To my mind, pretty bloody well.
Naked Hydroponics really is hydroponics stripped bare. 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.
To really push the analogy, you could say the roots are skinny dipping in the nutrient solution…
It can’t be claimed that the naked system is ideal for all plant species; many plants, like carnations for instance, just don’t 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
If you grow lettuce with tomatoes, you will end up with either burnt lettuce, sad tomatoes, or both. 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.
[...] So, how does it work? March 10th, 2011 | Category: About, Posts [...]
I spoke 2 u at the koala markets last weekend, so just letting u know that I am doing a little bit of research. kent [urangan]
Hi Kent, and welcome. We’ll be at the Koala Markets Hervey Bay again on the 12th of June.
Next Sunday (29th May) we’ll be at Shalom Markets, Bundaberg, and the Weekend after we’ll be at Howard on Saturday 4th June and Nikenbah Hervey Bay 5th June.
We’ll hope to see you soon cheers pete.
Very interested in your work, Pete. Check your email and then our website.
Good stuff!
How do you keep the water from getting to hot and killing the roots?
Hi Ted, we’ve grown plants right through summer at Childers Qld, temps recorded up to 45 degrees. The green tubes do get hotter than the cream or unpainted ones, but the only problem we had was with ‘blossom end rot’ on some of the tomatoes; so yes we would recommend the lighter colours for very hot places, and probably a little dolomite added to the mix won’t hurt either (see the article on growing tomatoes). Cheers.
Hi Pete,Haven`t bought a system yet but very excited.The only Question I have is:Does the size of your growing unit(circumference) dictate the plant grown??????.
I would like to purchase the hanging chain system to go on the side of my garage to grow Strawberries,maybe other produce down the track.Cheers Kevin.
Hey Kevin, probably. I’m basically a cheap, nasty, lower class white trash person, so naturally I went for the cheapest pipe on the market, 90ml stormwater.
the proviso is, no more than 4 tomato plants in any 1 metre planter. If you want to try 5 or 3, knock yourself out. (I’m basically making this up as I go along.) I recommend the chain system, simply because you can hang up to 4 planters for the cost of just one set of chains (which is good for you, not so good for me, now I come to think of it…?)
(I really suck at retail…)
Mate, the diameter doesn’t matter. the important thing is if the roots of the plant can access the nutrient. Worry about supplying nutrient and oxygen to the roots, not architecture.
And the oxygen to the roots is obviously not so important.
(I work weekends, so Tuesday is my Saturday, so I’m not entirely sober, but hey, I’ve never in my life got in trouble for telling lies.
Telling the truth, on the other hand, has almost got me killed on a number of occasions.)
Grim,Cheers mate.I have it on good knowledge that different plants need different amounts of nutrients????????.Straight up I`m going for Stawberries(summer thing for the kids).
What do you use to support the seedling in the unit????.
Mate,We all have a drink at some stage……..It`s 12 oclock somewhere in the world EVERYDAY ??lol.Kev
Hey Kev, the reason we recommend Optimum grow above all others is because it will almost grow hair on a bald head.
(That’s a sight gag; you need to see my head to appreciate it.)It really is just a matter of adjusting the amounts for the size and variety of plant.
Short answer: we just wrap a little bit of foam around the stalk of the seedling so it doesn’t drop in or out.
short answer: It’s my day off, and I’m “discussing” with you.
I need to get a life.
second thoughts: hell no. I had one once, and all I got out of it was old.
You know the good thing about getting old?
…?
Ok seriously, we grow strawbs very successfully. Actually, the best nutrient we’ve found for strawbs specifically is one we don’t yet retail, called ‘Ionic Grow’; a single part mix from Growth Technology. We’re still trialling it; when we are positive we will start to retail it. If you see it online anywhere else, grab it and do you own trials. (and if it doesn’t work, tuff shit your funeral).
There’s a lot of varieties of strawbs out there. We haven’t yet worked out which one’s the best, but when we do we won’t keep it a secret. what we do know is; when strawbs are fruiting, they ain’t spreading. IOW, put your strawbs in in autumn, watch them expand across your whole planter, then start harvesting them about 3 weeks ago.
Did that make sense, or am I pissed?
I’m pretty sure 30 years ago I had better things to do when I was pissed.
Cheers Grim,I appreciate the info.I get paid on Thursday and will be ordering the chain system post haste.I will also purchase a nutrient pack to last…….Thanks again Grim,Kev
Grim,Love the way you talk..its straight up.Intoxicated or not.lol.
So a healthy feeding strawb is fruiting and not spreading ????????.
Hey Kev, it’s not a question of health, but season. In autumn, a healthy strawb will throw out runners. You can stick those runners into adjacent holes in your planter. About July those plants should start flowering and bearing fruit -and stop throwing out runners. It’s an either / or situation.
the same thing seems to apply to the fruit. Our experience is, one plant will produce x amount (weight) of fruit. If you leave all the flowers on, you will get a lot of small fruit. If you want big fruit, cut half the flowers off.
Either way, you’ll still get the same weight of fruit.
there’s no such thing as a free lunch. (there’s wisdom my future grandkids can remember me by.)
Hi, was looking at building an NFT system but this Passive looks cheaper. How often do you have to change the solution and how deep is the solution in the pipe. thanks