 It's okay here My topic this evening is a hydroponics home is a certainly matter-common practice Those who are not familiar with the hydroponic culture I'd like to introduce just of what we do is there are four different types of a hydroponic culture One is the aeroponics aeroponics culture roots system is a In the air suspended. It's a dangling and just a nutrient solution is a Misted intermittently and that's usually for a smaller scale not really commercial application most of Hydroponic culture is a true hydroponic. It's a water culture, but the root system is a submerged in the water Water means water is a nutrient solution. Usually this is hobblin solution. Now. They use a modified hobblin solution hobblin solution is published in the way back in 1938 and We are still using it somewhat modified. So that's real hydroponic Culture what we like to talk about is top culture is kind of a one system of a hydroponic Culture nutrient film technique was developed in England now is a kind of nutrient film laid so that Small plants can cooperate into holes and kind of a gravity It's what solution circulated and now it's a modified system nutrient film technique and now it's a cropped king company as a producing goddess system. It's like a same system as a The film technique, but it's like a goddess system. That's what we're most people in the US of Production of a vegetable leafy vegetable. They use an NFT system last one substrate culture What about tall plants or tomatoes and eggplants and so on they have to be supported in the water culture would not work Well, so we use the inner medium just like a Pro light or sand or rock wool and that's what Is using with that This is a typically a NFT system US version of Nutrient film techniques. It is it is a closed system where a nutrient solution is Re-circulated and reused and it's continuous operation 24 hours seven days a week This is a very common system. You can find it Anyway, you visit hydroponic greenhouses Because of that we did a lot of Evaluation studies on vegetable crop one time We use about 64 different cultivars of a varieties of a lettuce and then these are some of the pictures that The results of pictures of those and we did the for over the several year period we have also Let us cut to an evaluation result. I think three plants represent one variety So we have lots of data for those people who are interested in Selecting right type of a cultivar for hydroponic NFT system, for example now This is the system used by hydro sun hydroponics in Greston, Minnesota Yes, you can see there's a gravity flow system. I wish I could have a pointer here that works But it's a kind of a new the gutter is a tilted to one side and then water flows and it's pumped up and Resaturated and that's good Then we have that Okay, this is a system that Larry's lettuce Henderson North Dakota This is a production occurs in the warehouse. There's an old sunlight natural sunlight So you can see the light. It's an LEP light Light emitting plasma light. It's very expensive. One unit is about twenty one hundred dollars Not about it's a good light as a full spec from light But it's cause we saw high. It is something like that. It's same system. Got a system. Now, we're so now about it's we Had a very bright student exchange student from France maybe 15 years ago Undergraduate student she took my classes every class. She took top student top grade and she wanted to do experiment and All ideas are to enrich vegetables with a micro in a nutrient Concentration so you're talking about here's she's setting up experiment for enhancing iron and calcium concentration in tissue so rather than like a fine calcium or iron pills Vegetables because the design of this book. So she the good we thought we thought there's a graph to show that as a concentration in the solution of a particular Micronutrient increases usually tissue concentration increases and then for doing that We needed some kind of control Some system that will allow to Supply certain concentration of a micronutrient in that case So we came up with the top culture system each tub is a trainer and replicated You're good. And then that's what we came up with. So nobody really actually top culture system there's a no terminology like that, but we just convenient it called up culture system and This is a what we had it's an iron in Richmond I wish I had a pointer working, but it's a on the left. They'll be controlled and as time go to the right, there'll be more Higher concentration of iron in the nutrient solution Concomitantly they respond to there to a certain extent next So this is a for example, this is the on the left on the right that's controlled Now the second is a some elevated iron concentration in solution and To the most to right Most right that'd be higher concentration of Iron you can see The staining of a rough system is the more brownish color and so on iron The answer to somebody who has a high iron concentration in the drinking water you'll experience or something like that So this with it. So usually the top culture system would utilize the just regular