Howdy everyone,

My name is Jake and I love gardening. I have a great passion for indoor gardening, DIY and self sustainability. Recently, my wife showed an interest, so, we started a small multi-site Deep Water Culture garden in the office of our House.

Lighting is currently a mix of an 8 lamp T5HO lamp and LED (450w viparspectra) but will soon just be an 8 lamp and 4 lamp T5 fixtures as I need the LED elsewhere.

I have used General Hydroponics nutrient products for some time now and use them in anything other than a fully organic soil mixes.
This garden will be mainly MaxiGro and I will finish off a tub of BeastieBloomz before switching over to MaxiBloom for the fruiting plants.

Here is a 17liter storage tote that I turned into a six site DWC unit for leafy greens:







Here are the larger (4.25 gallon reservoir) single site units. These are for Fruiting plants that need more room for roots as well as different nutrients than leafy greens will need. This group is going to probably gain a few more buckets over the coming months. Currently we've got a Space Saver 88 cucumber and Golden Nugget tomato








Please ignore the mess and the over planted black bucket- it's an experiment of sorts.

Anywho- pH is set to 5.5 once a week and allowed to drift upwards from then on. I do not use R/O water. Each reservoir has it's own air stone and will be change bi-weekly with fresh water top offs as needed.

Thanks for having me in the community, this will serve as my garden journal but please feel free to post your Hydroponic tips, questions, thoughts or own projects!

That looks really nice! The only thing I know hydroponic-wise, is watching a few Jeb Gardener videos.

Hey, I like the overplanted black bucket. I did the same thing in my hoop house late last summer. You'll find that lettuce is much more rugged than it looks. You easily move those plants to another spot where they will have more room to grow. Or just harvest them as microgreens...

GReat ideas here.....thank you for sharing.WHat do you fill the tubs with and how are they watered ?

Hi Sally and Henderman, thanks for the kindness! I've been plucking plants out of the Black Bucket and placing into another hydroponic veggie garden I have in our tortoise area ... they certainly are rugged and never seem to mind rough treatment.

Caroline- the bottom portion of the "Deep Water Culture" Hydro-buckets (called the reservoir) has only pH corrected water, nutrients and an air stone constantly bubbling, which provides very Oxygen Rich nutrient solution to the plants.

The little net pots hang down into the reservoir but are not submerged in solution. An "air gap" is crucial. The net pots are filled with clay pebbles (called Hydroton) the bubbling from the air stone supplies enough water to keep the hydroton moist until the roots grow down into the actual reservoir as shown in this pic



Heres a couple other shots to show how they are growing






This is the most simple form of Hydroponic gardening that is practical and effective. There are many other disciplines that I'd be happy to discuss if anyone is curious or considering taking the plunge!

I like. I have been doing something similar the last couple years. I also use a floating styrofoam tray in a tray of oxygenated water with a small fish tank air pump. Turned out a ton of fresh greens. I also use a Folgers coffee canister for one to three pants for something like basil though I'd like to try a Thai pepper that way.

Great set up you have @Jake5280
Have not done anything on that scale at all. Have used Kratky method in smaller containers for lettuces and Tat Soi. Hoping to move some things out on to patio in buckets in a few weeks. Right now I'm using AeroGardens which have provided us with lettuce all winter. So easy and clean inside the house and fun to watch.
Here is a picture of a micro tomato @ 26 days ready to bloom ...

Hi Guys, thanks for joining the party! Hydroponics really can be a very fun and low maintenance endeavor.. It gets a bad rap.
I dig that micro tomato Mary, be sure to keep us posted how it goes. Where did you find a micro tomato? Can't say I'm familiar but I'd like to be.

Here's a few shots of how the garden is progressing in the office

Any updates?

Hey, Jake5280, i like your post about water Garden. Thanks for sharing this amazing post with us I am learning a lot from it, for a long time I am looking for this kind of blog. Could you tell me what gal size is better to start with? i want to buy starter aquaponics or hydroponcs kits for mu son . and how to choose the lights?

Did you make those? The totes look more solid than mine. Nice set up.

@Jake5280 Jake, I just found this thread. Are you still growing hydroponically?

@Azgarden Mary, I see you mentioned the Kratky method (passive hydroponics). I am about to embark on this method (first foray into hydroponics for me) using 1 quart canning jars...Everything I needed has finally arrived. I have been using Happy Leaf LEDs for a few years in my outdoor greenhouse. I will be using these indoors as well. I'm hoping to get everything set up and my first seeds in this week.

I am using "Indoor Gardening With LED's, A Practical How-To Guide" to get me started. https://happyleafled.com/produ...

Hi, Jake. Just like you, I love gardening and I also have a great passion for indoor gardening, DIY, and self-sustainability. I'm happy that your wife shares your interest because it makes gardening so much more entertaining. I want to tell you that, although it is a small garden, your garden looks beautiful and I love it. I'm planning to start growing a small cannabis garden with my husband since we both love it, but I want to do it in a professional way, that's why I'm going to attend the Cannabis Training University, which is one of the most popular and well-known online sources of cannabis education in the United States. What I find impressive about this University is the fact that currently there are over 200 professional made instructional videos and over 100 accompanying ebooks to accompany the courses.

Hello Jake,
I just signed on to this forum and would like to know is it still active and if so, I will post a few questions and upload some photos of my Hydroponic Garden setup.

Well, obviously this forum is not active. Too bad.