Kratky method questions
- Thread starter zeusman95
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nonamedman420
Well-Known Member
Most people don't do kratky right. They either skimp on pot size or have the water height wrong or don't follow kratky's directions. I have a 5' tall (not considering pot) tomato plant in a 5 gallon pot with tons on tomatoes on it. The pot size matters a lot, the reservoir size also matters a lot. If the water level is too high the plant will make mostly water roots and not enough air roots. Also, never water through the top of the pot, it will all but kill off the bottom roots. I see the best results with only about 4" of water on the bottom. I am currently setting up a float valve and separate reservoir because it is a pain to keep refilling this tiny pot compared to the plant. I recommend watching all of Kratky's videos on youtube, and not some other random dude doing a kratky video, after all would you rather learn how to the kratky method from man who created the method, or would you rather learn it from someone who has tried it once, half-assed as it were?
Creature1969
Well-Known Member
You think that? You don't think anyone ever grew like this before? lol. Fucken youtube.
potpimp
Sector 5 Moderator
Great advice! What nutes do you use for your tomatoes? My biggest problem is not having enough sunlight.
nonamedman420
Well-Known Member
I been using GH Maxi-Series + epsom + calnit. Works great.
nonamedman420
Well-Known Member
LMAO, The Kraty method.... sure people did before ffs, wanna be a pedant? Why not look him up, university of hilo hawaii Bernard A Kratky . The dude is" Title : Researcher Emeritus · Unit : Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences " I'd listen to him before some dude who did it before and left no directions for us.
nonamedman420
Well-Known Member
What was this method called before he coined it? That's what I thought, weak pedantic shit with no substance. Why not add to the conversation with something besides stupidity?
nonamedman420
Well-Known Member
I also been experimenting with pure vitamin c powder to dechlorinate and lower ph. I also been experimenting with silica blast to strengthen plants and raise ph. I'm trying to see what is the cheapest and most useful of these products, I feel like they will be harder to get in the near future with all the politics and other stuff happening in the world today.
Treesomewanted77
Well-Known Member
I use a type of kratky setup. I use 7g buckets with bottom 4-6” of perlite then I fill the rest with soil and have a 1/4” hole about 2-3” up the side and water till it comes out the hole and it works pretty darn well other than I have to water often when I get big plants. I use to use a 1/2 pvc pipe cut at a slant stuck down the side to the bottom of the bucket and water through that but I found it makes no difference just watering from the top like normal. I added some pics to show that it does work but I’m sure there is better growth with straight kratky method.
I do have to feed every time after the first month or 2 when i transplant into the buckets because 5G of soil runs out of food rather quick.
I do have to feed every time after the first month or 2 when i transplant into the buckets because 5G of soil runs out of food rather quick.
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Billy the Mountain
Well-Known Member
You've described essentially a Bato or Hempy bucket setup. I use something similar outdoors except coco in lieu of soil.
The Kratky method is quite different
Treesomewanted77
Well-Known Member
Thank you for pointing that out guess I hadn’t heard of the kratky method or I thought it was the same type setup. I got some research to do now. Sorry I hijacked the tread with wrong system.
Does the kratky work well?
Does the kratky work well?
Horselover fat
Well-Known Member
I grew kratky tomatoes last year. I used canna hydro flower nutes (had extra nutrs. Didn't buy them for tomatoes). Worked great. Lots of sweet tomatoes.
I don't think kratky will work very well for cannabis. The root oxygen demands are too great for fast growth in a kratky. I could be wrong, but I haven't seen great examples. Maybe if you used a huge res, but would it make any sense?
nonamedman420
Well-Known Member
Trying it now, will update in a few months. So far great. I only tried it because I had a plant I chopped at the stem about 4" from the netpot, in dwc, and left the bucket in the room near a window. I came back a month later to a fucking plant in my window, more healthy than any of the dwc's I ran that year. No airstone, nothing just nutes. I opened the bucket and had a massive rootzone, I couldn't believe it. For shits n giggles I flowered it as is and it made it most of the way before it needed nutes. I was kinda trying to kill it all over again and it was rock solid. Learned of kratky after a bit of googling. I tell ya the maters I'm growing are friggin huge and grow so damn fast and so many tomatoes I have a hard time believing a properly dialed in kratky with a reservoir and a float valve wouldn't work great in flower for canna. That's my $.02
Billy the Mountain
Well-Known Member
You're quite right, it's not a good choice for cannabis
Kratky is usually used for lettuce and similar fast-maturing plants which are ready to harvest quickly
nonamedman420
Well-Known Member
Zero problems with my tomatoes, they grow hella fast too. I guess the single pot versions would not be so great, but with a reservoir to keep the pot topped off it works great. To each their own I guess.
Horselover fat
Well-Known Member
It worked great for my tomatoes too. I had small 20 liter buckets (less than 10 liters water). I had to refill every day or two.
Billy the Mountain
Well-Known Member
I'm not saying it won't work, just not what it was designed for. With a larger reservoir, maybe works ok with longer duration crops
From the source himself:
The suspended net-pot, non-circulating hydroponic growing method is a unique and powerful technique for growing leafy, semi-head and small romaine lettuce cultivars, because the entire crop can be grown with only an initial application of water and nutrients.
Horselover fat
Well-Known Member
Kratky grows tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers the same way too. Here he is with toms and peppers.
nonamedman420
Well-Known Member
That quote is from the single bucket that is also a reservoir. With an external reservoir and a float valve, longer duration crops can be used.