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Q&A – Let's Get Excited – Hydroponics with Jensen Uyeda
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Q&A – Let's Get Excited – Hydroponics with Jensen Uyeda
On Friday, September 10, 2021, Jensen Uyeda, Extension and Outreach Associate at the University of Hawaii’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) gave an excellent presentation on hydroponics to students in Randall Shinn’s class at Ilima Intermediate School.
Who has questions for Mr. Jensen?
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50 Replies
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Aloha Mr. Jensen,
First off, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet my students and provide your expertise as they begin their journey learning about hydroponics. My students and I appreciated the detail knowledge you provided and look forward to future collaborations.
Question:
– When adding nutrient rich solution to this mixing tub, should the nutrient solution be filled to the top prior to adding the formular foam on top?
– Approximately how far apart (inches) should the net pots be from each other?
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Thanks!
Randy
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Randy,
I usually space the holes 6-8″ on center depending on the overall space of the board. The ends usually start 4 inches from the edge. The nutrient solution should be filled up to the net pots. You should see about 1/4″ of solution above the bottom of the net pot.
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Thank you for your response! I’ll be having the students start the process of measuring and marking the foam boards and containers.
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Mr. Jensen,
Question #2:
Once the students place the foam board directly over the mixing tub (20in wide x 28in length x 6in Depth), approximately how far apart should the 2inch holes for the net pots be apart?
– 5-7 inches apart?
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Question #3:
Once the students have drilled the holes in the foam board, approximately how many plants can be planted in the mixing tub for the following plants:
– Lettuce
– Bell peppers
– tomatoes (should that be planted in 5 gallon buckets instead)/.
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Any advice to move forward would be awesome!
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You can probably fit 12 heads of lettuce on the 20×28 board. I would suggest a bucket for the paper and maybe a trashcan for the tomato depending on the type of tomato.
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Thank you for your feedback!
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Aloha Jensen,
As my students and I await the germination of the butter crunch lettuce, I had two other questions that I hope you could answer.
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1) One of the suggestions was to use distilled water and a couple drops of lemon to help the seeds to germinate. Are there other “secrets” to helping the seeds germinate quicker using rockwool? #secretstohydroponics
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2) If I wanted my students to measure the biomass of the plant, what suggestions do you have that my students (8th graders) could do to get the biomass of the plant? How could students measure the biomass before and after? Could you provide some steps that would be simple enough if I had my students do this. #stilllearningabouthydroponics
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For lettuce, I think tap water is fine. Never used lemon juice before. One suggestion would be to keep in a cool dark place for the first night after planting and watering the rock wool. For example commercial farmers have an air conditioned room which they leave their newly seeded rock wool. The cool moist air helps break any dormancy the seed may have. A low dose of hydroponic fertilizer might also help. Maybe 1/4 strength of the regular hydroponic solution.
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Thank you for the suggestion! I realized another reason why the seeds have yet to germinate is because the rockwool was dry. It was not until a student checked it that we realized we needed to moisturize the rockwool.
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I definitely will try the suggestion!
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Biomass data collection is usually a destructive process. Typically biomass is measured on a dry weight basis. Shoots are usually cut at the base and samples are oven dried and then weighed. We usually use our sample drying ovens but I believe you could use a conventional oven on low heat to dry down the samples. Root biomass can also be done the same way.
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Thanks for the feedback on the biomass question. If I wanted to have the students collect data on the germination and the development process of each plant, what would you recommend the students collecting? The purpose is to have the students collect data on the process of growing plants but I want it to be meaningful for them and for me. Is there anything important besides height of plants, # of leaves, that my students could collect data on ?
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Hey Randy,
Height doesn’t necessarily correlate to health, example if the plant is leggy then it’ll be tall but not healthy.
I might look at percentage of germination rate, time to germinate, size of leaves, and maybe color. Color can be tricky, so you might look at creating a color chart to put a numeric value to color.
