Version 3.0 - 'Third time lucky'
The PVC sheet concept worked much better than the flower troughs but it still continually leaked where the return hose ran back into the reservoir. At this point I also started to get problems with the Arduino crashing when the water pump started. My original goal was to remotely monitor the hydroponics setup using the Arduino and control it but I was now still struggling to even grow a single thing. The pivotal moment came when one night all 30 of my seedlings were eaten by slugs!
Pests are indeed a very real risk to your hydroponics investment especially when you have the kit outside (with cost apportionment I was up to about £25 a lettuce at this point). With experience I am now using a combination of stale larger, salt and copper tape, continue reading here.
So, I decided to cut my losses and go with the Atami Wilma 10 Pot Hydroponic Dripper System which cost me £97.98 from Amazon. Thank God.
I also purchased a plastic cold-frame £31.50 to protect everything from the elements. In the picture you can see the Arduino monitoring system (more on that later). I also dug the Wilma into the ground for thermal stability.
The PVC sheet concept worked much better than the flower troughs but it still continually leaked where the return hose ran back into the reservoir. At this point I also started to get problems with the Arduino crashing when the water pump started. My original goal was to remotely monitor the hydroponics setup using the Arduino and control it but I was now still struggling to even grow a single thing. The pivotal moment came when one night all 30 of my seedlings were eaten by slugs!
Pests are indeed a very real risk to your hydroponics investment especially when you have the kit outside (with cost apportionment I was up to about £25 a lettuce at this point). With experience I am now using a combination of stale larger, salt and copper tape, continue reading here.
So, I decided to cut my losses and go with the Atami Wilma 10 Pot Hydroponic Dripper System which cost me £97.98 from Amazon. Thank God.
I also purchased a plastic cold-frame £31.50 to protect everything from the elements. In the picture you can see the Arduino monitoring system (more on that later). I also dug the Wilma into the ground for thermal stability.
Conclusion
I recommend buying a hydroponics system just so you can quickly get growing, then as your experience expands create your own system. There are so many things to go right / wrong when attempting to build and grow initially. If I had started with a purchased system I would have saved myself several months and a good few hundred pounds.
First results
From seed to a fully grown lettuce only took six weeks which was extremely satisfying (plus tasty) given the problems I initially had.
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