This Video is from the Youtube channel: “Keep on Growin’ with Mike VanDuzee”.
Easy hydroponics, the reason I do not use rockwool to start my transplants. We are going to clean out our downspout that had the lettuce growing in it to make room for some pak choy. Let's see how long it takes. Diy hydroponics.
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Gday Mr D !!
Another great vid bro. Im really sold on the pool noodle idea. Its $25 here in oz for 1/2 kilo of rockwool (my local store – expensive) . Your absolutely right. The roots have filled it and begun tangling up the net cup.
My next move is your method !! Thank you for the enlightenment on this 😎🌱🌱
Thanks, When was experimenting with hydroponics, I was constantly buying and throwing away Rockwool, I had to figure out a way to do it cheaper. It may not work for everyone, but it sure is helping me.
I have used rockwool and find it is not my favorite seed starting method. Currently looking at your system and ‘borrowing’ some ideas. Nice video, my favorite comment was about pool noodles being designed to endure a bit of pool chlorine already and being able to use a little bleach to clean them Great tip!
Cool! Use all the ideas you want to Matt, I am still experimenting myself. Would love to see what you come up with. Thanks!
Mike, this is a wonderful idea, I may have to borrow it =). My wife bought a bunch of pool noodles to place in her boots. She said it’s the cheapest method to keep the boots from being flattened.
Khang Starr Please do try it! I have been watching you for a long time. You have given me much inspiration. Thanks for all you have done over the years!
Greeting from jakarta, i have been subs on Khang and Mike for this 1 month.i Just start doing hydroponics
Sorry if maybe you have been explain on one of your video that i havent notice so i need to ask question
My question on Mike
1. if i want to apply on this noodle method how big is the holesaw for the hole?
2. What is the length between each hole?
Both of you are doing great. Give so much inspiration and cost effective
Thanks
Erwin Limarno Hey, you can cut anything smaller than the pool noodle, here it is about 2″. I place the holes 4″ apart and cut the noodle about 1″ thick. Nice to meet you, good luck on the hydroponics!
both Khang Starr and Mike are good inspirations for hydroponics…Thank you!!!
Thanks much, really appreciate it. I learned a lot from Khang when I first started years ago.
Mike try using vermiculite for your grow medium, its inert and grow seeds at the start. It can be used in hydroponics and will wash off with water when you transplant. Good luck! A hack I have done is get a cement mixing tote from Home Depot and fill it 1/3 with vermiculite. Under a light indoors wet the vermiculite it holds water probably better than anything else. You can just pick out the plants and insert them into your pool noodle – sometimes you dont even have to wash off the vermiculite as it doesnt stay on the roots if it is wet.
Thanks David, I will give it another try. I used it several years ago. I think I may have some laying around somewhere.
Love it!! Thank you for this great tip. I, too, really dislike throwing away money with rockwool. And cleanup? Well, just excellent ideas here.
Cool! Thanks for watching, always good to meet new people. More to come.
Hello Mike, I want you to know you have helped me transform my hydroponic growing, and I no longer have any rockwool / clay pebbles in any of my systems! Thankyou for the inspiration 🙂
Awesome! It has saved me a ton of money! Glad it is working for you. Thanks for watching!
Sir what is the name of the foam had to use in your hydrophonics. greeting here in the Philippines..
Hi, how do you keep from growing algae? I’m going to share this with my hubby because he loved growing hydroponicaly! And the noodles make so much sense. He used the rockwool and man was it such a mess to clean everything out! How long are the gutters? Thanks for all you do
I buy 10′ downspouts. The ones in my newer video are 4′ long. After I cut 2 of those, I have a 2′ section left which is what you see on the table. The ones that look 8′ long are left over from my old place I used to live where the spacing on the handrail was 8′ Watch my video that is coming out tomorrow (and a few of my newest ones), you will see the container has no algae. I keep all the holes covered and use opaque containers, Try to keep as much light out as possible. I think with hydroponics, there will always be a little algae somewhere, just have to try and contain it a little.Thanks for watching.
I’m sold.
Thanks for sharing your experiences. It’s a real blessing to those of us that don’t have the experience (or sense) to figure it out ourselves nor the funds to use the systems that are sold to us by internet “experts”
No problem, love sharing ideas. Thanks for the positive feedback, appreciate it much!!
