Growing my own food with hydroponics to become more self-reliant, save money, and to become healthier as I eat fresh organic veggies that I grow mysel

No Pesticides, no fungicides, no herbicides, no insects. This is an easy way to grow your own food and stop eating poisoned food. It could also help prepare you for when things get bad.

Click on the link for photos of my hydroponic project and then scroll down the page for a slide show!

[link to www.wkphotography.ca]

I also added a few you tube videos, one on my broccoli grow, another on how to build a simple system and one on how to germinate seeds. I will keep adding videos as I continue on with my hobby.

[link to www.youtube.com]


Hydroponics is one of my hobbies and I decided to photograph my projects at home and at the school I teach at. I can grow 20 heads of organic heirloom lettuce in 5-6 weeks from seed. The costs of electricity are very low as I am using 4 90w LED UFO lights to grow vegetables at home. According to the electricity prices from ENMAX in January 2010, it would cost 11.20 a month to run all 4 lights for 16 hours a day. Considering that I am growing around 20 heads of lettuce every 4 weeks as I have two lettuce systems running, it is only costing me around 15.00 (factoring in nutrients and rock wool). If I were to buy 20 heads of organic lettuce in the store, I would pay around 3.00/head which would cost me 60.00 to buy. By running my hydroponic system for lettuce, I end up saving 45.00 a month or 540.00 a year on lettuce alone. I also grow basil, dill, oregano, strawberry spinach, arugula, Russian kale, and cherry tomatoes. My cherry tomatoes produced over 455 tomatoes ( A bit over 11 lbs), in 3 to 3.5 months. My hope is to inspire you to do your own project as once we start growing some of our own food, we will save money and have a much lower ecological impact on the Earth! By time a store receives their vegetables, it is safe to say that from picking the food at most stores is already nearly a week old as we have to factor in the time it takes to pick, package, and ship the produce. With hydroponics, the food is much healthier as it is living and fresh.


Hydroponics works great because:

*you use 95% less water than you would if you grew the same vegetables outside.

*There is no need for fungicides or pesticides, which poisons our food.

*The nutrients are complete making the produce much healthier.

*Hydroponics grows quicker than plants in soil as the roots are suspended in air and get ample oxygen and nutrients.

*Insects that weaken the plant are not an issue if grown indoors.

*If grown indoors, the plants do not face the stress of harsh weather.

*The plants clean the air, provide rich oxygen, and help reduce off gassing.

*Hydroponics is inexpensive to get into and the systems pay for themselves in very little time.

*I save well over 1500.00 a year on groceries and I eat healthier living foods. One simple system cost me around 250.00 to build, including the light and it produces 20 heads of lettuce every 5-6 weeks. The money I save on groceries easily paid for my entire systems at home in less than 6 months. I am now making money by not having to spend it at the store!


*90w LED UFO Lights last for 10-12 years running them for 16 hours a day! The reason that a 90 watt light can grow and flower and fruit plants is because of the colours that are being used. For photosynthesis, plants use mainly blue and red wave lengths. The most efficient is red at 660nm and blue at 460nm. This makes the 90 watt LED grow light equivalent to a 400-600 watt metal halide or high pressure sodium light that commercial green houses use.

Last Edited by mah127 on 01/10/2011 08:56 PM