How to set up an Ebb and Flow / Flood and Drain Hydroponics Growing System - PART 1 of 6

what's up Growers Everest here with an update on those YOLO wond sweet peppers that you saw me start a while back it's been a challenging few weeks trying to combat very low relative humidity levels in my grow tent but they seem pretty happy now in their 4in Groen rock wool blocks I've been hardening them up outside on my Sunny Terrace now for around 10 days handw watering daily with a mild vegetative hydroponic nutrient solution so today I'm super excited because it's finally time to transplant my Peppers into a hydroponic Growing System I've picked a south facing wall and I'm going to use a flow and grow 12 pot modular flood and drain system by Titan controls first I need to figure how I'm going to lay out my pots now the flow and growth system is pretty flexible allowing many different configurations I'm going for two rows of six pots right under this trellis here the spacing is pretty compact as my Terrace isn't that big and I'm going to try and keep the peppers pretty vertical in form now warm nights will definitely help me achieve this and saave off fruit production for a while I want big plants and lots of peppers cool nights on the other hand will cause premature fruiting so keep in mind that outdoor hydroponic Peppers is definitely a summer sport okay so here's the system's 55 gallon Reservoir now this holds the hydroponic nutrient solution the reservoir connects to a control bucket called the oceanis one control bucket which times irrigations uh feed feeds the 12 plant buckets and then eventually pumps the nutrient solution back into the reservoir so my pots are laid out like this my first job is to connect them all together fit the supplied tea pieces into each bucket it helps to use a little cooking oil to loosen those little puppies up and in she goes nice now notice how I've arranged the pots in tea pieces so that the irrigation tubing will be shaded as much as possible in between the two rows of pots this is so the nutrient solution doesn't warm up too much in the pipes warm nutrients equals oxygen starved Roots that's a no no next we'll unwrap the supplied irrigation tubing and uh connect up the pots now you may find it easier if you tip them on their sides like this um please ignore that mystery black hair definitely not one of mine uh anyway connect the tea pieces together with the irrigation tubing here's the three pots connected together um connect the first row of pots like this it's simple just give them a push and they ease onto the te pieces pretty easily there that's one row of six pots connected together we just need to fit an end stopper at the end of the tube like this to keep the nutrient solution from um draining all over my Terrace floor okay on to the second roll let's roll this on a bit now the second row of pots is connected up and the end cap is on see what I mean about keeping the irrigation tubing on the down low it'll look a lot prettier that way too now our next job is to connect the oceanis one control bucket to the two rows of pots cut a little tubing to fit now the control bucket has four outputs meaning you can extend it if you wish but for now we only really need to use two um the other two are plugged with end caps as I said all this stuff was supplied with the flow and grow so you should only have to make one trip to the Hydra store okay let's follow the pipe there's something about following irrigation tubing that really excites me yeah there we go all the way to the end I cannot wait to see this running next let's take a quick peek inside the oceanis one not much to see in here yet admittedly because we need to install the drain pump position the pump so that the filter you know where it sucks from is as low down as possible for the best possible drainage the flow and grow comes with two Maxi jet 1200 pumps one for draining and one for filling so cut some tubing to the right length and fit to the nodule by the lid and plug the pump's electrical plug into the controller next put the other pump in the bottom of the reservoir and connect it to the lid fitting with some more pipe see this anti-kinking wrap is a great addition to the system I like flexible pipe but this gives me great peace of mind that the system is working as it should now connect the reservoir pump's electrical plug into the oceanis one now inside these blue buckets sit these black Square net pots and we're going to fill them with hydrocorn an awesome non-restrictive hydroponic growing media from those crazy Dutch guys at Gold Label so fill the net pots about 2 in from the top try not to spill it okay then we rinse it through like this to uh remove any dust particles that formed in the bag during Transportation you know you're done when the water runs off clear at the bottom these net pots sit snuggly on top of the blue buckets like this so all the net pots are filled and in position now the Gold Label dudes recommend soaking their hydrocorn for 24 hours in PH 5.5 water personally I don't think it makes that much of a difference and the wife would kill me if I filled her bath with hydrocorn so I'll just keep an extra close eye on the pH of the nutrient solution to begin with so we're nearly there and while that green hose pipe fills up my reservoir with water I'll take a moment to dream a little about my YOLO Wonder sweet peppers hopefully I can grow them up this trellis higher and Higher and Higher and well maybe not that High um come back camera dude lower lower lower and you're back on the ground thank you okay so the flow and growth system is all connected up what's next uh yeah so we're waiting for the reservoir to fill and then we can dose it up with hydroponic nutrients we're using Flora blend now arguably this is the world's finest three-part hydroponic nutrient rut it's manufactured by General Hydroponics so at 50 mL of micro stir 50 mL of grow stir and 50 mL of Bloom and stir we're shooting for a mild vegetative nutrient solution Peppers aren't particularly heavy feeders okay now add dilute PH down adjuster to bring the pH of your nutrient solution to between 6.0 and 6.5 which is perfect for Peppers all right let's test the system set the timer on the ocean one to come on for one or two irrigations a day once in the morning and once midafternoon okay the oceanis one first switches on the reservoir pump and then the control bucket starts to fill now I've lifted out the net pot on one of the buckets so that you can see the water begin to flow into the plant sites for me personally I find it's easier to transplant the plants once the system is fully flooded which reminds me let's bring in the stars of the show The YOLO Wonder sweet peppers yeah okay so yeah these aren't the finest looking specimens I've ever grown you know a little low humidity stress took its toll early on and um you know then the nutrients got a little concentrated in the blocks as a result so yeah just look at that leathery foliage uh any pepper Pros out there please tell me where else I might have gone wrong don't hold back I can take it uh yeah okay right back to the flow and grow now the oceanis one control buckets still filling so let's take a look inside one of the buckets yeah they're filling up nicely too too all right awesome now when the system's full a float valve triggers and uh the drain pump sends all the nutrient solution back into the reservoir all right let's get these young YOLO into their fine new homes so as you can see we have roots coming out of the bottom not as many as I'd like but you know we're just about good to go shove them in don't worry about completely burying the block a little air around the top it isn't a bad thing the commercial Growers say that ideally you should propagate in the same media that you're going to grow in but I found these groden Rock W blocks were great in any hydro system top up around the blocks with any spare washed hydrocorn and there you have it one planted out flow and grow flood and drain hydroponic system just for Growers is a place for all types of Growers to interact so make sure you post your comments and questions at justfor growers.com you'll find tons more videos and articles there too