Episode-2626- Simple, Fast and Easy Kratky Hydroponics for Growing Food
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I consider it quite fortunate that back in late November of 2019 a listener asked me about something called, “Kratky Hydroponics” named for Dr. Kratky who is a professor at the University of Hawaii. Up until that point I had never really seriously considered hydroponics as I vastly preferred aquaponics because it is a more natural system.
When I grasped the true simplicity of Kratky though it would not let go of me. I first used it to create a very inexpensive and productive seed starting system and even that system grew some things so fast it was producing food for me. I quickly grew beyond it to my indoor vertical farm system. Today though we are going to stick 90% to Kratky with just a few ideas on systems that use pumps.
My goal is for anyone who listens today to be confident enough to try Kratky at some scale and hence be eating food they grew themselves in under 30 days time from right now.
Join Me Today to Discuss…
- Exactly what is Kratky and why does it work so well
- The two types of roots it produces and why it is important that you know the difference
- Why indoor growing under lights is such a great idea especially to get started
- Why you might not want to do things exactly like I did
- Ideas for Kratky Contiainers
- “Rubbermaid Totes”
- Ball Jars
- 5 Gallon Buckets
- Lined Box Frames
- Kitchen “Tupperware”
- Garbage Cans
- If it holds fluid it will work, but think about how much it holds a great deal
- Container depth needs are subject to the plants, the time of growth and the space
- My two go to choices for nutrient
- Texas Tomato Food – Super Convenient
- Master Blend – It works, you need a scale
- My go to choices for equipment
- Nice to Have Items
- EC Meter – Link
- PH Meter – Link
- PH Up or Down (pick one)
- Mortar Mixer – You can get them at any Home Depot, Lowes Etc they are over priced on Amazon but this is what I mean
- Growing Lettuces and Short Duration Greens
- Super simple as one cycle and done
- Cut and come again 1 to 2 times, by then have new starts ready
- Best for lettuce, arugula, spinach, basil, etc.
- Growing Long Duration Greens (Chard, etc)
- May want to treat them like lettuces
- Might be best to transplant them to soil
- May do well companion planted with tier two crops (below)
- Tier Two Crops
- Fruiting crops like squash, egg plant, tomato, peppers, etc.
- Require more dense nutrient solution
- Require larger containers (5 gallons minimum)
- Would be best to grow outside (with some shelter)
- May want to employ float valves
- Some thoughts on plumbing right now
- The cheap bulkheads I recommend have super long lead times, here is a work around that may work
- All local building supply, plumbing, garden, ag, etc. stores are still open, many deliver
- You can design static layouts for plumbing options later on, just have the plan in mind
- You need a schedule for checking and filling if you don’t have automation
- Remember the two root types, never top up, fill up to a pre determined “top” once major growth has begun
- The roots themselves when healthy do act as wicks
- Some final considerations
- Block light, grow plants not algae
- Yes I reuse some of the rapid rooter plugs, here is how
- Spacing is dependent on the plants and your harvest timing
- Warm temps really do help especially with germination
- Yes you can grown in a window, there are limits, lettuce is likely best
- I have not been hardening transplants, all have lived but some have not been happy at first
- Use simple solutions and learn, you can always add more to them
- Start with some fast turn crops even if you really want peppers, tomatoes, etc.
