Post by drbanks on Sept 10, 2017 15:03:53 GMT -5
This is the device I'm using for my "Pepper Pot." It is a combination drip system/deep water culture, and offers 6 plant sites, each a 6" net cup.
General Hydroponics EcoGrower
What is a "net pot"? It just a porous bucket used in hydroponics:
In an Aerogarden, the grow medium is pretty much the sphagnum moss sponge in the pod. You can certainly use those here, but they don't nearly fill that big pot, so you need some other grow medium. For this, the default grow medium (and indeed comes with the planter) is clay pellets. It's what it sounds like: hard clay pellets that support the plant and its roots (more or less), but allow the water and nutrients to drip through, and more importantly, allow the roots to grow beyond the limits of the pod.
In the picture of the Eco Grower, the thing in the middle and its six radial arms are simply standard airline that convey water/air/nutrients from the reservoir below. It is powered by a standard air pump. Aside from the air pump, there are essentially no moving parts to this thing, and you can use any air pump you want if theirs breaks. This is almost as simple as a deep water culture bucket, only much larger.
Advantages over Aerogarden
The big one (and "BIG" is a recurring theme here), is that you can reasonably grow more than one pepper plant in this thing. Even still with six full sized pepper plants, there's still going to be some pruning, but at less than the price of a Bounty, it's not a bad choice.
I also like the blue tube up the side of the bucket. It's a combination "fuel gauge" (you can see the water level) and drain pipe. The fitting at the bottom pivots so you can turn it 90 degrees to mostly drain the pot. (The picture above doesn't show the blue tube. Trust me, it's there, and a standard 1/2" plastic tube that connects to a water-tight fitting near the bottom of the reservoir)
And unlike the Aerogarden, I can actually find sane trellising/support that fits into a 6" net pot.
Disadvantages over Aerogarden
It's big. Very big. About 2' cubed. I suppose it's expected that you'll keep it on the floor, but doing so will make the drain tube nearly useless because there won't be anywhere good to drain to.
It's Heavy. The reservoir takes 13 gallons of water. That's around 120-140 pounds. If you want to set it on something, because you'd like to be able to drain it easily using the drain tube, you'll have to find something Very sturdy to put it on. An aquarium base can handle the weight, but good luck finding one that's the right dimensions. (trust me, I tried)
No built in lighting. Obviously, you have to roll your own lighting here. That's pretty easy: LED panels are cheap and plentiful, but it is an additional cost. Worse yet, I can find no decent way of suspending the lights properly short of screwing some hooks into the ceiling. And this also means that you'll have to buy a timer for the lights (which will cost $10-20)
Don't try to germinate seeds in this thing. I tried, and it took over a month. Really, you're better off sprouting them in a sprouting tray or aerogarden, then transplanting when they show a healthy root system.
Nutrient changes are a pain. The thing comes with a sample kit of the General Hydroponics Flora Series (my favorite nutes) which is a three-way system (Flora Micro, Flora Grow and Flora Bloom). The proportions of each that you use is dependent on the age of the plant. Obviously, you use more Flora Grow while it's growing and more Flora Bloom while it's fruiting. All that is no more difficult than using GH nutes in an Aerogarden, and you'll probably want to pick the same schedule for your dump & refills (7-14 days), but we're talking 13 gallons of water here. That means draining 120 pounds of water, then filling with another 120 pounds of nutrient solution, and all of that is going to have to get to and from the planter, which means lugging pails of water.
I call it "exercise."
One of the simplicities of Aerogarden is that their nutrients are pretty straightforward, and you probably aren't going to kill anything following their directions, even if you're not doing regular dump & refills. But with a more high end nutrient regime either you dump and refill frequently (I do every week), or you get into the habit of monitoring pH and TDS. True the Flora series nutrients are pH buffered, but that'll only get you so far.
Summary
For all the complaining I've just done, I really like this thing (although I keep thinking of updating it to a "Rainforest." It has plenty of space for growing plants, it's dead simple, and assuming you've already got lighting worked out, it's cheaper than another Aerogarden. It's just that I don't have room for many more. Then again, I don't have room for any more Aerogardens either, so I guess that really doesn't matter.
