NO SOIL—NO PROBLEM

By Pat Naughton

Gardening can be labor intensive, lugging bags of soil and weeding. Growing tomatoes in 5-gallon buckets works but is an eyesore to your landscape.

Hydroponics is a great alternative to traditional gardening. It works by providing a nutrient-rich water directly to the roots. Hydroponic systems that circulate water or sprays can be expensive. Here are a couple of passive methods that work just as well.

Homegrown Hydroponics

Method 1: Start with a two-liter soda bottle and cut it in half. Then take an old sock or rag and stuff it in the top of the bottle to wick the solution. Fill the top portion of the bottle with equal parts of sphagnum moss and perlite. Water the medium with a cup of water and then sprinkle seeds on to the mixture. Fill the bottom inch of the bottle with nutrient-rich solution. Finally, place the place the inverted bottle top and sock in bottom of the half of the bottle.

Method 2: Another method uses rock wool, also known as stone wool, as the medium. Rock wool is spun from molten stone. It has a consistency of fiberglass insulation, making it easy to cut with scissors. When it is saturated, it has 20% air space, making it a great medium for hydroponics. Rock wool can be ordered online.

The rock wool is placed in the top of a bottle in contact with a wicking rag. To reduce algae, paint the bottle black. Run a piece of tape along the length of the bottle which can be peeled off after painting. This way you will be able to see the water level.

I put the bottle on a dowel and use chalk spray paint and then label the bottles with bright chalk markers (see above). Sprinkle seeds on to the rock wool and stuff the rock wool and wicking strip into the top of the bottle. You will need a funnel to fill the bottles.

Place the bottles in a warm place. Once the seeds sprout, move them close to a window or outdoors when it warms up. Don’t use a water-soluble fertilizer intended for soils. There are many sources for hydroponics fertilizer online. It is a good practice to clean out the bottle and refill with fresh nutrient solution every month to avoid nutrient imbalances in the solution.

The Best of Hydroponics

Hydroponics can be used to grow large plants like potatoes and potatoes. These bottle methods are ideal for herbs and leafy vegetables. These plants have shallow root systems and grow fast. Here are a few of the benefits of hydroponics:

• Since plants can be grown indoors, they require less pesticides and herbicides.

• Plants can be grown year-round.

• There is no weeding or digging.