Setting up an NFT Gro-Tank Pt 2- 05/02/08

Once I know the flow is perfect down the tray its time to cut out the planting holes in the corriboard cover. The corriboard prevents any light reaching your roots and can help all a bit of support for your plants. I am using 4 plants in the 604 and 1 plant in the 205i.

After cutting holes in the corriboard i cover the top of the tank with black and white plastic sheeting white side up. This helps reflect back any light and heat helping to keep your roots and nutrient solution from getting to warm.


To support my cucumber plants i use roller hooks which are a spool of string on a wheel attached to a support hook. The vines are trained up the string and when they grow to up the wheel more string is let out lowering the vine. This support hook is then moved along so the excess vine at the bottom rests on the corriboard. Using this technique one my cucumber plants last year was over 12.5 metres long. Another popular way to support plants on NFT systems is using pea and bean support netting which is stretched out horizontally on a frame above the plants so when they grow into it the are supported by the net.

Once the roller hooks are in place I tie the string to around the rockwool block. The positioning of the blocks on the tray is important, you want to stagger you plants so solution can flow down the middle of the tray and around all side of the block. You also need to position the blocks so that the solution can flow trough the grooves on the bottom.

Now I place the corribaord and black and white sheeting back on the tray and lower the plants into their pre cut holes. I cut the black and white in a x so the folds can be repositioned over the top of the block to prevent algae growth.




Now that the plants are in the system I add nutrient to the reservoir at an EC 0f 1.5 and a pH of 5.8. The pump is plugged in and will be let constantly running 24/7. Some grower put their NFT pumps on a timer so it comes on for 15mins and off for 15mins to half and hour. This is not the way NFT should be run but some people growing plants with more sensitive root systems or use larger blocks to propagate the plants find it helps.

The plant in the smaller 205i system is also getting irrigated 24/7 with the same pH and EC of the 604 system. These cucumber plants should settle in and start growing vigorously in the next few days. Hopefully I should be picking my first fruits in around 6 weeks time.