Experiments in Hydroponics

6/16/2001 -- Hi. This is my first year entering any of the "Challenges" for hydroponics.

6/19/2001 -- Added a couple of pictures.

I've been interested in HP for a long time -- as just about anything that deals with self-sufficiency, do-it-yerself, field-tech, etc. is likely to spark an interest in me. Between the thinking and tinkering and studying and playing, it's a pretty neat thing. I have NO idea if any of the projects will live, but it's still a good time.

Having said that, I started out w/ some seedlings and young plants. Unfortunately, I am a late starter... hesitation being a certain killer of potential. I had several tom seedlings and plantlets on the kitchen counter for weeks. I don't doubt that they'd be much farther along if I had just buckled down and planted them, but I lacked the confidence and was cautious to the point of inaction.

I planted in standard plant planters, bought from Lowe's, Dollar General, etc. Nothing special, running from $1-2 to a max of... $5 for a "reservoir" pot from Lowe's. It's no big deal, and I see how I could have done better by crafting my own.

Originally, I wanted to try several different systems to see what turned out how, but procrastinated until I had to do SOMETHING, even if it was wrong. So I planted. I am using shredded Cypress Mulch -- although finer material would probably be better. I am using cheap fertilizer, purchased at Dollar General for about $2.50 or so. Hardly high tech. I mix it manually, and feed the plants weekly at least. I water by hand -- OK for now, but summer is coming and I don't know if that will be sufficient. I had planned to use some inexpensive pumps, but they hadn't come in and I wound up using the individual pots, and now I'm kind of stuck. ;-)

OK, on w/ the show. In order to speed the whole thing up, I _recommend_ that you open a second browser window and then drag these links to it, one at a time... it should speed up the whole process. You can do the "right click" on the first pic and tell it to open in a new window.

Oh, first... anybody know what's wrong w/ these guys and what causes this? Are these a waste or can I just let them develop and eat 'em?

Examples of the pots: BeefMaster in green. It's a small pot, likely to fall over with little help. I'll need to tie it to the railing soon. It seems very pale to me, but we've had lots of rain and I haven't had a chance to feed it lately. It's fruit is much smaller than its brothers. I also have a couple of Better Boys. I had no idea what I was doing when I bought them, and just picked them up as I found them. One in a brown planter, and the other in the reservoir green planter. This is what happens when you aren't smart enough to stake/support the branches (or smart enough to trim back -- a abhorrent thought to me, as I thought I was supposed to be GROWING instead of cutting... hesitation again...)

OK, here's the main Rogue's Gallery. Against the railing of the deck, left to right, we have:

Better Boy in brown plastic planter,
Better Boy in green reservoir planter,
uh, I'm not sure in brown planter
Beef Master in the smallest planter I have -- in green. Notice how pale he is compared to the others.
Slightly in front, in the white, and apart from the rest is... "Mr. Stripey!" Bought on a whim while shopping with my oldest son for mom's Mom's Day present of an herb garden. :-D

Another angle, same guys. Yet another angle. Widest view. Some fruits. OK, how about a grunch of photos of fruits? A close up. Misc. More. Corner 1, Corner 2, Corner 3. Some. More. And more. And even more. After a while, they all look the same. Two: from the back, and again. Up against the railing.

Hey, along w/ "Mr. Stripey!", I also picked up a Lemon Boy. Why? Uh... temporary insanity? It was JUST transplanted to the cypress mulch system. Of course, like the rest, I bought it and let it sit forever before planting it.

What else? Well, I haven't found one of those little blue plastic kiddie pools to try to grow in, but my attempts a growing corn in a bag system hasn't fared as well as the plain, old, corn in the compost method. That's Bear in the background of the first picture... an old, worthless, good for nothing mutt, who growls at me constantly, and has bitten me several times. I can't bring myself to part with him, as you can't buy love like that. Here's Jack. He doesn't bite, he slobbers. Icky, but it doesn't hurt. He's supposed to chase downed ducks and retrieve them, but we have a hard time getting him to recognize his own name.

Hey! The mimosa is in bloom! Not hydro, but smells sweeeeet! The punkin is also in bloom... got to find a recipe for battered pumpkin blossoms before they all give out. We've got three, the largest and next largest.

OK, that's it for now. Write w/ any questions, or for any elaboration/ extra pictures. Or check the rest of the site.

6/19/2001

Additional Pictures (beeeeg grin -- like I need MORE):

Mid-Morning light -- not to bad. Noon -- what happens if you don't watch the fluid levels, another view.