The Simplest Hydroponic System: Drain to Waste

[@belleomalley1022]

What a great day. Huge bacon, sausages, and egg breakfast, got my guts rearranged, and now a Hoocho video! It's looking up, boys!

[@jaynic154]

You won

[@user-vq5hh9bk2m]

…by the breakfast, right?

[@KegLand]

Nice work! Keen to see more drain to waste videos using a large res and some type of solenoid valve or other valve on timer! Really appreciate the video.

[@IamtheonlyMark]

we just wash the coconut coir in lots of water to remove the salts

[@john57125]

i love drain to waste hydroponics systems like these and even though they're the simplest really think they're one of the best! You don't get any of the selective nutrient uptake you get from other systems that disrupts the ec and ph and since you're not recirculating back into the res there's way less potential for gunk to grow in the reservoir. Also if you water till runoff you constantly flush the system and your media always has the perfect ph and perfect ec, which pretty much any other type of system can't do without daily monitoring. I have something setup like this but that's automated with drip irrigation and don't think you can ask for a more efficient and ideal system.

[@zoemeow7677]

pumpkins and you inspired me of this blessed gracias bless you pumpkins are the cats meow now

[@CriticoolHit]

Hoocho that is going to look SO nice when it's all filled in.

[@J0stik]

i love to plant almost every vegetable in coco, but as i do that price is somehow steep, so i use cheapest one, rise it, and rinse it good, and then do buffering with calmag, works great and it is cheaper than buying "hydrophonic grade" coco coir.

[@bobhopman4648]

You can also just do multiple baths of water and sundrying or you can use a $50 portable washing machine. Luckily most salts can be dissolved in water.

[@mfrederikson]

Just an idea but would it be possible to use the nonrinsed coco coir for plants that thrive in that basic, salty environment and then reuse the coco? It would be more effort but also more permaculture-ly

[@bobhopman4648]

@@mfrederikson yes, definitely... Any mineral or nutrients that will be used up will be processed out effectively and this is one method used to clean Grey and black water at processing plants. Just be sure you use it enough to actually have only a negligible amount of the salt left.

[@mfrederikson]

@@bobhopman4648 Do you have terms / plants to look out for for this approach? I think desert plants would be suitable but preferably the selected species would have some produce

[@bobhopman4648]

@@mfrederikson any arid desert biome succulent would do really well so maybe prickly pear, but I would only use succulents for a final process as they don't require enough water to pull salt out rapidly. Christmas cactus spreads like crazy and will take more water. But I would recoment a tropical plant that lives near the water and grows for a long time or rapidly. Like maybe banana or palm or coconut. The downside with this approach is just that it's not necessarily economical to grow these plants outside of the tropical environments without lighting and proper nutrients and pH balance as well as potential diseases they might be suseptible to in your area. That and that it's not a fast process. But if you have enough large plants and finish with succulents you would simply need to rinse and dry the coconut coir. I think the best way to do this would be coconut and banana trees because you get fruit and can process your own coconut that is naturally less salty, and process all that coco through a water rinse and use that.

[@MenAreSpeaking]

Good to see you again!

[@takeupyourcross9597]

thank you for the video

[@lekcom62]

Very Cool Hoocho and mate love your Rum thinking just mite have to buy a New still wow very impressed

[@williamsolberg9022]

Really looking forward to your grapevine video, hope to see it soon.

[@acelmikkas]

It's a very interesting and important video. Thank you for your imagination, professionalism and kindness in hydroponic growing. I learnt a lot from you from the videos and I enjoyed your facebook group too until I was kicked out who knows why. I didn't receive any message, just the note that I'm no longer member of the group. :( But the videos will be there for me, just keep up the good work.

[@olebear]

I'm buying an x1c soon. I'm excited to use your designs!

[@Gino_567]

id be keen to see a setup vid of an automated feed system for those plants

[@dannore8077]

I have a question about auto filling kratky systems, would it be better to only have the nutrition water stay half full, like the water only goes to the middle of the container and stays at that level or should it be lower for the air roots?

[@arrow1island]

Another great video, keep up the good work. Have you looked into the Mr. Stacky hydroponic tower system.

[@ShewanJanith]

great video! 😊😊

[@Milkex]

Get the cheaper,. compressed block. soak in calcium nitrate. done.

