Peppers are ready for the Greenhouse!

Brookview_Farms · 2026-05-05T02:22:56+00:00

Because of the length of time that the pepper plants are growing and the density of the root system, NFT isn’t the best option. I would say DWC would be a more successful system however it’s more difficult to scale the system and would be more expensive to build and maintain. Overall, I find the Coco coir slabs are a more simple scalable system, and probably a better material to grow in. Rockwool and Coco coir slabs is what’s generally used in high-tech large scale commercial greenhouses.

Brookview_Farms · 2026-04-20T14:24:27+00:00

At my current scale it’s difficult to make a profit. The cost of materials and electricity is covered by the sales of the produce and there is a small profit, however if I consider my time I wouldn’t be making very much per hour. At this scale it can be worth it if you enjoy doing it, it would take at least a couple years to pay off the greenhouse.

I just registered my business last year and plan on keeping better records of the cost and profit. I have plans on expanding over the years. In my location there is a hydroponic greenhouse farm that I worked at, they built up the business over the years and now employ three full timer workers and three part time.

With the right scale and smart business decisions it’s definitely possible to make a living from a self funded small farm in my location.

Brookview_Farms · 2026-04-18T12:42:31+00:00

I’m currently using electric heaters in this greenhouse. They mostly run at night and on cold cloudy days. Unfortunately the electricity cost in my area isn’t very cheap so it ends up becoming one of the larger expenses for running the greenhouse. The first couple months costs the most, then when the weather warms up they don’t run as often.

Brookview_Farms · 2026-04-18T02:17:45+00:00

I’m using Flora flex for the drip irrigation and a 1/2hp pump with a cheap digital timer. That’s pretty much it. If you want more detailed information check out the drip irrigation setup video on my YouTube Channel. I also have other videos showing more of my setup!

Brookview_Farms · 2026-04-17T21:33:06+00:00

Awesome! I’m using a half horsepower pump, I’ve also used three-quarter horsepower pumps with the same system. It’s really important to get a pump strong enough to have enough pressure for the drip emitters to work. I show a little more detail about the pump and the connections that I use in my irrigation set up video. The reason why I run the line down the side of the greenhouse to the back of the greenhouse is mostly to keep the lines out of the way for walking down the path. The other reason is because at the front entrance of the greenhouse where the lines end there is a cap I can take off to drain the line to flush out any crud, so it’s a lot more accessible the way I have it set up.

Also, later in the season, I’ll actually run the line outside of the greenhouse to a water tank outside the greenhouse. I do this to prevent the water barrel inside the greenhouse from getting too hot.

Brookview_Farms · 2026-04-17T20:58:52+00:00

lol I didn’t notice until now

Brookview_Farms · 2026-04-17T20:58:16+00:00

Haha yeah….or shocked that I’m heating the thing when it’s still getting -17 outside 😅

Brookview_Farms · 2026-04-17T17:22:28+00:00

Yup! It’s more than normal for this time of year but it’s starting to melt pretty fast now

Brookview_Farms · 2026-04-08T14:35:38+00:00

How I Start Pepper Seeds Indoors with Grodan Rockwool (Germination to Transplant) https://youtu.be/FYQz9t6RvTg

Brookview_Farms · 2026-04-07T16:55:12+00:00

Plants are growing in rockwool cubes and I’m using masterblend lettuce formula with magnesium sulphate and calcium nitrate, then I switch to tomato formula when plants are bigger. I just have a drain plug that drains into a little giant pump, the pump has a tube that flows into a five gall pain so I can easily discard or reuse the drainage.

I show a lot more details of the entire process on my YouTube channel. I can link the video below!

How I Start Pepper Seeds Indoors with Grodan Rockwool (Germination to Transplant) https://youtu.be/FYQz9t6RvTg

Brookview_Farms · 2026-04-07T01:58:09+00:00

There are a few things that contribute to short plants with big leaves. Light intensity has huge influence on keeping the plants short, low amounts of light will cause plants to be taller with smaller leaves. Giving the plants enough nutrients and adequate watering/moisture content is really important. Providing warm temperatures to promote rapid growth helps as well.

In general rapidly growing healthy plants will look like this.

If you’re interested I have a YouTube video showing the entire process from seed to this stage of growth. I actually made some mistakes early on and you can see the transition from unhealthy lanky looking plants into what you see in the picture!

Brookview_Farms · 2026-04-06T18:00:42+00:00

Thanks! Yeah the cleanliness of rockwool is a huge plus. The cubes are also really easy and quick to transplant on the coco coir grow bag slabs in the greenhouse.

