Hi guys, it's Jasmine again. After trying traditional, outdoor gardening (you can read about my experiences here) and using trial-and-error to create a really easy hydroponic system out of recyclable materials, I decided to put it to the test to see if it would really work, and if it would produce plants that grew faster and healthier than the plants that were outdoors.
I'm experimenting with a couple of small, yellowed tomato plants that were being crowded out and covered by healthier vegetables. Usually, I'd have to remove yellow leaves from plants to help them grow healthier, because usually they would take a long time to turn green and grow again, if ever. I was curious to see if hydroponics could accomplish this.
In this blog post, I'll post weekly photos of the hydroponics system and some changes I've noticed. Follow along with me to see what you should expect when starting your own, or if you just want to watch plants grow!
8-23-2020
I've just created the hydroponic system and transplanted the tomato plant into the yogurt cups. Notice the yellow leaves and how small the plants are. Fingers crossed, I hope this works out!
8-30-2020
Already a dramatic improvement! The yellow leaves have started to turn a deep, healthy shade of green and only a couple leaves still have a yellow tinge. There are many new leaves and offshoots. Week 1 seems great!
9-6-2020
I'm so happy to report that the leaves have only gotten bigger, and there are definitely more of them. I did have to refill some of the water and add a quarter teaspoon of hydroponic nutrients, but because they seemed to be growing just fine I decided to hold off on changing the water for a little bit. The plants have definitely put down new roots, as you can see in the yogurt cups, and there is a little bit of algae growing too. This is 100% expected since the plants are growing outside and shouldn't be a problem.
9-13-2020
The "branches" of the tomato plant extending parallel to the ground seem to have grown a lot longer, and there are many more sets of opposite leaves. I noticed the water level getting a little low, so I replaced it with freshly-mixed nutrient medium and used the old water to fertilize some roses and carrots. The plant still looks very healthy and green, hopefully it stays like this! I have noticed some insects on my other plants, but there don't seem to be any on this one.
9-20-2020
I have noticed that some of the younger leaves at the bottom have turned yellow, which lets me know that I have to change the hydroponic nutrients. I used the old water (still very nutritious!) to fertilize my carrot and tomato plants. Reusing hydroponic nutrients can help your other plants grow faster while reducing additional fertilizer use! Be sure to prune extremely yellow leaves to help the rest of the plant grow faster.
If you check out the third picture, you can see how much root growth there was in just the span of 3 weeks! When I took out the tomato plants to change the water, I was shocked. Three weeks ago, there were no visible roots extending outside of the yogurt cup.
9-25-2020
I also made two more hydroponics systems out of plastic milk containers, four bottles that used to contain smoothies, and four 1L soda bottles for some lettuce sprouts. This is the first time I've tried this design, so we'll see how it goes! If you want to know how to make this specific system, check out our Milk Carton Hydroponics post, or our Bottle Hydroponics manual.
10-4-2020
A lot of the lettuce seedlings have grown to 3-5 times their original size, developed more leaves, and begun to look more like lettuce and less like generic baby plants! Definitely a promising start - it's my first time growing lettuce using hydroponics and my second time growing lettuce in general. Fingers crossed!
I also just wanted to let you guys know that I had replaced the tomato with some lettuce. I knew it wasn't feasible to grow a fruiting plant over the winter, and that this would have to happen sometime soon. It was definitely such an educational experience that allowed me to make little changes and learn more about hydroponics by doing, and I hope that the lettuce will succeed and do the tomatoes proud.
10-13-2020
I'm really excited about this week's growth! I definitely noticed that some lettuce plants were bigger than others, which is interesting, especially in the plastic milk jug. I did make the milk cartons at different times, which might explain why they're each growing at different rates. I think I'll try rotating the cartons every day so that the plants have a relatively equal access to sun.
11-19-2020
It's been a while! Sorry for not catching up with you sooner, I was pretty swamped with schoolwork. I did check up regularly with the lettuce, and everything seemed to be growing well. We had a baby snowstorm a few weeks ago, and since then I moved the plants indoors (you can see the milk cartons next to the window).
If you check out the next few photos, you'll notice that the lettuce has definitely grown! Many of them were 2-3 times as large as my outstretched hand (and I play the piano). Today I cut them at the bases (leaving the roots in the system as fertilizer/composting material) and sent them to the Morse Elementary Food Bank for donation.
I'm thinking of starting some kale or spinach seedlings in the next week. I need to be careful about selecting plant varieties that grow well in low light, especially since even the lettuce started shooting upward and becoming "leggy" when I moved them indoors. Let me know what you think!