kitchen top and Then we thought we buy just a black Color one because the roots don't like to see the light So it was a good but these days is that time we use the black Tub, but you don't find that many these days. So we just buy White one. It's okay. So it's done as an advantage of a top culture We like to use a top culture system for hydroponic production home so this top culture is a Less expensive for insulation and operation cost and NFT We need a pumping system. All this is Clamp grows in top cultures. We notice all the time is a faster only about 20 days from seedling placement in the On the tray a major That's compared to about 27 days for NFT system So you're in 20 days as long as your seedlings are ready for two week old seedlings and then you can kind of System so every 20 days you can kind of get new Products and the hub system. So I thought that way that the third one is culture allows lettuce production anywhere and in small spaces like a basement of a Regular home as long as there's a light and then also because of small Small units we are dealing with you can schedule of a production Quantity of a production can be easily be adjusted according to how much you need for home use And that's an interest in market and you can budget kind of a year-round production and so on with that So this is the seedling lettuce seedlings grown about two weeks old on a rock wool slab and each cube has a one seedling and It's in each tray would have a 200 seedlings The cube will be one one by one by 1.5 inches so you can kind of a take this individual out and place anchor on top of a The starter from board you can see the tubs containing nutrient solution and you can Anchor that on top of it It's a right up the the seedlings are a little bit advanced, but it looks okay Sometimes we get free label Each year we get students about fifth grade students from elementary schools. This is elementary Washington elementary schools students they came in and Lincoln elementary schools and Last year we had a 150 students coming in and set the gate each by time passes it More students are interested and I asked what I asked how many of you really Like to eat vegetables surprisingly most of the students raised hand, you know, and some says why you are interested in hydroponics somebody some students go off No, they saw some information But NASA operation for space trips and the left to grow vegetables I Think of those young people. I'm sure they will be able to travel to outer space. You know, they're they're like This is a very common variety got started Rex RZ for hydroponic culture. It is a bit letters and it's a very good growth very sturdy and as a least amount of a tipper and so on so it's We included this one as this one is one of the top varieties for performance now for home Production of using top culture system again use the black tabs Which is easily you cannot get that one was white one was quite well This is not much different. You can see lower right corner star inform board About one inch deep stick and it's a cut with a razor blade It's kind of a box cutter and it's kind of a little bit It kind of needed some practice and I think that we're cutting several walls that you become expert most students working in the There they have expert on that in a cut and it was slanted in would cut You know and then you can adjust number of the holes we use a nine hole top But if you grow spinach, you'll be probably you can get double the size and some number of a hole upper right corner We have a A rating pump this but the purchase from Walmart is it $12 it has two Can each be connected to actually branch in and afford top so one twelve dollar Pump can satisfy about eight cups. It's very easy You don't need a lot of it air the whirlpool is it's a very strong You know, there's just a gentle bubble production and you're gonna have a air bubbles They are air stones and then plastic Tubing and you will see in this picture as the air bubbling on the right side is a More nutrient solution containing about 150 ppm nitrogen concentration used with 2020 24 and the left is a little lower than that. It's just a bubbling And now this one is more It's some of you probably just listen and don't pay much attention but this is what university people use to say balance the nutrient ions according to Water analysis, you know, you send your water samples to the extension Services, you know your NDSU soil testing lab and you will get I wish I had a pointer but The blue letters second line as a in water Say top is on the calcium and let's go to magnesium, for example, then actually magnesium and calcium potassium and Ammonium those are all Care ions or positively charged ions. That's a left to side Right side. There'll be nitrate sulfate and phosphate a bit negatively charged Anions so usually it's the equal basis total and ironing Millicubulant is the same as a total cationic Child so you it always comes equal if you can check that on and if you just any Deviation that sort made the source testing lab made a mistake So you get that you will see for example, let's go to say magnesium