#Hydroponic Gardening

[sewgeekmama]

How to Keep Gnats Away from Your Hydroponic Garden

[lostrealities0]

THEY'RE SPROUTING!!!

These are my two basil pods that I planted a couple of days ago

[hydroponicgardening]

What plants can be grown hydroponically?

In the world of modern agriculture, hydroponic gardening has emerged as a revolutionary method of cultivating plants without soil, using nutrient-rich water solutions. This innovative approach offers numerous advantages, including efficient resource utilization, faster growth rates, and the ability to grow crops in environments where traditional farming may not be feasible. Among the myriad of plants that can thrive in hydroponic systems, some stand out for their adaptability and productivity.

Leafy Greens: Lettuce, spinach, kale, and other leafy greens are some of the most popular choices for hydroponic cultivation. They have shallow root systems and high water requirements, making them perfectly suited for nutrient-rich water environments. With the right hydroponic setup, these greens can be grown year-round, providing a consistent supply of fresh produce.

Herbs: Basil, cilantro, mint, and parsley are excellent candidates for hydroponic growth. These aromatic herbs flourish in controlled hydroponic environments, offering superior flavor and quality compared to their soil-grown counterparts. Hydroponic herb gardens are ideal for culinary enthusiasts seeking a convenient and sustainable source of fresh herbs.

Tomatoes: Tomatoes are another popular choice for hydroponic cultivation. They thrive in nutrient-rich solutions and benefit from the support of trellises or vertical systems. Hydroponically grown tomatoes often exhibit enhanced flavor and texture, making them a favorite among home gardeners and commercial growers alike.

Cucumbers: Cucumbers are well-suited for best hydroponic systems, particularly when grown vertically to maximize space efficiency. With proper support structures and nutrient delivery, hydroponic cucumbers can produce abundant yields of crisp, flavorful fruits throughout the growing season.

Peppers: Bell peppers, chili peppers, and other varieties can thrive in hydroponic environments. These plants require consistent moisture and nutrient levels, which can be easily maintained in hydroponic systems. With proper care, hydroponically grown peppers can yield bountiful harvests of vibrant, flavorful fruits.

Strawberries: Hydroponic strawberry production has gained popularity in recent years due to its ability to maximize space and optimize growing conditions. By utilizing vertical towers or hanging systems, growers can cultivate strawberries without soil, leading to cleaner, healthier fruits and increased yields.

Microgreens: Microgreens are young, tender greens harvested at an early stage of growth. They are packed with nutrients and flavor, making them a popular choice for salads, sandwiches, and garnishes. Hydroponic systems offer an efficient means of producing high-quality microgreens year-round, providing chefs and home cooks with a continuous supply of fresh, nutritious greens.

Potatoes: While traditionally grown in soil, potatoes can also be cultivated hydroponically, especially in potato vertical farming systems. With proper tuber support and nutrient delivery, hydroponic potatoes can yield impressive harvests in a fraction of the space required for conventional soil cultivation. Vertical farming techniques optimize space utilization, making them ideal for urban agriculture and limited land environments.

When it comes to choosing the best hydroponics system for growing these plants, several factors should be considered, including available space, budget, and desired crop varieties. Vertical farming systems, such as tower gardens or vertical hydroponic racks, offer an efficient solution for maximizing space and increasing yields. These systems allow growers to stack multiple layers of plants vertically, optimizing space utilization and productivity.

Hydroponic gardening offers a versatile and sustainable approach to cultivating a wide range of plants, from leafy greens and herbs to tomatoes, cucumbers, and even potatoes. By harnessing the power of nutrient-rich water solutions and innovative growing techniques like vertical farming, growers can achieve impressive yields of high-quality produce year-round. Whether for commercial farming operations or home gardening enthusiasts, hydroponics represents a promising frontier in modern agriculture, paving the way for increased food security and environmental sustainability.

[mortiz888-blog]

Hydroponic Gardening for Beginners: Growing Beyond Soil

Introduction: In the ever-evolving world of gardening, hydroponics has emerged as a revolutionary method that challenges traditional soil-based cultivation. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener looking to expand your horizons or a complete beginner eager to embark on a green journey, hydroponic gardening offers a unique and efficient way to grow plants. In this guide, we’ll delve into the basics…

[factorysdepot]

Coir Products for Indoor Gardening - Factorys Depot

Factory's Depot is the home of high-quality Coco Coir Products for Indoor Gardening, We sell coco coir products in bulk packs.

[our-lady-of-the-forest]

How do we feel about the indoor hydroponic garden setups like Gardyn and Lettuce Grow? Are they worth the investment for people without yard space? Are the harvests enough to justify the cost of the plants?

People that have one/had one, what is your take on it?

