15:35 props for checking sources. a good practice everyone should follow on all info.

Dude! So glad I came across your channel. Been researching hydroponics & it’s so nice to have a fellow Aussie explaining it all. Yay for the metric system & bunnings!

I'm a simple man, when I see daddy Hoocho post a new video I like it immediately.

@grahambate3384

2 жыл бұрын

Sorry man, I read it wrong the first time I read it. I though U wrote I'm a single man 😂

@bluedog101c

2 жыл бұрын

@@grahambate3384 his annoying.

@zaincole1232

Жыл бұрын

Haha I know what you mean

The reason it is difficult to give an estimate of how much more efficient hydroponics vs soil is because weather elements and many different types of soil hold/evaporate water in different ways. Clay vs Sand, etc. Great video on the start up costs!

I live in the Canary Islands 🏝 so no "soil" in the traditional fashion 🚢🚚, made my first 4 pot dutch bucket last year 2021🎆 for €5 Euros and scrap. 💰♻️ 🌱 🍈🥒🍅🥑 👍🏻👍🏻 What a difference to my grows. Never going back to bad soil bags anymore 😁🚫💪🏼 Thanks @Hoocho and all the community for the help you give out. 👏👏👏👏

😀 If only you had fish to feed the caterpillar too. Full props for looking into the figures. I know the nightmare it is trying to find numbers for aquaponics VS soil. Puntastic Video Hoocho. 😆 Cheers. 🍻🍻

With all the videos of systems you’ve made, this video ties them all together. Thanks Hoocho it’s the video I’ve needed🍺🍺

@Holodomor4.0

2 жыл бұрын

Took the words right out of my mouth!

Gardeners and farmers are frugal by nature. They have to be. At 66 and a lifetime of backbreaking work (not a complaint) I have switched completely to hydroponics. Since it is my hobby I don't worry about cost. I am happy to eat listeria free lettuce at any price. Not picking on big farms-they do an amazing job feeding the world. I just like control over my food source. I don't mind spending more for rockwool as the cleanliness and ease of use makes the cost worthwhile!

@dimitristripakis7364

2 жыл бұрын

Rockwool is not the healthiest thing to handle, though...

Watering & feeding a field taking more resources makes absolute sense to me. For starters its land connected to other land, which means water and nutrients will wick off elsewhere, as well as land being effected by rain water dilluting the nutrients in the soil, etc. Meanwhile in a bucket there's nowhere for the water to travel other than passive evaporation in a mostly enclosed container.

Hell yeah, give us more analysis and all that nerdy hydro stuff! There's a lot of stuff that *everybody says*, that is just meaningless. I love that you do what you can to reference scientific papers, it really lends credibility to your obvious and infectious passion for hydro growing. Can't get enough of your stuff mate, keep it all up. :)

I stumbled onto your channel recently and I am so grateful for the research you do for your videos. Keep up the great work!

The pvc gutters used may not be food grade or suitable for potable water, cheap but may not be ideal for growing food.

@atomizer2665

Жыл бұрын

They are UPVC, no BPA.

Hoocho, thank you for doing what you do and sharing your skills, cost and experience or outcomes, the content is helpful and your delivery is enjoyable.

@ashleyerriah167

Жыл бұрын

Showing invoices 👍🏻 gotta like every video on your channel now

Here’s what I’m thinking Hoocho - that professor who said a kilo of tomatoes could in theory be made with one liter of water was considering a system where 100% of all waste water is captured and recycled. In principle, the only water you really “need” to remove from the system is the water within the tomatoes themselves, and the water consumed during photosynthesis/plant metabolism. All the evaporates water, waste water, etc can be captured and recycled. Even the water left in the stems could theoretically be recycled.

We bought a 210 watt solar panel for $220 USD and a 100ah battery. The MPPT battery monitor will handle 12, 24, 36, 48 volt batteries and solar panels in either series or parallel and was only $100 USD. Warranty is 25 years for the panels and purchasing a RV 12 volt water pump from the hardware store will run everything. In this area the electricity is not guaranteed and with the price of fuel going thru the roof, solar becomes an alternative option. Last blackout we didn't even have to fire up the generator and listen to it all night. My goal is a 15kw split phase and 12kw of LiFePo4 batteries to run off grid.

I know the video is over a year old but I really comendere the amount of effort you went to in order to check the credibility of the sources

In depth comparative water consumption would be awesome!

