Hydroponics, what?

Well, as some of you know, I love being creative and I love growing things.  Florida has a great climate for growing things, however it also has a great climate for bugs, fungus, bacteria, and other plant pathogens.  After failing a few times growing crops in the sandy back yard, I was talking to Walker and he convinced me to go Hydroponic.

No, I am not growing anything illegal!

Since where I am going to live in the next few months is up in the air, this will just be a trial run and experiment. After hours and hours of research on the internet (the DEA is probably watching the house as we speak) I have decided to build two different systems for two different crops.





Lettuce  -  If you have seen the modern marvels on farming, then you know what I am doing here.  I place all the plants on a Styrofoam sheet and float it in a bath of  nutrient rich water.  The roots grow down into the water, the leaves grow up, and no bugs or soil problems to destroy the lettuce!

The floating bed lettuce system.  I made this drawing with Google SketchUp.

Strawberries - First I have to find a source for strawberry plants, turns out that growing them from a seed takes over a year.  I don't have that kind of time.  So the guys at the hydroponics place recommended some online nurseries that will ship me some rooted strawberry plants.   The strawberry system looks something like the system below.  The right hand  picture is what commercial hydroponic strawberry growers use.  

Getting Started

Luckily all I need for the first few weeks is something to start the seeds with.  I figured since this is an experiment of sorts, I should have a control group.  I started 12 plants in little peat disks like I normally would for soil gardening.  I then set up 40 starters using rock wool cubes from Grodan that were soaked in a very dilute nutrient solution from Olivia's Solutions (they are out of Calistoga!).  

The peat seeds have a two day head start on the hydro seeds, so we shall see who will win the race!  

Here are the pictures of the two starters:

Rock wool grow blocks on the left, peat on the right

Close up of rock wool.