- Strongly consider some sort of indoor solution in the short term
- Any shelf will do but consider vertical spacing
- 2x4s and cinder blocks make quick, strong, cheap, shelving (easy to later repurposed)
- Kratky is GREAT for home production even small community production, but does not scale well to commercial
- None of this is hard, you will learn as you go
A Few Thoughts on CoVid and What the TV is Not Telling You
- It might be the case that the denominator is massive, and that this is going to pass quickly
- Fauci who kept telling us it is not seasonal is now saying it is seasonal in a back handed way
- The treatments are working, chloroquine and zinc will likely be a standard treatment by fall if we have phase two
- Remember that zinc and quercertin and/or green tea extract also get zinc into your cells
- Self testing kits to see if you already had it are coming soon
- I predict massive numbers of ventilators sent to NY will not be used and may end up in a scramble to go elsewhere
- We just may learn a lesson from this, we can hope anyway
Resources for today’s show…
- Join the Members Brigade – Get 25 dollars a year off right now with discount code 25bucks
- Join Our Forum
- Walking To Freedom
- TspAz.com – Find all My Amazon Reviews
- Show I Did on Pandemics in 2010
- GreenWisdomHealth.com – My Doc and Currently has some Zinc and other Stuff Available but not Much
- My Grandson Hitting a Ball – From the End Story I Told
- The Greatest – Kenny Rodgers
Source of More Info and Products for Growing Your Own Food
- All my Hydroponics Resources
- My Indoor Vertical Hydroponics Farm – Shows you what to do even if you do it differently
- My Hydro Seed Starting System – Easily Adapted for Production As Well
- My Indoor Hydro Presentation from Mother Earth News Fair
- Dr. Kratky’s Youtube Channel
- Kratky White Paper #1
- Kratky White Paper #2
- Large Scale Garbage Can Kratky
- Kratky Tomatoes in a Garbage Can
Links Referenced about Hydroxychloroquine Works and On Why Some OTC Supplements May do Some Portion Thereof
- How hydroxychloroquine actually works with zinc to fight CoVid, despite what the media says this is a KNOWN. It is old data as it does the same with other viruses and has done so in the past. This short video explains the process https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIymfznD7YA
- Doctor treating the Jewish community in New York, claims to have treated over 600 CoVid Positive patients with ZERO hospitalizations. – https://collive.com/doctor-claims-to-have-new-solution-for-treating-coronavirus/
- What started the run on quercetin was work by a Montreal Dr. that did work on SARs with it who said it absolutely should work for CoVid too. You can see that here https://www.mcgilltribune.com/sci-tech/montreal-researchers-propose-a-treatment-for-covid-19-170320/
- The question is quercertin a zinc ionophore is answered with yes, proven here. It was used with Green Tea Extract as well though. It is important to understand that both the ionophore effect and zinc are most likely needed to be effective https://bit.ly/2xgFPYO
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I used to use the drill “mud” mixer and now I measure out the Master Blend components in a Dixie cup and put it in my blender with rain water to make a concentrate that I pour into my big bucket, then I use the mud mixer, it works so fast, I think I’m cheating!
Two notes:
1) in many areas, you can find blue food grade plastic barrels with clamp on lids cheaper than Rubbermaid trash cans, and they are a LOT thicker. Downside is they may let more light in.
2) you can make threaded adapters work in the side of buckets if you use Teflon tape and a lock ring for metal electrical conduit (same threads) on the inside.
If anyone wants an “easy button” for getting started, consider something like this and use grow plugs/sponges like the Rapid Rooters Jack recommends.
https://amzn.to/2WNYEO3
This 72cell system can be used for seed starting, and growing greens to maturity as an “upside down” Kratky setup.
1: Fill the tray nearly full with water/nutrient. Include some (.5%-1% concentration) H2O2, it helps improve and speed germination plus gives your plants a sterile start.
2: Drop in the rooting plugs. Use all 72cells if you are strictly starting seeds. Space them into something like a checkerboard pattern if you intend to grow to maturity.
3: Place a seed in each plug. You can use more seeds, but start with 1 per plug, the germination rate will be darn near 100%.
4: Place the humidity dome on top and close the vents
5: Optional: Use the included heating mat if needed
6: Place the whole thing under lights set to an 18/6 (light/dark) cycle as Jack recommends. Note the lights will heat your rig, so don’t place them too close to the dome to avoid overheating.
7: Wait 2-6 days for the first few seeds to sprout and open the dome vents when this happens. Remove the dome completely after all/most seeds have sprouted. At this time you can drop the lights closer to your seedlings if you want. IMO they work fine from 12″-18″ so moving them isn’t strictly necessary. Note that removing the dome isn’t strictly necessary either, some plants will do fine or better with the dome, but at some point it is just in your way and might crowd your plants.