Good video. I use the pool noodles as well. For those with 3 inch net cups the noodle works great with those also, they just fit a little deeper in. I laughed out loud when I read a few comments about PCV!
Cool! Yeah, it icomes up all the time. Thanks for watching!
Personally I like to use the cheap rolls of foam from the Walmart craft section, I sharpen the end of a piece if pipe to cut them into little circles of whatever size I need just slightly oversize to the hole I’m using, hold the plants well and VERY cheap when you can get over a thousand for 15 bucks of foam depending on how carefully you cut them and how big you make them.
I’m using mine for aeroponics though, and lots of what I grow starts with a smaller stem that might fall right through the pool noodle. I’m trying to clone some blueberry cuttings right now to save some stems the cat chewed on.
Cool! I used to use the craft foam, you can see it in some of my early videos. That worked well. I did not think of using a pipe to cut it and the pool noodle was already round. Blueberry plants would be awesome. I tried them one year but killed 2 plants, lol.
Thank you for the great tips! I wanted to try this with my seedlings to get them started hydroponically.. I don’t wanna have to use the Rockwool but I do have neoprene plugs I just gotta be able to hold up the seed
No problem, glad I gave you some ideas. It has worked well for me for years.
I was at the dollar store and thought the same thing when I saw the pool noodles! Nice to see it works, good job!
Thanks, was actually my wife’s idea 😎🤘
@Keep on Growin’ with Mike VanDuzee I wondered if you couldn’t take a bit of cotton, put it in the middle to act as a seed start? Just float them in a tray and wick the moisture up for the seed.
A local guy showed me this trick, it is both cheaper and better than using rockwool all the way. I still do use my EazyPlug rockwool for starting seeds, and then when it grows a bit i just remove it and transplant it to my NFT system. Cheers!
Cool! Thank you! 😎🌱🌱🌱
I have a DWC system in gutters that I’m going to switch to Kratky because of your videos. In my system the roots travel long distances and plug up drains sometimes. I see the roots on your plants are only directly below the holes.
Nft is good, I have a small system. I grow fast growing greens in the Kratky systems, they do not stay in as long.
Hey Mike! been watching your vids for some time now! They are really inspiring! Thanks!
I had my earth veggie patch and have grown few stuff there but certain veggies (lettuce, kale, basil…) have always been devoured by ants (we can’t get rid of em).
So 2 weeks back i started a patio basic kratky setup in pvc tubes with this pool noodles trick and all looking amazing so far! First true leaves coming out already!
I have one question thou, im seedstarting on kitchen towel, and i feel i need a better method (paper towel doesn’t help root growth and forces me to put into the hydroponic setup before true leaves come). What budget method you recommend for seed starting? Seen you use soil i think, correct?
My seeder is indoors with some 13w light bulb.
Thanks!
Here you go:https://youtu.be/ov3y8l2aXCU
Thank you so much for being a long time viewer!!
@Keep on Growin’ with Mike VanDuzee exactly what i was looking for, thanks a lot!
I grow commerical cannibus, using 6x6x4 Rockwell. While we are a bigger in size operation, we typically are only able to use them for one grow yield, which is a couple of months. There only really the one purpose we need it for, then we toss them away. Sometimes I’ll take a small amount home to mix into my soil because Rockwell is great at absorbing and retaining water. We also use the clay pebbles, and yes cleaning them is ridiculous. The mother plants are being used with clay pebbles, in 5 gal buckets. By the end are their life cycle, it’s 90% full with just a mass of super packed roots and clay balls. I put them into a onsite box trailer to let it all dry out and decompose. Even still, cleaning is a nightmare. Labor hours is a constant battle!
I do agree the pool noodle is more economical and more convenient. However i have gotten multiple uses with 1 rockwool cube but i also use 2″ net cups in a vertical tower and also a dwc system. But Usually i get about 3 uses out of 1 cube. But great video ill have to try the pool noodle.
Hi, I’m looking into using this concept on a small tropical island that ranges between 78°-85° and is mostly sand and salt water. Do you think the pool noodle system would hold up outside or would we need to do it in a cooler environment or inside? How many seasons do you get out of your noodles before you replace? My main concern is the micro plastics getting eaten as this would be our primary food source