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Comment by enlyth | Hacker News Reader

Does anyone have any decent guides on how to get started with hydroponics? I was looking over youtube videos but they are all confusing to me, so many different types of hydroponic systems and every video is like 'just buy these random pipes and pumps and stuff that are not available where you live and construct some weird ad-hoc setup'.

I have been trying to grow chilli peppers indoors with moderate success, although working with soil is annoying and messy, and I have somehow gotten some fungus gnats which are such a pain to get rid of once they get into the soil.

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For the fungus gnats -- Try 'Mosquito Bits' a biological way, using bacteria, of killing them while they're larvae in the soil-- Bti(Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis) produces toxins which are effective in killing various species of mosquitoes, fungus gnats, and blackflies, while having almost no effect on other organisms. They're very effective.

Interestingly, it was first found in a stagnant pool of water in the Negev Desert. (perhaps the only place found to naturally occur)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_thuringiensis_israele...

https://youtube.com/c/Hoocho

Start super basic, grow an herb or something like that in a cup of water. Go to a store and get one of the small potted herbs, take it out, clean the roots with water and stick it into a cup. This is super satisfying to see from a process stand point and a quick/easy win. After that start learning about different methods, and what each type of plant needs to thrive.

Hoocho's YouTube channel is great, already recommended below!

Clay balls, air pump, air stones, tote with water in it one or more holes drilled into the top to hold the baskets with your medium (clay balls). That's what people call DWC.

You can run into issues with water temperature which are mitigated by using something like hydroguard (beneficial bacteria) or running a setup with a water cooler (which requires more pipes and pumps and stuff).

Obviously since your plants are no longer growing in soil, which holds nutrients for some time and doesn't need constant fertilization, you now have to mix nutrients into your water solution, along with pH adjustments as needed depending on what you are growing.

It's not that complex and can be really, really fun to figure out.

I hear letting the plants dry out fully between waterings helps get rid of fungus gnats. Let them dry until the pot is obviously super dry when you pick up the plant.

Fungus gnats only reproduce in the top layer of the soil. Keeping the top of the soil dry, by watering from the bottom helps a lot. You can also sprinkle diatomaceous earth on the top of the dry soil to kill them through dehydration.

> Fungus gnats only reproduce in the top layer of the soil

I had a bad case of fungus gnats, but they were in the bottom of the soil. My pots had drainage holes, and the gnats would fly in and out from there. Thankfully they were ZZ plants, which are fairly tough, so I'd only water once a month when the pots were bone dry, and after about 6 months the gnats finally faded away.

You just need a bucket with a lid that will keep light out of the hydroponic solution (to prevent algae growth), some sort of strong light (the sun works, obviously), nutrient mixture, and I'd highly recommend a small air pump and aquarium air stone. You suspend the plant in the top of the bucket by cutting a 2-3" hole in the lid and using something called a "net cup."

Hydroponics are a lot more pleasant than soil indoors, in part due to the lack of pests like fungus gnats.

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