Germination

I decided to start this as sort of a journal to track my progress with my first hydroponic set up. I'll start off by describing my set up a little bit. I am growing 6 Jalapeno plants from the seed. I am trying to spend as little money as possible, and since I am an economist at heart, I will also give a breakdown of what it costs.

I am using a sterilite 18 gallon tub. As far as the exact dimensions go, it is not very large. And also not very deep. Maybe a foot deep. I wanted it like this however because of the type of growing I will be doing. I took the planters I was using, and traced them on the top in two rows of three. I cut the lid with a skill saw, slightly inside the line I drew so that the planters would sit on the top. It appears I am fairly skilled with the saw! This is a picture of the completed grow set up.



Next is the light I went with. Most indoor growers use some type of CFL, or other expensive, heat creating, power draining lights. These high pressure sodium, or metal halide lights can cost hundreds of dollars and require a special device called a ballast to make them light. They create lots of heat, and take lots of energy to make light. I am using an LED light that I bought off of eBay for only $28 shipped to my house. Compare that to a HPS or MH light that can cost upwards of $3-$400 for a set up! No way do I even have close to that amount of money to spend on this hobby! Not yet anyway! Here are two pictures of the lights. When the light is off you can see that it is made up of 225 LED's a mix of both blue and red. I will go into more detail in another post as to why this is. For now there is what it looks like lit and unlit.

I am using a nebulizer to create a mist for the roots. The mist will have the nutrients and water for the plants roots. The nebulizer sits in the bottom of the tub, submerged in the water and nutrient solution and fills the tub with fog. It has corny LED's on it that change color and are supposed to create a cool effect. I don't care for it since you can't even see them with the lid on, but thats how it came. I also got this from eBay for $17 shipped to my house. Amazing deal. In another post I will explain why I am using this system. The nebulizer is really cool, and works amazing. It fills the tub up to the lid with fog. That really is the only way to describe it.



I germinated the seeds in what started out as little round discs. I soaked them in water and they grew like a sponge. I popped the seeds in there and waited for them to germinate. It took sometime but they finlly did. I transplanted them to their final growing medium, a tad early maybe but we will see. I moved them to 4" netted pots filled with lava rocks. It is just a medium for the plant to get a base in, the roots will grow through them and suspend in the tub. Where the 100% humidity will give the roots nutrients, water, and oxygen. I also took a clipping from my tomato plants outside which are growing in soil. It was on the top, and already has two flowers. It is in a solo cup filled with miracle grow potting soil. I am attempting to clone it, and hope that it will develop a root system so that it can later be put in a hydroponic system with the jalapeno plants!


I am starting off with Botanicare's Pureblend grow formula. I have premixed the correct amount for seedlings in a 20oz Gatorade bottle, it was tablespoon per gallon, but since this stuff was expensive and I don't have a job($18) I divided it out and determined I needed half of a teaspoon per 20oz, just about anyway. Since the seedlings do not have a root system yet, the fog in the tub isn't going to be able to maintain the correct level of moisture for the plants. So everyday I am going to water them with an eyedropper.

So here is a rundown of everything that has gone into this project so far:
1x Sterilite tub - Free (thanks mom)
1x LED Light - $28 (eBay)
1x Nebulizer - $17 (eBay)
6x Netted Planters - $7.50(Store)
1x PureBlend Grow - $18(Store)
1x PureBlend Bloom - $18(Store)
2x Lava Rocks - $6
1x Jalapeno Seeds - $2.29
Total = $96.79

Not bad, for under $100 I was able to get what I think will be a decent set up. Of course I am no expert and this is just a trial run, but in theory it should work fine. There is however a shopping list that I still have. I would like to get/need the following:

2x Timers
1x Wardrobe
1x Extension Cord

Essentially the Timers are going to be a requirement for both the light and also the nebulizer. The light needs to be on for a certain number of hours each day so that the plant knows what season it is in, and the nebulizer creates a lot of fog. It does not need to be constantly running. I feel like a timer for it would save me some money in the long run as I would not have to replace the discs that create the fog.