[@grahamclaydon2350]

Just getting into hydroponics but struggling to get systems here in South Africa. I like the idea of making my own on a 3d printer but never used one before. I assume you buy the printer based on size of item to be made ? What would be the best size to buy based on your 3d plans.

[@Hoocho]

@@grahamclaydon2350 256x256mm

[@SnifterRoux]

Hey Hoocho do you alternate your nutrients with plain water in your gutter grow system for your dragonfruit? If so how often? And if so you just pour from the top or run fresh water into the gutter? Cheers.

[@Hoocho]

@@SnifterRoux No alternation. The dragonfruit is drain to waste too.

[@ryanmartinage]

Any word on your buckets being available in the US?

[@InthiyasPasha]

what ph and tds should we maintain sir...

[@steveandtedssmallspacegard8587]

Is it a bad idea to mix compost with coco coir in a drain to waste system, i was planning to set up a drain to waste system over the next couple of days

[@Hoocho]

It’s not ideal, but only because I can’t define “compost” Some mixes may work, others not.

[@steveandtedssmallspacegard8587]

@@Hoocho thanks for replying so promptly I will stick with coir perlite mix and experiment with some additional plants on a compost perlite coir mix. I was worried it would affect the CEC but that would differ for any compost mixed in as you said

[@manzoorhussain8922]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@annaday6436]

😳 What did you do to the cats?!

[@softashutube]

Do you have time to interact with farmers?

[@77Fmydog]

the production quality on these are starting to get a tad to high. stop making the big guys with huge budgets look bad or they might send a hitman at you bro :P

[@bradcarby3765]

How much drain though Hoocho? Come see the hydro farm I work at Wamaran, and I'll make you an expert at 'Drain to Waste' in an hour.

[@Hoocho]

[e-mail] Send me some pics

[@Hoocho]

Send me an email with some pics

[@michaelrutherford4932]

I'm in the states and was not able to see anything that actually said "hydroponic" on the coir?

[@cFyugThCzvAqYaGmxRgfCKTuvHMEjQ]

Might wanna order online then

[@michaelrutherford4932]

@@cFyugThCzvAqYaGmxRgfCKTuvHMEjQ brilliant idea!

[@antoniosanford4675]

Great video. I noticed that you don't bother breaking up the root ball when you repot the plants. Is it good practice to do that?

[@olebear]

@@antoniosanford4675 breaking up the rootball is not necessary if your plants aren't rootbound

[@Alex-gk2ht]

Who's Danny?

[@cFyugThCzvAqYaGmxRgfCKTuvHMEjQ]

Probably just like a guy yknow

[@softashutube]

But hevey manual intervention required ib this system

[@susanstewart5134]

It takes about ten minutes to automate with a small pump, a timer and a 100 L bin full of nutrient (I used a 50$ aliexpress solar plant watering system as I dont have a handy power point-it does go through more nutrient than a recycling system so a decent size reservoir either to fill your watering can from or throw a pump into is useful. Mixing up a watering can worth of nutrient everyday or so is more than a little painful). What I want is a source of decent cococoir that isn’t too expensive…I’m only doing small scale-a vertical planter and a couple of pots so far but if I want to expand it’s going to get pricey either in shipping or product (I’m in South Australia)

[@softashutube]

@@susanstewart5134 can you please help remotly for setup one small area on the roof ? one point here temprature range is 5 to 45 degree of celcius

[@IcoVir]

I’m going to pretend my name is Danny so it sounds like he’s talking to me …

[@hedykarim3614]

Did a video 2 years ago on a hydroponic setup , any updates?

[@briancockerham4731]

how can you be using lebanese cucumber while israel is bombing lebanon?

[@Hoocho]

@@briancockerham4731 because I’m able to separate the name of a vegetable from a similarly named unrelated event using my brain. You should see how much Russian garlic I’m growing.

[@briancockerham4731]

@@Hoocho sorry bro, free palestine! and long live Putin

[@CarlosDasilva-z5k]

Very nice video, however there is no soil in hydroponics. The word itself is self-explanatory! Hydroponics is a method of growing plants, and leaf vegetables without soil, instead using a nutrient-rich water solution!

[@Hoocho]

There’s always one. *saves breath*

[@adelinawarriner6259]

snort ... might wanna look up what was used . it's not soil. it's media- 2 very different things