Hydroponics Decisions

I'm getting close to the point when I would like to make some decisions about my hydroponics projects. Here is what I'm thinking so far:

o I would like to experiment some with hydroponics, rather than launch a master plan with all the details already worked out. There is a bewildering variety of hydroponics techniques, offerings of hydroponics systems, hydroponics lighting systems, nutrient packages, etc. I may not be able to arrive at the best system for me ab initio. It will take some experimentation, maybe going up some blind alleys. Maybe it's best not to commit all my available resources to a single hydroponics approach at the outset.

o I know how to grow plants for a conventional soil-based garden, and pretty much know what I need to do to get it started. It's doubtful that I could get a hydroponics system into production faster than it will take to get my conventional summer garden into production. Therefore, attempts to get my hydroponics efforts to the production phase should be aimed at achieving production by next Fall and Winter.

o I may not get started with hydroponics right away, but the lighting equipment I get to support my soil-based garden might serve a dual purpose - i.e., use a fluorescent lighting system to start conventional seedlings; then use the fluorescents to grow lettuce and other greens hydropoically. I would hope ot have a greenhouse-based hydroponics system started by late summner so that I could reach a hydroponics production phase by the time of the first frost in the Fall. Relatively low power fluorescent lighting may be suitable for purposes of starting seedlings for the summer garden and for growing greens, but I have learned that tomatoes, peppers, and other vegetables that require blossoming and fruiting need higher intensities of light than can be provided by fluorescents. I can get the fluorescents first and wait until later to get some higher power lights.

o Tomatoes will be a basic crop for me. The best hydroponics techniques for growing tomatoes were recommended in one source to be the Drip method and the Ebb and Flow method. I might obtain some relatively inexpensive "Plug 'n Play" (or ready-made complete) systems featuring the "Drip" and "Ebb and Flow" systems to see what works out best for me. Maybe I could try one system in the basememnt and one in the greenhouse.

o Tomatoes and cucumbers were said to require about the same resources, in terms of nutrients, amounts of light, etc. Maybe I will try to grow these together in the same systems. I would also like to grow some zucchini squash along with the tomatoes and cucumbers. Perhaps zucchini and cucumbers are sufficiently alike in their requirements that I could combine the zucchini with the tomato and cucumber efforts. It may be stretching it a bit, but I will see if it is practical to grow sweet peppers with these other three vegetables in the same system.

o I also would like to try to grow some vegetables in the greenhouse using soil-based methods over the Fall and Winter, as well as hydroponically. My idea for using a soil-based method is to put some Earthboxes in the greenhouse. They have water reservoirs built into them, so that one doesn't have to water the plants every day. In addition to helping to manage watering the plants, the mass of water in the reservoirs could help to buffer temperature changes in the greenhouse between daylight and nighttime hours. I would plan to get about 5 or 6 Earthboxes. I will seek to find out more about what other people may have experienced using Earthboxes in a greenhouse.

o Hydroponics lighting systems can get very expensive. The more powerful the lights, the greater the area that can be covered effectively. It may be better to get two or more lights that can be arranged in a narrow row, that might be the case in a greenhouse, than to get a single very high-powered light that covers a large square or circular area, all of which may not contain plants. Getting several lower-powered lights also may allow for using different types of lights for different kinds of plants. This flexibility would not exist if I invested in a single higher-cost hydroponics lighting system.