8: Keep an eye on your nutrient level, with the vents open or the dome removed your nutrient will evaporate. Top up if needed to about 1/2 full. Remember what Jack said about drowning the air roots, don’t overfill.
9: Grow to transplant or harvest size.
10: Enjoy! Seriously, it’s easy and tastes great.
Totally gonna be item of the day today, funny to as yesterday I just realized how well rapid rooters fit 72 cell hex sheets. I am going to use them in my shallow flood tray with ebb and flow in my vert farm.
You really don’t like the loose fit of the smaller sponges huh? 🙂
They can be fit 2 per cell, or centered with a few hydroton pebbles like this….
Hmm, not sure how to share pics here, trying via URL to google drive, hope this works.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1eCnHq4yQm4FIcV9xxYwyUzp2uUIIO_8M
Regarding step 8 above…
It may be counter intuitive but your plants will do better the lower you can keep the nutrient without going dry. In this way it’s more like a Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) hydroponics. NFT works great but it’s a dangerous game to play if you’re maintaining the nutrient level manually.
Regarding H2O2 and water levels…
If you are not using H2O2, which dissipates and needs to be replenished every 3-4days, start with only 1/4 full tray and refill to 1/4 full or less. Bottom line, your water levels will need to be much lower than I described above if you’re doing this without H2O2.
Uh. OK, forgot the H2O2. 5 days in & Arugula & Butter Lettuce are little bitty babies, but nothing from Tomatos, beans, peas or peppers (not that they’d normally be showing this early).
Are they doomed (drowning)? Time to start over?
What does ‘some’ H2o2 mean for people that measure things? A Tablespoon? =)
When you say ‘lower’ concentration of nutrients to start, roughly where? (<EC 1600 I assume…using Texas VF).
Thanks for any help, first time trying one of these seed starter thingys… =)
Also an easy and small quantity start for nutrients, from Urban Farm, the makers of Texas Tomato Food (TTF). A single quart of this stuff can make 64gallons of full strength nutrient and greens don’t need full strength.
Note this general purpose Vegetable formula is probably better than TTF for greens. TTF promotes flowering which is great for tomatoes, but undesirable for greens.
https://amzn.to/33QxbMV
Good episode!
I’m having decent success growing lettuces and a few other things, Kratky style. I’ve been starting seeds in a Parks Bio Dome and then putting them in Kratky tubs when they get roots coming out the bottom of the Parks plugs (I’m using the small ones). I shove the plugs into 7/8″ holes in the Coroplast covers (like corrugated cardboard, but plastic). The taper of the plug keeps about 1/2″ sticking out.
I can quickly germinate a lot of plants in the Bio Dome so I haven’t done much starting directly in the Kratky. Some of the starts go to my aquaponics system as well.
I’ve been using Fox Farm Grow Big hydroponic liquid fertilizer (3-2-6) at a rate of 1.5 oz to 4 gallons of water. It’s $12/pint at the local hydro shop.
I need to talk more about the bio dome
Do you have a link to the scale you mentioned to weigh out the grams of Master Blend?
Damn I always forget something, sorry about that, here you go https://amzn.to/2Jnw6mw
An idea I had recently, soda/beer cans for a container, especially those new 19.2oz beer cans. Use a can opener to open up the top (this works better than you might think and leaves no ragged edges if you do it right) and it fits a 2″ net cup.
I’m going to try it with some smaller herbs like cilantro and basil.
Do you have a link to those 24″x48″ NSF racks? I think I remember you mentioning you’d leave the link in the show notes. My google-foo is lacking, I can’t seem to find a good source for them. I like the idea of using those and would rather buy once, cry once.
I got mine from Home Depot because I needed it ASAP for the MEN Fair. Lots of people sell them and remember the much cheaper 18inch racks will support the flood trays, I did it for aesthetics mostly.
OK thanks, I see which NSF rack you got now. I was looking for a stainless one, thinking “rustproof”, and those are like $800 everywhere I looked. I picked up a set of the Burrina grow lights via TSPAZ and I am going to give growing my greens a shot. I think I’ll start with the Mason jar Kratky method and move on from there.