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Greenhouse Changes and Repairs
How fun would a hydroponic garden be without a few problems to repair. If you
wanted to have a trouble free growing season, you would have purchased that kit
wouldn't you.
The first thing I did not put into consideration would be the pull from 50
plants on the upper beams. Because I did not have the 1/8" steel cables
supported in the middle, a lot of force was created. The ends of the greenhouse actually
bowed in by 3 inches from the weight of the plants. To fix this problem, I
placed a cross brace into each side of the greenhouse to push the length out and
to keep the sides in. Pulling the system together held up for the remainder of
the season. The fun part was using a 3/4" black pipe clamp to push the
boards out.
Next I supported the cable at the middle and at the cross beams, running the new
3/8" steel cable above the supports. This relieved the inward pressure on
the system.
Just for the record, the 1/8" steel cable is rated at 320 lbs and the
3/8" cable is rated at 640 lbs.
They say you should give 40 pounds per plant, and I had a few suckers on mine.
With the addition of a third NFT channel, a row of 12 bato buckets, and the
addition of an NFT lettuce channel, the 500 GPH pump was a little taxed.
I moved to a 1/4 HP 1900 GPH pump pond pump. 300 watts.
I changed the lead line to 1" and created a manifold. I branched out into 2
3/4" lines to distribute the water into two systems. The tubing on the
right was changed to 3/4" lines to provide enough water for the 3 NFT
channels. On the left, the 1/2" Poly tube was used to provide enough water
to the bato buckets and lettuce.
A 20 foot long SureGro NFT channel was built to grow additional lettuce and
herbs.
Here is a picture of the pump used for the tomatoes. The 1/2" line you see
going back into the solution is a pressure relief. So much water was entering
the channels that the drain was not able to keep up. I put a valve on the relief
to allow for compensation. I would say oxygen was not an issue in the root zone. |
