OK - ever the new project.
I'd like to give my better natured half an indoor growing system this year (maybe a hydroponic system?). I've searched a bit for kits, prices range from high to low. Does anyone have a recommendation for a basis system to grow a few plants this winter and maybe expand into it a bit further if everything goes well.
Goals:
Tomatoes, other veggies
Herbs
Maybe starting some outdoor seeds before spring
Resources:
HUGE basement that stays pretty warm
Some money (not looking to invest a thousand dollars though)
Constraints:
Knowledge
Don't want a 500 dollar a month electric bill
Any advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated - even if it's - GIVE UP THE IDEA OF HYDROPONICS! We might find that grow lights on a table is the best route for winter veggies instead of an elaborate hydroponic system. I just don't know. Is there a better forum for these questions?
Thanks in advance,
Sandra
Indoor winter growing (hydroponics?) advice
Sandra, you may wanna check into what is now called "aeroponics", a much cleaner/easier/and more efficient system than hydroponics.
I really checked into the pros and cons of it a bit over a year ago and nearly went that route. (I only decided against it at that time cuz I was determined to cut back on my workload and try to take a break for a while.)
The following site has complete systems as low as $110.00, plus you can start small and build onto them as you go, thereby investing as little or more $$ as you want as you get more into it.
Check out what is called the "Aerospring" system...even the "Jr" would be a nice place to start out.
http://www.futuregarden.com/hydroponics/
While I may be an inexperienced ourdoor gardener, I have rather a bit of experience with small scale home hydroponics. I grow both tomatoes and peppers indoors in my apartment here in New York City, and have been doing it for over five years.
Unless your husband has previous hydroponics experience, I recommend a flood and drain system. This is a system that, on a schedule determined by a timer, floods plants with nutrient solution and then drains the nutrients back into the holding reservoir.
Mechanically, flood and drain is elegantly simple. It is relatively easy to control the variables of hydroponic culture in flood and drain, such as pH, electrical conductivity, etc., using off the shelf products.
If flood and drain is the VW Passat of home hydroponics, then aeroponics is the Formula One of the field. In aeroponics, the plants grow in cups, with their roots suspended in a tube. Emitters, similar to aerosol nozzels, spray a nutrient mist into the tube. From a plant growth perspective, this is amazingly efficient.
Aeroponics produces measurably greater results in both the foliage and fruiting stage than any other current hydroponic technology. However, even the simplest of hydroponic technologies will produce 12 times more crops per square yard than traditional agriculture.
BUT, like a Formula One race car, aeroponics systems are a little finiky. The emitters clog. Aeroponics requires finer tuning of pH and electrical conductivity than flood and drain.
Based upon my own experience, your husband will spend approximately three times MORE time adjusting the variables on an aeroponics system than he will on a flood and drain system. On a home scare, aeroponics will produce approximately 20% more foliage and fruit volume than flood and drain.
Regarding nutrients: it is generally not possible to use organic hydroponic nutrients in an aeroponic system. Because the emitter nozzels are quite tiny, the particulate matter in the organic nutrients tends to clog them. My wife, who is a bio~physicist, formulates our hydroponic nutrients. There are commercial products as good or better than what we make, it's just more fun this way.
Let's keep the hydro thread going!
Adam.