Deep Water Culture Hydroponics (raft system)

[Stormbandit]

Hi all,

Keen to find if anyone has tried Deep Water Culture Hydroponics using a raft, like they do in commercial scale hydroponic and aquaponics? Struggling to find much about it online that relates to the UK. I can't really find any off the shelf solutions (sizeable trays, and preformed rafts etc). It seems to be a different story in the USA, but shipping stuff over would be kind of costly, shipping, duty and VAT.

All I can think off is forming a tray and getting a custom welded pond liner to line the tray.

Would be great to hear anyone's thoughts and experiences.

[veggiechicken]

I tried this poor chicken version!! https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...fts_91094.html

[SimpleSimon]

Hi all,

Keen to find if anyone has tried Deep Water Culture Hydroponics using a raft, like they do in commercial scale hydroponic and aquaponics? Struggling to find much about it online that relates to the UK. I can't really find any off the shelf solutions (sizeable trays, and preformed rafts etc). It seems to be a different story in the USA, but shipping stuff over would be kind of costly, shipping, duty and VAT.

All I can think off is forming a tray and getting a custom welded pond liner to line the tray.

Would be great to hear anyone's thoughts and experiences.

Not sure on the difference between the various hydroponics systems but a fella I follow on YouTube who grows loads of chillis has a few videos of hydroponics set ups he's DIYd. He built s fairly big one on his greenhouse that basically floods a large container with the solution then drains it. Not sure if this is deep water culture or not though. Check his vids out anyways. Called chillichump.

[Stormbandit]

I tried this poor chicken version!! https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...fts_91094.html

Thank you for the link

[Stormbandit]

Not sure on the difference between the various hydroponics systems but a fella I follow on YouTube who grows loads of chillis has a few videos of hydroponics set ups he's DIYd. He built s fairly big one on his greenhouse that basically floods a large container with the solution then drains it. Not sure if this is deep water culture or not though. Check his vids out anyways. Called chillichump.

I will checkout his videos, thank you.

[Stormbandit]

Found something that might be suitable to use as the tray that can be purchased separately from a complete multi duct NFT system. The tank/tray is 210cm x 60cm x 24cm and has a volume of 250-l.

[rary]

If you use a tray like the above I would suggest that you put drain tap into it which would allow you to refresh the water and nutrients as and when required, but why don't you make a wooden frame and line it with a sheet of polythene to make your tank, doing that means a lot cheaper and you get the dimensions you want

[Stormbandit]

If you use a tray like the above I would suggest that you put drain tap into it which would allow you to refresh the water and nutrients as and when required, but why don't you make a wooden frame and line it with a sheet of polythene to make your tank, doing that means a lot cheaper and you get the dimensions you want

Thank you, a drain tap is a great idea.

I'm not really handy when it comes to DIY , but I do get your point as most setups seem to be based on a wooden construction with a liner.

[toomanytommytoes]

Here's the video where Chillichump builds his ebb and flood system - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVAhSHe0Z1w

[Zonmatron]

Hi there, just wanted to throw my hat in the ring. I've not built a raft system but I have made what could arguably come close to a DWT tank for some tomatoes and had some success.

Hydroponics got me into more traditional gardening in fact.

What are you hoping to grow? There are a bunch of specialist shops popping up around the country and it might also be worth going into one to ask for help in a build.

For my tomato and chili project, I bought an 18l plastic storage box in grey, from B and Q. I then bought a very cheap pump and airstone (golf ball size) to aerate the water.

I'm not a fan of fertilizers on my allotment because I'm trying no dig, but to feed my hungry hydro plants I just bought bog standard Tomorite and something called Chili Focus.

To anchor my plants, they had little net pots to sit in with vermiculite. I then covered this with foil until the plants covered it as I found this ended up growing algae quite quickly.

I found you could arguably get away with not turning on the pump some days if you needed to- so there's a benefit to this over an ebb and flow type system which depends on constant power.

My chili was more successful than tomato. Even though I selected Balconi for it's compact size, both red and yellow varieties really wanted to grow and turned into very sprawling monsters, with not a huge amount of fruit. My chili on the other hand was ridiculous and I had over 460 fruit from it before it sadly gave up before Christmas. I'm trying another one in a smaller pot now because I still have most of my produce frozen.

You might want to contact commercial farms to see if they'll share some of their secrets with you. I follow Farm One (In NYC) and remember looking at Grow Bristol. I almost emailled them myself to see if I could come and look around.

One thing I failed at growing was strawberries. They thrived from bare roots for about a week then would all die off.

[Stormbandit]

Hi there, just wanted to throw my hat in the ring. I've not built a raft system but I have made what could arguably come close to a DWT tank for some tomatoes and had some success.

Hydroponics got me into more traditional gardening in fact.

What are you hoping to grow? There are a bunch of specialist shops popping up around the country and it might also be worth going into one to ask for help in a build.

For my tomato and chili project, I bought an 18l plastic storage box in grey, from B and Q. I then bought a very cheap pump and airstone (golf ball size) to aerate the water.

I'm not a fan of fertilizers on my allotment because I'm trying no dig, but to feed my hungry hydro plants I just bought bog standard Tomorite and something called Chili Focus.

To anchor my plants, they had little net pots to sit in with vermiculite. I then covered this with foil until the plants covered it as I found this ended up growing algae quite quickly.

I found you could arguably get away with not turning on the pump some days if you needed to- so there's a benefit to this over an ebb and flow type system which depends on constant power.

My chili was more successful than tomato. Even though I selected Balconi for it's compact size, both red and yellow varieties really wanted to grow and turned into very sprawling monsters, with not a huge amount of fruit. My chili on the other hand was ridiculous and I had over 460 fruit from it before it sadly gave up before Christmas. I'm trying another one in a smaller pot now because I still have most of my produce frozen.

You might want to contact commercial farms to see if they'll share some of their secrets with you. I follow Farm One (In NYC) and remember looking at Grow Bristol. I almost emailled them myself to see if I could come and look around.

One thing I failed at growing was strawberries. They thrived from bare roots for about a week then would all die off.

Thank for the detailed response.

I plan on starting with Lettuce and Pak Choi, then experiment when I have gained more knowledge and have had some growing success.

I will checkout Farm One and Grow Bristol.

[Zonmatron]

Ah, depending on volume of veg you'd like to grow, then I think you can get away with a not raft solution if you're willing to try a more Kratky/ DWC method. If however, you want loads then I can see what you're after.
If you're thinking small scale and really don't want to put any effort in to a build, I started with the Ikea hydroponics bar and grew basil, endive, chicory etc. I've done Pak Choi more recently however I don't know what it says about my kitchen, but they managed to get infected by spider mites seemingly out of nowhere. The weakened plants then got mildew. I guess, make sure the room you intend to grow in is well ventilated! The Pak Choi grew really quickly though, and until it became ill was tasty.