Jessica’s Tips for PowerGrower Success
Jessica Lilga has been working with the publisher of Urban Garden Magazine to set up a hydrosystem on his deck overlooking the ocean. The results are going to produce some amazing crops, and I will be eagerly awaiting updates in the upcomming editions of the magazine. Here they are all potted up.
Jessica has provided concise and simple advice for setting up the system. I love her tips, they are easy and realistic:
When setting up the power grower, its nice to have a 35 gal bucket separate to mix up your nutrients in. I prefer to collect rainwater so the water is as clean as possible (that is what the system we just set up is using).
I mix the nutrients before setting up the power grower. Its best to let the nutrient mixture sit for 30 mins to get an accurate pH reading.
When setting up the power grower, arrange the buckets before cutting the blue tubing. Try a few different set ups to make sure you are choosing the one best for your situation. Leave as much slack as possible when cutting the tube so you can move the buckets around a bit.
Adjust the float valve before you fill up the top reservior, once its filled with water, its heavy and the connection tube isn’t long enough to temporarily set the top res on the ground for adjusting in the bottom controller bucket.
Set up the whole system, minus the hydroton, add the nutrient water you pre-mixed with a mag drive pump and extra tubing. Check to make sure each ring is dripping before you get the plants in.
When transplaning your starts, bury the drip ring to prevent water splashing up on plant.
Get a thermometer for the bottom res, water temp should be around 69 degrees F. If your water temp is too high, fill 2 liter soda bottles or milk gallon jugs 3/4 full with water, freeze, and float them in the bottom res to cool down the water.
Posted: June 5th, 2009 under Uncategorized.
Comments
Comment from Tiger Lilly
Time June 8, 2009 at 10:09 am
I hope we can meet up while you are here! I think that setting the pH to a low level in hopes it will “auto-adjust” is basically about as sound as black magic! In theory, it will work great, but, and this is a big but, what if it doesn’t??? Counting on a “drift” could get you in trouble, or it could be the perfect solution! Let us know how it goes! P.S. I’m not saying I haven’t done it before myself, just that it’s not something you can really truly count on.
Comment from Everest Fernandez
Time June 16, 2009 at 10:23 am
Heheheh … well I just returned from 5 days in Santa Rosa and my pH was 7.2 
So my plan didn’t really work … I wonder what it would have been if I hadn’t pH’d my top-up solution lower though ?? Oh questions, questions….!
Comment from Tiger Lilly
Time June 16, 2009 at 11:11 am
Ouch! I am SO glad you did what you did before you left! That’s crazy drift for just 5 days! What have you got in there Everest? I’m super curious about your recipe now.
Comment from Red Swan
Time October 2, 2009 at 7:10 am
If you don’t clean the hydroton thoroughly , the dust will cause the ph to drift up. I always wash new hydroton, put it in the system, run it with plain water, then dump and run again BEFORE I put the plants in.
I use waterfarms, but no longer leave the drip ring buried. When it’s buried, you can’t see if any of the drip holes is clogged. If you use floralicious it will clog as the stuff settles and gunks up the sides of the hoses. Over time, little chunks loosen up and clog the drippers. Haven’t had the problem since I cut the floralicious.
Comment from Everest Fernandez
Time June 6, 2009 at 11:42 am
Hey guys, great to see my plants on your blog! I’m heading down to California next Wednesday and staying down south for six days. I’m going to make sure I change my reservoir before then of course – with lots of fresh nutes
I’ve noticing that the pH of my nutrient solution has risen to around 6.5 (from 6.0) in the last three days – nothing unusual there. But I’m going to make sure that the pH of my top-up reservoir is adjusted to about 4.8 or 5.0 – to sort of ‘auto-adjust’ while I’m away. What do you think?