Hi! Thank you for your very informative videos and innovations in hydroponics. Here in the Philippines, there is a surplus of coco peat among farmers. Too much that they were sourcing for market. 😀 Your idea of just using coco peat and perlite combo is brilliant. But perlite is one that's expensive here. God bless you

Yes, discussing with my local hydro store, he downplays the amount water saved . It also varies in soil. Do you use overhead? Are you using drip? Growing in sand , clay? whats your weather ? are you using mulch? its pretty variable.

After many failed attempts to grow my own crops, mostly due to insects, squirrels, birds etc, I finally tried hydroponics and I was soo surprised on how relatively easy it was. My system is almost all automatic. I have an NFT system with a large resevoir with a float valve. I only have to check the ph and nutrients once a week. I also have kratky containers for the climbing veggies, fed by a pump that comes on once a week to top them off. The water savings is also phenominal. Will never go to dirt farming for veggies again.

Hoocho your videos are fantastic keep up the great work have liked and subscribed ... U R AWESOME

Your videos always bring my new information. Just as important, I thoroughly enjoy your style, your personality shines through. Been growing NFT and Bato as well as soil in doors for a year or more. Planning on a 400 sq ft greenhouse this spring and I'm so excited. Thank you for endless enjoyment and education.

Beauty of a video! I appreciate you leaving in the bits with your neglected section, We've all done it. Was a really nice breakdown of costs, space, and labor involved. Thanks

Great stuff Hoocho! Hydro is the way to go for a lot of crops. I am kind of sick of soil as i mostly use lots of pots. Those rock wool slabs from ee. Muir are well worth it, even with courier costs if you dont live nearby. You just have to go to a comparison website for a good deal. I thought campbells diamond t was only for fruiting. I thought for greens you needed some different, more optimised fertilizer? Thanks for the videos.

@Hoocho

2 жыл бұрын

I just half the amount for the diamond t and it works a treat. I’ve spoken to the agronomist and this was his advice, rather than having to complicate things with multiple ferts

Great episode. I especially liked the walkthrough of your validation of sources process.

Thanks Hoocho, a lot of valuable information as usual. Cheers

Amazing work as always hoochos. I would love to see you do a full experiment where you take maybe tomatoes and lettuce and compare all of the costs, the growing time and maintenance for Soil outside, soil in greenhouse, hydroponic (NFT, Dutch buckets, wicking and Kratky).

Is hydroponics dirt cheap? No,it makes dirt look expensive. Now that is what I wanna hear as a college student.

So glad I found this channel. Shoutout from Florida.

Proper recirculating hydroponics is certainly not dirt cheap if you're growing in a small space. So I suppose you best pick your crop carefully and make it worthwhile. Apart from what most people would think of right now (cannabis) - may I recommend turning your limited space into a micro-green growing area. Perhaps Kratky or NFT? I'm not that well versed. Spirulina comes to mind. You can even create a home business with good enough research and a bit of effort 👍🏻

Excellent video Hoocho. The cost breakdown and the approach used were very practical. I was looking at calculating the costs and the approach used gave some great insights to start with. Thanks for such content!

Another great video, thanks for your hard work!

@Hoocho

2 жыл бұрын

Cheers mate!

Wow those are some numbers!!! Another great video of Hoocho.

Well done Hoocho, another great video, cant wait for the next update. How are you going with all the rain up your way..

Having started in soil and moved to hydro I found it costs basically as much as in nutrients to run soil anyway. Hydro also is generally less everyday maintenance. So that’s why I changed.

Wow totally love what you did in there nice

I have a kranske capsicum using aquarium gravel and a milk bottle I haven't had any fruit yet. I lacked polinators as I had the plant inside. but it is outside now so I have hope. It grew rapidly when I put it in the "system".

Love your channel! I just started growing strawberries in an nft system!

Another great video! Happy new year - looking forward to what you have coming up in 2022 😀😀😀

Great video, great detail. Your hard work is evident.

Absolutely murdered that caterpillar lmao

I am in Pakistan 🇵🇰. Just today I checked prices of hydroponic nutrient. 3 part liquid (100ml each) was 20$. EC and PH tester were 30$.

@ivareskesner2019

2 жыл бұрын

Order from Ali. They're based in China, right next to you, and will deliver pretty much anything you like 👍🏻

@tahahassan897

2 жыл бұрын

@@ivareskesner2019 Yeah thats a great source but import taxes and customs are a huge pain.

@ivareskesner2019

2 жыл бұрын

@@tahahassan897 I see. I'm currently in Australia so the price is probably different from yours. I suppose because so much of their business is from here. Look at it this way, mate. If you do your research and pick the right things to buy, you can make a good one off investment. Wherever you buy it, starting to grow will take some research, investment and sacrifice. But it will certainly pay off if you do it right.

