My Mini Hydroponics

Given we are still in pandemic in 2022, my time towards gardening has increased much more. Being in Northern California, there are many limitations of seed sowing directly in soil for winters and even early spring. It is impossible to get them germinated when directly sowed in soil during these seasons.

I was introduced to Hydroponics by my husband. It was a well thought gift to me this year to keep me busy in my own little world ;) I am a proud owner of a small 6 pod Hydroponics system. It is well suited for home owners who use it for passion instead of commercial growing. Small easy and compact that it fits on counter top.

Hydroponics is for those impatient gardeners who want to see results soon :)

Little background on Hydroponics. In very simple words, it is growing your plants in water instead of soil and giving them artificial light with nutrient plant food liquids.

Seeds a sowed into small pods that fit into this system and periodic water circulates inside. It can also be used for stem propagations. These systems make it so convenient that humans can forget use their brains ;) Machines and technology are ruling the world and we humans are becoming lazy. There are buttons on the machine which light up when water is low, plant food is low etc.  Zero brain power required to remember what will be required for healthy growing of plants.

Some pros are, the seeds geminates' in just couple of days and they produce nice thick stems with awesomely strong root system. Then you can either grow them in the hydroponics system, or remove them and plant in soil.

One thing I learnt the hard way is the plants might need some hardening if the temperature outside is in 50 F or less.  Say your room temperature is 70 For higher  and all of a sudden they go to lower temperatures, it will be shock for the plants and might not survive,.

Good idea is plant them in small pots, take it out in sun for few hours every day for a week or keep in in a green house if you have one and then slowly add them to the ground soil. That way the plants will get used to the harsh weather conditions and will be sustainable to climate changes and will eventually thrive well.

Also, there are chances the seeds might not germinate, so soak it in water for a 24-48 hours. Soak the pods in water for few hours. This will give much more chances for the seeds to germinate.

I have also read that you could plant more 2 seeds per pod for better changes of germination and then later pinch of the weaker stem and let the other one grow.

Some seeds I have tried so far are

strawberry,

okra,

bell pepper,

eggplant and

herbs.

Overall, I am very happy so far with my mini Hydroponics system. It is  a pure joy ! Definitely give it a try.