Hydroponics

[demgurl]

I have been wanting to try hydroponics for a while now but when I looked at online kits they appeared to be very expensive. My son was told to do a science project and we decided to go for it. I got instructions for a "cheap" homemade hydroponics kit.

We bought a 10 gallon aquarium, air pump, air hose and some sort of oxygen strip for inside the tank. All of this was about $45 and readily available at PetSmart.

We went to a hydroponics place and got nutrients for the water as well as soil like cups (the size of a votive candle) to hold the seeds. We also bought a kit to test the PH levels which is very important with hydroponics. These items cost another $35. Not cheap but look at the cost of fresh veggies at the market.

We went to the Farmer's Market and bought some basil seeds at 75% off. This is off season for basil and it is supposed to be pretty easy to grow. Two seed packets were less than a $1.

I went to Lowes and bought a plant bulb for about $7. So we have about $100 invested in it just to see if it works and if it works better than soil planted plants. A $100 is a lot to initially invest but if you have researched this, as I have, when growing hydroponic plants they generally grow three times faster than regular plants. They have more nutrients and are bigger than their soil counterparts.

By the way, we also bought soil pots (marked down to $.30 each and soil (small bag for about $5). This was to compare the soil versus the water.

We covered up the sides of the aquarium because if light gets in algae will grow and that is not good. YOu can cover it up with anything you have. We set up the sir pump on the outside and attached a hose and the oxygen bubbler to it and put the oxygen strip inside the tank. One of the most important aspects of growing a plant anywhere is making sure it gets oxygen.

I cut a styrofoam board into the size to fit the top lip of the aquarium. I cut holes in it and my son put the sod like cups in the holes. He put seeds in the sod cups and we put a light over it with the plant lamp in it.

It has been about 21 days or three weeks. (duh!) The plants have just started to peek out from the soil. YOu can barely see the tips of the leaves peeking through and it is not even high enough to measure. The hydroponic plants are about an inch to an inch and a half high. They started sprouting within a week of being put in the water!

Anyway, I am so excited about this whole project that I have bought seeds so I can actually grow plants after my son is done with the science fair.

This may not seem like a frugal way to start off growing plants but it is cool that you can grow plants so quickly and you can grow things in the winter that normally will not grow outside. Eventually this seems to be a more frugal way of growing your own plants - especially when things are getting so expensive at the supermarket.

If you have any questions, please ask away.

[NMDemDist2]

1. sounds great, give us pics soon eh? n/t

[demgurl]

2. Hi, AZ!!!

I will get hubby to post some tomorrow. We planted 8 sets of basil in the aquarium. I am not quite sure what we will do with all that basil. Time to go back to the cooking board? I believe it is supposed to freeze quite well but I always think fresh is better.
Yum!

[NMDemDist2]

3. you need to make pesto with it and then it freezes really well

search for an OLD post from the Empress of All, she gave a good recipe on how to do it

:hi:

[demgurl]

4. You are simply the best, AZ, my friend. nt

[NMDemDist2]

5. here's the link where she talked about it

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=236&topic_id=11732&mesg_id=11733



the impression I got was she precessed it in her food processor while dribbling in the EVOO

I bet if you posted a thread in C&B you'd get lots of suggestions.....

[demgurl]

6. AZ, thanks. I looked for this this morning but had no luck.

I noticed the thread said that you had trouble growing your basil in the window. Have you tried getting a plant light bulb? They fit in any ordinary fixture and the plants really seem to like them. It may be something that might help you if your plants just are not getting enough light. Just a thought!

Here is a picture of some of our basil plants just 21 days into the experiment. I think they are doing pretty well for our first attempt ever at growing basil and especially when it is an alternative growing method. I do not consider myself any sort of gardener but we are doing very well with this. OF course, I am saying we are doing well when we have never tried to grow this before. I can only assume we are doing well when the soil plants are just starting to peek through now.

What do you think?

[NMDemDist2]

7. they are looking a little "leggy" to me, are they getting enough light?

if they were mine, I'd add some more dirt around the long stem parts before they keel over from their own weight

have fun!

[demgurl]

8. They get about ten hours of light a day.

When I read up on it I found that they can stand up to 16 hours of direct light a day. The first week they were sprouting I did not have the plant bulb fixed up but after that I did. I wish I coudl add dirt but the 'dirt cups' for hydroponics do not really lend themselves to adding more dirt.

Some people who use this method actually use 'soil' in Solo cups. The cups will have holes in the bottom to facilitate the uptake of water. The ones I am using are basically compressed compost from trees and such. I hope they turn out OK. Thanks for the advice.