name

The start of a new Kratky setup for my Tiny Tim tomatoes. Will have individual pot locations and a fill and drain location so I don't have to interrupt the plants to do nutrient changes and top offs.

My thought is, I have 2 plants in a 5 gallon tote that usually has 2-3 gallons any given time and they are doing great with the airstone. So, I have a 4" conduit system designed to hold 11 plants, each spaced about 18" apart so, 4"x3.14x18" is 226ci per 18" run of conduit.

A gallon of water is 231ci so, each plant will have roughly 1 gallon of water for itself. Which is roughly what it has in the tote. But this way I don't have to raise any lids or worry about dostrubing the plants when they are tied off to keep them upright.

I'll have a vertical T in the end of my system that will have a threaded top to open and add nutes and a ball valve at the bottom of that T to drain nutes for changes. Each of the T's will point up with a 4"-2" reducer and I'll have them about 6" up and the net cups will drop right in for each plant. Time for assembly.

new kratky setup

kratky setup

 

I have well water is that ok to use? I have one line that’s not connected to my water softer

  • 0
Reply
    • Brian Dunning

      Just need to check your ppm is all. We'll water before a softener is usually pretty low ppm so you should have a good basis for water. And to make sure your ph is within the range you want for your plants. Mine I keep around 6.0-6.5

Why such big pipes to supply/drain nutrients. 1/2 inch would have worked just as good. Not only do you need enough water to fill totes, you also have all that volume of water sitting in the pipes unused

  • 0
Reply

Because my pipes are becoming the totes. It's basically a DWC now not gonna be an NFT system. The tomatoes are going to sit in each upright T

  • 0
Reply

Hmm. Well, this is something I haven’t seen before. I love it when growers get crazy and test new innovation. Good for you. Keep us posted.

  • 0
Reply

watch your roots when the plants get bigger

  • 0
Reply

They are just cherry tomatoes. Root size was taken into account when pipe size was determined

  • 0
Reply

Sorry. I'm building it now. I spent 9 hours getting a chest tattoo last night so I went straight to bed yesterday when I got home. Bear with me for a little longer. I'll have pics in a couple hours for sure.

  • 0
Reply
    • Danny Merrill

      no worries! Just a cool idea you have here, interested in seeing how it looks all put together. Thoughts on where the pump line(s) will go?

    • Brian Dunning

      It's almost done. Just got it together and did a leak test. Gonna mix up nutrients now and relocate my tomatoes

Sneak Peak

kratky setup sneak peak

Complete kratky Setup

Complete kratky setup

  • 0
Reply
    • Linda Sanford Johns

      What size pump are you using?

    • Brian Dunning

      This one actually wasn't using any pumps. Was standing water like Kratky but had an air pump for oxygenation.

Looks expensive. Unless you get a plumber's discount

  • 0
Reply
    • Brian Dunning

      No, it was expensive for a hydroponic system. But it's more about convenience. I know have one system for 11 tomatoes and I can harvest and place each one individually. And only have to check and top off one reservoir.

    • John Lakos

      I'm a plumber so I like it for that reason alone. I'm a beginning and assembling all my components nft, tank, pump, lights and so on. Starting to get expensive. Just realized I need a setup for germinating seeds. Who. Sorry for babbling on

    • Brian Dunning

      No, no need to apologize. I just enjoy building stuff and I know I can get a little overboard when I do and tend to over engineer things that don't need to be. It's just fun lol

    • John Lakos

      surprised you didn't weld up your own steal racks

    • Brian Dunning

      That I already had extra tho.