I've been doing study and experiments in a method of gardening called hydroponics. We are in a condo so we don't have access to ground. Hydroponics grows food in a soilless environment

I've had mixed results as the area I use is a "sun porch" but the large overhang means the plants are in the shade to long.

I've been interested in it for a while, but a new pick your own hydroponic vegetable farm opened in our area and really sparked my interest.

Wow great minds do think alike. I am intending to try out a hydroponic setup for the lettuce seedlings my wife has cultivated using the old science class trick with a empty 2 litre plastic soda bottle and some cotton. I was a vo-agger in high school and we gerw lettuce hydroponically (in a greenhouse though) using PVC piping, bickes and a pond pump. I just cant recall waht we used as nutrients in the water though. What have you thought of using? wonder if they make energy efficient grow lamps

Love to hear more, as I plan to start this up in a week or two (provided the seedlings are still alive when I get paid next )

last week my wife and I bouthgt the pots and soil we needed for our patio garden (most from seedlings my wife has posted about in another psot) which seems to be doing very well especially the suger or snap peas! (well we actually bought a few potted tomota and basil plants that were on sale. I will see if she can update the post she has)

The website at http://www.hydrofreshfarms.com/ shows quite a bit.

They use a vermiculite/perlite combo so it isn't true hydroponics but all the nutrients need to come through the water. Their water/fertilizing system is almost completely automated. They sold a "secret sauce" fertilizer but any water soluble fertilizer do.

I used aluminum gutters to grow mine in (looked nice, was cheap). I made the mistake of not putting in drain holes. I did that thinking a little bit of standing water at the bottom wouldn't hurt and would cut down on the manual watering requirement. That was a mistake because on a couple occassions the rain was driven in enough to flood the boxes.

Since verm/perl can dry out so rapidly a tink a tube type trickle irrigation would be a big benefit, especially for young plants.



The best source I found for verm/perl was Homedepot. They had it in big bags in their gardening dept.