The secret to success with any hydroponic system is getting the nutrient levels just right.

This is largely why most commercial hydroponics growers tend to specialise in one or two particular plant varieties; they can adjust their nutrient mix to suit that one particular plant.

We have made life a lot easier for the home gardener by finding a great all round mix which works for just about everything, by just adjusting the strength. Naturally, our customers get access to this knowledge.

The other most important factor is choosing the right plants for the climate and season, as our 'naked' system is primarily designed for outdoors -although there is absolutely no reason why you couldn't put our planters in a glass house, or even inside under lights.

After several years of trials, we have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't; but we are still learning, and still experimenting. One thing we have learnt is that  too much nutrient is often worse than not enough; not only does less nutrient cost less, but you don't really have to panic if you're going away for a weekend. Even when your heavy feeders are coming into full fruit, less nutrient fortnightly will just slow them down; it generally won't kill them, provided of course they don't run out of water altogether.

Too much nutrient, on the other hand, does appear to be toxic.

Capsicums and Chilli's I've discovered, are particularly susceptible to over feeding. Although they don't actually die, they just look ridiculous. These are photo's of capsicums we've treated like tomatoes.

It seemed reasonable to me to group all 'fruiting vegetables' together; certainly tomatoes, cucumbers and eggplants go well together.

Clearly, I was wrong -at least at certain times of the year. In our climate zone, tomatoes appear to have a longer growing  season than Capsicums.

Trying to grow veggies in the wrong season has the same effect as overfeeding. The plant tends to 'bolt'; go to seed or fruit while still immature.

This is my idea of what a Capsicum should look like.

Unlike the first 2 photo's, it was really challenging to show the fruit, the plant was so bushy. Note the red fruit at the bottom; it won't be there for much longer.

In terms of dosage, the first 2 capsicums went on to 10ml of Optimum Grow a week fairly early, and went to fruit almost immediately. The last capsicum has only ever received 10ml a fortnight, and secretly I think we may have missed a couple of changes too.

Once it was nice and leafy, we changed the nutrient to 10ml of 'Optimum Bloom', to encourage more fruit. The results were not compelling.

This one stayed on 15ml of Optimum Grow, but I suspect would have done better upright. It just didn't seem happy to us, hanging down.

As for general feeding, this is a planter on just 5ml of Optimum Grow for a fortnight.

By the way, all photo's on this website should be “clickable”, for a closer view. If you find any you can't click on, please let us know. We have placed mint in the extreme left, furthest away from the filler hole, as it will be permanent. (Revision! We do NOT recommend this any more! We suggest you place mint in the hole closest to the large filler hole. Then you can reef the mongrel stuff out, when it -inevitably- starts to take over.)  All the others could be transplanted, if necessary.

These tomatoes have just been promoted to what I would call a 'lazy 10' ml; ie they could be replenished every week, but I wouldn't lose any sleep if I forgot.

This planter is also on (a very strict weekly) 10ml, but on this day it's due to be upgraded to 15ml. It won't do the lettuce any good, but it's about to bolt anyway. Dianthus are great value by the way; they flower for months and take up little room.

This is the time to move tomatoes up to 15ml a week, when they start to flower. It doesn't hurt to prune your tomatoes fairly strictly; remember it's fruit you're after, not a big mass of leaves. If you can trim the growth tips about 150ml (6”) long, you can pop them straight back into a planter -with only 5ml nutrient, or less- and keep your best plants going pretty much forever. I'll show you how I do cuttings a bit later on.

Tomatoes, basil, mint of course all strike very easily, as do a number of flowering plants and trees. In fact, it was taking cuttings of Hibiscus which started me on the Naked Hydroponic road.

And finally we come to the 20ml weekly maximum tomato plant. This to my mind is the perfect hydroponic tomato bush, heaps of fruit on a nice compact vine.

All these planters are in varying degrees of shade.

A northerly aspect is generally ideal, as you really want more sun in winter, and shade in the hottest days of summer, if possible.
Too much sun in the hottest months can lead to 'blossom end rot'; bad fruit on an otherwise healthy plant is quite disheartening.