We need a two milli cobalt and water has 1.2 milli cobalt And so you have to add 1.8 milli cobalt any by way of a go down a little bit more Magnesium nitrate it provides one part cationic magnesium go to the right And one part anionic Nitrate one to one reason so you kind of a budget out your balance and then we will Give this I mean You have a water testing result just to send the Tom tell or myself and I go can we can go over this and we can just describe exactly those are for people Professional growth, so I have to work with them. We have a lot of them with different states and so on and so now That's a little bit complicated, but depending on you can see one more. I look at it on a far second column on the right That's a calcium carbonate That is a 2.1. That is the making of plant water of the alkaline condition You have to neutralize with the same milli cobalt and all Far left the second column on the left. We are doing but possibly most of us the People are watching this program Probably will not have that because they don't have to do that so over the next slide And so you can go ahead and you contact us and then Extension service will be if they cannot solve and they will forward that information to me This picture shows 2020 general purpose of fertilizer. It is a soluble fertilizer It contains a 20% Elemental nitrogen 20% 3205 is a oxide form of phosphorus 20% Potash is a K2 or oxide form of party So since this is a 20% fertilizer to make up on the right side to make a 200 BPM nitrogen Concentration, which is a very common fertilizer for Overall use for flowers and vegetables. It works out very well 200 BPM is 200 milligram per liter. That's a one for 100% fertilizer since this is a 20% fertilizer you have to add five times of that. That means five times a 200 milligram That is a one gram per liter. So then it's a if you are going to use one gallon I guess a mistake in it my typing last night was a kind of I was sleepy when I was typing on that two 3.8 gram has to be changed to kilogram or leader. Okay, it's a one gallon So if you have a five gallon bucket, it's be 19 grams. You just use a 19 Grams of that fertilizer. I just use about two teaspoons. That's good So we do rather than lose. We use this is a 20% 200 BPM fertilizer solution look like today add a color in here because I think at the beginning somebody Said that people drink water and they can tell with the fertilizer water regular water That's why they added a blue color in here. So anyway, that color is about 200 BPM. That's very healthy root system Now not only neutral so Go back to that fertilizer 2020 fertilizer Most of the cases you are going to have a very good Culture now it may not be balanced. It's just like it. So it's like a human being we Go out and eat some junk food and something you don't go to Dietition and get really precisely what amount of night, you know protein carbohydrate you have to take and so you do that You can it's a bit super but we don't you know, I don't do that So we just go you jump food or you know, just usually plants adjust themselves So I think unless there's extreme cases very low Or high concentration of salt or something we have to do some adjustments If you have any problem with the dish just call me or come and I think there will be We can help you right away, you know, we have according to water analysis now Plants need life for photosynthesis. They have to assimilate a carbon dioxide in the air into carbohydrate is the first step of plant growth here Is we are lucky now the LED technology came on and you can buy very bright light boxes and the left showing this top one is a 4 by 8 p LED Tubing is a actually LED chips are placed inside a tube and it's very bright very nice but I bought this one left to right left to lower point there two feet by four feet. That's a good first of my Basement is a laundry. Oh my god. It works out very well on the right side. There'll be Spotlights available. We have a spotlight for 10,000 lumens. It's very bright. I use that one for my garage in the more in the middle of an eye We'll go to garage. It's like a you know, just so Just a middle middle, you know, daylight, you know, and so I use that one but it's a but problem is that light comes emitted to the laterally to Horizontally rather than pointing down. So you have to put a hat on it, you know reflect or somebody design. I'm going to call Manufacturing company they come up with the kind of will make it as a more umbrella and the LED light chips are facing down That would be really not down when it's a Flood like LED light This is the brightest possible that I bought from home people You have to put them very close to light You know, so there's a limitations and does something like that, you know, think about that This is my laundry room basement. I turned off light because it's so bright and To take the Jai grow Microgreens, you know, that's good. Yeah, they grow this is microgreen see Somebody has to just why we get the black strips running Horizontally, I thought my cell phone was not good. So I went there got a new phone same thing So it's