A Cheap Alternative to RockWool and Net Cups

are you sick of netcups and rock wool let's make some pox so apologies for the beeping sound behind me we've recently got some ducklings and they now live under the NFT system now the main reason that I started making videos about hydroponics is that I wanted to make hydroponics accessible to everyone and budget friendly to everyone so Rockwall may not seem expensive likewise netcups and the foam that fills the net cops but if you're trying to be productive in producing your own fruits and vegetables adding 50 Cent's roundabouts / Rockwall cube is a not insignificant cost involved with each individual plant that you try to grow so to make the whole process more budget-friendly I tried to come up with an idea that would allow me to reuse a substrate that could hold the plants in place within the NFT system and allow me to move from seed through to NFT rail without the use of anything purchased except for the initial cost of the material that I needed to make the substrate that was holding the plant so my answer to that problem was these now these are just foam pucks that fit within a circular hole cut in the top of the NFT system and the foam is relatively next offensive and reusable as well the way that I made these was I cut circular holes ninety millimeters in jigsaw foam rubber which is just formatting that you can get from any hardware store and then cut those circles into crosses essentially with a slit down the middle now when they are placed in the NFC systems holes they hold the plant upright and sturdy until such time as it has a decent root base which will then hold itself in place for the NFT system I use a 64 millimeter hole saw and for the puck system I used a 90 millimeter hole saw and that leaves you with a good fit like so this system also allows for the use of a standard size pool noodle as support for larger plants as you can wrap the noodle around larger plants that need more support once they are large enough and use the pool noodle as support for the base of the plant so this is a good example right here the other day I had a storm and this jalapeno plant fell over in the storm so now to correct it I'm going to install this pool noodle around the outside at the base so that it has some support now we'll remove the pucks I've double parked this because I thought that the double pipe would be enough it was a big storm now we can just install them full noodle around the outside of the plant and that's how you can support a plant if it's going to fall over in your system all righty so I'll show you the system that I moved from seed through to NSC channel the reason why so many people use rock wall is because it's a fantastic way to start seeds I'm not disputing that at all it has a great water to oxygen ratio and provides seeds a pretty ideal starting medium now if you still want to use rock wall to start the propagation of your seeds by all means do that but with this method you can start multiple seeds in the same rock wall cube and not have to sacrifice multiple seedlings just because you only want one seedling in that rock wall cube you can pluck out the seedlings and Transplant them into your propagation box so your propagation parks simply look like this so to pluck out your seedling and start it in your propagator you take your seedling put it into your puck close the puck and place the puck into your propagator from there the seedling grows and we move on to the next stage now if you want to completely eliminate rock wall altogether you can use a propagation term with some form of netting on the bottom of it and putting your seeds directly into water or a slight nutrient solution will allow the seeds to rehydrate and they will snake up through the netting and then you can pluck them straight out of that and then put them into your propagation parks now with my propagation container I've moved to a passive system that can't fail even if the air pump fails so it's not passive due to the air pump but if the air pump fails it doesn't kill all of my seedlings to move from the propagation parks to the system parks all you do is take your ready seedling out and after a while the seedlings will have developed long roots that will now easily travel along your NFT system we remove it from the propagation Park pop it into our system pop and you have a seedling that's ready to go into your NFT system now to place the seedling into the NFT system all we do is feed the roots along so that the water takes them down the channel and pop the seedling in and it's held upright by the park so I hope you enjoyed this episode of putos I hope my system can help you save money on your NFT hydroponic system or if you have any other implementations for the system I really enjoy using it and I hope you do too so have fun happy hydroponic

Channel: Hoocho

Views: 796,709

Keywords: rockwool, net, cups, net cups, cheap, cheaper, alternative, hydroponics, nft, system, hydroponic, aquaponic, aquaponics, puck, puc, reduce cost, reduce, cost, rock, wool, save, money, growing, medium, pool, noodle, nutrient, film, technique, diy, do, it, yourself, channel, farming at home, farming, at, home, hydro, cheap alternative to rockwool, cheap alternative to rockwool and net cups, alternative to net cups, alternative to rockwool and net cups, alternatives to net cups

Id: 3AbxnWiVTH8

Length: 8min 52sec (532 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 29 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Tamazin_]

50c for a rockwool cube? :o They're like 15c here in Sweden if i buy them pre-cut like the ones you have or like 0.03c if you buy a slab of rockwool and cut it into cubes yourself.

But yours looks like a good sollution if one doesnt want to bother with rockwool

[u/ruralnorthernmisfit]

I would love to get away from rockwool. I'm in northern MN and my post office is kind of a shit show, so when amazon says 3 days, I normally get it in 7. I normally don't plan that far ahead...

So how does the screen work for starting seeds? I would love a seed starter like that. Maybe that can be your next video :)

[u/papa_benny420]

Pretty cool setup you got there. And I love the simplicity.

[u/butter2064]

Thanks for posting this video and sharing your hydro methods. I think your pick system looks great and likely produces less waste. Also, i like rockwool for its inherent properties, but i have heard about some source sustainability issues related to the amount of energy it takes to produce. I may be a little off with that description, but try to avoid using it none-the-less. Thanks again!

[u/[deleted]]

Great and clever idea. This also allows the grower to have custom size holes for homemade setups too. Thanks for sharing.