Transplanting Seedlings Into Hydroponic to Speed Up Growth

Branden D says:

Great video with excellent pacing and information. I expect nothing less from you haha! Have you though about placing reflective mylar (around your setup) to get some of that light onto your leaves? Not all the way around, that would probably restrict a lot of airflow.

Doug Mate says:

I’m definitely interested in updates sir.

Lori Lumax says:

I would love see a follow up. they look great and living in Canada I am looking at these grow systems

IAMGiftbearer says:

I have tomato plants and lemon plants that about a month ago I transplanted into hydroponic upside down pop bottle wicking containers in clay pebbles in the top section, with Masterblend/Epsom Salt/Calcium Nitrate fertilizer solution in the bottom under a good quality 900 watt Meizhi Reflector Series LED grow light and the leaves seem to be drying out and they aren’t growing all that much after a small spurt the first week. It seems that the fertilizer is a magnet for algae, so I spray painted the bottles black to keep light away from the roots but they still don’t seem to be doing all that great.

A few of the lemon seedlings turned almost white and died even with liquid still in the container, and the others are hanging in there but not really growing.

I have one tray of seedlings that are just in clay pebbles in nursery pots with clay balls that I am bottom watering in a plastic tray. Those seem to be doing better than the ones in the wicking containers, but I would have expected alot more growth and new foliage and size since being transfered out of the soil and under better light. They were on my deck which has not been getting much sun because of the rainy and stormy weather.

I’m not sure if the LED light is too strong for them at this size (the lemon seedlings are about 6-8 inches tall) or whether they just aren’t doing that great because of lack of aeration. Just in case, I moved them about 6 inches further away from the light. I think they’re about 2 1/2 feet away from it now.

I wanted to get pumps and that kind of equipment last month but had to hold off due to finances so have basically been doing variations of Kratky. Not sure if that’s the problem or whether it’s something to do with the fertilizer. I’m using the ratio that many people on Youtube recommend. Bottom watering with that still seems to result in algae even though the nursery pots are opaque green, so I backed off and have just been watering and only bottom watering fertilizer about once a week and that seems to have stopped it.

I still have some of the tomato and lemon plants out there on the deck and the tomatoes never bore fruit and look like they’re on their way out, but the lemon seedlings out there are slowly growing and oddly seem to be doing better when rarely fertilized and pretty much left alone except for watering, despite the indirect and inconsistent light. I live in Georgia and our winters are sometimes relatively mild so I’m tempted to leave the lemon plants that are doing best out there until it gets down to freezing. I haven’t decided whether to transplant them to a hydroponic container add a pump outdoors, or to risk taking them indoors once I get a pump and indoor DWC or NFT containers.

Do you know what could be causing them not to thrive?

Kenneth Christison says:

Hi. From what I understand, if you put the plant in a solo cup (no bubbler), you want the roots to just touch the water, but if you have a hydroponic system, then you can have the roots a lot further into the water. You also want to keep the roots from being exposed to light.

uJard says:

3:22 Aren’t you supposed to dilute pH-down in water before you add it? Is it fine to add it directly like that?

Komani Lungu says:

How old were the plants at the time of transplanting?