Are you a tinkerer? Are you a gardener who also likes to modify toys or gadgets? Hydroponics might be for you.

“It’s a ‘MacGyver’ hobby,” says Dan Lubkeman, president of the Hydroponic Society of America in El Cerrito, Calif. He is referring to the old TV series in which the main character used the resources around him to get out of trouble.

“You can buy prepacked packages, or you can get pieces and parts and tinker with them.”

Hydroponics, a term that comes from two Latin words that mean “water working,” is a hobby with many forms. It can be as simple as a plant in a bucket or more complex, with several buckets attached to form a larger garden. Regardless of how difficult they may appear, hydroponics systems are easy to start inside or outside your home.

Gardeners have been growing plants without soil since ancient times. “The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which are listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, used a crude form of hydroponics,” writes Stewart Kenyon in his book Hydroponics for the Home Gardener” (Key Porter Books, $14.95). “The world’s rice crops have been grown in this way from time immemorial.

“In 1934, however, a University of California professor adapted this time-tested technique to other crops. The results were 25-foot tomato vines that had to be harvested with ladders. Modern hydroponics was born, and it has been advancing ever since.”

Generally with hydroponics, plants are grown in containers, buckets or tubes without soil and are fed water and nutrient solutions that are delivered to the roots through various methods. Other instruments might be required, such as pumps, artificial lights and fans.

“Hydroponics means more food in less space with less water in less time,” Lubkeman says.

Whether plants grow in soil or not, they need the same essentials — nutrients, proper temperature, oxygen, water and light. How the plants get those things is up to you. Where you want to grow them also often will determine the materials you need.

“With hydroponics, because water and nutrients are always available, the plant is never stressed,” Ruth Sorenson and Diane Relf wrote in 1996 in a Virginia Cooperative Extension publication called “Home Hydroponics.”

“Sunlight and air are readily available in an outdoor hydroponic system. However, for an indoor system, one must provide an adequate light source and good air circulation. Metal halide lamps, sodium vapor lamps, gro-lights or fluorescent lights used in conjunction with incandescent light bulbs provide adequate light. . . . Indoor units often have a small fan to circulate the surrounding air.”

You also need a kit or meter to read pH levels.

“I would recommend digital meters for optimum results,” says Jessica Lilga, a customer sales representative at General Hydroponics, a business that manufactures hydroponic systems in Sebastopol, Calif.

“A common obstacle with hydroponics is [gardeners] have an incorrect pH. When it’s out of balance, the plants can’t [absorb] the nutrients. If it’s too high, the doorways in the roots that let the nutrients come inside close off.

“It does depend upon what you’re planting, but plants generally like it a little bit more acidic.”

She also recommends a meter that reads parts per million, which will tell you your nutrient concentration in the solution.

Although you can start gardens from seed, planting seedlings is common. They can be started indoors or in a greenhouse.

“Generally, you’re transplanting seedlings from rooting chambers with starter plugs,” Lilga says. “You stick your seed in the center of the starter plugs, and you just take the whole thing and transplant it.”

Practically anyone can try hydroponics without spending too much, Lubkeman says.

“It doesn’t have to be expensive,” he says. “You can start one for as low as $20. . . . You can do it any way you want to, from spending a few dollars to spending a few thousand. It’s a well-established hobby.”

source : www.orlandosentinel.com