We grow processing tomatoes that we also use to value add. As they are out of season for us at the moment, we would like the names of a hydroponic growers in the north central area of Victoria who would be willing to supply. marilyn@simplytomatoes.com.au

What is the most common technique and medium used in Australia for growing Gerberas for cut flower production?

Not sure. I have a limited base of growers as locally Gerberas do not flower long enough here. Toowoomba growers use Perlite, and a selection of other medias. Sydney area use a range of media. Contact Dept of Agriculture/Primary Industries in the desired state and or the Australian Hydroponic Association who may be able to help

Scott

Hi Scott, We have been researching the growing of parsley, we have decided to use a media as we hope this will give us a buffer zone against disaster. Can you offer any suggestions on what you would start with. Sand is one of our options, someone suggested using 50/50 of sand with coal-ash how common is this mixture. Husbands preference is potting mix. With Thanks Lisa

All of those will work. I suggest you look at the results by making a test out of garden pots and media samples, putting in some parsley seedlings, and watering with nutrient. You would be looking for growth primarily, but also how much sinkage in the media will happen over the weeks. Potting mix and sand may collapse further and coal ash may keep the drainage and root zone aeration higher. You need to look for Air, and water holding, and try to get both at high levels - which are opposites I know. Expanded medias like perlite hold their water in the granule, not in the gaps between the media granules, which allows air between and water within. (they are also sterilised by the heating process)

Solid medias like gravels drain well but have little to no water holding.

As I said, a test is very important, as we need to be sure of the ability to provide health (air) and water for the plant as well as those magic liquid nutrients.

Remember the warnings they put on the labels of potting mix about using gloves and masks to prevent Legionella and other bacterial/virus problems. You should never put your health at risk. Be careful, soil is not safe. After working in nurseries, I'd rather work with asbestos really as people take appropriate care. Out of 25 workers we never had everyone at full health, and they wouldn't wear masks and gloves because 'its only soil'

sand can contain other materials so check that the supplier is clean and has standards. Washed course river sand is good. Any contaminants can ruin the whole system

Coal ash seems to be fairly popular, I heard that the water holding can change from batch to batch. Mixing sand and coal ash may have been an option to reduce that issue and increase water holding a bit.

I will be supplying a brand new type of commercial pot system that will cost around $4 per pot suitable for large plants soon, and the reason I say that is that it is easier to modify to many different medias. I have also accessed a new type of channel system that will be very inexpensive.

Scott

Good Points. 
www.hydrocentre.com.au/granulated%20grodan has been replaced with a temporary page and will have accurate information taken from Growool and Grodan information when available. I have discussed with Rick Donnan, and advised him that we sell a lot of Grodan Slabs, but not Grodan Granulated as his product Growool is more popular. The page was intended to improve understanding about Grodan's compression of Granulates.

Regarding the quality of Growool, there are so many stories myths and legends in Hydroponics and I would also like to say I am not infallible anyway. What I understood to be a fact regarding the origins of Growool was not necessarily be so, and I wish to correct any misconception. Lesson: don't believe everything you hear without checking the facts. I am happy to relearn this lesson today.

Scott

Do you have worms?
30 Jun 2003  

Do you have worms?

Well – I don’t like to talk about it but….

Actually no, but a quick call to department of primary industries, or ministry of agriculture or similar government body would put you in touch with a nearby worm supplier I am sure

Scott

Does growing plants hydroponically save water? Is it more efficient, cost effective and water smart during droughts?

Against typical field agriculture and horticultural techniques yes.

One test they did grow a field of plants, and also a hydroponic system. The Hydroponic system out performed the soil system and would have used a fair bit of water, but produced more. Because the test was to see if it was water saving they weighed the produce against the amount of water used. To produce traditional crops in soil, it took 80 litres of water for 1 kg of vegetable matter. THe Hydroponic system used 3litres per kilo of vegetable matter. THats saving 97% in water usage. Pretty good huh!

Scott

I would be very much obliged if you could provide me more information and technical assistance with regard to commercial hydroponics systems for Tomato, Lettuce, etc

Well, Thank you for your email. In regard to commercial production there is some replies I have made to our Commercial questions pages that should direct you down a good path. 

Have you tried out some sort of system and grown these plants already? It would be good to setup a test unit, and find out what yield you can get from it, and whether the produce is marketable. Make sure you use commercial seeds for decent yields - so contact the seed companies. 

