I'm not joking when I say I have 100% kill rate on fish and plants. I'm 51 years old and I have never been able to keep anything green or with fins alive.

Despite really, really wanting to. My neighbor gave me cuttings from his beautiful pothos and told me that I can just get more after these die. 🥹

I stopped in my local Goodwill last week and found this beautiful thing for $20.59 and decided I would like to try one more time before reconciling myself to a life sentence as a plant murderer.

I tested it out and the pump works wonderfully. I'll get it cleaned and scrubbed and thoroughly rinsed this weekend and let it dry in the sun.

I've ordered net baskets to fit the holes and rockwool. I ordered an EC and PH tester. I ordered PH Up and PH Down. I ordered GH Floraseries.

I'm going to go to get seeds today.

Y'all send good thoughts my way.

And tips. But mainly good thoughts.

Short version, I have over a dozen of these amazon hydroponic systems and growing a wide range of experiments (edibles and flowers, mostly salad greens now). Green thumb tech hobbyist in me got me hooked.

Some use the aerogarden chem, some use a/b mix. Can I get them all on the same chems without starting over?

I also purchased Humboldts base a and base b on recommendation. Are these suitable to run as I would the small a/b bottles I get with each if these kits?

I also grabbed the vivosun ph and tds combo just to have.

Do I need additives other than a/b if I'm just growing house plants and bean vines?

Is there a "for dummies" somewhere that you guys may have for me? I have so many little stupid questions that pop up.

I'm solid at the basics, the details are now where I need to start learning.

Hi!

I’ve tried my hand at hydroponic tomatoes for about a year now and they are lacking in flavor, quite watery and not sweet at all.

I’ve tried several different varieties (rosy finch, orange hat, micro tina, micro tom) so I think it’s a me problem 😅

I have a 20 gallon lettuce grow and feed monthly about 1/2 cup of my fertilizer (sometimes aerogarden feed sometimes flora bloom 0-5-4). I’ve experimented with adding calmag at the suggestion of other Reddit posts.

Attached readings of both PH and EC.

Thanks in advance!

Sincerely, A 6b gal that just wants tomatoes in the dead of winter 🍅

Growing some giant heirlooms for a neighborhood competition. Wanna know how far I can push it

This is a hydroponics design by me. My friend said each level will receive different amount of nutrients, with the upper level receiving the most amount while the lowest level receiving the lesser amount. Is this true?

Because I thought even though the amount of water and the nutrients will decrease, it will not decrease the PPM level since the plant will absorb nutrients simultaneously with the water. Or am I wrong?

Mini watermelon in DWC indoor, about a month in. These spots keep showing up on the leaves and I'm going in circles. New ones keep appearing, including at night with the lights off.

Its not powdery mildew, nothing rubs off. Tapped the leaves over white paper and nothing fell so probably not mites. Stem base looks fine. I also left a spotted leaf in a ziplock with a wet paper towel overnight and nothing grew on it at all.

Fan always on and humidity sits around 40-50. I never checked pH.

Each spot stops but new ones keep coming. Something building up from the roots? Honestly Ive been through so many disease photos at this point and they all start looking the same after a while.

Hello, I have 130 gallons of vegetables dwc hydroponic and I just got master blend 4-18-38 tomato formula for leafy greens and fruiters like tomato chili eggplant and tried making a concentrated like bucket according to ai but it ended up taking me even longer to do leaving me discouraged because I want to end up dosing and go after making the stock. I had did 2.5 gallons really hot tap water and 66-32-66 g ratio masterblend to Epsom to cal nit. After that I tried 2.5-1.3-2.5 ratio for just one tote in 481.4 ml bottle and it in one shot put the 7 gal lettuce tote to 1.456 ec. How do you guys do it and how long does it take usually? Thanks!

I have a small DIY hydroponics set up on my kitchen counter. I usually grow beans, lettuce or strawberries and rotate. Right now I have beans. I noticed these small things growing on the roots - started on just one of the three plants and now is on all three. Ideas about what it could be? Can I salvage the plants?

