Fodder maize
Free, permanently, and the reason is that the people running these are dairy farmers on a margin that does not have room for software. It is also the least nutrient-dependent crop on this list — the grain carries its own reserves for seven days, so most of what the controller does here is keep the trays wet enough to sprout and dry enough not to go mouldy. That balance, not EC, is the entire skill. If a tray smells sour, the drain is slow.
What kills this system: Drain completion verified by the level sensor, never by a timer.
| Stage | Days | pH | EC mS/cm | Water °C | DO mg/L | Light |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soak and sprout | 2 | 5.8 – 6.8 | 0.30 – 0.80 | 22.0 | 6.0 | 0h |
| Dark, damp, frequent short floods. This is the stage where a slow drain turns the whole batch grey inside a day. | ||||||
| Greening | 5 | 5.8 – 6.8 | 0.50 – 1.00 | 21.0 | 6.0 | 12h |
| A weak feed from day four adds a little protein. It is optional and plain water works; what is not optional is the drain. | ||||||
Download as a .hydrorecipe file Run it against your water
A plain JSON file with no account attached to it. Pull it onto a controller with curl from a shed, or send it to the farm down the road as an attachment.
Every band on this site is a literature-derived starting point. None of them has been measured on your water, your cultivar or your polyhouse, and the variable that decides most of it — the alkalinity of what comes out of your borewell — is one this page cannot know. Validate on a small block before you commit a season.