Once you know the costing, the market price and find you can produce the product, the profit and loss should give you the go ahead or make you rethink before spending a lot of money. I can help wherever I can. There is no charge to email me. So keep asking questions. 

If you think I have written a book on the subject, I haven't because every book sort of fails a grower in some way. I tend to provide personal attention to a grower who wishes to learn, not just be lead. This has been the best way to encourage people to develop a commercial venture.

Scott

What is the approximate yield of product (Tomatoes) using Hydroponics with that of Traditional field production? I heard its about 3 to 7 times more, using Hydroponics.

Yes it is higher generally. Consider this, some hydroponic growers have reported complete failure (as soil farmers do), some same as soil, some plants can have 5 to 7 trusses of fruit when the soil grown have only 3 trusses of fruit. Also each fruit has more flesh than watery content, and the longer shelf life means that the crop can be picked vine ripened producing a higher sugar content (taste) and better market price by up to 5 times as much.

So the yield might be nothing, or lots more. My recommendation has always been that farmers do their budget on 3 years of soil crop yields with one disaster, and anything more is a bonus.

On a hobby level, a pot of dirt and a pot of Perlite with nutrient usually teaches you more. By 4 weeks old the soil plant is so far behind the hydroponic plant that more people euthanase the soil plant rather than waste their energy on it.

Why not do a test to see? It is very easy to grow in Perlite as a test.

Scott

How much money does Hydroponics make a year?

Very good question. 95% of businesses fail, 95% of farmers fail, and 95% of Hydroponic Farmers fail. So to answer your question? I am not sure how much you can make.

Here are some ideas.

Fodder is good money. A 25/30kg bag of Barley, is around $20 Australian. Save up to 30% in bulk. Each kilo makes about 7-9 kilos of high nutrition for a cost of water, a few cents of nutrient, and less than a cent of electricity.

Lettuce (Too many people growing this) should cost about 4c for a seedling, or less if you grow the seedling yourself, nutrient and power around 4-10cents depending on your system and bulk nutrient options, and you can get 8-14 crops per year if you know what you are doing.

Tomatoes should cost very little, but setup costs are high if using a structure. I can't actually cost this crop.

I can go on but how much can you sell it for. The price will fluctuate and sometimes you can't sell it, depending on the crop. Why do 95% of business fail. They fail to plan their business, and market their product. Farmers have to be very smart, smarter than you'd think. My hat is off to the ones who survive.

Do I recommend Growing Hydroponics for an investment? No. It would be a high risk venture, where the chance of complete loss of investment is possible. But, I know some farmers have sent lettuce to Hong Kong and cleared $8 per lettuce after airfreight. So any plan that can provide good income might be worth considering despite the risk.

Scott

G’day Scott, Automatic Dosing Systems I am confused by the various (some outrageously expensive) auto-dosing systems currently available. Take, for instance, the Dosamatic pH and nutrient controller. How reliable in operation? And is the cost assumed reasonable value for what features? Where are the test reports? Which bits and pieces would be needed to keep pH, Salinity, constant? (and possibly a temperature controlled fan). How can one justify paying several thousand dollars for a couple of injectors and a handful of basic electronic circuits? Surely there must be available circuit diagrams, books, or magazine articles covering a tried and tested DIY project in this area. Regards, Ray 

G'day there! I agree - cost is stupidly expensive. As a large part of the cost would be the development, and the small market (compared to cans of coke) I guess you pay for them to delvelop them as well as make them. Well, the options are Dosatronic, for around 3000litre tanks, need pH and CF. A Maestro is $1499 and does pH, and CF for up to 200-300litres A smaller CF only version for up to 60litre is $499

How reliable? Most of these things are designed for more control, not peace of mind. I wouldn't put one on a farm unless you really wanted it. Its not required. Hardly any farmers have them. I have a maestro on display, and you have to work them. Its a tool. Say I keep the CF exactly at 24 for 2 weeks and notice that my tomatoes are needing an extra 2-4 CF to keep the stems thick and strong. I dial it in, and the growth can now be observed at 27CF. If I adjust every day or two, and set it at 26, it runs down to 23 or 20 once during a cold week, and sometimes it needs no adjustment... well any growth I think is occurring at 26 is only an approximation, and I can play with the type of growth a little but its not completely scientific or accurate. The controller is that kind of tool, not a fill up and forget it tool. Just imagine if noone checked the calibration!?!!

