This hydroponic system is a low pressure recirculating drip system and is named the 'Wilma'. This is made my Nutriculture and comes in 5 sizes from 4 pots to 20 pots. This one is the most popular amongst growers, the Wilma 8 pots system. This system has a reservoir as the base on which the tray is placed to support the 8 pots. A submersible pump (maxijet 1000) sits in the reservoir which is attached to a supply pipe with one dripper branching off to each pot. The nutrient solution is pumped from the reservoir, through the drippers and through growing medium in the pot finally returning back to the reservoir. I have previously used this recirculating drip system to grow herbs, potatoes, tomatoes and chillies but this time I'm using if for a variety of cabbage called 'Green Chancellor'.
This system is extremely easy to set up, all you do is place the tray on the reservoir, position the square pots in place and connect the drippers to the supply line, this only takes few minutes. With the Wilma system you have a choice of growing mediums, i am going to use coco coir and perlite mixed at 80% coco to 20% perlite.
The square pots for the 8 pots system hold 11L of growing medium. I place 2 strips of spreader mat in the bottom of the pot to cover the large holes to stop the growing media from falling into the tank while still allowing water to flow freely. I then add around an inch of clay pebbles in the bottom to help get good drainage and top up the rest of the pot with my mix of coco and perlite.
As with every hydroponic system i always ensure the my plants are very well established before transplanting them. You can see the roots of this cabbage plant are abundant and healthy. After the plants are potted into their larger pots i water them in by hand using Canna's Coco 2 part A+B nutrient at an EC of 1.6 with a pH of 5.8, i also add Vita-Link 'Bio-Plus' which is a fantastic rooting stimulator. Coco coir and perlite are both inert growing mediums so need to be watered with nutrient solution straight away.
Now they are watered in i will water again in 3 or 4 days by hand. I always water enough so a little run-off leaves the pot into the tank. I'll hand water the plants for 2-3 weeks until they need to be watered everyday at which point I'll fill up the reservoir beneath and used the pump to irrigate the plants once a day using a timer. Too much water straight after transplanting can get them off t a poor start so i make sure they are well established in their pots before feeding everyday. This variety of cabbage can get quite big, only time will tell.
This hydroponic system is a low pressure recirculating drip system and is named the 'Wilma'. This is made my Nutriculture and comes in 5 sizes from 4 pots to 20 pots. This one is the most popular amongst growers, the Wilma 8 pots system. This system has a reservoir as the base on which the tray is placed to support the 8 pots. A submersible pump (maxijet 1000) sits in the reservoir which is attached to a supply pipe with one dripper branching off to each pot. The nutrient solution is pumped from the reservoir, through the drippers and through growing medium in the pot finally returning back to the reservoir. I have previously used this recirculating drip system to grow herbs, potatoes, tomatoes and chillies but this time I'm using if for a variety of cabbage called 'Green Chancellor'.
This system is extremely easy to set up, all you do is place the tray on the reservoir, position the square pots in place and connect the drippers to the supply line, this only takes few minutes. With the Wilma system you have a choice of growing mediums, i am going to use coco coir and perlite mixed at 80% coco to 20% perlite.
The square pots for the 8 pots system hold 11L of growing medium. I place 2 strips of spreader mat in the bottom of the pot to cover the large holes to stop the growing media from falling into the tank while still allowing water to flow freely. I then add around an inch of clay pebbles in the bottom to help get good drainage and top up the rest of the pot with my mix of coco and perlite.
As with every hydroponic system i always ensure the my plants are very well established before transplanting them. You can see the roots of this cabbage plant are abundant and healthy. After the plants are potted into their larger pots i water them in by hand using Canna's Coco 2 part A+B nutrient at an EC of 1.6 with a pH of 5.8, i also add Vita-Link 'Bio-Plus' which is a fantastic rooting stimulator. Coco coir and perlite are both inert growing mediums so need to be watered with nutrient solution straight away.
Now they are watered in i will water again in 3 or 4 days by hand. I always water enough so a little run-off leaves the pot into the tank. I'll hand water the plants for 2-3 weeks until they need to be watered everyday at which point I'll fill up the reservoir beneath and used the pump to irrigate the plants once a day using a timer. Too much water straight after transplanting can get them off t a poor start so i make sure they are well established in their pots before feeding everyday. This variety of cabbage can get quite big, only time will tell.
Good work. Thank you for the nice explanation. It will help us starters a lot.
ReplyDelete--GJM