Gardening Without Soil - My Adventures Into Hydroponics & How Easy It Is

Plants I'm Growing: Giant Belgium Tomatoes

I found out about hydroponics from my online friend about a year or two ago. I was excited when I heard about it, because it seemed rather easy to do. No weeds, no diseases or pests. But unfortunately it comes at a cost. If you plan on doing a project like this I suggest you plan it out well to save money. I didn't plan it enough and spent more money than I should have.

I spent a month planning out a system, I was not really sure on what to do. In the ended I spent around $300 on a recirculating hydroponic system made with 4" PVC pipes. I could of however made it for much cheaper if I made it a single flow system. It would of costed me about $150 if I did it that way.

I have my water in a 55 gallon barrel that I got for free, when the plants mature they take up about 40 gallons of that water per week.

Now, I'm no rich man so I did this all outside where it's exposed to the sun light for free light, the downside to that is the wind and storms beat at it. However, the plants are holding up great with supports, even in winds as high as 70MPH.

The bugs and spiders don't seem to bother the plants at all, after I've added silica to the water the bugs have been avoiding the plants at all costs.

This is my first year doing hydroponics however, I honestly thought it was going to be a bust. But it seems to be doing okay so far. I did lose plants due to the way it was planned out, improper water flow mostly. But that has been corrected before I lost more. I plan on doing a snake like design next year, so it's not multiple flows. I feel this will be better to do.

Moving on....

After I got everything corrected and running it was pretty much running itself. I just checked the water PH and PPM every few days and adjust it if needed. My tomato plants are now producing tomatoes, it's been in the hydroponics system for about 50 days now.

Here is a photo of them: [link to oi42.tinypic.com]

Here is a photo of an open blossom up close: [link to oi44.tinypic.com]

However, I cannot say that these are organic. I could have used organic but I didn't know it at the time. Organic seems to run higher anyway.

I use the following on my plants:
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Organic Insecticide - I had to use this in the start before I added silica to the water. Now that I have silica in the water bugs don't bother. ($10)

Organic Fungicide - I only had to use this because we've had over 10 inches of rain in a month. So I had to spray for blight. ($16)

I use the following in the water:
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Food Grade PH Down (Quart) - $18
FloraBlend (Gallon) - $26
FloraMicro (Gallon) - $31
FloraBloom (Gallon) - $29
FloraGro (Gallon) - $29
Floralicious Plus (8oz) - $18
Liquid KoolBloom (Quart) - $20
Silica Blast (Pint) - $12
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So in all I spent around $200 in stuff for plants (not counting PVC and all), but that lasts me a while since I only change the water twice a month. However, silica goes the quickest because I'm adding 5oz at a time. I plan on buying a gallon of it when I can.

If you plan on doing hydroponics do not skip the silica, I noticed a big change after I added the silica to the water. Also, if you plan on growing tomatoes don't use 4" PVC like I did. It's overtaking the pipes. You're better off using 6" PVC pipes. My pipes are 10ft long and have a black coating inside the keep the light out.

The plants are spaced about 10 inches apart also.


So, in all. Is it worth the price? No. Not unless you have no other option, or plan on selling what you grow. Hydroponic tomatoes at my local store go for $2.99 a pound. Next year I plan on growing tomatoes again and selling them. However, if you're able to come up with a cheaper option it may be worth it in the end.

Next year I'm going to build a greenhouse and maybe a 200-500 hole hydroponic system. This will take some serious cash saving!