Hydroponics

When we started this project we were very interested in Permaculture, but without funding it quickly dropped from our to do list, but when an opportunity came to check out the Indoor Gardener's Expo today, I figured why not. Firstly, I was amazed at how high tech hydroponics has become. In the mystifying presence of grow lights spinning above plants like a fan to plants revolving upside-down around a lit center I felt overwhelmed and quickly had to leave feeling as though I got nothing out of the whole experience aside from the knowledge that this would be far to expensive to ever implement in a rental apartment.

When I got home I figured I’d look into Make or some of the other DIY sites to see if anyone was doing hydroponics on a small scale, and I was happy to find the easy to follow lesson in the above title link. As it turns out, a simple 4-11 plant set up can be made from parts found at a local hardware store. Among the many benefits of hydroponics I think the greatest use for this farming system is in places where no soil farming is available because either the soil quality is to low, rocky, or acidic for crops, or there is no soil as there may not be in, say, an apartment window.

Definitely worth checking out and I’d love to hear anyone else's knowledge of or ideas for hydroponic farming.