I hope you find these notes on my methodology helpful, but please don't ever take anything I say as inarguable gospel; you need to assess your own situation, and make your own decisions. I'm still learnin', and as I've said, I was a bloody awful gardener to start with.

But these days, I do manage to keep the weeds in check...

P.S. (or Piss...)

About my lovely 'perfect hydroponic tomato bush'...

Pride do Goeth Before a Fall. I have stressed on a number of occasions not to trust the plastic plant ladders with your tomato vines. This was a real 'Oh Bugger!' moment.

Naturally we are more than happy to share full details of our experiments and experience (good and bad) with our customers in our members only section. Not only videos of how we do things, but also some great discounts on nutrients for Australian customers.

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Naked Hydroponics really is hydroponics stripped down to the bare naked essentials. It is a totally passive system, using no water pumps or air pumps, or growing medium. It is the roots that are naked, not -necessarily- the gardener. Our goal has been to make our 'naked' hydroponic system as simple, easy and most cost effective as we could. We did this by eliminating most of the hardware other systems regard as essential; pumps, reservoirs, growing medium...

To really push the analogy, you could say the roots are skinny dipping in the nutrient solution...

In essence, the difference between our approach and more 'conventional' methods, lies in the treatment of roots. The prevailing wisdom is that roots need water, nutrients and air (oxygen).

Fair enough.

Over the last few decades, however, it appears the 'experts' have fallen into a paradigm, believing that every part of every root must have access to water, nutrients and air. This means a lot of time, effort and equipment has gone into: flooding and draining the whole root system, or spraying the nutrient and oxygen rich water onto the whole root system, or oxygenating the nutrient rich water for the whole root system...

What we have successfully demonstrated is that some roots, or parts of all the roots, can be fully immersed in water, so long as other roots -or parts of roots- are exposed to the air.

That's it.

It can't be claimed that the naked system is ideal for all plant species; many plants, like carnations for instance,  don't appear like having their 'feet' wet.

A "Naked" carrot

And then there are some plants, like carrots, which really shouldn't be grown in this system, even though it is possible...

What's more remarkable is just how many common and popular plants can be grown this easily; with one proviso. Some plants simply need more nutrient than others.

Lettuce, leafy vegetables, herbs  and most flowering plants are very economical to grow.  10ml  of each part of "Optimum Grow" is sufficient, and only has to be changed fortnightly.

Tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and zucchini on the other hand are very heavy feeders which require much more. We recommend starting all seedlings at 5ml for the first week or two, then building up each week, from 5 to 10 to 15 to a maximum of 20 ml.

The best solution is to have at least 2 planters; one for light feeders, and one for heavy feeders. You can then use the discarded nutrient from your heavy feeders, to supply your light feeders. If you had 3 planters, you could use the discarded nutrient from your light feeders a third time, for cuttings and seedlings...

Always keep a close eye on the leaves. If the leaves look dry and dead around the edges, the nutrient levels are too high. If the leaves are pale, you may need to up the dosage. Ultimately, the amount of nutrient depends on the amount of sunlight. The more sun, the faster plants grow. The faster they grow, the more they feed.

lettuce overfed

You can grow lettuce with tomatoes, but only at the beginning when the tomatoes are small and don't require the full nutrient concentration. At 4ml/litre  you will end up with burnt lettuce. Much better to have 2 planters, and give the plants the appropriate nutrient levels. Click on the photo to see what fertiliser burn looks like.

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Companies ‘too big to fail’ rushed out and got bigger. Governments trying to borrow their way out of debt, without spending money on infrastructure, or money making ventures which would pay back the debt.

How long before they ‘allow’ us to “eat cake”?

Here’s another very important article from ECB.

