Hydroponic Propagation 1.0

Written By Ben Halicki

Introduction

I have always had a keen interest in horticulture, organic food production, hydroponics and technology. Recently I had been propagating plants for my own garden and although most of my cuttings had formed roots, I was looking for a more reliable method to produce all year round, with plants that are typically difficult to propagate. I had tried growing vegetables hydroponically several years ago and had built a small working platform, but wondered if it would be suitable to clone plants as well. A quick Google search established that this was a tried and tested method, so thought I would give it a go.

Objectives

Short term strategy:

  • Test the concept of propagating plants hydroponically

  • Use parts already available (spend little to no money!)

  • Build a platform which can be later developed to include better monitoring and control, or increased output (start small, think ahead)

Long term strategy: To design and build a small, fully automated greenhouse used for propagating plants hydroponically, which can be scaled to suit larger production requirements.

Conclusion

Here’s what I came up with:

The NFT channel was purchased years ago (can’t remember where from).  It was originally cut by the supplier so freight wasn’t too expensive from memory.  These days I believe most suppliers sell it by the length (3 metres?) and won’t cut to size, making freight expensive. Long term I want to avoid as much plastic as possible anyway.

The net pots to hold the cuttings are typically used for growing strawberries and were the smallest available at the time.

The inserts for supporting the cuttings are split neoprene, which are ideal as they act like a collar around the cutting and can be removed when the cutting is later transplanted into soil.

The pump was sourced from eBay (submersible aquarium pump and cheapest available at the time).

The rest of the components are irrigation parts I had lying around (nothing special here).

The stand was manufactured from 70x35mm H2 pine (Bunnings special, had it lying around).  It took me half a day to make.  Nothing flash, but does the job for now.

Nutrient solution was a mix of Seasol and hydroponic nutrients I had lying around (can’t remember what the nutrients were unfortunately as I had purchased them years ago and the label had somewhat faded). Probably out of date and does nothing for the plants, but seems to be keeping them alive!

After a week and a half, several of the cuttings had started to root, proving the solution was viable and worth developing.

Next steps

Next, I plan to implement controls to monitor the water temperature, air temperature and water temperature. Ph and Electrical Conductivity (EC) are also important and although I have the instruments on-hand, the plumbing will probably prove to be a challenge so may have to wait for another iteration.

Ben Halicki