Hydro-Planter

Here it is, the result of in-home R&D and what supports the development of our open platform.

These 2 gallon dynamos are the heart of pretty much all of the plants in our hydro-garden.  We tinkered with DWC, NFT, and aeroponics but for our hydro-planters landed on a simple ebb & flow design.

For us, portability is a must, and we want per-plant hydroponics so we can tailor nutrient mixes for a variety of plants.  Clay pebbles provide redundancy for power / pump interruptions, help buffer pH, support beneficial microcultures, and give roots something to bind to.  Cycling the pump (12 mins on every 2 hrs while lights on) allows roots to dry encouraging growth and killing bad stuff.

All this adds up to longer living plants, not having to flush as often (ie: every 6 months on our tomatoes), overall simpler maintenance, and a setup ready for a roadmap of future functionality.

However, the challenge with a LOT of per-plant planters is that you need to manage a lot of per-plant reservoirs which means a lot of per-plant spreadsheets and calculations.  That’s where the [Kanana Gardens App] saves the day.

We’re releasing our designs under open source, however purchases accelerate our efforts and keep us afloat.  

Supporters of this in-house accelerator also gain the benefits of early access to capabilities such as alerts and recommendation targets for specific NPK values via the Kanana Gardens app.

Requires: irrigation controller (ie: cheap smart plug such a Sonoff S31 with a USB Adapter), Seedlings with ~3” roots, lights, nutrients

For instructions on how-to configure a S31 as a irrigation controller, see the pamphlet located here.