You’ll always get 2 leaves initially…well, if you have dicot seeds, lettuce is dicots. You could also look at time till true leaves emerge.
Hope this helps.
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Ken,
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Thanks for the advice and I’ll do my homework and look into it more. It’s been a while since I learned and taught about plants (ex: dictot). ????
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There are phone apps that can measure the greenness of the leafs which can ca correlate to spad readings or the chlorophyll content which can be used to estimate nitrogen content.
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Aloha Jensen,
My students inquired about planting tomatoes and peppers and wanted to know:
– what type of fertilizer to use?
– where can we get this fertilizer from?
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Currently, we just have the GH MaxiGro 2.2 lb (12/Cs) that was picked up from Ohana Greenhouse. If you could provide some guidance on where we can pick up the fertilizer to use in hydroponics, that would be greatly appreciated!
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Thanks,<br>Randy
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Typically, there is a grow formula and a bloom formula but I typically use a lettuce formula from hydro gardens for both leafy vegetables as well as fruiting vegetables with no problems. The main difference would be an increase in potassium in the bloom fertilizer which helps support flower and fruit production. If you want to send me your fertilizer nutrient label I can try and see what else you might want to supplement with to get a more balanced fertilizer for the tomatoes.
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Jensen,
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This is what I am planning on using for the leafy greens for the classroom.
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This should work fine for the leafy greens and the initial stages of the fruiting vegetables. Typically you would switch to the Maxibloom right when flowering starts.
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Okay thanks for the feedback Jensen!
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Jensen,
1) For Maxibloom, is this the correct package that you mentioned about flowering plants?
2) When changing the solution from MaxiGro to Maxibloom, do you suggest that my students empty out the entire bin that holds the fertilizer water and replace it with Maxibloom? OR do you suggest we have another bin ready and just move the foam board with the plants to that bin?
Always appreciate your expertise in this matter!
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Jensen,
I really could use your expertise in breaking down terminology for my students. With the start of Quarter 2, I am planning on having the students document the process of their seedling from germination to harvest (this is what Washington Middle did in the previous years).
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I included the breakdown of the terminology but wanted to make sure if the definitions of these terms are correct. If it isn’t, would you help provide a simple definition that my middle school students would be able to understand?
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Thanks!
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Looks good, maybe add emerges from the rock wool for germination.
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Mahalo for your expertise on the definitions!
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Jensen,
In your line of expertise, when dealing with vertical hydroponic systems such as the attached image, have you seen people use lighting such as the image attached? Two clients of my students (elementary teachers) requested vertical towers because of the lack of space in the room and needing to have enough grow nets for their students plants. The issue that I am foreseeing is the lighting for the plants which my students will problem solve to provide the best product for their clients.
Looking at the LED strip lights for hydroponics, would think this would work if my students create some type of support to hang these LED lights? What are your thoughts and/or solutions to this?
I also plan to reach out to both Ken Kozuma (Waipahu Inter) and Jason Akamine (Washington Middle) too.
Thanks!
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Indoor vertical hydroponics use similar led lighting to those shown in your images. Challenge with artificial lighting is having enough output from the bulbs. You may want to have your students look into recommended light intensity and optimal wavelength for the crops being grown. They can look into the benefit of red vs blue vs white bulbs and the best variation of colors for optimum growth.
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Jensen,
That’s a great idea! Having the students research the light intensity and the color of bulbs (red, white, blue) will help put the ownership back on the students as they discover which type of lighting provides the best optimum growth for the type of plant. Always appreciate your expertise!
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Hi Jensen,
We had a inquiry by Washington Middle regarding the economics of soil vs. soil less agriculture. Would you know of any articles or references that discusses this topic.
Thanks Cheryl
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Cheryl,
Sorry I am not familiar with any article that discuss the economics of the two systems. There are many factors that affect the economics of either system so a particular system would have to be compared with a particular system. In most cases cost of land and cost cost of materials and labor are large factors. Field production also has the benefit to economies of scale so the size of the operations would also make a difference.