a kind of they detect something human. I cannot detect but Camera the cell phone camera detect. I have to solve that problem. Otherwise, all of these trick, you know What the pictures underneath? but this is sometimes I wanted to make Microgreens very grow grow really fast. I didn't make a ton of you know, I just a kid 24-hour day lighting, you know plant response. So it's not plants need to go to sleep too Just like a human being so we need so this will be typically 16 hour day eight hour night It's just like a human being, you know, you work 16 hours or play 16 hours and then Eight hours sleep and night that works very well for plants. Yeah, so you can kind of a see so it's they started to regrain You know, that's kind of a not you know This is a here is Here Andrew is here next to me and he came and with the band was a measuring light intensity at the plant level under two by four LED light and you can see the way way down the deeper There's a ceiling under but I think those plants about ten days old. So This was a light intensity 200 micromole is quite good 200 micromole per square meter per second that's You can translate that into locks To you multiply that factor by 30 then about 10,000 locks your bright day you go out of the 15,000 to 20,000 locks So actually, it's like a bright day out goes, you know, it's not to be peak of a Light intensity summertime, but this is very good. So you can lower the light Actually, this light allows for 200 Micromole to all the way to about 700 micromole level. Now tomatoes will require twice as a micro 400 450 micromole so you If you're going to grow tomato, you have to grow tomato very close or more brighter, right? I think you can put more LED chips. So this is a where About 10 day old. I brought those I harvested those Plants and I brought you know, you cannot see it but later on or can show this and then I wish it It was a I thought it's a live audience that I can give out this Harvest is in letters. You will see little later. This is good, you know Again, you have to check on bubble to make sure water level goes down. You have to return it to replenish So sometimes if plants are big, you have to maybe do it You know in two or three days you have to replete not we've said to kind of add more make sure bubbles are working and This is a one of my bedrooms and Corner I put the spotlight there. No problem. It's good. So you have to kind of lower the The spotlight in this so we need a better Highlight intensity spotlighting LED light system, you know now this will be my dining area by dining table area and we put those Letters in here. Yes, then it'll be cruel. Well, again, actually normally I take the spotlight down very close like a one foot Oh, you know a bowl and it's very well. You know, so this is a this Benjamin is checking on whether rubber bubbles is working or not So I think they are doing special projects and then they will write on it They knew they are working on a boron deficiency and toxicity symptoms. They want, you know, very It's like excellent students in a very interested in experience Experiments like that. So you will see on top the way down there. They'd be okay. There's a Orchid grown hydroponically hydroponic solutions. So this is the case, you know, hydroponic Orchids that you wanted to see will rock very thick. They're green photos synthesizing. So we use a clear glass and hydroponic solution that dips about One quarter of the root value most places the exposed to air that would be very good So good quality orchids can be maintained a drone. Actually, you can reap alone. It's a very good system there Now this is the four varieties. We grew I harvest those and I brought here Sorry, you cannot see them though. And then this is a four varieties. We had a black city since I'm very fast drawing Butterhead is a good one for a prized head of Paris Island. It's very sweet romaine type of left And so if you have extra plans, you can sell maybe local Stores and sound and that'd be nice. You can pick what the excess vegetable take them there talk to and then Maybe you can brag about you have a green thumb. So now with a summary high quality Leapy green vegetables like a letter can be grown home for family consumption as well as the local market Top cultures is a may allow different uses of a small space because efficient use of a small spaces for leafy greens as long as sufficient light intensity is provided Three, I think it's a you need more improvement in the LED light lights and this is a manufacturer's Responsibility with that, I think I like to this one of mostly fun It is funded by specialty crop block land the Minnesota by North Dakota State Agriculture Department, and there's some individuals listed who will help this product Thank you and any questions you want? How about is should we show some of these real life plants? We're gonna show some real life plants here This In the audience is seeing the corner picture to the corner. That's that's okay. This is the 10 days old At the placement so probably about seven days later. We can have it in a fully grown one and then and also I