I've been reading a little bit about float trays and it seems like a really interesting concepts though it seems pretty difficult for small batch, hobby grows to set up and invest in. Are there any of you who would recommend it?
Is there a point to growing in float trays for hobbiests?
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I've done it and don't recommend it. They are just too messy. The 1020 trays do basically the same thing and are much easier to work with.
Good to know. Thanks! I might try growing a few plants with hyrdoponics next season just as a comparison but I think I will do it the traditional way with the 1020 trays.
Since I grow so many seedlings each spring, both non tobacco and now tobacco I'm going to give it a go next year. I've done a lot of hydroponics and even lettuce in float systems so I feel pretty confident I can make it work pretty well and lower my time investment during the early seedling phase. I think one of the biggest advantages has to be that the root system is not contained to tiny pots so I won't be in quite such a rush to transplant.
I'm thinking to build an approximately 12'x4'x6" in one side of my greenhouse complete with bulkhead drains and an air stone setup. I'll share the build and grow once it happens.
I'm thinking to build an approximately 12'x4'x6" in one side of my greenhouse complete with bulkhead drains and an air stone setup. I'll share the build and grow once it happens.
So question regarding hydroponics, have you ever done it with tobacco? It seems like its good for vegetables that have a high yield but because you can only really grow 1-4 plants per hydro container, it doesn't seem super efficient. I might try for one batch next year with hydroponics and leave it at my folks house. We live in an apartment about an hour away and don't have a ton of space for seedlings here and feel bad to have my parents take care of the "babies" if I left it at their place. Float trays seemed like a good solution
Nope, this is my first year on tobacco and went with the field.
Typically a well maintained hydroponic system can, in theory, support more plant density than pots of soil, but after a certain point you can't get around the form factor of some plants even if you can support the root mass and feed them.
I used to manufacture and sell high density aero-hydro systems for use in 4x4 grow tents and we had models that went up to 72 plant sites in that footprint. Great for a monster lettuce or herb garden indoors or using "sea of green" forced flowering style methods for certain other crops often grown from clones, but for hobby grows of cherry tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, strawberry etc I'd always use far far fewer of the plant sites. Eventually I settled on using a six site Dutch bucket system for tent grows of larger plants
Based on what I've read about commercial tobacco growers they are able to leverage very high plant density in the early stages with a float system.
Here's some fun pics of some of my high density work back in the day...
Typically a well maintained hydroponic system can, in theory, support more plant density than pots of soil, but after a certain point you can't get around the form factor of some plants even if you can support the root mass and feed them.
I used to manufacture and sell high density aero-hydro systems for use in 4x4 grow tents and we had models that went up to 72 plant sites in that footprint. Great for a monster lettuce or herb garden indoors or using "sea of green" forced flowering style methods for certain other crops often grown from clones, but for hobby grows of cherry tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, strawberry etc I'd always use far far fewer of the plant sites. Eventually I settled on using a six site Dutch bucket system for tent grows of larger plants
Based on what I've read about commercial tobacco growers they are able to leverage very high plant density in the early stages with a float system.
Here's some fun pics of some of my high density work back in the day...
That is some insane handiwork. Don't think I would ever get that advanced. Makes float trays look easy lol!
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