a primer on hydroponics and how you can get started!€¦ · experimenting with hydroponics for...
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Home Hydroponics
A Primer on Hydroponics and How YOU Can Get Started!
Introduction🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀
HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY!🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀
◦ Jason Murray◦ Master Gardener [2019]
◦ Growing veggies for about 10 years
◦ Experimenting with Hydroponics for about 7 years
◦ Interested in Sustainable Agriculture and Micro Farms
◦ Motto: “Maximum Value, Minimum Effort!”
◦ Today’s Learning Objective◦ To provide you with enough information to get started in
hydroponics without spending a significant amount of time or money
What is Hydroponics?
◦ Merriam-Webster says… “The growing of plants in nutrient solutions with or without an inert medium to provide mechanical support.”
◦ This is a “nutrient film technique” (NFT) system at Epcot, Walt Disney World.
◦ Photo Credit: Jason Murray
What you need…
◦ Plants / Seeds
◦ Nutrient Solution
◦ Growing “System”
◦ Light
Plants
◦ Nearly every vegetable can be grown using hydroponics.
◦ Root crops, bulbs, or tubers are nearly impossible.
◦ Leafy vegetables are the easiest.
◦ Non-heading lettuces are the best to get started. 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀
Nutrients
◦ Multi-part◦ Using single or multiple elements to create a custom blend
◦ Single Phase◦ Vegetative 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀◦ Blooming
◦ All Phase
Hydroponic Systems
◦ Drip
◦ Nutrient Film Technique
◦ Flood and Drain
◦ Dutch Bucket
◦ Aeroponics
◦ Aquaponics
◦ Passive / Non-circulating 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀
Grow Media
◦ Coconut Coir
◦ Expanded Clay Pebbles
◦ Vermiculite
◦ Perlite
◦ Rockwool 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀
Grow Lights
◦ High Pressure Sodium
◦ Metal Halide
◦ LED
◦ Sun 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀
The winner is…
◦ Passive (non-circulating) hydroponics with a vegetative nutrient solution using rockwool in the sun!
◦ Often referred to as the “Kratky” method in recognition for Dr. Bernard Kratky’s work studying non-circulating hydroponic systems.
How YOU Do This…
◦ Food safe container
◦ Rockwool to fit (may need net cups, too)
◦ Non-heading lettuce◦ Red Sails / Black Seeded Simpson 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀
◦ Dry vegetative nutrient
◦ One gallon of clean, drinkable water for each plant
◦ Very sunny window
Questions?
◦ Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Icon-round-Question_mark.svg
Additional Resources
◦ Kratky, B.A. 2009. Three non-circulating hydroponic methods for growing lettuce. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Soilless Culture andHydroponics. Acta. Hort. 843:65-72. https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/hawaii/downloads/Three_Non-circulating_Hydroponic_Methods_for_Growing_lettuce.pdf
◦ Kratky, B.A. 2010. A Suspended Net-Pot, Non-Circulating Hydroponic Method for Commercial Production of Leafy, Romaine, and Semi-Head Lettucehttps://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/vc-1.pdf
◦ Natalie B. Parkell, Robert C. Hochmuth, and Wanda L. Laughlin. 2015. An Overview of Lettuce Production Systems and Cultivars Used in Hydroponics and Protected Culture in Florida https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs1258