thought I thought this was a lie, but so I brought this one is maybe Somebody Okay, that's one is a younger one, but we let the waited for longer. So let's be okay This will it'll take about 15 days or so Yeah, the rock wall shoes How about we go with some questions here? How about that can you use miracle grow fertilizer in a high growth? Yes. Yes, rather than 2020. Yes Is there something special about the 2020 not really it's a very common. It's just a Overall usage. It's a very common for which can buy Very soluble. So 2020 people ask where you can purchase it. There's a lot of garden centers web 2020 or you can buy it online of course all like the commercial fertilizer Yeah, most of them, but you just go ahead and use it whatever portalized you can buy about 20% portalized Oh, it's it there is, you know ending on 2020 is just a general purpose you for leafy Greens like this one is like the more natural. That's not that the phosphorus is some more Fruit producing vegetables and so on. So you just start out and you can use the other portalized and you run into problem just to Call us And it was about two teaspoons of fertilizer per gallon. No, not gallon of water one this this is this is the 12 12 oz 12 quarts and then it's about 11 Leader, but you can you use a little less than that. So it would be I consider as a 10 10 liter so 10 gram 10 gram is just a teaspoon but Level spoon to two levels level teaspoon two levels teaspoon of a 2020 It would be fine for anything is a 2020 20 first one is important nitrogen concentration So if you have a 20% and then if you have a 10% one you may have to add more So it sounds like we need to make a Pamphlet on this how to do this because this looks you know, what's that can you estimate? What's the cost? Like how much is it cost to make a tub of that less? Is it like 20 bucks or Is this just a game or is this kind of is this economical economically Cool one tub is that once you invest that the aeration system it'll last for $40 to start $40 to get started. But once you're going then it's minuscule to keep going and really not Even $40 to get started is is not significant. That sounds very yeah, why don't you come in here? This is a Andrew Here's the One of the best students he's taking my classes now And Andrew can answer something About uh, Andrew, can I grow herbs in this tub? Of course, I do it my dorm you're doing your dorm. Wow. You guys are really In your bedrooms, it's in your dorms while you live this stuff um And we talked about the medium for the seedlings which rock wool and you just plant the seeds in uh There's a hole in the rock wool that you need to come in cubes It comes in cubes and they already have a hole in them and just put the seed in there and Saturate the rock wool and you just leave that in a human place like a tray until the seeds sprout Then you transfer them to the water So what happened is that we take advantage of it's continuously growing from the top and you can empty and do it We probably have to have some Look at seedling growing tub then you can use the transfer continually so then you can seedling tub and uh, and then Later later production and also how often you have to clean the tubs Sometimes you see green algae development. You probably have to dump And then we you need to freshly prepare Use a solution uh clean mold. Yeah, yes, and uh, can you grow it can use a tub system outside? They're excited Beautiful light outside It'll probably grow faster or be a bug. Is there a taste difference with hydroponic grown Products and does that extra iron in? Uh extra flavor we haven't really taste because of our greenhouse grown ones when we did the experiment Although our unit that never we don't use a pesticide anything like that But university regulation will not uh, not really to eat something tasting It's uh, we don't You know do that so home use yeah home grown. Yes, but we haven't done Oh home hydroponics INX there it's a university We we do tissue analysis, but not taste. Are you using tap water? Yes And uh, every time you add water to the tub. Do you add more fertilizer along with it? You have to yeah But it's better to prepare fertilizer and say new top and make the 10 liters and use a pour in that one That's the easy to Um, how about how do you feel about using net cups in the styrofoam? Are they? That's what I do Like dorm but usually that's for larger plants these small plants the styrofoam Board you show them in the holes it works fine And when you harvest you just pull out the plant or do you actually cut the we cut them off And then it regrows Oh, no, no, that's it. Yeah on time hard for the lettuce. You don't want to eat the roots probably. Yeah um What are the air bubble stones? I'm not sure about with that question Uh, you just get them from the fish section at Walmart. They're for aerating aquariums Okay, do we bring that one? Yeah, it should okay. We'll go short. Uh, there's just rapid fire questions here. Uh There's a chute explain here's air bubbles All those are the two kinds out. Okay. Let's keep going here. Uh Moving into the question is rock wool for the