How to Get Started with Hydroponics

I have had a backyard garden for a number of years, and have driven friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers a bit crazy with extra cucumbers, tomatoes, and zucchini.

While I still enjoy puttering around in the garden during the spring and summer, I decided to try an experiment in hydroponics.

Hydroponics is described as the growing of plants without using soil as a growth medium. The idea of growing pants for food, and other uses without using soil is not a new one. Hydroponics has been around for many years.

I decided to look into the best way to get started. I haave some limited space, so I did a little internet research on how to get going. I decided to start out small. I found a site called Hydroponics For Dummies.

It has a lot of good information about hydroponics. Frankly the only exposure I had previously had to the idea of hydroponic farming was through watching science fiction shows on television as a kid.

I clicked around the site and checked out the information about hydroponics, and eventually got to Hydroponic Starter Kits. There was a link there to a kit from an outfit called Stealth Hydroponics.

This kit was called Bubbleponics. For around $500.00 it had everything I needed. It gives me a system with six net pots, which suspends the roots of my plants directly into the nutrient solution. There is a base system that hold up to six gallons of the nutrient solution. As for that, its included. The kit comes with bags of powder which I mix with purified water and will last me for six months.

Obviously, one of the things you have to have to grow a plant, it light. The Bubbleponics kits has grow lights in the red and blue spectrum which are essential for growth.

The medium that is used with this kit for the plants is rockwool, which my research showed me is one of the best growth medium for seeds and cuttings.

Other stuff that came with the kit were an air pump, an air stone, which helps oxygenate the roots. You know you have to have oxygen for the plants to grow.

The kit comes with a pH control kit, a manual, and even extension cords. There is even a timer for flowering. When the plants begin to flower, this timer regulates the lights, to provide the optimal time for light and darkness.

I was impressed when I got the hydroponics kit. I followed all the instructions, and you should see how my tomato plants are doing. I have only been at this for a few months, and my friends, family and neighbors are raving at the size of the tomatoes.