The people out there that believe
that the U.S. economy is experiencing a permanent recovery and that
very bright days are ahead for us should have their heads
examined.  Unfortunately, what we are going through right now is
simply just a period of “hopetimism” between two financial
crashes.  Things may seem relatively stable right now, but it
won’t last long.  The truth is that the financial crisis of 2008
was just a warm up act for the economic horror show that is
coming.  Nothing really got fixed after the crash of 2008.
We are living in the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world,
and it has gotten even bigger since then.  The “too big to fail”
banks are larger now than they have ever been.  Americans continue
to run up credit card balances like there is no tomorrow.  Tens of
thousands of manufacturing facilities and millions of jobs continue to
leave the country.  We continue to consume far more than we
produce and we continue to become poorer as a nation.  None of the
problems that caused the crisis of 2008 have been solved and we are
even weaker financially than we were back then.  So why in the
world are so many people so optimistic about the economy right now?

Just take a look at the chart posted below.  It shows the
growth of total debt in the United States.  During the financial
crisis of 2008 there was a little “hiccup”, but the truth is that not
much deleveraging really took place at all.  And since the
recession “ended”, total credit market debt has gone on to even greater
heights….

So what does this mean for the future?

Well, if a small “hiccup” in the debt bubble caused so much chaos
back in 2008, what is going to happen when this debt bubble finally
bursts?

Read the rest of this article at the Economic Collapse Blog

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By Mac Slavo, www.SHTFplan.co

Well known economist, trend forecaster and Gloom, Boom
and Doom Report publisher Dr. Marc Faber
joined some of the world’s leading investment minds at the Barron’s
2012 Roundtable to discuss what’s in store for 2012 and beyond with
respect to the economy, inflation, political stability and a host of
other issues.

As is generally the case, Dr. Faber doesn’t mince words and warns
that, despite what happens in the near term, the end game is global
conflict.

Excerpted from Barron’s
2012 Roundtable via SGT Report

Marc Faber: On another optimistic note, World War
III will occur in the next five years. That means the Middle East will
blow up. New regimes there will be less Western-friendly. The West has
also figured out it can’t contain China, which is rising rapidly and
will have more military and naval power in Southeast Asia. The only way
for the West to contain China is to control the oil tap in the Middle
East.

Bill Gross (Founder, Pimco): How does your World
War III hypothesis affect the financial markets? Is it positive for
stocks?

Marc Faber: It is very positive for stocks and
negative for bonds, because debt will grow dramatically. There will be
massive monetization of debt. When the U.S. entered World War II total
credit equaled 140% of GDP, and there were no unfunded liabilities. Now
total credit-market debt is 380% of GDP, and unfunded liabilities make
that 800%.

Brian Rogers (Chairman, T. Rowe Price): How is
World War III good for stocks?

Felix Zulauf (Zulauf Asset Management): Unused
capacity in an economy can be directed to the defense and war industry.
That will be paid for by new government debt, and that keeps the
economy growing.

Scott Black (President, Delphi): Marc, if Israel
strikes Iran’s nuclear facilities, they will use air power. They aren’t
going to commit ground troops. It won’t be the kind of conflagration
you’re thinking.

Bill Gross: War takes place today in cyberspace
and in terrorist space. Whether or not there will be a land war isn’t
the question.

Dr. Faber has also expressed his views on prior occasions,
suggesting that World War III is an inevitable outcome when nations
begin to default on trillions of dollars worth of debt (whether by
refusing to pay or simply easing their monetary supply).

In August
of 2010 Faber urged his subscribers to begin making preparations
for worst case scenarios:

In his latest GBD Report, Faber again advises those with the means
to do it, to leave urban areas and seek safety in rural, country areas,
preferably farms, and to be prepared to defend that land in the event
the worst happens:

Faber has an interesting suggestion for investors if the
plunge comes to pass.

With tongue apparently in cheek, he says buy a farm you can
tend to yourself way out in the boondocks. And protect it with high
voltage fences, barbed wire, booby traps, military weapons and
Dobermans.