@Hoocho

2 жыл бұрын

Liquid is more expensive, buy dry nutrient

There was an American engineer/Aquaponic tinkerer and used a dehumidifier to reclaim the water and heat from the plant discharge. Very low loss. Global entities want to limit our water usage, and we should beat them to the punch. Also, there is too little fertilizer runoff to concern the local environment, since there is practically no water leaving the system.

Another fantastic video, thanks for all the good info you put out

Definitely like the lettuce system gonna try to do this in the spring that’ll be this year’s addition to the garden

Digging deep as always. Thanks for the insights!

Thanks man. You’re a legend for this!

u are right I started 26 years ago when 4 inch was dirt cheep since the money has gotten biden cheep the cost of 4" pvc was 8 bucks, now 42 bucks says food went up, but I am in control of what we eat, grew up in produce business, experienced the way we sell and buy produce. 7 day old produce is devoid of nutrient . grow your own to know what you eat!

I like the mini updates.

absolute legend! thank you for this! hopefully we can work together one day, best wishes for the new year mate.

I am mostly worried about what those plastics leach in water when under the Sun's UV radiation.

Great video. Another comparison is comparing hydroponics Vs dirt, Vs production differences between the two

Thank you

Hey Hoocho, I’ve heard that tipping your dragons when the breach the top of you structure is the way to go, or growing in a pot 4-6ft off the ground is good too :)

@Hoocho

2 жыл бұрын

Thankyou for this, Had a google and I'm definitely going to be doing that!

@adammcgeorge3538

2 жыл бұрын

@@Hoocho Glad to help Hoocho, I always enjoy learning from your vids and your wry humor is always appreciated! Happy Hyrdoponicing in 2022!

I have always wondered if the nutrition of hydroponics is better or worse than soil grown... with hard numbers

After initial cost lettuce production is about 15 cents per head

Incrível Hoocho, absolutamente incrível.

@Hoocho

2 жыл бұрын

Cheers Ramone, and Thank you for your consistent like comments! I appreciate it!

Thanks so much

Mate this is fecking awesome. I wish you were my neighbour.

Thanks for sharing your information.... very helpful 👍

Hoocho can you explain if it is viable to grow your own lettuce,spinach,tomatoes or cucumbers indoors with growlights as compared to buying from the store that would be my main concerne

So the main costs are in equipment and electricity. Fifty bucks a year in electricity and pump replacement, two hundred bucks upfront for gear. Bearing in mind that if you build a greenhouse or anything like that, there's a cost to it. Either way, if you assume you run that for three years, it's an investment worth making.

Hydro is super expensive for the unusual setup. After that it's cheaper than normal gardening.

@kenshinhimura9387

2 жыл бұрын

haha I love my phones autocorrect. I meant to say initial setup is more expensive but I think everyone still gets the point.

loved your video

👍, do you ever have trouble with your nft system over heating during summer and the water getting to warm/ hot lowering it's oxygen content.

@Hoocho

2 жыл бұрын

I haven’t, but I’m running 700L in a fully clad reservoir, the heat buffer that the large body of water provides helps with this.

Damn perlite is so cheap where you are. Coco (unbuffered and unwashed at ~0.15 USD per liter) is cheaper then perlite (~0.8 USD per liter) where I am but it is still not cheap when compared to minimum wage ( ~10 USD per day ). The cheapest material I found here is rice hulls at around 0.1 USD per liter. I'm experimenting on using it together with coco on a simple drain to waste system.

Where in Australia do you get the rectangle channels? All I can find are round sown pipes"

What is the shelf life od dry nutrients after opening the bag and storing in a so-called tight lid container?

Lettuce use 4L of water 11:39

This is why I prefer hydroton over perlite. Much easier to reuse hydroton than perlite.

hey do you have a video on how to reuse perlite? cleaning etc

The tubes you have your lettuce in, what are they called and where could I look in the states for them

Mice hammering tomatos in Dutch buckets, any suggestions? Traps are in and one set off last night but no catch. Trying to get footage, failed last night, try again tonight.

Wow. This is awesome. You’ve got a new subscriber! I have a feeling that being frugal will be super relevant in a few years when AI will take off and kill even more jobs. I like the idea of having a piece of soil that basically feeds you. Turns out it does not have to be soil. Wow.

Any idea where to source that type of rail in the US? My google searching is coming up empty (at least for purchasing small quantity / home use).

I've got an 80L version of that green lid tub (at 7:24); I do not recommend it. It's bulging like crazy under the weight of the water, I've added a ratchet strap to reinforce it and keep the lid on (it still looks like it's struggling though). Can't speak for the 100L version, but I'd bet it has the same issue.

can we use fish pond or in aquarium water for hydroponics?