seedlings. How do you start the seeds? You just plant them in the rock Yeah, each rock will tube have a one whole tube. Yeah, tube, but you can purchase from a greenhouse supplier. Yes, right? Yep There's just this tasty And one grower likes using coconut coir. Oh, yeah, same same. What's it rock or rather than, you know, coconut? Or you can use it Um We we've got to get down that question like they say how much miracle grow miracle grow is a Is usually like about uh, uh, what 24 8 16? It's about this about same thing. Yeah, but the same number is the critical one. Yeah, pretty hard to burn the nitrogen nitrogen So similar to the 2020 How how's your energy bill man? Is there is it going that's led light led light is uh, they said it's about very uh Uh Energy efficient. So so I think that somebody says it's been not cheap, you know half or quarter of a fluorescent lamp And it's much more efficient than incandescent Of course, and uh incandescent. Would you recommend an led light over the grow lights? I don't know grow light is made of What light but now it may come with the led lights But I think what I like to do is a more larger, you know, kind of a spotlight I wanted to The home depot. I mean, uh, don't sell lighting testing. It's bright enough So I like to go to border state electorate uh And see whether they have an industrial light, you know for the uh, Bright light you can hung you know quite high hang that and then Uh grow plants underneath that I did not need let's get a little lighter talking about can you use water from a softener? no water softening adds sodium in it actually it's aggravating it's adding more uh salts into it you feel smooth, you know, because kind of a Whatever magnesium replacement sodium and it's not not that it's a so salinity level for salt levels We go up. So if you have a palm water softener Probably I recommend not to use that for growing plants Okay, how about what size of pump? Here for an aquarium aquarium very very interesting you can buy bulk because Probably less than ten dollars, but I go to yeah, it's a twelve dollars. It's very inexpensive And you can you can grow almost any or any leafy herb. No, it's just a plant and there's nothing special about it. Um What else here? Oh, they want somebody wants to come to campus and tour your hydroponic. Oh wonderful. Okay, that's good You're welcome to do the doctor for that Uh, how about well water that contains iron? Probably toward the tribe iron actually It was iron toxicity symptoms in plants. We did some iron iron Increasing usually toxicity symptoms don't occur Okay, so at a higher elevated level. So it should be okay. So unsightly for human consumption it's be maybe for plants maybe Probably okay What temperature You're concerned about temperature and so on If you are comfortable Plants are comfortable. They do well. So whatever it is a 70 degree Fahrenheit day Usually night temperatures 10 degrees to lower 60 degrees. So what we do, you know, we in a home Environment how about can you reuse the styrofoam tops? Yes, if you clean and then use the soapy water, then yes, we can reuse them Continually, I think uh, I think we got Everything covered. It's called a rock wool W-o-o-l That's rock and roll Grow Dan supplies that grow that grow Dan. Let's uh produce them from Denmark They don't have a stone. So they import from other Scandinavian countries and then they they Melt rock and it's just like a botanic rock. This is the rock wool fiber first time was invented Just in Hawaii they're taking an afternoon nap They have to wake up and they get a cobwebs from their face and I put together that that's that started rock wool so now we just they Melt rock. There's a u.s production sisquana company, but I think a growth and rock wool is very common Okay, so I would just say if anybody wants detailed information. We got a good introduction to it tonight and I have someone mentioned that rock. Well, can we bought as sheets from the hardware store? And that hardware should regularly went to order through growth and company or uh, many holy cultural supply companies Anyhow, we got a good introduction tonight. We want to stay on time and get everybody home on a decent hour and Um, let's just say we thank you chiwan. You're welcome. Great. Thank you for listening And wait if you leave anybody's in The further questions I can talk they can contact chiwan or myself and we'll get the detailed information for you Okay, thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. And uh, I just want to quickly. I saw a couple questions from the previous Uh session that we needed to answer One was kind of can I uh graph? A weak plant onto a vigorous rootstock will that help? Invigorate my weak plant 810 and that's more of the reasons why Grafting is done to invigorate, uh, of course the upper portion I think uh, we've got everything else Uh, oh can you use organic waste? Uh, that you're composting from uh, you put it in your cupboard in the sealed container Can you add that to your compost or that's just organic way and sure let me compost spend no worries. Okay, we're gonna take