Kratky Potatoes and Recycling Foam Packaging

[Jack O'wheelie]

Hello there,

I'm planning to do an experimental 1st early potato Kratky hydroponic grow.

Proposed Set Up

• Build a 4'x3'x8" nutrient tank with 1 hole drilled for net pots per sq foot.
• Build a 4'x3'x8" box to fit over the tank to hold inert dry medium.

How it Would Work

Using a hydro bloom (potash heavy) solution ph 5.7 I'd fill the tank to just below the net pots.

Then, I'd put 1/2" layer of pre-soaked perlite in the bottom of each net cup, place in the seed potatoe and then fill around the potato with dry perlite making sure the spud is securely held in an upright position.

I can then place the box over the tank and fill it with the dry inert medium.

Wait a couple of months and compare yields with my soil grown crop.

Submit a paper to the RHC get fame and fortune, retire from planet earth and go show Matt Demon how to really grow shite spuds on Mars!

I know there will be "many a slip betwixt cup and lip".

Now, what do I propose to use for the inert medium?

Crushed/cut up foam packaging.

I've got loads of the stuff of all shapes and sizes. The local landfill won't take it. The council doesn't recycle it and because I don't fly tip, I'm stuck with an ever increasing pile of unsightly useless white crap.

It will be tedious work to chop the stuff up into small enough bits but once I've done it, I can use the stuff over and over again for similar projects.

I welcome any comments, feedback or suggestions.

Regards

O'wheelie

[veggiechicken]

Hello Jack and welcome to the Vine.
I hope you don't mind me saying so, but I haven't the foggiest what Kratky means and know nothing about hydroponics either. However, i hope it works for you because anyway of reusing waste materials is worth doing.

[Jack O'wheelie]

Lol

Kratky is a Passive Deep Water Culture System.

It's probably the easiest, cheapest and almost foolproof way of growing hydroponically.

A search for Kratky will reveal all.

I like it because of the lack of pumps and plumbing.

You can go off-grid and just let it grow

[Chestnut]

Hi Jack, and welcome.
I also have no experience of hydroponics, but wondered if the polystyrene bits might be choppable in either a food processor, or one of those mincer gadgets if you have or could borrow one?


Something like this https://www.lakeland.co.uk/18678/Sta...190202071532:s

[Jack O'wheelie]

Professor Kratky Lecture

A lecture by the Master...

Chestnut >wondered if the polystyrene bits might be choppable in either a food processor<

Give it a go and let me know how you get on.

I'm going to need a lot of little bits. So a small DIY concrete mixer with a bucket of bricks would be an excellent way to quickly break down large quantities of EXPANDED POLYSTYRENE – EPS.

I don't have a concrete mixer.

However, I do have various power tools that should do a good job of ripping the stuff up into small pieces.

The experiment hinges on the Determinate properties of 1st Early spuds and the fact that they don't need banking up.

I'm confident that the Kratky method (as outlined) will work and the 1st early's are the right kind of spud.

The big question is whether the EPS bits with be sunlight proof and stop greening of the tuber.

I do have previous experiments/experience with bucket grow spuds. The details can be found on my website.

Bright and sunny but very, very cold here in the north of Ireland.

[Jack O'wheelie]

Running The Numbers

My original idea was to have a solution depth of 8" or about .22m.

(1.2 m) x (.9 m) x (.22 m) = 237.6 litres

Using 3ml of Vitamax Bloom A and B per litre

237.6 *.003 = 0.7128 litre

Approximate cost per litre £18

1ml per litre Calmag

237.6 * .001 = 0.2376

Approximate cost per .25 litre £8

1ml per litre Silicon

237.6 * .001 = 0.2376

Approximate cost per .25 litre £8

Giving an approximate experiment grow cost of £34 for nutrients.

This is clearly unsustainable.

I think I can do much better by following Professor Kratky's lead in his Ginger grow example.

Reduce the water level to .05 litre with a 150mm air space.

Using the same calculation as above this gives an approximate experiment nutrient grow cost of £8.50 which is much more sustainable. And should provide a good return on investment.