General Hydroponics EcoGrower
What is a "net pot"? It just a porous bucket used in hydroponics:
In an Aerogarden, the grow medium is pretty much the sphagnum moss sponge in the pod. You can certainly use those here, but they don't nearly fill that big pot, so you need some other grow medium. For this, the default grow medium (and indeed comes with the planter) is clay pellets. It's what it sounds like: hard clay pellets that support the plant and its roots (more or less), but allow the water and nutrients to drip through, and more importantly, allow the roots to grow beyond the limits of the pod.
In the picture of the Eco Grower, the thing in the middle and its six radial arms are simply standard airline that convey water/air/nutrients from the reservoir below. It is powered by a standard air pump. Aside from the air pump, there are essentially no moving parts to this thing, and you can use any air pump you want if theirs breaks. This is almost as simple as a deep water culture bucket, only much larger.
Advantages over Aerogarden
The big one (and "BIG" is a recurring theme here), is that you can reasonably grow more than one pepper plant in this thing. Even still with six full sized pepper plants, there's still going to be some pruning, but at less than the price of a Bounty, it's not a bad choice.
I also like the blue tube up the side of the bucket. It's a combination "fuel gauge" (you can see the water level) and drain pipe. The fitting at the bottom pivots so you can turn it 90 degrees to mostly drain the pot. (The picture above doesn't show the blue tube. Trust me, it's there, and a standard 1/2" plastic tube that connects to a water-tight fitting near the bottom of the reservoir)
And unlike the Aerogarden, I can actually find sane trellising/support that fits into a 6" net pot.
Disadvantages over Aerogarden
It's big. Very big. About 2' cubed. I suppose it's expected that you'll keep it on the floor, but doing so will make the drain tube nearly useless because there won't be anywhere good to drain to.
It's Heavy. The reservoir takes 13 gallons of water. That's around 120-140 pounds. If you want to set it on something, because you'd like to be able to drain it easily using the drain tube, you'll have to find something Very sturdy to put it on. An aquarium base can handle the weight, but good luck finding one that's the right dimensions. (trust me, I tried)
No built in lighting. Obviously, you have to roll your own lighting here. That's pretty easy: LED panels are cheap and plentiful, but it is an additional cost. Worse yet, I can find no decent way of suspending the lights properly short of screwing some hooks into the ceiling. And this also means that you'll have to buy a timer for the lights (which will cost $10-20)
Don't try to germinate seeds in this thing. I tried, and it took over a month. Really, you're better off sprouting them in a sprouting tray or aerogarden, then transplanting when they show a healthy root system.
Nutrient changes are a pain. The thing comes with a sample kit of the General Hydroponics Flora Series (my favorite nutes) which is a three-way system (Flora Micro, Flora Grow and Flora Bloom). The proportions of each that you use is dependent on the age of the plant. Obviously, you use more Flora Grow while it's growing and more Flora Bloom while it's fruiting. All that is no more difficult than using GH nutes in an Aerogarden, and you'll probably want to pick the same schedule for your dump & refills (7-14 days), but we're talking 13 gallons of water here. That means draining 120 pounds of water, then filling with another 120 pounds of nutrient solution, and all of that is going to have to get to and from the planter, which means lugging pails of water.
I call it "exercise."
One of the simplicities of Aerogarden is that their nutrients are pretty straightforward, and you probably aren't going to kill anything following their directions, even if you're not doing regular dump & refills. But with a more high end nutrient regime either you dump and refill frequently (I do every week), or you get into the habit of monitoring pH and TDS. True the Flora series nutrients are pH buffered, but that'll only get you so far.
Summary
For all the complaining I've just done, I really like this thing (although I keep thinking of updating it to a "Rainforest." It has plenty of space for growing plants, it's dead simple, and assuming you've already got lighting worked out, it's cheaper than another Aerogarden. It's just that I don't have room for many more. Then again, I don't have room for any more Aerogardens either, so I guess that really doesn't matter.