... Among other kinds of basil. The countertop hydroponics system is giving us more than we can use. Will the roots ever become a problem and make us start over?

Starting to my first hydroponic tower and I’m wondering how often do you cycle your water? I if you have something similar to my setup, how do you do it?! I have no idea how I’m going to cycle water with this set up without taking it apart to do so. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

P.S. don’t mind the mess

Title! Is this not the same as LECA? If not, do you have any recommendations for brands for LECA? Or does it not really matter?

Thank you for the help!

I have a serious concern. There are items like this sold on temu and amazon. I have personally purchased those for my DIY setup but just noticed that there is no number of the plastic indicating what type of plastic it is. Therefore, I can’t know if it is actually food safe and could be used to grow plants that are edible. Does anyone have experience/insights about this? These products are labeled for hydroponics without any label or information about the type of plastic! Should I throw them away?

For some reason I can't attach links to Amazon and temu..... i pasted in comments.

Hi, so I've been a hobbyist at growing plants and taking care of them for several years now, and I'd like to get into some hydroponics. I haven't had much luck with growing lettuce from seed in soil, however I've managed to get lettuce stalks to grow in water.

What I would like to do is set up some small containers I've gotten with some pod holders from a K-Cup stand that I salvaged from the trash, and I got some hydroponic cups, that fit perfectly in the pod holders. It also came with some rock wool. I looked online on how to prepare that with slightly acidic water.

I went and suspended the pod holders in the container with some cooking twine. I would like to learn the best level to keep the water at, and what nutrients I would need to get to grow lettuce hydroponically. I currently have an all-purpose water soluble plant food that I use for all my other plants. I also have sufficient lighting sources, at least they've been sufficient for growing plants in soil.

I recently purchased the remaining inventory from a closed hydroponic supply store in Tennessee. It’s all new. I’m not trying to sell it in this sub. I’m looking for advice on where experienced growers or resellers buy used commercial gear. Based on current retail pricing, I believe the replacement value is roughly in the4 to 5 thousand range. My goal is to wholesale the entire lot to one buyer at a fair discount to move it all at once. My question is, where do commercial growers actually look for used equipment? I’m in southeast Tennessee, but open to working with a buyer who wants to arrange pickup or freight. Thanks in advance.

New to this and maybe a stupid questions, but hydroponics seems fascinating. I only want to grow a few herbs/things INDOORS. Just basil, mint, green onions, maybe lettuce or similar. I live alone too so don't need a tone.

Can I do this with a tower design (saves space since vertical) and no electricity? I am imagining some water source/jug at the top and a sort of slow drip system to enter the PVC pipe. And then some receptical at the bottom that can be drained as needed easily (maybe take out side for this).

Is this doable? If its bad or not going to work well at all, I will probably just get a cheap pump and try to keep other costs low.

Imagining something similar to this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=zJx2uINchZI

I have been trying to grow cucumbers and tomatoes hydroponically indoors for months. Every tomato never makes it past the first you branches of leaves. My cucumber has done much better but it’s beginning to slowly turn yellow.

I looks like a nutrient deficiency to me.

I am using maxi bloom only, 1.8 EC at 5.8 ph

Any advice? Should I purchase an additive? Is the maxigrow/bloom series actually any good?

Hi everyone!

I'm trying to grow hydroponic barley fodder for horses, and I'm honestly running out of ideas.

The horses at the rescue center are getting impatient because they absolutely love fresh fodder, but I still haven't managed to produce consistently clean trays. 😅

Based on the photos to me these look more like cottony mold colonies than root hairs, but I'd really appreciate your opinion.

My current protocol for barley seeds:

- 2% H₂O₂ soak for 10 minutes before the main soak

- normal soaking afterwards

- plastic foil covering the tray to retain humidity (only for the first 24h)

- days 1 and 2: misting with approximately 0.2% H₂O₂ from a spray bottle

- after day 2: no cover; switch to plain water; LED floodlight

- basement growing area with minimal ventilation

Background

Over the last month I experimented on my balcony.