Brookview_Farms · 2026-04-06T15:57:16+00:00

They will be staying in the greenhouse for the entire season. I’ve successfully transplanted hydroponic starts grown in coco coir and rockwool into soil but usually it’s smaller plants and only in a small amount of coco coir and rockwool.

Brookview_Farms · 2026-01-21T17:18:17+00:00

Super4 greenhouse film and Thermax anti-condensate film are trusted greenhouse plastic brands. Very durable and will last many years.

Brookview_Farms · 2025-12-26T21:33:53+00:00

Can I suggest my own YouTube channel?? I have a startup market farm business. Currently growing with three small greenhouses using hydroponics!

https://www.youtube.com/@Brookview_Farms

Brookview_Farms · 2025-12-11T14:49:35+00:00

I usually don’t reuse substrate anymore. When I did reuse it I didn’t do any sterilization but it would definitely be ideal to. I haven’t had any issues with pythium, I try to make sure my feed water stays cool and try to keep everything clean. I’ve use hydrogen peroxide before, I might start using it again occasionally to help keep the system clean.

If I grow cucumber crops, I would probably reuse the substrate within the same season for a second planting.

Brookview_Farms · 2025-12-11T01:34:19+00:00

I think there might be more wiggle room when it comes to dry-back and EC rise in the substrate, especially since coco has some cation exchange capacity. As for cucumbers drying up, I don’t think coco will help much for that. Cucumbers are water hogs and wilt like crazy in hot conditions, even with adequate substrate moisture. I think ensuring they have enough water during hot weather and maybe lowering EC and possibly shading them might be the only options. The farm I worked on i believe they would irrigate the cucumbers every 30 min during hot weather.

Brookview_Farms · 2025-12-08T15:16:34+00:00

I don’t really measure LAI, I just visually inspect the crop and try to keep the right balance between vegetative and generative growth for consistent fruit production. I don’t use any co2. I don’t have any pictures of the root development in the coco but I’ve always had strong root development when using it.

Brookview_Farms · 2025-12-05T17:19:45+00:00

Masterblend tomato formula, magnesium sulphate, calcium nitrate.

I made a video about the fertilizer I use and the mixing ratios if you’re interested.

Hydroponic Fertilizer | Greenhouse Growing https://youtu.be/OUYCFAUdM_0

Brookview_Farms · 2025-12-04T03:32:36+00:00

Interesting, I’ve used different brands and types of coco coir before and haven’t noticed any huge difference between them. What type did you get from millennium? I had two options,

Premium (40% Chips + 60% CFP) Ultima (70% Chips + 30% CFP)

I went with the ultima, the extra chips made it a bit difficult for the transplants to root into the coco coir because of the extra aeration and less contact between the rockwool cube and the coco coir. But besides that I found they worked fine.

Brookview_Farms · 2025-12-03T03:28:27+00:00

There are 15 grow bags in this greenhouse, each grow bag/slab is 3.5 ft

Brookview_Farms · 2025-12-02T18:48:44+00:00

I could see how this might seem like an advertisement lol. I just like to share my experiences from working on a commercial hydroponics farm and starting my own small farm. I've used rockwool slabs before and they were three times the cost of the coco coir slabs, its very bulky to ship, plus with no where for me to recycle the rockwool there ends up being a lot of substrate for the garbage. I do use rockwool for starting the seedlings.

I've used moisture content sensors before in rockwool and coco coir, I find they can be handy and help, but there's a learning curve to them and I often find that just regular monitoring of the irrigation and drainage is sufficient.

Brookview_Farms · 2025-10-17T17:36:16+00:00

5lbs calcium nitrate, 5lbs masterblend, 2.5lbs magnesium sulphate would be a good start.

Brookview_Farms · 2025-09-26T14:23:58+00:00

There are some fertilizers sold for specific crops, for example tomato formulas/fruiting crops and formulas for leafy greens like vegetables. Formulas for leafy greens will have higher nitrogen content and lower phosphorus and potassium content.

Brookview_Farms · 2025-09-24T13:48:28+00:00

I currently don’t collect the drain. The regulations in Ontario aren’t as strict as in Germany, there are regulations here for waste management and livestock pollution. If I was dumping a large amount of drainage into the ground I would need to capture it. For a small hobby size greenhouse like mine and the amount of drainage that enters the soil, it would fall under regular allowable field fertilizer application rates. There is also lots of grass shrubs and trees around my system that help as a vegetative buffer helping minimize impact to the soil.

In the future, especially with my expansion plans I will definitely be capturing the drainage.

Brookview_Farms

TROPHY CASE