Hi Naveen,
Drop me a mail at atulkalaskar@yahoo.com. Temp is important but more important will be quality of water and electricity. If you have those then lot of your problems could be solved since electricity for farmers is pretty cheap.
Donāt forget to click the āAdd Reputationā link on the post if you like a post! 
Can you please send me your address to view the farm. I would like to set up a unit on a 100 x 60 greenhouse space to begin off than expand further
Bhaskar
Atul,
I went thru ur facebook photos on capsicum. Nice to see that the project is coming up well. Congratulations!
As far as i understand, plants need āroot zone spaceā to develop well. In the photos the plastic bags that you have used seed very small to me. Also, u have mentioned that u have tried in 8 inches radius potsā¦8 inches radius translates to to 1256 sq.cm area. Assuming at least 30 cms height that gives 1256 * 30 = 37680 == 37 litres. But u also mentioned pot volume is 12 litres. It is confusing to me. Could u please help out on this point?
What excactly is the ideal root volume ?
is it not climate dependent?( in terms of temperature of the greenhouse and also ur irrigation management practices)?
Also ur plastic bags dont appear to be12 * 2 = 24 litresā¦
Also, Capsicum has a tap root ofnearly 50 cmsā¦if u reduce the Height of the Pot, will you not get into any problems?
I would much appreciate if u could kindly clear my doubts.
Thanks and Regards,
-P
Hi there,
Root zone is very important for the plants. Efficiency of roots is critical for good yield. Root volume though is secondary factor especially in hydroponics because nutrient uptake is influenced by many factors such as root zone temp, availability of nutrients, moisture, PH of the water etc. Root mass is not a factor but healthy roots is sure an important factor. In other words, in my system, I do not give plants a lot of root space (just adequate) but since I control all other factors such as root zone pg, temp, moisture my plants are able to take up the nutrients in most adequate matter.
As far as pots sizes are concerned they are 8 inch diameter with height of 10 inches. Bags are twice of that size though I have seen no difference in performance. Pots may be expensive but they are longer lasting and much better to manage.
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hi atul,
this is rayudu from guntur which meant for chillies.can u send me more details to come and watch ur farm
rayudu
rayudoo@gmail.com
Dear Atul,
I have been following your accomplishments for some time now. With all the sea of information on the net yours far exceeds in terms of practicality, knowledge (locally relevant) and more rich in terms of pictorial and stage wise content. Being an agriculture / hydroponics enthusiast I would love to visit your Green House at Talegon.
Keep up the good work
Prashant
Hi Atul, I am new to this forum;however i have been following your responses very closley. I have planned to start growing color capsicum i one acre and polyhouse construction is in full swing. After detailed study and discussions with few of my friends who are already into this business (although they are growing Gerbera and Carnations), i have decided to grow capsicum using soilless method and VERMICAST (100%) as the media. would like to know whatās your take on it. Is it worth doing/tring it?
Growing in 100% Vermicast is not advisable because of 2 reasons. The very fine texture of vermicast will suffocate your plants withing few weeks. So unless it is mixed with something else which will increase the air porosity you are certainly looking at a failure.
Secondly for starter few weeks vermicast may give enough nutrients to your young plants but as it grows if will suffer from malnutrition.
So using vermicast alone will kill your plants either from suffocation or hunger.
You may want to experiment with vermiwash and chileted nutrients if you are interested in organic hydroponics but you will certainly find yield much lower than inorganic approach.
Thanks a lot for your replyā¦ I would like to know more about itā¦ So, what the soil and vermicast ratio you refer, since i have already ordered the vermicast for one acre, i cant change the plan.
Hi arvind,
My sincere suggestion is to get a professional help. You have 1 acre of commercial production at stake. Free advice is good when you are in planning stage but you are already way ahead of that stage.
Last thing I want to see is you end up in a mess so go get a professional who can help you out.
Hope it helps.
Regards
Atul
I am interested in Hydroponics but I have some questions.
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Legally I am a farmer so can buy an agriculture land but the cost of land have gone very high near my place and hence it seems impractical to me to buy it for farming. Currently I am in to manufacturing of some engineering spares. Currently I have terrace of size 120 x 20 fts. Moreover I have industrial 3 phase electricity connection which I wish to use for cultivation. Is it feasible to grow something in this size of area using costlier energy?
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I live in Gujarat in during Summer the temperature reaches mid 40ās . Can I really grow anything hydroponically, round the year?
Interesting views here from Mr. Kalaskar, good efforts and progress with the color peppers (capsicum)
Firstly, hydroponics is been around for a LONG time. Secondly coco peat (bag and trough culture) is borderline hydroponics.
Claiming 100 tons per acreā¦I have my genuine doubts.
With an average plant density of 5 plants per sq meter and about 3500 meters of cultivation land that 17,500 plants and even if you average it to 5 kgs per plant (0 mortality/disease) thatās still 70 tons. Working for years around the world ( including India), I know for a delicate detail that it is anew and nascent stage. Nutrients is a BIG problem so are seeds.
Even more hardly any universities teach anything beyond the definition of hydroponicsā¦
I am not critiquing things for the heck of it, but validating things as I read hereā¦
Hi Hydrogyan,
Welcome to Farmnest. Its good to have a hydroponic expert here. I too am interested but as you said nutrient is the major problem here. Plus there is load full of bullsh*t posted on the internet which makes it much more difficult.
Anyways please keep posting and help us with your extensive experience.
Regards
Prasham
Hi Hydrogyan,
Since your location suggests you are from Vancouver I presume you are someway associated with the Hydroponics industry.
