Comment

Comment by John Malone on April 13, 2013 at 1:53pm

And the DWC raft build is complete.  It took a lot longer than I expected.

104 holes of goodness.

Comment by Raychel A Watkins on April 9, 2013 at 2:38pm

Mahalo Chris.  Like others I used a mixture of vermiculite, coir, and some organic potting mix with the cinders.  You have given me hope again because the other stuff just washes away in the water.  Do you have a seeding table or do you just put them in the blue dow

Comment by Harold Sukhbir on April 9, 2013 at 12:00pm

Hi All,

In high production systems, like Chris's system, cost will of course become a major factor for choice of media. Here in my country Coir is a cost choice but the drawback is the frequent turnover rate.

Comment by Chris Smith on April 9, 2013 at 9:06am

Raychel, I have been using only lava for seeding. Most small seeds fall into the voids and plant themselves when I top water. The best thing about lava is it is easily recyclable!!!! I have been using the sane lava for years. I figure that I loose less than 10 in the root-balls after harvest. I can get a cubic yard of it for about 60$ which makes it the most economical choice for me.

Comment by Jon Parr on April 9, 2013 at 8:30am

I have been using starter plugs from IHort, make from bark and a sponge polymer, in 392 cell trays, (that's right, 392 cells, 14 x 28 grid in a 13" x 26" tray), and they fit directly into the industry standard 1" tapered holes in Beaver Plastic EPS rafts, no chunks or rocks to fall into the water, and the whole thing gets pulled with the produce and stays on for the consumer to compost. 

Now, however, I'm gearing towards Organic Cert, and I'm playing with using the same trays and filling them with seasoned biochar bits. So good so far, and I expect the seedling roots will hold and contain the lightweight char, and again the end consumer can add them to their compost. 

Comment by Ned Berndt on April 9, 2013 at 6:15am

Hey John,

I grow out my seedlings in a mixture of cocnut coir, vermiculite and worm casting (secret ingredient) and transfer the entire "plug" into the net pots.  Since 98 cell propagation trays require less space than a DWC, you can get a higher turn on your DWC production.

I tried small gravel in addition and then had to send a bunch of wasted time at the harvest end.

Best regards,

Ned

Comment by Raychel A Watkins on April 9, 2013 at 1:01am

Hey Chris  Do you use only lava rock in your net pots or do you add something like coir.

Comment by Chris Smith on April 9, 2013 at 12:06am

John, lava rock is easily crushed with a hammer to make smaller pieces. Try breaking some up for seeding. I have been doing this for years!

Comment by John Malone on April 8, 2013 at 3:40pm

I've got 1" sized lava rock and I fear that the seeds are going to fall through.

I like to keep the seeds cozy, you know.  It's a personal failing: I still have severe doubts every time I throw seeds into the lava rock media beds.  I shouldn't, because they always seem to grow, but being a farmer's kid, it just doesn't seem right.

Maybe, I'll crush up some of the lava rock to a smaller size and give that a run.

Comment by Vlad Jovanovic on April 8, 2013 at 3:04pm

John...why not just use your lava rock? Why the hassle with the perlite or anything else?

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