Michael's experiment with aquaponics introduced him to the joys of tilapia, lettuce,  basil  and the heartbreak of nutrient deficiencies.  But the aquaponics 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.

As winter sets in, the plants continue to grow -- even the tomatoes.   But they are not ripening as fast because of the cool air and reduced sunlight.   He added lettuce and its as happy as a clam in a barrier reef.   The growth of the plants is astounding -- growing at 3-5 times as fast as the control garden planted in the ground next to it.   Clearly, hydroponics is for those green-thumbed speed demons.

What is really remarkable is the water savings.   The hydroponic garden uses approximately 6 gallons of water each week and produces bodacious growth.   The control garden produces far less yield, yet uses a little over 50 gallons each week.    Thus, the hydroponic garden is using 1/9th the amount of water as a traditional ground garden but producing far greater yield.   Remarkable!

In early 2010, Michael will install a winter crop and will compare water usage to the control garden that will be watered (hopefully) by Mother Nature this winter.   More data to come.