Is anyone growing salad all year round in a gloomy spare room?
Seen these things with a light and an abundance of salad.
Do these things work and do the guzzle electricity?
Would be an ideal gift for Mrs Zip.
I heard a story (from a relative who knows these people) about a gang from a nearby town, going around with a FLIR camera, looking for heat signatures. Then booting the doors in and taking the crop - probably not salad, but the heat signature doesn't tell you that bit
I fancy one of these, they are low powered , about 10 watt, and generate **** all heat so nobodys kicking my door in for my basil stash.
I'd probably get a better light going to a specialist grow shop and getting a propagation light for less money, but the internet ones do look trendier on the windowsill and are hydroponic
yer i quite fancy one of the fancy modern style setups, bit decorative. Either for window sill or something that looks good in the lounge...as well as being useful... But... finding something not mentally expensive and enclosed... because cats...
Pfffft. Amateurs. What you want is all year round salad and herbs FRESH in your supermarket.
https://www.swegreen.se/sett-i-press
Salad eh... wink wink. You'll be asking about desk fans next, in winter....
Is anyone growing salad all year round in a gloomy spare room?
Seen these things with a light and an abundance of salad.
Do these things work and do the guzzle electricity?
Would be an ideal gift for Mrs Zip.
A surprising amount of salad is hardy. You can grow decent leaves pretty much year round of you have space outside for a cold frame.
Many years ago I was given a hydroponics set-up (excluding lamps) and used it in my greenhouse to grow tomatoes with some success, but it required testing and tweaking the growth fluid and I gave up after a couple of years. I got the growth chemicals from the local hydroponics shop and I was probably their only customer who wasn't growing weed. They were very helpful though, so worth seeing if there's one near you.
Do you get any sort of half-decent flavour out of hydroponic salad or veg? My impression is that hydroponic tomatoes, for instance, are red, but otherwise pretty unremarkable. Water and chemicals doesn't sound like a great way to be feeding yourself.
I'm accepting that stuff grown in soil in a field gets treated with assorted chemicals for various reasons too, and also extracts minerals from the chem compounds in soil, so it's admittedly a thin argument.
Don't you get your lights from A Porsche Cayenne and the power from a lamppost?
I grew medicinal herbs using NFT/Flood & Drain hydroponic methods 😉 ……. and occasionally grew various types of lettuce leaf, various sprouts and stuff in all tubs round the side, if there was space.
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I’ve seen the small self contained led units the size of a bedside cabinet that I guess you are thinking off but I have no experience of them, nor could really offer advice.
Do you get any sort of half-decent flavour out of hydroponic salad or veg?
My tomatoes tasted good, but there's lots of variaties so maybe some fare better than others in a hydroponics system.
I've built and used hydroponic systems in the past, the amount of leccy it uses really comes down to the lighting as the pumps use next to nothing. If you go with a 125w CFL, that will use hardly any electric compared to say a 600w Metal Halide bulb (which also generates a ton of heat that will need to be dealt with) You won't need anything really powerful for a single herb plant.
The lights degrade over time and need replacing periodically, just fyi
I have no experience with pre-built systems though - only ever made my own from scratch (they are very simple and require no expensive parts tbh...)
The main issue with hydroponics ime is that they require maintenance which soil-potted plants don't, you also need to balance the PH which again, not a thing with soil. So you need to grab a decent EC meter for figuring out the strength of your feed and a PH meter. You may also require some extra chems for sorting the PH out depending on what your local water is like.
For me, the downsides of the extra hassle were outweighed by the performance - I've never had flushes from my Chilli plants like that in soil!
Guys, Zippy just wants a fresh Coriander salad
It's alot of cost and effort to grow a bit of salad, but you'll grow the best basil you've ever tasted, lol!
I'd recomend a deep water culture system (DWC for short) - there are various types of hydrophonic system and this type is arguably the most simple to maintain:
Go to shop. Buy lettuce. End.
Do you get any sort of half-decent flavour out of hydroponic salad or veg? My impression is that hydroponic tomatoes, for instance, are red, but otherwise pretty unremarkable. Water and chemicals doesn't sound like a great way to be feeding yourself.
Well you need good stock to start with - a reason supermarket veg is often lacking in flavour is because they have different priorities - good shelf appeal - bright red tomatoes for example, but also long shelf life, so plants are selectivley bread for certain traits, and sometimes sacrifice others, such as flavour or vitamin content etc.
That aside, with hydro you have total control over PH and EC, and the specific nature of the plant feed.
All plant foods have an 'NPK' rating, that's the 3 main nutrients required, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and potassium, so the lable might read NPK 2/1.5/2.1 as a made up example - that's the ratio of those ingredients in the feed.
They will, if they are good quality, also have a list of 'secondary' and 'trace' nutrients, which aid plant growth, for example
"Secondary Macronutrients
Still needed in substantial quantities, but less than NPK:
Calcium (Ca): Builds cell walls and membranes
Magnesium (Mg): Central component of chlorophyll
Sulfur (S): Helps produce essential amino acids and vitamins
3. Micronutrients (Trace Elements)
Needed in tiny amounts but absolutely critical:
Iron (Fe): Essential for chlorophyll production
Manganese (Mn): Activates key metabolic processes
Zinc (Zn): Involved in hormone production and enzyme activity
Boron (B): Crucial for cell division and development
Copper (Cu): Activates enzymes and contributes to photosynthesis
Molybdenum (Mo): Needed for nitrogen utilization
In a well-formulated hydroponic nutrient solution, all essential elements must be present in the proper ratios. This balance is what distinguishes superior nutrient formulations from merely adequate ones."
So a good result is dependent on firstly having good quality genetics - seeds/seedlings, that are selectivley bread for flavour rather than to look appealing on the shelf in Tescos with a long shelf life to the detriment of more desireable traits.
Secondly by having a complete array of nutrients in the correct ratios for the particulartype of plant...
And thirdly at the correct strength for the plant - too much food will kill you , just as sure as none at all!
leafy greens will have different nutrient requirements to fruiting and flowering plants, etc..
It is possible to grow organic in hydro systems, too but that introduces *so many variables* it's really expert level stuff, it's an arcane art spoken about only in hushed tones by whirling dervishes.
Don't forget to drive round in your boggo car when 'collecting' supplies. Don't want to be attracting the police in your Aston.
True story. A mate of mine was the web site developer for a big Manchester Hydroponics company. He happened to be on the main premises when a 'customer' was in buying supplies - he said he drove round in his battered Fiesta rather than the Aston, so he didn't get pulled over.