While several members of the Roundtable disagree with the idea that
a conventional global war is out of the question, suggesting instead
that conflicts will be dealt with through air superiority and in
cyberspace (in itself a potentially catastrophic battlefield for modern
civilization), they are ignoring the real possibility that an attack on
Iran, or even a rogue attack against Europe or the United States, could
escalate to such a level that China
or Russia
would have no choice but to get involved.

While hard to believe, we’ve seen it before. Twice just in the last
century.

Not many people would have believed it prior to 1914 either. But
within just a few short months of the assassination of Archduke
Ferdinand in late June of that year, millions were dead and the Western
front had extended hundreds of miles across Europe to the North Sea.

Events played out with similar velocity in World War II when Adolf
Hitler’s aptly named Blitzkrieg (Lightning War) overtook entire nations
in a matter of days.

It only takes one country, one sociopathic leader with his finger on
the button, to get the ball rolling. Then there is no stopping it.

Author: Mac Slavo

Date: January 17th, 2012
Website: www.SHTFplan.com

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Don’t sit around the house . . . Get out and enjoy nature! . .. never mind, let’s just go back inside. . .

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Just letting everyone know I’ve started a new section: “Just for a laugh” (see the menu at the very top of the page).

I’m posting the best of the best funny emails that get sent to me. Some of them aren’t literally funny, but they are all amazing in one way or another. They don’t have anything to do with hydroponics, but what the hell. We’re all friends here, right?

If you get crazy emails sent to you, why not share them with us? contact pete@nakedhydronics.com

For the full list of funny, crazy, amazing emails, go to Avasay.com

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Since it is a basic, stripped down system, I've called it “Naked” hydroponics.

The reason I believe such a system is important is because current and recent events have convinced me that the world is on the brink of not just another major financial crisis, but also a major social upheaval, which will make household and local community self sufficiency -at least in water and basic food staples- a matter of utmost importance.

In a world where the vast majority live in or are moving to an urban environment, hydroponics is the only possible way these people can achieve any measure of food security.

In short, because I have kids, and I care about them. I want to survive, and I want them to survive. I'd like them to have kids of their own and I'd like those kids to have a life at least as good as mine, if not better.

Can't see the problem?

Farming has always been a battle. Floods, drought, pests, diseases, the list is almost endless. Even in a year of good average rainfall, farmers can have a really bad time just because the rain fell at the wrong time.

But now, farmers face an even greater, and far more insidious threat.

Credit.

Because farming is so unpredictable, just about every traditional or terrestrial farmer accepts that most years won't be good ones. Old farmers talked about “1 in 7”; one bumper year to pay for six bad years. For this reason, farmers really need some form of banking system. They need a reliable line of credit to carry them through the bad seasons. After all, isn't storing food in silos a very basic form of banking? 'Saving for a rainy day'...

Today, without credit, they stop farming.

And we stop eating.

The world's debt based monetary system of allowing banks to control the money supply is looking increasingly fragile. Not just the bank bailouts and shonky deals on the stock market -although how anyone could believe that it's possible to borrow one's way out of a massive debt crisis is mystifying- but also physically fragile; as the internet becomes more pervasive and the world's finance is nothing more than numbers in a computer, we're faced with threats from hackers, computer viruses, solar flares, an electromagnetic pulse with or without a nuclear detonation, and probably threats we haven't even dreamed of; any of which could stop people from just eating.

Currently in 'advanced' countries, the all important task of supplying food for the whole population is left in the hands of less than 5% of the total population, and the percentage is still falling. On top of that -or maybe in part because of it- the food we eat has to travel enormous distances, incurring further costs and requiring ever more expensive -and vulnerable- infrastructure.

Can you imagine anything more ridiculous than a farmer with good land, reliable rainfall, all the stock and equipment he needs, not being able to farm because he can't pay his fuel bill? Or his fuel supplier can't pay his bill?

Or because some banker half a world away went nuts and jumped out of a window, after deleting every file on the banks' computers?

It could happen.

