Demeter Guides > Quotes

“It only takes spinach about a week to go from seed to seedling, and then forty days later, you can expect to harvest your plants and toss them in a salad. In that time, our system will not need to have its water changed so long as the nutrient solution to plant ratio remains at one plant to one gallon. A pH level between 6.0 and 7.5 is necessary. This pH level is mostly within the ranges that lettuce likes as well, and this means that the two plants can be grown together in a single Kratky system, though lettuce will harvest a week or two earlier than spinach does.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“Herbs can be grown much tighter together than lettuce or spinach, and so a ratio of two patches to a gallon of nutrient solution can be used. Hydroponic systems with moving solution require the growing media of your herb garden to”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“Strawberries do well in a deep water culture or wicking, and the Kratky system can be seen as the cousin to these two approaches. The problem with growing strawberries in a Kratky system is entirely pinpointed in the initial building phase. A pH level of 5.5 to 6.2 is necessary, and if this is off, even by a few points, then your strawberries are going”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“While you can pick any material, you want for your container, beginners would be best served by sticking with a hard opaque plastic. Try to go with a light grey or white color instead of black. The reason to pick plastic and avoid black is to reduce how much heat the container absorbs. A metal container or a black container will hold on to more heat and raise the temperature of the nutrient solution in your system. An opaque plastic will prevent sunlight from getting at the roots and promoting algae growth.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“An EC reader like the HoneForest brand TDS, EC, and temperature reader will run you $15 on Amazon, but its unlimited uses and built-in thermometer make it an absolute steal.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“When you are growing strawberries, pay close attention to the climate you create for them. Provide eight to twelve hours of light and keep it on a routine schedule. Pay close attention to your strawberry plants as they grow, since the buds will need to be pollinated by hand. This is done by taking a brush and brushing pollen from the male flowers into the female flowers. This should be done once a day, starting from when flowers begin to open. Provide a temperature between 60F and 80F, with 70F being just perfect. The temperature at night needs to be reduced by a few degrees.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“Neem Oil: Neem oil (pictured above) is found in a lot of household items, ranging from soaps and shampoos to toothpaste and beauty products. However, you are going to want to buy pure neem oil for use in your hydroponic garden. Neem oil is made up of a lot of different components that together work as a form of all-natural pesticide. You can find a 16 oz container of pure neem oil for under $20 on Amazon, and your local gardening center is sure to carry some. You should also purchase a spray bottle while you are thinking about neem oil. Your local garden center will have spray bottles, but you can save a few dollars by going to a dollar store and getting one there. Distill neem oil into some water and fill up the spray bottle. Once a week, spray down your plants with this neem oil + water solution. Make sure to get it over the leaves and the plants themselves. This creates a coating that doesn’t harm the plants, but it makes them repellent to pests. If you find that you do have to deal with an infestation, then neem oil works as a part of a treatment routine, but it should already be a part of your weekly routine as a preventative measure.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“Tomatoes like to get a pH level in the range of 5.5 to 6.5, and a temperature between 60F and 90F, though most growers agree that temperatures at the lower end of this spectrum produce tastier fruit. Like bell peppers, tomatoes need lots of light, and can even benefit from having a dedicated light set up for 24-hour illumination. They’ll take two to three months to grow, so you can expect to have to water your tomatoes eight to twelve times during this process. While this makes tomatoes a more involved crop, the results are often well worth the effort. Strawberries”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“to suffer. Getting this just right makes or breaks your crop. A Kratky method system is also best used for a small crop rather than a large one, and so you can expect to grow three or four plants in a five-gallon Kratky system.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“Tomatoes can be a lot harder to grow in the Kratky method, but that doesn’t mean that they are impossible. In fact, while they will take quite a bit of extra work, tomatoes can actually grow well using the Kratky method of hydroponics. The big thing with tomatoes is that they love getting lots and lots of liquid, and so you will need to mix a new nutrient solution for them on a weekly basis if you don’t use a large enough container.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“Spinach will take on a different taste depending on the temperature it is grown at. Sticking with a temperature between 65F and 72F will lead to sweeter tasting spinach, but the lower the temperature you grow, the longer it will take the spinach to grow. Provide spinach with plenty of sun and an NPK balanced mixture.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“General Hydroponics makes a three-in-one package that comes with their formulated FloraGro, FloraMicro, and FloraBloom mixtures. Following the directions on these packages tells you exactly how much to mix to make your nutrient solution. A little more goes into making the perfect nutrient solution, but we’ll come on to that in Chapter Seven. For now, you can pick up a General Hydroponics three-in-one package from Amazon for $35.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“The Kratky method has no moving parts. It requires no electricity (so long as natural light can be provided), and it is the most inexpensive system to build and run. ✓    The Kratky method is achieved by hanging plants in net pots above a nutrient solution. As the plants drain the solu- tion, more room for oxygen is created to provide plenty of air to the roots. ✓    Since there are no moving parts and little maintenance, the Kratky method can be thought of as a “set it and forget it” approach to gardening.