Good morning all! I wanted to get your advice about hydroponics. I was reading about the process the other day and it seems really cool. Does anyone out there have any experience with it? I want to hear some first hand thoughts before I get too ahead myself. What are your thoughts? Pros, cons? Funny stories?
Hydroponics?
Hi GardenGirl,
I considered it (hydroponics) at one time. Bought a book. Decided it wasn't appropriate for my zinnia hobby. Growing zinnias in water is rather awkward, because just keeping the plants upright can be a problem. The system I wound up with for my indoor zinnia project is essentially hydroponics, in that it is "soil-less" because I use ProMix BX instead of soil. ProMix has only enough nutrients to get seedlings started. I apply liquid nutrients to the ProMix to keep the plant going. Plants need a lot of Calcium, and ironically the Calcium nitrate that I use came from a hydroponics supply place. I need urea-free nutrients, because the ProMix doesn't contain soil microbes to break down urea into a usable nitrate or ammonium ion form, so I use commercial soluble nutrients used by Orchid growers.
So, ironically, it turns out I am effectively growing hydroponically using the Premier ProMix in pots as a supporting medium. This is a current photo. I am growing my home-hybridized zinnias indoors under lights in a basement utility room.
ZM
Quote from Zen_Man :
Hi GardenGirl,
I considered it (hydroponics) at one time. Bought a book. Decided it wasn't appropriate for my zinnia hobby. Growing zinnias in water is rather awkward, because just keeping the plants upright can be a problem. The system I wound up with for my indoor zinnia project is essentially hydroponics, in that it is "soil-less" because I use ProMix BX instead of soil. ProMix has only enough nutrients to get seedlings started. I apply liquid nutrients to the ProMix to keep the plant going. Plants need a lot of Calcium, and ironically the Calcium nitrate that I use came from a hydroponics supply place. I need urea-free nutrients, because the ProMix doesn't contain soil microbes to break down urea into a usable nitrate or ammonium ion form, so I use commercial soluble nutrients used by Orchid growers.
So, ironically, it turns out I am effectively growing hydroponically using the Premier ProMix in pots as a supporting medium. This is a current photo. I am growing my home-hybridized zinnias indoors under lights in a basement utility room.
ZM
Thanks so much for sharing. There was a lot of really good info in your reply. I really appreciate it. Also your little plants look lovely! Great job!
Quote from Zen_Man :
Hi GardenGirl,
I considered it (hydroponics) at one time. Bought a book. Decided it wasn't appropriate for my zinnia hobby. Growing zinnias in water is rather awkward, because just keeping the plants upright can be a problem. The system I wound up with for my indoor zinnia project is essentially hydroponics, in that it is "soil-less" because I use ProMix BX instead of soil. ProMix has only enough nutrients to get seedlings started. I apply liquid nutrients to the ProMix to keep the plant going. Plants need a lot of Calcium, and ironically the Calcium nitrate that I use came from a hydroponics supply place. I need urea-free nutrients, because the ProMix doesn't contain soil microbes to break down urea into a usable nitrate or ammonium ion form, so I use commercial soluble nutrients used by Orchid growers.
So, ironically, it turns out I am effectively growing hydroponically using the Premier ProMix in pots as a supporting medium. This is a current photo. I am growing my home-hybridized zinnias indoors under lights in a basement utility room.
ZM
Thanks so much for sharing. There was a lot of really good info in your reply. I really appreciate it. Also your little plants look lovely! Great job!
Hello again GardenGirl,
I see that the forum software duplicated your message response. I am not sure why it does that. I have been going after new flower forms in my home-hybridized zinnias, and these are a few examples of my zinnias that I cannot obtain from commercial zinnia varieties. The "hydroponic" phase of my hobby lets me grow zinnias indoors during the Winter, which extends the number of generations of zinnias I can get in a year to four. That has been a big factor in my progress getting new zinnia forms.
ZM
Quote from Zen_Man :
Hello again GardenGirl,
I see that the forum software duplicated your message response. I am not sure why it does that. I have been going after new flower forms in my home-hybridized zinnias, and these are a few examples of my zinnias that I cannot obtain from commercial zinnia varieties. The "hydroponic" phase of my hobby lets me grow zinnias indoors during the Winter, which extends the number of generations of zinnias I can get in a year to four. That has been a big factor in my progress getting new zinnia forms.
ZM
Yeah, I don't know why that happened either. Sorry! That is such a cool project/hobby. I love the idea of breeding flowers. What got you into it?
Hello GardenGirl,
" I love the idea of breeding flowers. What got you into it? "
When I was a kid growing up on a farm in Oklahoma I was growing some zinnias and marigolds and I liked the flowers of the zinnias and the foliage of the marigolds, so I tried crossing them. Both ways. I was going for both "marinnias" and "zinnigolds". I pushed a lot of pollen, but none of it took.
But in later years I realized there were a lot of different zinnias and the number of different crosses you could make between just zinnias was astronomical, so I made some, and had beginners luck doing that. So I was hooked on zinnias as a hobby. For a longer version, see my message thread, It can be fun to breed your own zinnias, at the National Gardening Association.
https://garden.org/thread/view_post/818358/
Happy Thanksgiving.
ZM
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