Outdoor Hydroponics Experiment
Last summer I decided to try to grow some cannabis outdoors with hydroponic techniques. I went with Nutrient Film Technique or NFT for short. NFT is a form of hydroponic growing that uses a thin layer of constantly moving water and nutrients that flow over a plants roots. I used 27 gallon totes as the reservoirs, with a shallow mud pan that fit on top of the tote to hold the plants. I then added a cheap submersible pump to bring up the water to the top tray. I made a "T" with some 1/2 inch tubing to spread the water evenly as it trickled down the tray and back into the reservoir. The plants I put in the system were extra Blueberry Hashplant clones I put in 3 inch rockwool cubes. On transplant day, I cut some holes in the tote tops and dropped the plants in. I also mixed up the nutrients for each tote and placed them at a slight decline so the water would flow correctly.
June 20
As you can see, only 2 weeks latter, and the plants were taking off. I had to put up a layer of trellis to keep them from falling over. For nutrients, I used a one part powdered fertilizer, usually keeping the ec between 0.8-1.2.
July 5
I added a second layer of trellis 2 weeks later.
July 20
The vegetative growth rate on the hydro plants was very fast, passing up my soil plants that were planted a month ahead of the hydro plants.
July 31
Tree Frog hanging out in the current
With flowering well underway, the plants looked great. I raised the nutrient strength slightly as they went into flower, adding back water and nutrients every three days or so.
September 6
As flowering slowed down, I reduced the nutrient strength until they were getting plain water for the last ten days or so. The plants began to fade, using up the stored nutrients in the leaves, creating nice fall like colors.
October 1
Overall, I was happy with my experiment, the harvest looked great! I did learn a few things I would change though if I were to do hydro outdoors again:
--bigger reservoirs, or a large tank feeding the small ones--filling them up every few days got to be pretty labor intensive
--prune more inner growth off--because they grew so fast, a lot of smaller branches didn't receive enough light
--look out for root aphids--luckily they didn't kill my plants, I think the frogs helped me out here, feasting on them!
October 15 Harvest
Wow, that looks great... nice to see a grow outdoors done with NFT Hydroponics. I mostly see large commercial indoor or greenhouse grows, some using hydroponics. Keep up the good grow...
Thanks, I really liked NFT, super easy with good results!
Really cool experiment. Were your soil plants potted or in the ground?
The soil plants were in 65 gallon grassroots pots. I think they would've grown better if I had a better soil mix, but the hydro was super fast and vigorous.
Put them in the ground and they'll overgrow your hydro ones like a jungle :)
Great Job! You did a such a nice work with the hydro outdoors. I thought it would be some what difficult due to weather and temp changes but man you really did it!!! Thanks for the detailed info on it, this post is quality!!
Thanks, wasn't sure if it would work, but it came out pretty good for just messing around.
Awesome!
That's a great run there, especially for a first time. Good Job!
What were your maximum temperatures for the summer? Any idea? I'm guessing it was rather low, and the shade from the plants helped as well? NTF is a roots-in hydro system and the nutrient solution temps have definite maximums. :)
Thanks! We get some 100 days here in the foothills of California, prob an average of 90. I think the water temp stayed fairly low because the reservoir only held 15 or so gallons, and I had to refill often--about every other day when they were drinking a lot. They definitely got shaded pretty quickly too by the fast growth.