Free, practical guides on hydroponics and organic growing, written for South African conditions.
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Lessons in System Setup (7 lessons)
System Setup · 03 Sept 2026
Your system arrives fabricated and ready to mount — channels pre-drilled, fittings fitted, channel fall already set. This guide covers the wall it needs, mounting it, first commissioning, and the numbers to run it by.
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System Setup · 03 Sept 2026
Before you build anything, understand the principle. NFT grows plants in a continuously recirculating film of nutrient solution just millimetres deep — here is why that thin film matters, and where NFT beats every other method.
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System Setup · 03 Sept 2026
Most NFT problems are designed in before the first channel is mounted. Work through siting, reservoir and pump sizing, light, and crop selection now — every one of these is expensive to change later.
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System Setup · 03 Sept 2026
A step-by-step build order for a stacked NFT system — mounting uprights, setting slope on each tier, plumbing the feed riser and cascade returns, and pressure-testing before a single plant goes near it.
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System Setup · 03 Sept 2026
Mixing your first nutrient charge in the right order, what pH and EC actually measure, the target ranges for leafy crops, and how to calibrate and adjust without chasing your own tail.
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System Setup · 03 Sept 2026
Propagation to transplant — choosing a plug medium, germinating, knowing exactly when a seedling is ready, and settling it into a net pot so the roots find the film instead of drying out above it.
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System Setup · 03 Sept 2026
The routine that keeps an NFT system healthy — daily checks, weekly top-ups, full reservoir changes — plus a symptom-by-symptom diagnostic guide for pH drift, EC creep, algae, root rot and pump failure.
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