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Hydroponic Gardening
Over the past year or so, I have thought about my spring garden. This year, I wanted to do something a little different. After visiting Disney World a couple of years ago and touring the hydroponic garden in Living with the Land at Epcot in knew, I wanted to try hydroponic gardening.
You may not know what hydroponic gardening is so let me give a little background on it. Hydroponics means “working water” (hydro means water and ponos means labor). When you grow using hydroponic gardens, you grow your plants without soil.
In my research of hydroponic gardens, I found that “there are different kinds of hydroponic systems. In some, plant roots actually dangle in the water. In other hydroponic gardens, plants grow in some kind of soil substitute, such as peat moss, coir (coconut fiber), aged bark, perlite, or clay pebbles.
And because there’s none of the soil that many plant pests and diseases need to survive, when you ditch the dirt, you cut way down on your chance of experiencing those problems. Amazingly, many hydroponic gardens actually require less water than traditional gardens”. (1)
There were several things I had to consider when planning my hydroponic garden.
Budget
Your budget plays a big part in planning your garden. Hydroponics can be anywhere from low to very high. Depending on what kind of hydroponic garden system you’re interested in, the costs can range anywhere from $50 for a small in-home system, to $100,000 for a large indoor farm set up.
Suffice it to say, if you are like me you are not going to be setting up a large indoor farm set up. I will speak to the lower end budget since that is what I looked into. A lower end budget does not mean a lower quality hydroponic system, it just means that your system is setup to provide for you and your family.
When planning my budget, I wanted to take in to consideration items that I had that could re-purpose for my garden. I wanted to set my budget between $100 and $200 for my whole project. So what did I take into consideration for my budget.
I had to determine my location, the setup (including my system), what plants did I want to grow.
Location
Location is important when considering your garden. Do you want to have an indoor hydroponic system? Outdoor? Is does make a difference on your setup. I choose to set mine up outdoors. Why did I choose to set my system up outdoors?
A few reasons. I wanted to keep to my small budget and if I setup indoors, I would have to have grow lights. I would also have to perform pollination myself. So those are the two biggest reasons that I choose outdoors. So that led me to finding the perfect area.
I wanted to find an area that is compact but easily accessible and had the proper amount of sun. I also wanted it to be an area that bees would be drawn to so that pollination would occur naturally. I found the perfect spot!
I decided to put my garden in a small 10 foot by 5 foot area by my garage. Easily accessible, close to a water source, and plenty of sun. Now that I had my location, I needed to plan out my setup.
Setup
The next thing I did was to take stock of what I had and what I needed. I knew that I needed a water source and something to hold my plants. I needed some fertilizer and I needed plants. So I took inventory of what items I might have already.
I knew that I had some large planters and plastic garbage bags that I could use to line the containers and keep the water in. I did not have any fertilizer or plants so those were two things I needed to add to my list.
I also needed something to set my plants in so their roots could reach the water and get the nutrients they needed. In my research on hydroponics, had seen where some people had used Styrofoam boards to place their plants in along with either netting or a special pot for hydroponics.
I thought that was a great idea so I added that to my list of items that I would need.
Variety of plants
Now that I had an idea of where I was going to put my garden and also the materials I would use, it was time to decide what plants I wanted to get. For this, I had to consider what each of my family members enjoyed.
I also had to consider what would grow best in the early spring and produce late spring to early fall. Even though I want to grow strawberries, they are not in season at the time of my writing this so those would have to wait. So, I will wait on those.
That does not mean I can not work on the rest of my list for plants. Because I like spicy food, jalapeno peppers and habanero peppers are a must! I know that we all like fresh cucumbers and watermelon as well. Check! Added to the list.
Tomatoes? Most definitely. I decided on a variety of these. I wanted the larger tomatoes as well as the smaller cherry tomato variety. I had heard about yellow tomatoes too. I added those to my list.
One more fruit to add… cantaloupe. This would complete my list. Since my garden area is limited, I can’t go full-out on plants. Time to head out and get started on this garden.
Pros and Cons
As with anything we do, there are pros and cons. The same goes for this.
Since I decided to work on a budget of about $100 including my plants, I repurposed some items. This was definitely a pro because it kept my cost down. Here is a general run down of the pros:
- You needn’t fertile ground because you are growing in water.
- Water can be reused, so hydroponics systems do not use as much water as soil based gardening.
- Reduces nutrient leaching into the environment
- No pesticides so it is healthier for you.
- Hydroponics systems need 20% less space for growing.
- You can have complete control over nutrient balance.
- Less labor. Hard tasks such as tilling, cultivating, fumigation and mulching are not required for hydroponic growing.
- Growing year round; season isn’t a problem.
- Crops grow faster in hydroponic culture than in a soil based growing medium.
- It is a proven technology that ensures high yields.
- Harvesting is easier.
- Growing is a relaxing hobby and stress-relieving. You can use it as part of a heart healthy lifestyle.
And now for the cons.
- Depending on your setup, it can get expensive.
- Some plants do not respond well to hydroponic gardens.
- If your hydroponic garden is indoors, power outages can affect it negatively
- Water quality needs to be better.
- You have to watch for water-borne diseases.
What I learned
Ultimately, I had to transfer my hydroponic garden to a traditional garden. My tomato plants did not like having so much water and started to turn yellow even though I used the proper fertilizer and did my best to keep the water balanced.
I did learn some of the do’s and don’ts and now know what I would do differently. I do know that my budget needs to be much higher. Will I tackle a hydroponic garden again? I sure will but I don’t think it will be next year.
I would like to plan my garden so that it is in the same location but with better sections for each type of plant. The best thing is that I did learn from this experience and I can do things better next time for a successful outcome. I do not think I would put a garden indoors because I am a bit lazy and I do like providing something for the bees.
Have you tried hydroponic gardening? If you have, please leave me a comment and let me know what your thoughts are.