Hope this helps.
Jensen
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Aloha Jensen,
I’ve been calling various businesses (just to name a few: Mari’s Garden, Aquaponic Place, Ohana Greenhouse) on the island in search for 2 vertical hydroponic systems for classroom and have had no luck on finding any. Would you happen to know of vendors on the island that is selling it?
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Randy,
Sorry not familiar with local distributors of small scale hydroponic systems. I have made tower systems with local materials if that’s something you may be interested in.
Jensen
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Aloha Jensen,
That’s awesome that you were able to build one yourself! Would you happen to have an image of what the system that you built look like so that I can show it to my students that will need to make a system like that? Secondly, what was the cost of one of those systems to build?
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Hey Randy,
This stuff that you’re talking about would be great Agriscience projects for your students and they would be worthy to compete on the national level.
1. Economics between soil and hydroponic (Plant Systems category)
2. Building your own hydroponic systems (Power, Structure & Tech Systems category)
You could even get kids to partner up and help each other, then some kids take ownership of one part, and other kids take ownership of other parts.
Do you have kids that are interested in science and competing in science fair? I’ve got a firm grip on what it takes to have success on the national level, which also means those students will be able to compete at the National Convention in Indianapolis next October.
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Aloha Ken,
To be honest, I never even thought about having the students compete in the science and engineering fairs. Haha! Currently, I have my advisory class (30 min each day) working with 6 different clients on their hydroponic systems that the clients are requesting. Right now, I’m hoping that Jensen could provide an image of a vertical tower that he built so that I can show it to my two groups are have to undertake that task.
I am interested in learning more Ken and I can find time later this afternoon to talk to you about it. I really don’t know if we can compete because this is a year project that takes time for the students to engage with the clients from start to finish (product delivered).
Let me know if I can touch basis with you this afternoon.
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Jensen,
Just wanted to follow up and see if you could provide a visual of the vertical hydroponic system that you made. My students and I are very interested in learning more and possibly build two systems for our clients.
Look forward to hearing from you.
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http://www.tomorrowsgarden.net/content/rain-tower-vertical-hydroponic-system
By the way, in case you do not have a picture of your vertical tower, it’s okay. I’ve included a link to ask if it was similar to these vertical towers in the link (provided by Cheryl). If so, can you offer some advice on how to approach and possibly tackle this with my students?
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Sorry for the delay. Here is the image of the system I built. It was constructed out of material from HomeDepot. It consist of a rubermade tub and a polyvinyl fence post with pvc cut prices to hold the plants.
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Jensen,
Not a problem! I have 2 groups who will be constructing 2 vertical towers for their “client teachers” at the elementary school. How difficult is it to build one of these towers? How did you manage to cut the net pot holes in the polyvinyl fence post?
On a side note, would you be interested in supporting my two groups in the process of making this vertical tower where you would provide your expertise in building one?
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I drilled the 2″ holes in the post and then cut the pvc at an angle to make the holder for the net pot. I beleive you can use a 2″ pvc instead of the post. The base can be built using the pvc as legs and attach the pump line internally in the pvc. I would be happy to help. I have the tools to build it. Let me know when they want to start and I can help.
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Jensen,
Definitely going to take up the offer from you and will let you know. Right now, my students are in the process of communicating with their clients (teachers) and making sure that the product that they are designing is what they want.
FYI – the vertical tower that will be made will be 4th grade students and will be indoor.
Question 1) do you think we could scale it down to fit in the room? The students are thinking of a 20-24 net pot system.
Question 2) were you able to find the water pump and tubing from home depot too? Or did you buy it from another location?