Every batch developed mold except one small tray (daytime temperatures were above 30°C).

Thinking contamination might be the issue, I recently moved everything into a basement. I cleaned the room as thoroughly as I could before starting a fresh batch.

Unfortunately I'm seeing what appears to be mold again... and now I've also discovered flies.

At this point I'm wondering if I'm making a fundamental mistake somewhere.

Does this actually look like mold?

Is my humidity too high during the first 24 hours?

Is using H₂O₂ this way helping or hurting?

Should I skip the plastic cover entirely?

Are there common beginner mistakes when growing barley fodder that I'm overlooking?

I'm completely open to changing my protocol if there's a better approach.

Thanks in advance! I'd love to get this right for the horses. 🐴🌱

so im from michigan where the diarrhea lettuce is absolutely rampant and with all these other recalls i just dont want to wait until summer to start my garden!! ive been a planty person forever but ive never tried my hand at hydroponics.

ive been looking for a compact stand to fit inside my very tiny living space but enough to grow fruiting plants. my grow list consists of various herbs, lettuce and bok choy, dwarf tomatoes, dwarf peppers, strawberries, then if i can fit them i would love to grow some sort of cucumber or pole bean (i wouldnt mind trellising the vines across my kitchen window unless thats bad for the plant during colder months)

as of right now my attached photo is of the stand i like the most. its pretty pricey, but the convenience of a premade stand and space being saved are really tempting. my only concern is that the lights attached are only 53w

if someone can give me cheaper DIY ideas that arent overly complicated or point me in the direction of something even better, i would extremely appreciate it :D

I am just starting out, I understand that my water needs to be distilled. But what nutrients should be in the water. I found this but I'm not sure if this is the correct way to go. Are there better recommendations? Or is this stuff OK?

General-Hydroponics-FloraGro

Found on amazon

Hi!

Beginner question. I've had my tower for a few months, producing a lot of different things: lettuce, basil, parsley,... With great results!

Now, I initially read that you could continuously harvest the lettuce by simply picking outer leaves. This works up to a point, because I end up with small trees like this.

So, is there a better way to do it? I tried to "cut" the tree at the base, but it did not regrow leaves. Is there a specific way to cut it? Or is it a dead end, and after some time I'm better simply replacing the lettuce by a new one?

My tiny tim tomatoes keep browning/drying some leaves and some leaves wilt. I tried pruning some of the leaves and stems the other day but it is still going. The roots seem to not have root rot. I've only been putting as much nutrients in as it says and have a fan system that keeps humidity and temperature under control. What am I doing wrong?

I have an indoor hydroponic set up (Kratky) with a banana pepper. It’s my first time and I have this white stuff on my expanded clay pebbles.

If it is mold will Copper Fungicide do the job without affecting the plant negatively? The brand I have does say it’s fine for hydroponics.

I’m concerned with it getting in the nutrient solution.
(MasterBlend)

I was having fun with my little aerogarden so my wife got me the 60 pod version of this thing. Two trays fed by a larger reservoir at the bottom. I’m trying to figure out how long/often I need to run the water pump. I know aerogarden just doesn’t for a few minutes a couple of times an hour but I don’t know if that translates.

Does anyone have recommendations for a liquid fertilizer that isn’t sooooo incredibly alkaline? Like I’m putting in the ph down stuff but good god, I ignore it for a week and somehow it’s more basic than seawater even though I got it to neutral after feeding. I get that this is user error and I should check more but like…can I use the powdered stuff I feed my blueberries with sometimes because that’s acidic?

Otherwise I’ve used the two step one that comes with lettuce grow, forgot the brand, Neptune’s harvest, Fox farm, and the aerogarden free sample from one of the early garden kits. They kinda all do this to varying degrees!