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VFT Passive Hydroponics


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Hi,

I'm sure that many of you are aware of my VFT hydroponics experiment that had been running since 2009. That experiment uses an active hydroponics called Deep Water Culture (DWC). Whilst it has been successful, the complexity of the setup may put some people off of trying it, so this year I have decided to set up a passive hydroponics (hydroculture) system. This consists of a traditional setup of pot and saucer but with rockwool cubes as the growing media. The saucer will be kept topped up with rainwater with Orchid Ultra (fulvic and humic acid) added at a dilution rate of 5ml/litre. The clone is unknown but it is a red form and it will be grown under a fluorescent light which is on for 14 hours/day.

Here's the first set of pictures. I will keep updating them as the season progresses.

march_2010_1.jpg

march_2010_2.jpg

march_2010_3.jpg

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interesting. this is a setup that anyone can reproduce on any windowsill (except for the orchid ultra, which is not for sale where i live afaik). Im interested to see hos this plant will develop.

Can you think of anything other than orchid ultra that might be a good substitute for it? I assume its not just regular orchid food...

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Can you think of anything other than orchid ultra that might be a good substitute for it? I assume its not just regular orchid food...

Orchid Ultra might not be necessary but the reason I have used it is because it contains humic acid, which VFT would normally receive from peat. It is not a food, the manufacturer describes it as containing 'concentrated and purified organic plant extracts - and is rich in Humic and Fulvic acids.'. I have seen other products in hydroponics shops with similar descriptions so maybe one of these is available in the Netherlands?

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Orchid Ultra might not be necessary but the reason I have used it is because it contains humic acid, which VFT would normally receive from peat. It is not a food, the manufacturer describes it as containing 'concentrated and purified organic plant extracts - and is rich in Humic and Fulvic acids.'.

Adrian Slack makes humic acids for Aldrovanda by boiling peat in rainwater for 4 minutes.

But that rather misses the point of peat-free, doesn't it? :lol:

IMHO, boiling well-rotted leaf mould in rainwater for 4 minutes should give the same sort of solution.

After all, it's humus, isn't it?

Thanks for sharing, and please keep letting us know your results. :evil:

V2

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Adrian Slack makes humic acids for Aldrovanda by boiling peat in rainwater for 4 minutes.

But that rather misses the point of peat-free, doesn't it? :evil:

I was going to suggest this to The_Reaper but as you say, this sort of makes the experiment a little pointless as I want to see if this is a way of going peat free. Saying that, I don't know how Orchid Ultra is manufactured but I intend asking the manufacturer to see if peat is involved. According to their MSDS 'Orchid Ultra is a diluted aqueous solution of kelp, humic acid and kinetin. It contains 0.1% Nipacide as a preservative.'

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  • 4 months later...

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