Hydroponic Gardening

[rancher]

Note: this is not about a website or creative project per se, but seems appropriate for the Laboratory forum. (science!)

In a dream, an entity communicated to me: "begin hydroponic farming." And so, I began to research and move forward...

Quality soil is difficult for me to acquire. and I live in the middle of a concrete jungle, so space is limited. (My front and back yards are small and made of cement, very sad!) Making my own compost is not feasible, and buying giant bags of good dirt online is just silly. Being a bit of a science man myself, hydroponics was an appealing alternative to me over soil farming: despite the minor electricity use (maybe 5 watts per system), hydroponic farming uses >90% less water than traditional farming methods while growing plants 30-50% faster.

Compared with soil farming, being able to completely control what nutrients and pH are in the system is also appealing to me.

I have already acquired a 1 meter tall aeroponic tower full of many slots for netpots and am in the process of building a 20L "DWC" system as a part of a larger "space bucket" system for indoor growth. Seeds are currently germinating in rockwool .... salad, bok choy, kale, and many other veggie friends.. I am starting to see new friends popping out of the medium....

If anyone here has experience with hydroponics, hearing about it would be very cool! Otherwise, I'll use this thread to share updates of my hydroponic journey , possibly with photos, with also sharing notes along the way of what I learn by doing it. And if mods want to move this thread to "off topic" that's okay too.

[capstasher]

I've been curious about hydroponics since i was a teenager, always found the concept really neat. Wanted at some point to build a whole hydroponics enabled automated greenhouse with climate control, but I don't have the space, resources, or time for it.

I will be very curious to see how your project unfolds! Hell, if you have fun with it, I might try and start some small scale hydroponics myself sooner rather than later.