Question 3) Have you or do you know of anyone that has tried growing a vertical system indoors using grow lights? If so, did they use the grow light strips? https://www.amazon.com/Including-Accessories-Greenhouse-Installation-4-Strip-Kit/dp/B074Y32PFZ
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I think we can scale the system to whatever size you want. I ordered the water pump from amazon but you may be able to find one at home depot or possibly at aquaponics plus in Waimanalo. I have used grow lights but have never used the strips you mentioned. I am not sure what intensity is need from those strips. If its not enough you may have stretched out lettuce plants.
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Morning Jensen!
Thank you for taking the time in your day to meet with my students via Zoom yesterday. As mentioned, my students were extremely nervous speaking to you but gained valuable experience in doing so. They are truly grateful for that and we were engaged in discussion after the Zoom conference. Wish they were just as talkative on Zoom! However, we look forward to continuing to be in discussion as the year progresses. I’ll post pictures soon! Thank you again for your expertise in sharing materials used for the vertical garden that you made. We are excited to continue this journey of creating sustainable hydroponic systems for clients!
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Jensen,
I could use your expertise on the indoor vertical hydroponic system that is to be built by the student groups. As I was researching online on how to get lighting for the indoor systems, I came across this and wanted to see what your thoughts on this idea.
The students could possibly build PVC framing (vertically) to hold Sun Blaze T5 LED 44 – 4 ft 4 Lamp 120 Volt (24/Plt). The idea would be to place two of these setups on both side of the vertical garden to provide the lighting indoors.
Based on your experience and knowledge, do you think something like this would work for the indoor vertical system?
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The T5’s might work. I have never seen them setup vertically but may work. I believe you could possibly mount them on a metal rack or shelf. They have modular kind and hardware stores which May be more sturdy than the pvc.
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Aloha Jensen,
My student groups’ clients got back to both of them and have requested to have the following vertical systems set up for their classrooms.
What suggestions in terms of the container size (how many gallons) do you think would be needed for this?
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I got to take that back because one of the clients requested the design that you shared with us. So we will have one design like the one you created and the other with two posts in the container.
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The design above looks pretty good.
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Happy New Years Jensen!
<font face=”inherit”>Hope you were able to find time to relax and enjoy the holidays with family and loved ones. I wanted to reach out to let you know of a modified design that the students want to build for the clients. It’s a spinoff of what you already have and it includes a tub instead of the containers. The tub is 30 gallons each and will have fountain pumps for each of the vertical system. The design that you had will have a 400 GPH pump and the two tower version will have 2 – 200 GPH pumps. The students will also be including a plastic that will go over the tubs for </font>aesthetics<font face=”inherit”>. </font>
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</font><font face=”inherit”>Finally, are you still offering your services and expertise in helping the students cut the holes in the PVC posts, and creating the two vertical systems? If so, let me know soon so that I can provide possible date(s) of what works best for you to come to Ilima. </font>
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</font><font face=”inherit”>Thank you!</font>
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Aloha Jensen,
Just wanted to see if I could get a confirmation February 4th (Ilima Community Day) to help our students construct their hydroponic systems.
Thanks!
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Aloha Jensen!
Update: Currently the students are still working on their vertical hydroponic towers. Each group has painted the wood to cover their container and now working hard to create their lighting system for their systems. I will provide you and include pictures when they have completed it.
One of the critical components that they are still trying to figure out is how to get the hose attached to the top of the garden post so that the emitters can be attached. The plug that was picked up from Home Depot is slightly too small for the hose and students may use Gorilla glue to glue it shut.
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Jensen,
Here are several images of the vertical systems lighting that the students designed themselves. We are still working on a solution for the drip system because the emitters are not allowing the water to spray out and only allows it to drip slowly (even when we open up the emitters). The students are deciding whether or not to remove the emitters to allow the water to spray out instead. The issue that they are having is that when the emitters are removed, the pressure of the water is great. the students will have to adjust the flow of the water through the pump at this point.
See images and if you have any feedback, please send them my way.
Thanks!
Randy
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