[53v3nfrn5]

Amy Youngs: Hydroponic Solar Garden (2005)

[themandatedreporterjr]

How to Grow an Indoor Garden - For Beginners

Please like and share for more tips and hacks.

*Disclosure: This blog post contains affiliate links, meaning I get a commission or credit if you decide to make a purchase through my links at no cost to you. An Indoor Garden Hydroponic Growing System is a great way to grow your own vegetables, herbs and plants. It is especially great for people like me who try to garden the traditional way, but completely stink at it. I discovered this…

[bumblebeeappletree]

Every once in a while I’ll see some posts about everyone should become vegan in order to help the environment. And that… sounds kinda rude. I’m sure they don’t mean to come off that way but like, humans are omnivores. Yes there are people who won’t have any animal products be it meat or otherwise either due to personal beliefs or because their body physically cannot handle it, and that’s okay! You don’t have to change your diet to include those products if you don’t want to or you physically can’t.

But there’s indigenous communities that hunt and farm animals sustainably and have been doing so for generations. And these animals are a primary source of food for them. Look to the bison of North America. The settlers nearly caused an extinction as a part of a genocide. Because once the Bison were gone it caused an even sharper decline of the indigenous population. Now thankfully Bison did not go extinct and are actively being shared with other groups across America.

Now if we look outside of indigenous communities we have people who are doing sustainable farming as well as hunting. We have hunting seasons for a reason, mostly because we killed a lot of the predators. As any hunter and they will tell you how bad the deer population can get. (Also America has this whole thing about bird feathers and bird hunting, like it was bad until they laid down some laws. People went absolutely nuts on having feathers be a part of fashion like holy cow.)

We’re slowly getting better with having gardens and vertical farms within cities, and there’s some laws on being able to have a chicken or two at your house or what-have-you in the city for some eggs. (Or maybe some quails since they’re smaller than chickens it’s something that you’d might have to check in your area.) Maybe you would be able to raise some honey bees or rent them out because each honey tastes different from different plants. But ultimately when it comes to meat or cheese? Go to your local farmers. Go to farmers markets, meet with the people there, become friends, go actively check out their farm. See how the animal lives are and if the farmer is willing, talk to them about sustainable agriculture. See what they can change if they’re willing. Support indigenous communities and buy their food and products, especially if you’re close enough that the food won’t spoil on its way to you. (Like imagine living in Texas and you want whale meat from Alaska and you buy it from an indigenous community. I would imagine that would be pretty hard to get.)

Either way everything dies in the end. Do we shame scavengers for eating corpses they found before it could rot and spread disease? Do we shame the animals that hunt other animals to survive? Yes factory farming should no longer exist. So let’s give the animals the best life we can give them. If there’s babies born that the farmer doesn’t want, give them away to someone who wants them as a pet. Or someone who wants to raise them for something else. Not everyone can raise animals for their meat. I know I can’t I would get to emotionally attached. I’d only be able to raise them for their eggs and milk.

Yeah this was pretty much thrown together, and I just wanted to say my thoughts and throw them into the void. If you have some examples of sustainable farming/agriculture, please share them because while I got some stuff I posted from YouTube, I’m still interested to see what stuff I might’ve missed!

[dinchenix]

"take one, leave one" welcome to the local plant exchange! 🌱💚

[sewgeekmama]

Gardyn vs Lettuce Grow: Which Is Better?

[punkgardener]

GUESS WHO GOT A HYDROPONICS SYSTEM!!

I'm gonna be the talk of the town now!

[wildrungarden]

9/19/23 ~ Hydroponics at school. Those cucumbers grew super fast 😳 and some Romaine Lettuce!

[turtlesandfrogs]

It occurred to me that I hadn't talked about my malabar spinach on here, or at least I don't think I did.

So, basically, I wanted to try out a kind of hydroponics called the kratky method, and I found out I liked malabar spinach, so I stripped the leaves off a few stems and put them in an aquarium that I'd picked up from a free pile, and

They seem to be doing pretty well! Along with the Thai basil I also started from stems. Still learning how to do it well, but it's been a fun project so far. I haven't harvested any leaves yet, and I have a feeling I should figure out a better plan for the vines than "let them dangle".

[wyvern-babbles]

Day 7 of Fighting Dystopia

I cleaned up my garden this morning. I now have six empty pots ready for my next gardening adventure and two new pothos propagations in repurposed glass soda bottles. Everything is pruned, watered, and cared for. I feel refreshed and fulfilled. Everything is thriving.

[davidstortebeker]

Closing Loops in Soilless Gardening - Hydroponics and Aquaponics

What is the future of food production going to look like? Is the projected 10 billion people in 25 years, out of which two thirds will live in cities, going to require us to convert every square meter of arable land into intensive mono cultural farms? Please don't let that be true! There HAS to be some alternative. Fortunately, there are several. Two of them are different ways of growing plants without soil, a radically new method, which may be most appealing to urban food production.

