clean and prevent things like legionnaires developing in them and algae buildup.
• 3:12
  And then obviously fill humidifiers with water, preferably reverse osmosis or RO water.
• 3:18
  Then when you're irrigating always, or when you're looking at the irrigation
• 3:21
  system, always check the EC, the electrical conductivity, check the pH of the
• 3:26
  feed and calibrate the pen before you use it. That's always important.
• 3:30
  The one that's always mixed, but I think is absolutely essential is check outflow
• 3:35
  EC if you're using some sort of system that when they come out of the roots,
• 3:40
  whether that's run to waste or recirculatory or check the outflow EC.
• 3:44
  Remove outflow liquid with a wet and dry vacuum cleaner if you're growing in
• 3:49
  a grow room in a domestic situation.
• 3:52
  Don't just allow the outflow to stay there and be reabsorbed because
• 3:56
  your EC values will increase and increase and increase so that's very very important
• 3:59
  and is an absolute noob mistake weekly tasks is to improve is to prune pinch
• 4:08
  and train the stems don't do this all at once especially things like tomatoes
• 4:12
  because you'll get cracking of your fruit.
• 4:16
  Because you'll get an osmotic shock where suddenly the plants have got loads
• 4:21
  of water coming from the roots and so pruning, pinching and training,
• 4:25
  minimal amount of stress every day rather than one big stress at once which
• 4:29
  can cause deleterious effects.
• 4:31
  It can cause hermaphrodisation in a lot of dioecious plants.
• 4:37
  Check for cuttings, check the roots of your cuttings on a weekly basis.
• 4:42
  So if you've taken some cuttings, check whether any roots
• 4:45
  are formed on a weekly basis on a few plants don't check
• 4:48
  them daily because you will damage the root primordia and.
• 4:51
  Don't don't check every cutting do this weekly at
• 4:55
  most it doesn't require to be done more than that and
• 4:58
  then on a weekly basis check the conditions in your
• 5:01
  reservoir tanks check for algae precipitation mosquitoes things
• 5:06
  like this so just check everything's hunky-dory in there and then
• 5:09
  monthly tasks or at the end of the harvest if it's
• 5:12
  a if you're doing it if it's not continuous dust the.
• 5:16
  Lights and the fans so especially leds turn
• 5:19
  them off and the heat sinks the
• 5:22
  metal that dissipates the heat that needs
• 5:25
  to be dusted to make sure that it extends the life if you don't dust
• 5:27
  them they will run at a higher temperature and their life
• 5:30
  span will go down the amount of light they can emit will be
• 5:33
  reduced dramatically over time and the same
• 5:36
  for fans you don't want dusty fans circulating dust around
• 5:39
  your room once you've harvested
• 5:42
  wash all the surfaces pots pipes saucers and
• 5:45
  secateurs and then sterilize washing and sterilizing
• 5:49
  are two completely different and separate things washing use
• 5:52
  like soap and that removes material sterilization doesn't
• 5:55
  remove material but it does kill microbes if
• 5:59
  you just wash then it won't be sterile and
• 6:01
  if you just sterilize then the microbes can come.
• 6:04
  Back and just feed off the dead plant material
• 6:07
  and and biofilms and scum that
• 6:10
  you haven't removed so clean then
• 6:14
  sterilize thoroughly clean the reservoir and
• 6:17
  the tanks and the pipes then sterilize i forgot that twice possibly reservoir
• 6:21
  and surfaces two different things replenish any
• 6:24
  sticky traps that's not just because they get
• 6:27
  full of fungus gnats and thrips
• 6:30
  and things like this and aphids it's also because you can then monitor the
• 6:33
  new grow so if you put a new grow in there fresh sticky
• 6:37
  traps you can see if they suddenly become an issue you're using old sticky traps
• 6:41
  then not only do they wear out and not become as sticky you can't see whether
• 6:45
  there's been a problem so you can use them for monitoring and control if you
• 6:49
  replenish your sticky traps and then give your carbon using carbon filters give them a good shake.
• 6:55
  And assess whether they need to be replenished or renewed, shaking them just
• 6:59
  to refresh the carbon around the whole circular cylinder.
• 7:03
  So they are the essential, absolute bare minimum hydroponic checklists.
• 7:10
  And some of those tasks, if you're in a really large grow, they won't all be
• 7:14
  your responsibilities.
• 7:15
  One of those tasks might be one person's job full-time.
• 7:19
  I once went to a tour of the Ford factory in Halewood in Liverpool,
• 7:23
  and my father asked one of the guys who was pressing a
• 7:26
  button how long he'd been on there for because he looked really bored like he
• 7:29
  was expecting to say two hours or something like that and he said
• 7:32
  25 years so might be somebody's job in
• 7:35
  a very large hydroponic system say in holland you know
• 7:37
  large tomato grow or down at planet earth
• 7:40
  to check the ec values in the tanks and that on the
• 7:43
  ph levels and that might be their job all day every day
• 7:46
  you don't know so the bigger it gets the more people
• 7:49
  would be involved in this and the more less tasks the less of
• 7:52
  a jack of all trades you'd have to be so that is
• 7:55
  the the checklist that's part of the toolkit
• 7:58
  it's free it's open access it's not gatekept
• 8:01
  or anything like this anyone can use it you don't have to be using gold
• 8:05
  leaf or as it's called in the uk liquid gold or any of our fertilizers
• 8:08
  these apply they're generic they apply to everything everything apart from the
• 8:11
  feed chart applies to any type of hydroponic grow in any crop i'm thinking of
• 8:16
  doing a series on soil looking at people who grow indoors or in greenhouses
• 8:23
  in pots rather than directly in the soil talking about things like living soil soil.
• 8:29
  Texture soil properties or chemistry but be
• 8:32
  interesting to know your thoughts on that do you want to keep it completely soilless
• 8:35
  or do you want to introduce some episodes on soil so
• 8:39
  any feedback you've got on that and let me know and we
• 8:42
  can introduce some of those in the next few weeks that's
• 8:45
  because many people in hydroponics or indoor growing do
• 8:48
  grow in soil even though they call it hydroponics it's
• 8:52
  a bit of a gray area so thanks very much for
• 8:54
  listening today as i say if you can leave
• 8:57
  a review or share this podcast it does really help
• 9:00
  me because i'm doing this on a sunday evening just
• 9:03
  driven all the way back from scotland and it's just
• 9:07
  helped it's just mainly there to help the community hydroponics community
• 9:10
  and grow and hopefully we can
• 9:13
  be a thriving industry in the years to come as i
• 9:16
  said in yesterday's episode there's a couple of setbacks we've had recently so
• 9:19
  let's stay positive or if you can if you can do
• 9:22
  anything in hydroponics in august it's always good because it's
• 9:25
  really hot really difficult to grow hydroponically and also everyone's
• 9:28
  on holiday so sales and grow shops and that list are down and people are on
• 9:32
  holiday with their kids so they don't want to be messing around setting up grow
• 9:35
  rooms so if you start in august it's always going to be improved it's always
• 9:38
  going to get better it's never any worse than it is in august so think positively
• 9:42
  and i'll see you again tomorrow on hydroponics daily thank you very much for listening goodbye.