Hydroponic Gardening

 

 

Rogers Kyle, a Seabrook Island resident and former MUSC teaching faculty member, discussed Hydroponic Gardening at the November Seabrook Island Garden Club meeting. Kyle, a do-it-you selfer and gardener, built a simple but efficient hydroponic system to grow lettuce and herbs from seeds year-round. Hydroponics is the technique of growing plants using a water-based nutrient solution rather than soil.  

 

With minimal technical skills and by watching a YouTube video, Kyle said any of us could build a hydroponic system. But we could also purchase a complete system on Amazon. He said you need plants or seeds, a container, water, a way to anchor the plants, nutrients, and a light source to grow hydroponically. The basic system suspends the plants above a water tank, and the roots hang into the container where they absorb water and nutrients. Every system has pros and cons; some are simple and a good fit for the amateur gardener, while others can get very complex and are suitable for commercial operations.

 

Once planted, the hydroponic gardener must diligently manage the crop to ensure the plants receive the proper nutrients and pH. A pH meter makes this easy to do. Other challenges are keeping out algae and deterring the birds, marsh rats, squirrels, and deer that also like his lettuce.

Dr. Kyle’s system is in the sun on his deck during the summer and under LED lights in his garage in the winter. Within a year, Kyle successfully harvested several lettuce crops without ever having to pull any weeds. 

 

                                                                                                Submitted by Carol Price