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Modern Sprout basil hydroponic starter kit - follow the instructions or use what I’ve learned online?
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Modern Sprout basil hydroponic starter kit – follow the instructions or use what I’ve learned online?


Hello all,

I recently bought a Basil hydroponic starter kit from modern sprout to make my first ever hydroponic plant. It includes a net cup, lava rock grow medium, fertilizer, seeds, and a mason jar.

From the little independent research I’ve done on hydroponics, it seems to be a Kratky method starter kit. However, some of the instructions given seem to contradict what I’ve learned online and from Reddit, and I wanted to hear your opinions on whether I should modify the instructions or just trust the company on it (as in my mind, it’s not that much more difficult and so I’m not sure why they’d give inaccurate instructions).

The main concerns I have are below:

  • the use of igneous lava rock as a grow medium. Everything I’ve seen online about starting a basil hydroponic uses clay balls or rockwool or both.

  • their instructions never mention anything about weeding out all but the strongest germinated seed to prevent competition among too many plants. This goes against what I’ve read and my own intuition.

  • the insistence on changing the water out every 2 weeks, and keeping the watering level at the bottom 1/3rd of the net cup for the entire plant’s lifespan. From what I understood, the Kratky method requires free hanging roots to get oxygen. They even specifically say to NEVER let the water drop below this point.

All in all, some of these instructions make no sense based on what I have learned. On the other hand, I’m a complete novice that feels unqualified to question the company’s recommendations, as I’d assume they would want to give the best instructions possible so that their product is more successful, especially when it’s not that much more complicated or expensive to do so.

What are your thoughts?

Here is a link to the product and a screenshot of the instructions for more reference:

https://modernsprout.com/products/new-garden-jars-herbs?srsltid=AfmBOortvVf7pvaQeg-V3riyjLiReMrW5ADPt-9GDfWspUrrt9cC0D2n

by stefradjen

4 Comments

  1. DeDorius

    I’d follow, then remake not following and compare
    Now it’s yours to play with

  2. bojacked

    ok so you have a kratky hydroponics (passive hydro) starter kit! They are fun but work differently than systems pumping air to the roots 24/7. Once you get dialed in for kratky it’s really my favorite method because you can basically neglect it and check nute levels 2x a week and top up when it needs it. One thing you will need to understand is that kratky hydroponics is kind of touchy at the beginning until the roots get longer. The most important thing to learn now for passive hydro is that you CAN and WILL DROWN the plant if you overfill and dont have the required air space for roots to get air. basil is great to learn on and roots super fast and easy so you should get like 5-10 cuttings from an established plant going in make shift kratky setups while you learn. Like take a clean yogurt cup that fits in a recycled mayo jar wrapped in foil to block light and cut some slots to make the yogurt cup like a net pot and then plug in some branches of a basil cutting and add some rocks so you can have more fun and learn how kratky works faster. We used to buy the lettuce at the store with roots on it and stick the roots into a mini kratky setup like this and it’s like free lettuce bc it keeps growing back!

  3. Ytterbycat

    1)substrate type doesn’t matter
    2)this is nessesary only when you use old/low quality seeds, where germination is less than 90%. 3)water should touch the substrate (this isn’t 100% kratki, it is some type hybrid, it use substrate to rise water to roots).

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