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The Kratky Method: Is it all it is kracked up to be? · Hydroponics Daily

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  Hello and welcome back to Hydroponics Daily, the podcast where we explore the
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  science systems and innovations in soilless cultivations.
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  I'm your host Dr. Russell Sharp and today we'll be examining the cracky method of hydroponics.
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  This is a passive hydroponic system that requires no pumps, no electricity.
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  Minimal intervention and it's a non-circulatory system.
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  It is not that popular in
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  the uk it is more popular in america i
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  think especially on reddit users so not complete
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  beginners but sort of um moderately well
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  good-knowledged sort of amateurs use the
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  method it seems it's not one that
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  i've seen great results from but it does
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  have its proponents and people who swear by
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  it so we'll go through it and talk about it in more detail so as
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  i say it's a non-circulatory hydroponic technique and
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  it was developed by dr bernard kratky hence the
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  name at the university of hawaii so and
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  it provides plants with all the necessary necessary nutrients and
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  water without the use of any active components such
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  as air pumps or timers so it could be good in developing
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  countries anywhere where there's no access to electricity things
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  like that so in essence the plants are suspended above
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  a nutrient solution in a static reservoir as the plants grow consume water the
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  level of the solution drops creating an air gap this gap allows roots to access
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  oxygen and in if it's working correctly effectively balance hydration and aeration
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  without mechanical assistance now.
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  If you're an experienced hydroponic grower, you will appreciate that there's
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  a couple of issues there, not least that the electrical conductivity will increase
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  as the water's evaporated.
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  Those roots that are suspended might get droughts. There's no aeration of the
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  solution. There's no monitoring there.
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  So this could go seriously wrong
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  if it goes wrong and your plants could really suffer
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  so this is not like putting plants in a pot of soil
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  this is this is hydroponics and it's it's maybe
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  too simplistic but it offers
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  several distinct advantages simplicity being the
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  obvious one there are no moving parts once established
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  minimal maintenance very low cost so it's
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  a good way of getting into hydroponics however if you get
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  burnt by getting it wrong on this one you might not get
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  further into hydroponics so low cost low budget
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  silent operation so no pumps means that
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  there's it's suitable for indoor environments where the noise is
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  a concern so it's a bit like dwc or ebb
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  and flood but without anything you know
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  supporting it it's portability so systems can be
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  relocated due to their compact and self-contained nature but.
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  How often do you really relocate and grow not very
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  often so the the notable limitations the
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  method is best suited for fast growing small to medium plants
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  such as lettuce basil and leafy greens they can
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  get through that nutrient solution quickly without you know
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  biofilms and algae building up and aeration becoming
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  an issue it's less effective for large fruiting crops
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  like tomatoes cucumbers any sort of
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  legal hemp things like this they require greater oxidation and
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  nutrient replenishment and in warmer climates or just
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  in the summer stagnant water may lead to algal growth or
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  root diseases if the system's not properly covered or sanitized especially
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  if you're using tap water you could get a rot set in
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  so how do you actually set it up to construct
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  a basic cracky method basically follow these steps which i'm going to explain
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  but i've never actually done it myself so you select a container such as a 20
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  liter bucket or a five gallon bucket an opaque or an opaque storage tote with
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  a tight fitting lid so not something that's see-through otherwise you will get out of your build-up.
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  Drill or cut a hole in the lid to fit a net cup or mesh pot,
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  so a standard hydroponic net cup.
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  I'd probably drill a hole because if you cut a hole, the knife could go too
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  far and it's not very neat and tidy.
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  Prepare a nutrient solution by mixing your water with your hydroponic nutrients
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  and make sure it's the right pH.
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  So if you're gold leaf or as it's called in the UK liquid gold you don't need
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  to worry about the pH just dilute it at probably for this I would use two milliliters
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  per liter you place your seedling.
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  Growing in the grow media in such as rock wool or clay
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  pellets they're ideal for these it's a standard dwc or
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  nft grow media don't use cocoa
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  because it would get a bit too stagnant and you
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  want to be putting a seedling in not a seed in this situation because that's
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  going to leave the nutrient solution there for just too long before it actually
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  gets growing i'd put in a bigger seedling as you guess possibly you could so
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  let your seedlings get quite big position the net up so the base of the growing
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  medium makes contact with the nutrient solution.
