First two pics are Pinocchio Orange and GG's Glory micro dwarves at the office, sitting there and growing for 6 weeks with no maintenance whatsoever, not even watering. There are no gnats or funky smells since there's no soil. They do need more direct light to be perfectly happy, but the little moments of joy from seeing them grow slowly for 6 weeks, with zero maintenance and no diseases or pests, is totally worth the initial setup to me. I hope they fruit!
Second two pics are of Patio Choice Yellow germinated indoors at home before it was put outside. Really half-assed-looking, I know, but it works. No need to fret about the soil moisture every day.
Initial setup is, to be fair, a bit more work than throwing a bag of soil into a pot, but it's less work than creating your own potting mix. Plus, the few minutes of setup you spend will save a ton of maintenance effort over the next few months. There's also no guessing regarding the condition of the soil, because there isn't any. No microbial ecosystem to care for because you don't need it (unless you want it which is a whole new hole to dig into lol). No root diseases to worry about, like nematodes and fusarium wilt. If I feel like nutrients might have become unbalanced, I hotswap with fresh water and nutrients and it's all reset to manufacturer spec (in my case MaxiGro and MaxiBloom which are about as nutrient-complete and idiot-proof as fertilizers get).
I have 6 other tomato plants outside, a cucumber that has just started producing female flowers, and a zucchini that's just started producing male flowers, all in Kratky buckets. I'm still a newb at ~3.5 months and have a lot of experimenting to do, but nothing so far has failed specifically because the Kratky method doesn't work. The system works, all the basics are provided by the nutrient manufacturer, and you just need to get more details right with time and experience to grow plants healthier and faster. There's no pump or other electrical gadgets required for Kratky.
by Over-Alternative2427
1 Comment
I had some kratky tomatoes this year, they can get root rot if they aren’t properly maintained, mosquitoes will grow in the water if you’re not careful, algae will deprive your plants of oxygen if they are exposed to light, in the end what killed them was spider mites.
Refilling was the biggest hassle, I had to water them every day or ever other day when it was over 100°F because once they are grown you can’t refill all the way to the top or you’ll drown the roots, so I was filling the 5 gallon buckets just halfway. Mixing the solution is more work than just adding a bit of fertilizer here and there, if you refill with tap water the minerals will start to build up.
It was totally worth it though, I got lots of tomatoes. Now that I’m starting over I want to design a self watering system.