Hi Steemians, today I am going to introduce hydrophonics - a soilless farming method. Hydrophonics is a high tech farming methods introduced few decades ago. Hydrophonics doesn'y use soil. It uses water to provide nutrients and air to the plants. There are several hydrophonic methods. Some are expensive and some are inexpensive. I have done weeks of research on hydrophonics and planning to test each method. Let's start with the cheapest method and advance to more expensive methods.

Cheapest hydrophonic method I did find is called Kratky method. Plant is suspended above the nutrient solution. Only a half of the roots are submerged in the solution and other half is in the air to breath (yes, roots need air to breath). Following image will give you good idea.

Ok, lets start! Following are the ingredients you want for Kratky hydrophonic method.

1. A container which has a capacity about 5L. I used 5L plastic water bottle.

2. Disposable plastic cup

3. Small piece of sponge (1.5"x1"x1")

4. A plant about 2-3 weeks old. I used a scotch bonnet pepper plant (නයි මිරිස්)

5. Water soluble fertilizer -Albert's solution

6. Black polythene

7. A time when your mother is not at home. Otherwise you will get to hear things like "ඒයි, ගෙදරටම වෙලා ඉදලා මේ කොල්ලාට පිස්සු හැදිලාද කොහෙද. පොඩ්ඩක් ඇවිත් බලන්න"

Step 1

Cut a hole in the bottom of the 5L plastic bottle, so that the disposable plastic cup could fit in.

Step 2

Drill some holes on the disposable plastic cup. Drill a bigger hole at the bottom, so the plant can go through.

Step 3

Get the plant and wash away all the mud on the roots carefully. Be careful not to damage any roots

Step 4

Make a cut on the sponge and place the plant inside the sponge as shown in the photo. Sponge is the one which keeps the plant upright.

Step 5

Carefully place the sponge and the plant inside the plastic cup. Put some inert material on the sponge to support the plant. You can use clay pellets or coir pith (කොහුබත්). I used small pieces of coconut husks (පොල්මුඩු)

Step 6

Fill the bottle with 3L of water. Dissolve 7.5g of Albert's solution (3/4 of a tablespoon)

Step 7

Place the plant with the cup on the hole of the bottle. Make sure only half of the roots are submerged in the water. Keep the upper half of the roots above the water to breath. Otherwise the plant will drown and die.

Step 8

Cover the whole thing except the plant with black polythene. If any sunlight is allowed to go to water Algae will form. Those algae will consume all the nutrients in the water.

Step 9

Keep the whole setup under a shed, away from the rain. Scotch bonnet pepper needs only 50% sunlight.

Step 10

Change the water every two weeks

You can cultivate any plant you want using hydrophonic method. Just make sure you choose right size of the container according to your plant size.

Note

Every plant is a living being. Treat them with repect. When transferring the plant from soil medium to water medium do to quickly as you can. Otherwise plant will go to a shock. It will take few days to calm down.

I planted my test subjects on 23rd of May 2021. Let's see how it grows in few weeks.