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.
In 11 days these cucumbers on the NFT Gro-Tank have more than doubled in height. They are well established onto the system are i have emptied the reservoir and replaced the nutrient solution with an increase in strength up to and EC 1.8. I think I'll be picking my first cucumber in about 25-30 days!
This picture of the roots shows how well they are extending from the rockwool block. Soon there will be a thick mat of roots all over the tray.
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.
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.
These cucumber plants are now just over 3 weeks old and are ready to go onto their final system which use the Nutrient Film Technique or NFT.
The most important thing about getting plants ready for any hydroponic system is that they are well established in their propagation block having loads of healthy white roots.
These are the Gro-tanks I will be using, the small one is the 205i and the other is a 604. They are made in UK by Nutriculture who make 5 different variations in size. The top tray is where the plants are placed and the reservoir underneath holds the nutrient solution. The 604 holds 60L and the 205i holds 20l. The idea behind NFT is that the plants on the top tray spread out their roots into a thin film of nutrient solution which is constantly flowing. The solution is recirculated from the reservoir, down the tray and back into reservoir at the other end. The roots eventually grow into a thick mat nourished by the nutrient solution and highly available oxygen all around them.
The NFT Gro-Tanks have one delivery tube where the nutrient solution is pumped onto the tray. To ensure even distribution of water on the tray capillary matting know as 'spreader mat' is rolled out. 1 layer is enough and a small over lap in the middle is fine. Once this has been laid out I fill the reservoir with water.
Once the tank is filled I submerse the pump and attach the delivery tube and turn it on. The pumps have an adjustable flow rate and need to be slowed down so the solution lands in the middle of the first diamond.
After a few mins all the spreader mat should be wet. If you find some dry spots then poke the spreader mat down into the channels to wick up the solution. If there is little or no solution flowing in any of the channels make sure the tank is on a level floor and the flow rate is right until the solution is reaching all parts of the tray.
If you flow rate is too high then you solution will puddle. This will cause the plants roots to get over watered which may cause them to be starved of oxygen. Too much flow will also cause the rockwool blocks to get completely saturated which will get you plants off to a poor start.