Hydroponics may be around in your neck of woods since long but in India itās quite new. I am extremely bullish about itās future.
Danger is of course that many fly by night operators will take many genuine would be hydroponics growers for a ride. In fact many have experienced it at a training institute at Banglore and certain new company is already promoting 150 tons of color capsicum production per acre. So any new comers must really watch their back before they join hands with so called consultants.
Your doubt on the 100 tons per acre is understandable. Current international standards are 28kg / Sq. mt with average plant density of 3.5 / Sq. mt. This gives approximately 112 tons in production and about 8kg per plant production. One must understand here that this is more like a car mileage, itās under ideal conditions of perfect weather, CO2 enrichment, zero disease related mortality, best pollination and the worksā¦
So is it possible to get to the magic 100 ton no in India? It is possible but chances are that a new grower will hit 70 tons in first year, up to 85 tons in second and 100 in 3rd and this assumption is based on the fact that growers will continue to fine tune their production techniques as they mature. On site, real life always teaches you the best.
Further we will have advances in seed quality, in fact there is a company in India who is selling seeds at Rs. 9 per seed and claims that plant will produce more than 10 kg.
There are many projects in pipeline for me and I hope to put some of those online for new comers to study.
Cheers!!!
Cocopeat Compressed brick is about 5100 INR/ton ex factory ( many at Pollachi TN). Sterlized and EC balanced.
Ola Atul,
- I am aware of both the guys your talking about, infact out of curiosity I went for the Navy guys lecture series, and when probed on nutrients, it turned out to be 19:19:19 and MAP. 2/3 + 1/3 Ratio of mixture.
- About the other company, its a good bunch of kids, they are trying hard and well.
- Thereās another company ( I know very little about) good international network. They are hiring talent from here (Langara University, Horticulture dept) I was like wonderful. I hope to find out more about them from their hireās as some of them were my students.
- Now about yields, 100 tons tough, wen Village farms and other top 3 growers ( ive been with all) hit about 80-90 tons MAX. These guys have been doing for 20 years. So fairly reliable data.
- WRT seeds, well there are the top 4 and off all only one company sells them in India ( the 9 rupee one), but thats a international standard, about 20 cents a seed. Frankly people and I have paid about 2 $ per seed as well. What you pay is what you get
- Projects by you? Your own or consulted? or both? good luck
Hydrogyan
ps: Atul, I did pass by your property twice, just saw a lot of 13:0:45 empty Fertilisers bags around
Hi Hydrogyan,
May be it is time to reveal the truth about yourself and let me understand whom I am talking to. It is nice to know you had been to my property but frankly that was not my property, it was rented for the purpose of Capsicum proof of concept. I am assuming you are talking about Talegaon project. As far as many empty bags of 13:0:45 it must be by current Rose growers. Of course I do use them as well.
I believe Navy guy has started a Strawberry project in Banglore but unfortunately whatever I have heard so far suggests a complete failure in store for them and I really hope it does not deter many others. How I wish navy guy had done some more in depth studies to ensure this project becomes a success.
I am glad you know second company kids and sincerely wish them the best. Though funny part is, they visited my Capsicum project, took a ll my details such as cost sheets even my consultancy fee figures and guess what with few unrealistic modifications such as two crops per year they are going out for business. I really wish they first do it right themselves and then expect others to buy it.
I am not aware of 3rd company (unless they are Banglore based with best web site) you are talking about, but I am glad that many are venturing into this concept. This will help create a healthy and knowledge based ecosystem which is good for the industry.
Since you happen to have so much exposure, I would love to meet you if that is possible. Do drop me a mail at atulkalaskar@yahoo.com and we can co ordinate.
As far as my projects they are coming up soon for Strawberry and stuff while as a consultant I am assisting a color Pepper project as of now.
Regards
Atul
Dear Mr. Chandra,
Efficient Nutrient management is the success of any Agri. Projects. Try to minimise harmful
chemicals in Vegetable cultivation, Increase the shelf life is another criteria.
I would like to add some points about Hydroponics. In Plant Nutrition Studies 'Hydroponics &
Aeroponics Techniques are using to study nutrient deficiency /Toxic studies etcā¦ The present
systemis not a pure hydroponic system, but it is cocopeat based supporting system. Normally in
this system strictly chemicals are using. I have seen many such floriculture projects in Gujarat. They
were using higher level of pesticides/ fungicides/ bactericides etcā¦ I donāt know the fate of
capsicum with this system. Any way I will not say the system is bad, but giving cent percent
importanceto chemicals farming. I have one request to above farmers to use biocultures, organic
inputs etcand make the system to an " Integrated Nutrient Management " with 50% stress to
organic and 50% importance to chemicals. Use OSMOTICUM to prevent unwanted entry of
Nutrient solution,There by prevent DISEASES and PESTS.
Thank you
Good Luck
Ola Atul,
Lets just say, I am a silent spectator to a lot of projects in India. Whatās in the name thy, call ā¦, you know the rest.
Strangely there are two gentlemen from your city here taking courses in hydroponics( fairly rigid thoughts) I am having a tough time understanding why they are so negative about India.
I even know about your place and your setup, good job, Miles to go I am sure you agree
Bangalore based company? Wow another oneā¦I am talking of a large industrial house unless we are talking of the same guys.
2 crops of bell peppers possible, but needs tremendous planning and I think the game is NOT in growing but selling.
So your the guy who imported Albion Strawberry from USā¦interesting
I am here just to share some 2 bits of my experience, nothing moreā¦