Can we reuse nutrients from previous batch after adjusting pH and EC?

0:57 ez caterpillar massacre.. hahah

HOOCHO! I am building a hydroponic system and I would like to buy my rain gutters from the same place as your friend who buys them for $1. or something comparable, ie 1-7$ per slat. thank you for your shared experience, it is inspiring.

Sourcing information, oddly enough, in the INFORMATION AGE, is terribly difficult. 😂

Happy belated New Year

Great episode, but where are the dogs

i am wondering, why are most commercial hydroponics mostly uses NFT system to compared vertical hydroponic system? with the vertical towers can accommodate 50 plants per square m area. Why isnt that used more wider? If there some kind of cons to vertical towers compared to nft system?

Where did you get your dragonfruit seeds from?

Is there somewhere I can get t his start up information, equipment and design?

Useful insights, please make video on fully automated small home setup, cost of meters / devices

@Hoocho

2 жыл бұрын

It's on the list!

Interesting numbers. I would be interested in your assessment of the value add of the shade house environment to your overall reduction in costs. I would assume you have reduced use of pesticides (a cost) and labor (another cost) saved for not having to treat the plants.

can you reuse rockwool after harvest?

What is the shelf life of the nutrients? If I was to buy in bulk ensuring I never run out. Does cold weather climates shorten shelf life?

@atomizer2665

Жыл бұрын

Dry nutrients will last for years as long as you keep them in airtight containers and out of direct sun.

My greenhouse hydroponic flood and drain Dutch bucket tomato’s are just turning as new year comes around while those in the garden have only just started flowering. Do you reuse your perlite for tomato’s? If so how often? I have been boiling mine, 20L at a time ie hold it at 80 d C for one hour, just lasts the camper stove disposable canister. I have 18 buckets so it takes a while. I am doing about 30-40L of water a day and top up half strength after 2-3 days. Temperatures are a problem in Armidale. Guyra is home to Costas giant 50 acre glasshouses. Using Manu? stuff from Bunnings. Need to keep nutrient alkaline ~7 to avoid blossom end rot.

@Hoocho

2 жыл бұрын

Reuse till it no longer has good a physical structure.

what aboot electricity? also, how do you keep algae down?

How do you run your pumps, 24 hours or you have a timer?

I cant find a local supplier (toowoomba qld) for that fertilizer. Do you get yours delivered? The ee muir website lists vic companies but none up here. Ive been using the bunnings manutec stuff with good results but after seeing this, I'm keen to go bulk (im cheap)

explain which plants the rodents/mice love to attack. how do you guard against them?

Drain to waste needs more attention. If you look on youtube its all about weed and that is a bummer because the system is very good. I farm commercially, raspberries and blueberries. We do drain to waste in approximately 300, 100m long x 10m wide poly tunnels. It is so much easier to manage EC and moisture content with a system like this and the waste component can be managed down to very little as well. I have taken a smaller scale system of this home with me to grow chillies predominately (maybe 400 plants) and other random vegetables and flowers (maybe 100 pots of random stuff) as I see fit and it does an incredible job. Once you start trying to reuse the water from such a system, the benefits are lost.

@Hoocho

2 жыл бұрын

I agree, And I'm going to focus on it in future videos.

@atomizer2665

2 жыл бұрын

A drain to waste system that employs a medium (which almost all do) needs more attention because you have to tailor the feed EC/PH to maintain the correct EC/PH in the medium/rootzone.

C'mon man. No need to stomp on the caterpillar. Walk your butt outside and put him on another plant. This is half of the reason I prop my suckers, so I can drop the horn worms off there and not stomp on them. I get it... it's a bug... and we don't care about bugs in this world... except when we find out there is some purpose for them we never thought about. I've been growing tomatoes for the better part of 3 decades and I've never once found myself with low yields due to some caterpillars / horn worms. Last thing I will say before I get off my soap box... Gardening, growing, planting puts a physical connection between us and the rest of the natural world and all of it's parts. Lets not become judge jury and executioner to nature's residents without trying to find an alternative solution where everyone ends the day unsmashed.

at the time of writing, 22 people love caterpillars.

Hey Hoocho. First of all love the channel. How do you keep bicarbonates from messing with the PH in the system? I know professional systems use a form of neutralizer, but how does this work in systems you use at home?

@Hoocho

2 жыл бұрын

It’s less of a problem than you’d think. I don’t have ph issues using rainwater.

Awesome video 👍