Hydroponics

The Aztecs and Incas amazed the Spanish conquistadors with their floating gardens, and now 500 years later you can impress your friends and neighbors with yours.

A University of Florida extension agent has developed a floating garden with material available at local building supply stores that costs about $40.

The hydroponic garden’s biggest advantage is that it cuts down on pests. “Without soil, you eliminate about half the problems that plague Florida gardens,” said Richard Tyson, Seminole County extension agent with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

“There are no nematodes, weeds or major root diseases. You also have a
constant supply of water, which eliminates the need to irrigate,” he
said.

Tyson and area gardeners are growing lettuce, basil, mint, watercress,
chives, onions, beans, peas and a few flowers with the new system. “Any
plant that likes moist conditions seems to do well,” Tyson said. “Basil
goes crazy. Impatiens and marigolds love hydroponic conditions, but
periwinkles, which prefer dry land, usually decline.”

Yields are high. For example, Tyson can grow 32 heads of lettuce every
40 to 60 days. And quality is high. Five of seven varieties of lettuce
that Tyson grew were marketable size, according to a panel of experts he
had examine them.

The hydroponic contraption is simple to make. Just follow these 10 easy
steps.
1. Build a frame of 2-by-6-inch treated lumber. Tyson recommends making
the frame 4 feet, 1-inch wide by 8 feet, 1-inch long, but you may vary
the size to fit the space you have available.

2. Line the frame with 6 mil polyethylene to form a trough.

3. Fill the trough with water to a four-inch height.

4. Secure the edges of the liner to the top of the frame with
1-by-2-inch furring strips.

5. Create a floating platform from a 4-by-8-foot panel of 2-inch foam
insulation.

6. Cut holes in the insulation to hold plants in 3-ounce plastic
bathroom cups or 8-ounce foam coffee cups. The holes should be sized so
that the bottom of the cups extend no more than a quarter inch below the
insulation and into the water. Create 2-inch holes for bathroom cups and
2 1/2-inch holes for coffee cups. The holes should be 6 inches from the
sides and a foot apart, forming 32 holes for planting.

7. Add fertilizer. Tyson recommends a general purpose water soluble
fertilizer with micronutrients. He mixes 2 teaspoons of the fertilizer
and one teaspoon of Epsom salts for each gallon of water in the trough.

8. Cut slits in the cups so that air can get to the roots of the plants.

9. Place perlite in the cups. This product, a lightweight filler, soaks
up water like a sponge.

10. Transplant starter plants into the perlite.

“Having the cups only a quarter inch in the water is very important,”
Tyson said. “It’s also crucial that you have the slits along the sides
of the cups for air to enter because roots will die if they get too much
water,” Tyson said.

As your hydroponic garden grows, add more water to compensate for
evaporation. Also add fertilizer at half the original rate as growth
slows or the foliage becomes lighter green.

Tyson believes that truck farmers could implement his system as a
low-cost alternative to the more complex hydroponic systems that are
used for Florida’s expanding hydroponics gardening industry.

Popularity: 56% [?]