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Hydroponics: Growing Plants in Water

When it comes to growing large amounts of food on a small area efficiently, hydroponic systems are often brought up as a solution. And the reasons sound pretty convincing: An efficient hydroponic farm uses 90% less water, and can yield 3-10 times the amount of produce per area, with 7-14 growth cycles in a year. IMPRESSIVE! But before getting too excited, let's not forget: the devil is in the details! It's worth looking into under exactly what conditions those plants grow, being fed by what light, and most importantly which nutrients, and where they come from.

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The basic concept, however, of growing plants vertically, in mostly water, with some kind of substrate, such as clay balls or vermiculite, is actually a pretty nifty way to grow food where there are no fields. The most basic form of this may be the Windowfarm technique, which I experimented with myself years ago in my Budapest apartment. Going to Shanghai, the whole idea seems to be taken to a whole new level.

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Is That Really Sustainable? Or Even Healthy?

… not to mention, does hydroponics even fit into Permaculture? Because let's be honest: with a system that needs to be constantly managed and monitored you could not be further from a self-supporting ecosystem. Also, what exactly do those plants get to eat? The typical N-P-K made industrially out of petrochemicals? Most likely. So while it certainly reduces the transport related drawbacks, hydroponics is by no means energy efficient, and the nutritional value won't be any better than your most industrially grown veggies.

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How Does Aquaponics Compare?

Okay, so let's bring in the fish! For those not familiar with the difference between the two systems, aquaponics is the combination of hydroponics and aquaculture, which are simply fish farms. Having fish in a tank, they will naturally defecate into the water, requiring it to be changed regularly. Plants, however love to eat those nutrients that the fish excrete. Or to be more exact, they feed on the nutrients that have been converted by bacteria and other microbes. The ammonia will turn in to nitrites, which in turn become nitrates, that is food for the plants.

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So running the water from the fish through the plants growing substrate will on one hand feed the plants, as well as clean it for the fish to enjoy it again. So the system already closed a few loops there, making it more sustainable than just mere hydroponics. Also, the inclusion of microbes already offers a more diverse environment, bringing the system a bit closer to an ecosystem. But let's not get ahead of ourselves: Aquaponic systems still need close monitoring, as they are still a far cry from a self sustaining ecosystem of let's say a pond. Also, the water circulation / aeration is most likely going to require a pump, and depending on the exact setup of the system, maybe artificial lighting for the plants. All these aspects add to the energy requirement of the aquaponic system.

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A Truly Closed Loop? Consider the Food of the Fish!

When praising the sustainability of aquaponics, one thing that mustn't be ignored is the source of the fish food. Just like with the hydroponic systems, where the food for the plants or the fertilizer is considered, we can't ignore the feed we give to our fish to eat. If it is the same industrial feed, we may as well have kept to our hydroponics. Not true, since including fish already makes our system more diverse. So instead, let's continue in that same direction. What do fish eat? What is good for them? How can we grow that food ourselves?

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Making Your Own Sustainable Fish Food

Here I could probably start a number of individual posts, since talking about fish food is like opening up a can of worms. But fortunately, I already have a number of appropriate things written. Talking about worms, by the way, anyone who has been fishing knows that they are a favored delicacy, and anyone who composts will have no shortage of them. Since worms are mostly vegetarians, and many of us eat meat, it may have been a bit difficult to properly compost greasy, meaty, bony food wastes. That's where black soldier flies come in, whose larvae are also frequently mentioned for fish food. I still need to try growing those guys. As for green plants for the fish, duckweed makes also good fish feed, again something I have no experience with. What I do know, though, is spirulina, which is also super rich in nutrients, and I would be surprised if the fish didn't like it. So I can see throwing some composting worms, black soldier fly larvae, and spirulina into a blender, to make some great nutritious fish food. At the moment this is very theoretical for me, though.

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Don't Give Up the Soil Completely

So does this mean we should all focus on setting up our most sustainable fish-plant-compost combo cycles? Hells yeah! But please not at the expense of everything else! Soilless gardening, as exciting and revolutionary as it may sound, is still that: without soil. And let's face it: neither us, nor our beans and tomatoes, have evolved to live entirely without soil. That just seems wrong. Even in a small urban apartment it's worth having a bit of soil on your roof, balcony, or window sill, where you can dig your hands into a world of healthy microbial diversity on occasion. And if you do have the space, by all means, set up a pond, a dam, or another aquatic ecosystem, where fish, and frogs, and dragonflies, and numerous other species can live together without relying on our management. Apart from looking pretty, they will also provide food for us, that is nutritionally superior to anything industrially grown.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8