Michael's experiment with aquaponics is swimming along. The tilapia are growing, the lettuce thriving, the basil is smiling. (the tomatos and peppers are struggling). But this adventure led Michael to the water-saving potential for hydroponics, e.g. growing plants using water and nutrients, but no soil.

So Farmer Michael jumped in with both feet and installed an outdoor hydroponic system by which he's comparing water use/savings. The unit was assembled by Archi's Acres for $750 + tax. Note on Archi's Acres -- they are job-training program using veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder to assemble and install hydroponic systems with the hope of giving these brave armed service vets a productive and self-sufficient job. It's a great program, recently profiled by the North County Times.

Michael had a 20-gallon system installed. It boasted 8 growing pots. He's planted tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, artichoke, strawberries and snow peas. He'll be comparing the yield and water usage of this system to his outdoor garden and the indoor aquaponics system powered by his solar PV system. He uses an organic nutrients (phosphorous, magnesium and calcium) to provide the nutrients that would have otherwise been contained in the soil. (See below)

Three weeks later, the same hydroponic garden looks like this:

The tomatoes, peppers, basil, artichoke, eggplant and mint are growing like gangbusters. The peas didn't fare as well. The system has performed without a glitch and is requiring a refill of about 4 gallons per week, so far. As the hot weather subsides, the evaporation may be even less. And nutrients are being added every other week.