However. The seed potatoes must have at least 100mm of roots prior to planting in the net pots.

This could be achieved by using a much smaller grow tank to start with and then transfer to the bigger final tank until cropping.

Surprising what problems delving into arithmetic can create.

But they're good problems with workable solutions.

[Jungle Jane]

Are you making something similar to this in the link but with a larger container for the potatoes to grow in? There isn’t much space to grow in,early varieties would be the best to use but a risk of them going green,I’d want to put the seed potato about 12 inches deep & covered. Main crop would want to spread too much,more likely go green I think.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jGJHQMudyso

[muck lover]

And I thought I was being innovative planning container grow potatoes in my leafmould with blood fish and bone added.

[Jack O'wheelie]

I can and will do better.

Yes, Jane.

He's got the right idea but didn't have enough medium for the stems to grow through and allow space for the tubers to naturally develop on the stems.



The sketch shows that the seed potato produces all of the feeder roots for the plant. The foliage gathers energy from the sun and the tubers only job is to grow.

Other hydro grows try to restrict tubers inside the actual nutrient tank.



To my mind, this approach is a bit arse-around-face.

I can and will do better.

[muck lover]

That looks alien.

[Jack O'wheelie]

His spuds want &quot;freedom&quot;

LOL at Mucker's comment...

Can you see the middle root and the potato desperately trying to escape?

Why can't the grower see the obvious?

His spuds want "freedom"

[Jack O'wheelie]

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Gardener

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is a 1962 British coming-of-age film based on the short story of the same name.

From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Loneliness_of_the_Long_Distance_Runner_(film)>

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Gardener should make a good 2019 Internet era book/film title.

The film poster's by-line is "you can play it by rules... or you can play it by ear – WHAT COUNTS is that you play it right for you..."

This is the spud I'm going to use for my hydro and soil experiment - I think it will play right for me.

Accord Seed Potatoes (First Early)

• Pack Contents: 2kg Pack (25-30 Tubers)
• Harvests as early as May
• Arrives in breathable bags for healthy potatoes
• Impressive resistance to eelworm and scab disease*
Grow potato of your own Accord; a dependable variety big on taste in the kitchen. So versatile Accord is great as new potatoes, in potato salads and even as chips with fish and chip shops around the country choosing this variety for their prize chips.
With a waxy texture, they hold their shape on boiling, so they don’t disintegrate and go mushy. Similarly with roasting; they crisp up well. In the garden they perform so well; naturally resistant to scab they come out of the ground looking clean and blemish-free.

Parcel tracking indicates the pack has been stuck in the Belfast sorting office for 4 days.

Hopefully, they'll be well chitted when they eventually get delivered.

[Jack O'wheelie]

Pack Delivered - Well Satisfied

Yodal finally turned up and delivered.

The pack contain 26 seed spuds of outstanding quality and some are already starting to chit.

I put them in small pots filled with slightly moist compost making sure they were root node down.

In 2 or 3 weeks time they should have developed a healthy root system and be ready for transfer to my Kratky tank.

[Jack O'wheelie]

Spud Boxes Build Done

Finished building the spud boxes for the three experiments.

Kratky grow box fully waterproof and lightproof.

Soil and EPS grow box

Just old school soil grow box

Each box is .9m square with the EPS separated from the water and soil. On average when growing old school I get 1kg eatable size spuds per first early seed potato. So, by keeping the grow area the same and using the same Marshalls seed spuds I should get a good comparison and data for my experiment.

[gardening_gal]

Any update on this Jack?

I grew cucumbers and tomatoes with the Kratky method a few years back. The tom plants didn't get very big but I've since learned that I should have had a bigger container for them so my fault.

As a skint gardener now, I'm planning on trying Kratky again alongside traditional growing just to save on compost really. I have pots and planters just not enough growing medium.

I wouldn't have thought about trying potatoes tbh, I did see a video where someone tried carrots unsuccessfully.

Anyway, I'd be interested in your progress.