As for other circuit designs, here is the problem... the CF probe with temperature compensation will cost about $100 to make, a pH probe around $150+ to buy, solinoids at $10 will ensure plant death, so you need to spend at least $60-$200 each. This is before you have created the electronics, programmed a temperature and muliprobe compensation (as the CF probe interferes with the pH probe) and considered all the Artificial intelligence programs to make the computer anticipate when CF and pH movement will occur, or else spend all day compensating over and under without makeing the correct CF or pH stick to one figure. Then some sort of interface for programming the pH and CF levels, a readout, hardware for output. This is a fairly general way of discussing it, but you get my meaning...

One idea would be that you can get a CF and pH monitors (not dosers) with probes for $199 each with a serial output (see NZ Hydro 'maestro' on my site) and probably use an old PC to interface, build up some output device to open good solinoids.

As for there must be..., I don't know of any DIY projects, it is simply too small a market. My engineer told me to forget going into that field as it really is too heavy on production costs, will take a long time to confirm the correct programs, and ensure the safety of the hardware. I think it is too hard.

I think on a Hydroponic forum Rob Smith from NZ Hydro actually wrote an article on how to build a CF meter. It made me want to give up there and then. It is possible, but takes a lot.

On the other hand I can tell you how farmers are doing it for less than $300 They use a CF truncheon and add the nutrient by hand, every 24-48 hours, and have a float valve top up the system with water from a reserve tank. Using a pH meter see which way it is going and dose the refilling tank with a slightly acid or alkaline water supply to stabilise pH - adjusting occasionally.

Hope that helps Tell me if you have more questions Scott

Scott 

Hello Thanks for your enquiry. 

Commercial Farming requires a large amount of planning. 

1. Most people Start by getting information on local crop demands and pricing from the closest market such as our Rocklea Markets. They usually like to help growers with information. 

2. Contact your local Government such as our department of primary industries provide information and experts in particular crops. 

3. Finding a local market is a great benefit, as prices can be negotiated without market rise and fall, and no commissions! 

4. Once you have a crop worth growing, a system to grow it should be your next step. I can help here, and when you are ready, I would suggest growing a small system to ensure the crop grows well in your climate without unusual problems. I hope I can be of help

Thanks Again

Scott

I am currently seeking to become a commercial hydroponic vegetable grower (e.g.. tomatoes, chillies lettuce and maybe capsicums) I was wondering what is the best system to start out with? flood and drain? NFT? I don't like dripper systems because they can clog. I will be having open field type growing, in full sun. what is the best Nutrient solution and Media, for growing them? I have experimented with a mix of Perlite, vermiculite and volcanic rock medium with pleasing results. do you know what strain of tomato would sell the best tasting and looking produce? I'm collecting information for my Business Plan....

Glad you are doing a business plan. 

Number 1. You need to gather data from the DPI (Dept Primary Industries) on intended crops, the Rocklea markets on pricing and over/undersupply of intended crops and look at water quality on the location. 

Number 2. Produce a budget that make financial sense based on soil yields from DPI Number 

3. Discuss possible systems for intended crops. The most common by far is a trickle fed system, and I actually haven't had a problem with clogging. Soil farmers often use a micro tube, 1mm hose or less, and we use either 4mm or 6mm hose with a inline filter, as well as a clean nutrient solution. 

Flooding a system to a depth requires you to have a lot of water being relocated from a tank to the whole system, which usually ends up being several Olympic sized swimming pools. just for a half acre. 

Perlite in Bags works, you can buy them already in plastic bags ready to lay down and plant into, coco coir in bags is also available. The farmers often use (radiata - check if toxic) pine sawdust or coal ash or gravel and live with the lower yields, and side effects. 600mm wide black/white plastic sheets come in 200mtr rolls and are laid on the paddock, planter bags laid into them, and the 2 sides of the plastic drawn up and attached to a guide wire running down the centre, creating a triangle, flat on the ground, 200-250mm wide, with sides rising to the guide wire about 200mm from the ground. Some farmers use the 1000mm wide rolls, to get more space around the plastic. Without the plastic, weeds will grow, algae will cause problems. The plastic catches the liquid and can be directed back to the tank, or more commonly to another field growing a crop in soil.

Tomatoes are best vine ripened, but you will need to market on taste, which is difficult. If you market on appearance, it is easier, but you are unable to market any differently from the soil farmers.

Nutrients have a great bearing on success, so try different recipes until you are happy with the results. Suggest you buy the CD rom from Casper publications on nutrient formulas. They are at www.hydroponics.com.au and may need you to email them to get it.

Let me know when you've got more info and we will have more to discuss.

Scott