My husband has recently gotten interested in a new hobby: hydroponic gardening! It has been such an interesting process to watch. He has done an amazing job of setting up the plants and getting the root balls anchored in the buckets---he has a bubbler pump attached to tubing that flows to all the plants, agitating and keeping the oxygen constant so nothing nasty grows in the nutrient rich water. I'm telling you--the whole process is quite amazing to me. I can't wait to taste the fruits of his efforts! I will definitely keep you posted as things ripen! Whoo hoo!!!!!!!!
This photo shows the root growth on a 6 week old tomato plant. The plants are fed a very specific liquid nutrient formula for each stage of development. At the 6 week mark, the plants are sucking up 2 gallons of water per week. The plants get super-saturated with nutrients and the excess water leaches out through the leaves.
Brad, my husband, has a few larger plants that are 9 weeks old and they are requiring 4 gallons of of water per week. By the time we are able to pick ripe tomatoes, these guys will probably be going through 6 to 8 gallons of water a week!
Slide show:
I'll keep you posted on the progress as we work our way through the summer!
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