Now for a little rambling, shall we? What would the thread be without my mind wandering a bit?
It's been weighing on my mind that I don't really have a great setup for seedlings to plug into hydro. I have good stuff overall, but it's missing that real first week or two option where you can really let them be babies before dropping them into their big girl home. (Yes, I know some people will even sprout in their RDWC settup, so it's not an absolute requirement.)
I do have a standard seedling station. Basically a tray, it holds water, has a 2-level dome with air vents. Along with seedling mats and controllers, etc. I also have a tray for the inside with a wicking mat. It works, works well, but once they're up, they're up. It really is better suited to a soil/soilless medium than hydro. It still works, but it's a weaker point and could be better.
What I would like to do is set up a better deal. Something modular that can adapt to a few different types of operation.
My original idea was making an aeroponic setup from a 27gal tote. Nothing fancy, I have 80% of the parts to do it. Just need the 1/2" pvc fittings, a few more spray heads, and a 10-24 tap bit. I have the tote, and two lids.
So this would have been a setup where I could have done two things with it:
a) aeroponic setup
b) small flood/drain setup
Both great for baby plants, dirt or hydro covered, and could change it up to either type by swapping the lid and plugging the pump into a new pipe. I could have even fixed the pump part with a couple valves and made it easier. Basically just changing the lid, inserting/removing the supply pipe for the flood lid, and setting the timer for the pump to either constant or schedule. The flood lid would have a tray on top of it, not actually using the lid to flood.
System would hold about 15 gallons of water, great for baby plants.
There is a few issues with that, though. First, the number of net pots the lid would successfully hold. I would prefer for that to use the same size that plugs into my RDWC setup. That being the case, I would want 8 total, and the lid on a 27gal tote just won't allow it. It would do 6, but that might even be pushing its limit.
I could correct this by using smaller net pots, but I really don't want to mess with having to meticulously get establishing roots through a new net pot. It can be done, but anytime you mess with young roots (or roots in general) it makes me nervous. So many bad things can happen from the slightest miscalculation or error.
So then I got to digging around, and low and behold, I may have found (and mentioned already a page or so ago) what may be something that is right up my alley.
What specifically?
It's from Current Culture, and it's the UC solo pro module.
It's a 35gal capacity module, that is 37" x 26" with a 16" height. And they just happen to make several different lids for it. One of those lids just happens to hold (8) of their 5.5" net pots. Bingo!
They also have other lids ranging from blank with no holes; to 1, 4, or 6 holes for 8" net pots; and 8 or 11 holes for 5.5" net pots.
So what could be done with something like this?
Whatever I wanted to do, effectively. If the lid isn't set up like I would want, I can get a blank one and drill it. I can start with an 8-hole lid, and (2) blanks. That would give me 3 options. Obviously the 8-hole setup I was after, plus with the two blanks I can set it up for the flood/drain, and the second blank I can drill for a bunch of 3" net pots for something like clones.
The downside is that it isn't a cheap setup. A single module MSRP is $499. Honestly, that's a joke for a tub, lid, and air pump.
However, I can buy the parts individually for half that. Not perfect world, and not DIY-level cheap. However, one thing I can say from first hand experience is that it is definitely high quality, and would last significantly longer than a DIY setup. The lids are solid AF, and built to last. Not quite a justification for the price tag, but certainly a reason why it has a bigger one.
So I could set this up in a multitude of ways without much effort. Aeroponic, DWC, flood/drain, etc. If I really wanted to, I could make a 2-hole lid and do two full plants in it, although I probably wouldn't, but I could.
I can build a basic stand/cabinet for this, save some back strain, and be in pretty good shape I think. For the flood/drain setup, since all the lids are the same price, I could grab a single hole lid which the plumbing would run through. It would be way bigger than needed, but I can add a gasket. That hole though would serve as a backup. For? Well, if the bulkhead/grommet for the pipes were to leak or drip, there ya go. It drips right back through the big hole in the lid and into the res. Crisis averted.
So there's my rambling thought for the moment. Not something I'm going to do today, but in the next couple of months it may be something on the radar after more thought and research.
