Epsom salt is just one ingredient in a hydroponic nutrient solution. It aids the plant to absorb other nutrients like nitrogen. Having said that, you need to feed your plants with multiple nutrients. Hydroponic plant food is available online or from your local garden retailers.
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Hey!
Indeed you can use regular potting soil. However you will most probably run into problems with fertilizer.
The Click & Grow wick acts like a filter. So you canāt fertilize the tank. You have to fertilize from above.
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Indeed! But, the wick that is used in C&G is very tense and does not allow salts to go through. Also, adding plant food to the water tank will reduce the viability of the wick significantly.
Another major difference may be that in a DIY hydroponic system the roots may grow out of the cavity as much as they like and take up water and nutrients from the tank.
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As I mentioned earlier I sometimes use seedling pouches with cocopeat in the C&G to germinate seeds.
When I see roots growing through the pouches I transplant the seedlings to a kratky container with a nutrient solution of about 1/4 of the normal strength to start with.
Thatās a great idea. What do you do about light - do the plants get enough light to grow? I can do this and place the plants on the window sill but they wonāt get more than 5 hours of light (not sunlight) as the winter looms.
I keep the plants under the C&G lights (as you can see in the picture I posted) until theyāre strong enough to be placed on the window sill. My windows are facing south, I hope thatāll be enough. If not I may purchase a small growlight to help them.
The seedlings that were started in cocopeat filled nursery bags in the C&G cups and placed in Kratky containers are doing great!
I added a small 5W growlight for the cherrytomato.
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Hi, thanks for sharingā¦ I have a question. when you do that with coco peat. That stuff is bereft of nutrient right? Do you now feed the plants through the reservoir with a hydroponic solution?? thanks
That is the principle behind the Kratky method. The reservoir is filled with nutrient solution to a level where the entire root system will not be submerged. A couple of inches gap from the water level to the bottom of the net cup would be ideal.
will it absorb nutrients from the āsmart dirtā if added? I donāt have any nutrients in the reservoir. or do roots only absorb from the ends touching the nutrient free water? Iām reusing a smart soil from another plant which Iām assuming has now been somewhat depleted of nutrients. I donāt want to add nutrient to the reservoir as I have some new plants growing with a full and new smart soil. makes sense?
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It does. All of the root system absorbs nutrients.
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Thanks for all your tips, Iāve just ordered the bags, would I be able to use a liquid hydroponic fertiliser and the click & Grow and keep the plants in there?
Bumping this thread. Messaging from Canada here during the COVID situation. Not much retailer options to buy seeds from C&G, and Amazon is not currently shipping out our way.
Can anyone provide updates or post what other solutions theyāve tried for using their own soils?
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I have a full post on Facebook on what to use the results are incredible.
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Thank you. Iāve just requested to join the group there
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If i dont go down the netting route then i presume the easiest way is to get some large rockwell cubes and cut down to go into the pods and then just add some nutrients into the water?
Hello Salvo
Can you please post a link to the Facebook post youāre referring to? Thanks!
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You could try the āKratky methodā, so you could basically not use the C&G cups at all, but instead put your own net cups in the water tank holes. Place the pre-grown seedlings in a small rock wool cube. The root should have some room to breathe. Place the cubes upright into the net cups. Stabilize the cubes with a few clay pebbles or small stones. Mix your nutrition and then fill the water level up so that it barely touches the net cup bottom. When you need to re-fill the tank after a few weeks, make sure to only fill it about half the level to the net cups, else the plants can drown.
Note that this only works with the 2nd gen C&G devices.
I know this is an old thread but maybe some folks are still interested. Hereās what Iām trying right now: I put coco pellets into a surrounding peat pot, which is trimmed down a little so it fits into the C&G cup nicely. I hope with this way the wick system isnāt clogging too much, since there is practically no loose soil touching it.
So far, the water is flowing and everything sprouted.
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Hello! did you do a sort of hole to the bottom of the peat pot? so the soil & roots can get the water right? thank you!
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