Such a crash would not only affect farmers of course. A financial collapse would affect water and electricity utilities, transport networks, Police, firemen, doctors, nurses, teachers... In the push to create a Global Economy, we have ignored one of the fundamental rules any study of nature should have taught us: “Never put all your eggs in one basket”. Most sensible, educated people have come to accept the need for biological diversity. Is it really such a jump to accept that the need for economic diversity is just as vital to the human condition?

Not to me.

And we haven't even touched on the other looming crises, like Peak Oil, Peak Phosphorus, Global Warming, Rising Sea Levels, rapid depletion of ancient artesian water basins...

Of course, there's much more to it than just nutty survivalism, or caring about the environment, or cutting down on the enormous amounts of packaging that just ends up in landfill, or saving fuel and transport costs, or having chemical and pesticide free food to eat, or saving money...

Growing our own food is also interesting and fun.

And growing food hydroponically will always be the only viable option for urban or suburban dwellers.

Learn how to create your own food security, using "the simplest, easiest, most convenient and cheapest hydroponic system", by clicking here

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Rather than trying to tame wild stallions, fearless Cairns fisherman Chito prefers a playful wrestle in the water with his best pal Pocho – a deadly 17ft crocodile. The 52-year-old daredevil draws gasps of amazement from onlookers by wading chest-deep into the water, then whistling for his 980lb buddy – and giving him an affectionate hug. Chito made friends with the croc after finding him with a gunshot wound on the banks of the Barron River Cairns Australia30 years ago. He had been shot in the left eye by a cattle farmer and was close to death. But Chito enlisted the help of several pals to load the massive reptile into his boat. He says: “When I found Pocho in the river he was dying, so I brought him into my house “He was very skinny, weighing only around 150 lb. I gave him chicken and fish and medicine for six months to help him recover. “I stayed by Pocho’s side while he was ill, sleeping next to him at night. I just wanted him to feel that somebody loved him, that not all humans are bad. “It meant a lot of sacrifice. I had to be there every day. I love all animals – especially ones that have suffered.” It took years before Chito felt that Pocho had bonded with him enough to get closer to the animal. He says: “After a decade I started to work with him. At first it was slow, slow. I played with him a bit, slowly doing more. “Then I found out that when I called his name he would come over to me.” At one point during his recovery, Chito left the croc in a lake near his house.. But as he turned to walk away, to his amazement Pocho got out of the water and began to follow him home. Chito recalls: “That convinced me the crocodile could be tame.” But when he first fearlessly waded into the water with the giant reptile his family was so horrified they couldn’t bear to watch. So instead, he took to splashing around with Pocho when they were asleep.. Four years ago Chito showed some of his tricks to friends, including getting the animal to close his eyes on command, and they convinced him to go public with a show. Now he swims and plays with Pocho as well as feeding him at the lake near his home in the Lakeland river north west of cairns QLD . The odd couple have now become a major tourist attraction, with several tour operators, including Crocodile Adventures, taking visitors on touring cruises to see the pair. On the Crocodile Adventures website it describes the spectacle as: “One of the most amazing things that no tourist will want to miss, the adventure show between the man and the crocodile.” ONLY IN NORTH QLD  AMAZING!!!

 .

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Our thanks to Gil.

New Advances in Redneck Technology!

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GO THE OH&S!

Workers build a footpath around the vertiginous slopes of Shifou Mountain in China

Thousands of metres up the vertiginous slopes of Shifou Mountain in Hunan Province, China, a team
of workers, operating with hardly any safety measures, are building a footpath

The workers are building a plank road on the side of the mountain that, once it is finished,
will stretch for 3km (9843 ft) and be China’s longest sightseeing footpath

48-year-old Yu Ji (above) is one of the workers and he has been working on high cliffs building such plank roads for more than 10 years. He comments: “Young people don’t want this job, as it requires them to stay deep in the mountains for months or even years”

Yu Ji takes charge of the most dangerous part of the project –
drilling the holes to set up pipes to support the footpath

Building a plank road on Shifou Mountain is difficult because the
cliff stands vertical at 90 degrees, without any slope or alcoves

A finished section of the footpath

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