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“In order to manage this in a hydroponic system, you should plan to use a pair of garden shears to prune the plant and keep it at about eight inches tall. That will keep the energy flowing into the peppers so that they taste amazing. Bell peppers will take about 90 days after seedlings start to show. During those 90 days, bell peppers require a lot of light, and you can expect to give them a minimum of 18 hours a day. However, bell peppers can actually handle 24 hours of light, and so it is often more effective just to give them a dedicated light that you never shut off. While bell peppers require a pH level between 6.0 and 6.5, making them similar to lettuce and spinach, they should be grown in their own containers. They’ll need more nutrient solution to drink, and so grow bell peppers at a ratio of one plant to three gallons of water.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“The Kratky method generally functions best when it uses either rockwool, hydroton, or coconut coir. Rockwool (pictured above) is made out of basaltic rock that has been spun into fine fibers and then packed together into cubes or blocks. Hydroton is made out of expanded clay pebbles. Coconut coir is made out of the shells of coconuts and is most often found packed together like rockwool. Using one of these three growing mediums is recommended because they come in larger sizes than many of the others. The large size prevents the growing medium from spilling out of the holes in the net pots that the Kratky method uses. Using one of these will also help to keep your Kratky method system cleaner.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“Lettuce is best grown in a container that provides a gallon of nutrient solution per plant. A five-gallon container could be used to grow five heads of lettuce. Lettuce takes best to a growing medium that gets lots of air, such as chunks of coco coir or clay. A nutrient mix for lettuce is evenly balanced, which means that it has equal parts nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“The only equipment you need for a Kratky system is a bucket in the 5-gallon range, a couple 3-inch net pots, and perhaps a hole bolt. You will need to use something to cut holes in the top of the bucket to fit your nets in. A growing medium, nutrients for your solution, and a little pH kit, and you have everything. This makes for a tiny shopping list when you are first getting started, making the Kratky method the cheapest way to begin using hydroponics.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“pH Test Kit or Reader: You can purchase a set of pH test strips for $10 off Amazon. These allow you to check the pH level of your nutrient solution by seeing what color the strip changes to. Similar to the pH Test Indicator of the last section, these are important to have on hand, but they can start to get costly if you have a lot of checks to do. Replacing the pH Test Indicator or your pH stripes could easily run you $50 or more in the course of a year.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“If you have gone with the General Hydroponics kit for your nutrients, then you might as well stick with them and get their pH Up and pH Down kit. This kit comes as a bottle of pH up, a bottle of pH Down, a small bottle of pH Test Indicator, and a small container for mixing. Fill up the empty vial with some of your nutrient solution, and add a few drops of the pH Test Indicator. The color of the liquid will change and using the scale that General Hydroponics provides you with, you will be able to tell the range of your mixture. Follow the directions to increase or decrease the pH level as needed. Grab this kit off Amazon for $25.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“A better investment is to purchase a digital pH reader. Amazon sells a KETOTEK digital pH meter for $15, and the VIVOSUN pH meter with TDS meter combination sells for $20. But despite the higher price tag, the Dr. Meter pH100-V that Amazon sells is easily one of the best pH readers on the market for hydroponic gardeners. At $40, it costs twice as much, but it comes with easy to use instructions, automatic calibration, and offers pinpoint accuracy. Investing in a digital pH reader means never running out of test strips or purchasing more pH Test Indicator ever again.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“Lettuce likes to be grown in cool places, as too much heat will stunt its growth. It should be provided a pH level of 6.0 to 7.0 when the nutrient solution is mixed during the build phase.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“Where the Kratky system stands out the most, is when it is used with crops like lettuce or spinach, crops that don’t go through a fruiting stage.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“The Roots Need to be Covered: The roots are beautiful and definitely a sight that you want to take in, but that should be on rare occasions. When growing with the Kratky arrangement, it is best to purchase hard plastic containers that block out the light or to cover up see-through containers in a tarp, aluminum foil, or heat resistant blanket. As mentioned, plants typically have their roots below the ground, and this means that the light never actually hits the roots directly. When this happens, the roots could start to grow algae within the water. The algae starts to feed on the nutrient solution itself, and this, in turn, begins to take nutrients away from your plants to feed this intruder. While the roots are one of the most beautiful sights you can see with the Kratky method, it is also somewhat dangerous to do so and better avoided by beginners that aren’t careful.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil

“While it is tremendous to see the root system of your plants, you need to cover the nutrient solution to prevent direct light from promoting algae growth in the reservoir. ✓    If the lid on your Kratky system isn’t tightly secured, then harmful bacteria and pathogens can easily enter the system and kill your plants. ✓    Since most Kratky method systems are meant not to be opened again after they are built, you need to be extra careful to get everything mixed properly and tightly secured during the build phase.”
― Demeter Guides, Hydroponics: The Kratky Method: The Cheapest And Easiest Hydroponic System For Beginners Who Want To Grow Plants Without Soil