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  If that doesn't happen the roots won't grow down to it and it'll dry out.
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  And then ensure the container is shielded from light to prevent algal growth.
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  This can be done by painting it, covering it in foil or just using an opaque
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  container as I mentioned earlier.
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  And then allow the plant to grow undisturbed. As it consumes water the air gap will form naturally.
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  So no topping off is necessary if the initial
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  volume of water supports full growth
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  so you don't need to keep on adding water and feeding
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  this one you just let it do its
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  thing so it's designed for one cycle single harvest
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  crops it's not for crops that are going to be continually harvested like tomatoes
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  or cherries and things like that you know a perennial crop so where would where
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  was it suited for it would be suited for educational settings getting students
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  to set up a simple hydroponic system,
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  showing them route development would be really good.
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  Without taking up complex systems if you just want to
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  show people root systems it's really it's a really good method
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  it's good for urban and indoor environments where space
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  and power may be limited so maybe on an
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  allotment or a urban farm where you don't have an electricity account and set
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  up and it could be a backup or emergency growing system if you you went off
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  grid for a while like the electricity went down so it is often used in hobby
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  gardens school gardens and And so that's where the cracky method comes into its own.
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  How else could you optimize the cracky method? You could use filtered or dechlorinated
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  water to avoid root damage.
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  Keep the container sealed against light to suppress algae, as we said.
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  Start with leafy greens or herbs for best results. So don't be doing anything
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  fancy. Don't be starting with wasabi.
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  Even though wasabi is a plant that grows in the rivers, it doesn't like stagnant
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  conditions. So it probably wouldn't do wasabi at all with this method.
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  You can monitor the water temperature and consider using a thermometer if growing
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  in a warm environment making sure it doesn't get too hot so that's going to
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  be a key issue okay so the cracky method does demonstrate that hydroponics doesn't
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  have to be complex can be minimal and it's a good way to sort of hone your skills,
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  before you go on to other expensive methods like dwc you know you might look
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  at sort of the alien systems and think yeah that looks really cool and then
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  you look at the price tag and you go oh can't really justify that at the moment,
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  but a cracky method might be a good way of intermediary way.
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  You could always then sort of move into an NFT ebb and flood system.
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  So you could then stick a small aquarium pump.
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  In the buckets and pull water out of
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  there and on a timer so that the water went
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  was was circulating and so you could build in
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  filters into that system you could what else
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  could you do you could build in extra additions of water and nutrient solution
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  and monitoring the ph and things like that so you could develop you could take
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  a cracking method and system and take those buckets and and develop an nft recirculatory
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  system from that so you could you could go from cracky to hybrid to full DWC,
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  NFT, ebb and flood, whatever you want.
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  So have a listen back to some of the previous episodes we talked about on ebb
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  and flood or ebb and flow, NFT and DWC if you're interested in taking the cracky method further.
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  So that concludes today's episode of Hydroponics Daily on the cracky method.
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  If you are interested in further information on this and other hydroponics,
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  please do get in touch with me. I'm Dr. Russell Sharp.
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  You'll find me on any of the social medias for
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  gold leaf or liquid gold or utreema which
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  is our parent company so thank you very much
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  for listening if you found this interesting if you know a cracky grower then
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  share this podcast with them and if this podcast has
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  been shared with you you are the person who shared it with you a pint
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  of beer or whatever your favorite tipple is their favorite tipple
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  is so get down to the pub all right thanks very much
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  for listening until tomorrow goodbye stop the
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  press i've just been on to wikipedia to find
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  a picture for cracky and these they've
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  got three bottles of lettuce plants grown
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  in mason jars using the cracky method and two of the three have bolted the third
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  one looks like it's about to bolt and so yeah not good because bolting means
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  it's flowering and the lettuce would be insipid all three of the lettuce plants
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  look like they've got severe.
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  Nitrogen deficiency so if that's the best method that's
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  the best picture that could come up with for the cracky method
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  on wikipedia it's not something i would be promoting much but yeah check it
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  out on wikipedia doesn't look good so maybe if you're a cracky aficionado maybe
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  take that down and put one up that's better illustrates the cracky method so
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  you can promote it further okay thank you very much.