Hydroponics Gardening

Illustrated plants From gardenweb.com

"Hydroponic" refers to water in Latin. In gardening terms, basically its the art of growing plants in soil less medium containing mineral nutrient solutions.There are two types of hydroponics:the solution culture and the medium culture.Here i discuss medium culture which as one of  the farming methods is taking root faster  in both commercialized agriculture and hobby farming.

It might sound so complicated at this stage but it doesn't have to. You are quite aware that for any plant to perform well all growing conditions (minerals,water,light) need to be met at the right time and  in the right amount. The same happens in hydroponic farming whereby plants are grown in mediums and nutrient solutions with a well balanced pH system. In such an instance a plant uptakes minerals at a faster rate compared with a soil medium.

Basic Requirements For  Most Hydroponic Systems.

•  A Growing Medium:  This is an inert material which doesn't provide any nutrients to the plant  but allows the plant to grow. Examples of growing mediums include ,gravel, sand, coconut fiber.clay aggregate,rock wool,wood fiber,pumice among others.The main considerations to be put in place when choosing a growing medium are: it must be inert, pH neutral and have absolutely no nutrient value.
• A submersible pump for watering the plants.
• Light either artificial or natural .
• An air pump to supply oxygen to the plants
• An inexpensive timer for ensuring the plants are watered at a particular time.
• A water reservoir.
• A growing tray.

How the System works!
There are many types of hydroponics as a result of constant variations.Among them include Wick,Ebb and flow(flood and irrigation), Bubbleponics, Nutrient film technique,Aeroponics among others. I chose in this section to discuss NFT which seems easily applicable and a favored choice by many.You can read in depth about these other systems HERE though each one of them will have a post to it later on.

Nutrient Film Technique
 Its documented to be the first technique of hydroponics.Here is a model for the same.

diy-guides.com

NFT doesn't use a growing medium except air.The nutrient solution gets pumped from the reservoir to the grow tray.Water is then drained to the reservoir and the recycling process continues on and on.
NOTE: The growing tray is tilted at an angle.This is to enable the water to flow at a constant that is neither fast nor slow to aid in nutrients distribution. No timer is needed as the system is designed  to have a constant supply of nutrient solution and Plants get support using small plastic bottles and the roots are left to hang freely in the nutrient solution.

 Step by step detail to creating an NFT can be found by clicking this link DIY Guide to Building an NFT Hydroponic System and the video below on how NFT hydroponic system works and the advantages and disadvantages that come with the NFT technique.Enjoy!

Resources to further reading
 Science Tech Entrepreneur :Hydroponics

Growing Extension Knowledge: Zack Matere Way

Its a lazy Monday  morning and to brighten it up i decide to go through Jamila (a co-founder of mFARM) Facebook timeline to see what is entailed there. That is where my day brightens as i get to stumble upon Zack Matere,(Find him on Google +  (HERE ) who apparently is an agricultural information grower.I send him a friend request and within a few minutes he does accept it.


This is just how viral agriculture can be! :) His is a story  of Connecting Villages

Zack's facebook photos

Apparently his story is quite viewed on You Tube(See his documentary towards the end of this blog post ) having garnered over a million views. So you might be wondering at this point what it is in reality he grows.


Zack is a farmer from Eldoret who realizes his potato crop  is infected with a certain disease/pest and solutions are far away even to the area agricultural officer. He decides to do a Google search on the cause and its there that he finds ants as the menace and the solution to the predicament being wood ash sprinkling at the base of each potato stem.Such an eco-friendly solution,don't you like it too? Let it be known that the potato yield increased and he got his bumper harvest reward. He later got a connection with Kenya Potato Growers Association on where to sell his produce.


Well the internet affair never ended there. 


Zack founded the Leo Network of notice boards with the aim of reaching and interacting with many farmers as possible in the community. He uses the boards  to share farming information with  his fellow small scale farmers by pinning agricultural texts,illustrated photos,jobs and agricultural events. He recognizes that the lack of access to internet amongst his fellow farmers shouldn't be a hindrance to better farming practices.


This is how the a sample of the  Leo Notice board looks like

Zach's facebook photos

Indeed information is power. Here is  Zack's 2 minute documentary on Growing Knowledge!

I know of many youths who have done agricultural related courses and yet they can't, offer the little advice they've got with farmers in their region.I hope Zack's work touches you and you realize its never too late to farm or to share extension advice! 

Sack Gardening

The cost of vegetables at the Kenyan Coast is sky rocketting and going by the looming economic crisis, many families are forced to make do without vegetables in their main meals. This drove me to searching for a better option for growing vegetables and going by the fact that land is a limitation in urban centers,an idea i saw during last year Agricultural Society of Kenya Show-Sack gardens resurfaced.

From World Concern Blog

The sack gardening/bag gardening. Maybe you have heard of it. Maybe not. It involves planting vegetables like Kales,Spinach,Brocolli,Tomatoes and Onions in a sack filled with the growing matter.Being an organic farmer i prefer the use of compost manure to fertilizers and the use of homemade pesticides as compared to the conventional pesticides. Its a simple way of gardening and can utilise waste water from the kitchen as part of irrigation,hence comes with a recycling component on it.


Materials you will need:
1.A woven sisal sack. Note:1m3 sack provides about 5m2 accesible farm area.
2.A 2 litre plastic CocaCola bottle with both ends cut off to make a tube.In case of a smaller bag,you can use a smaller bottle.
3.Stones or gravel
4.A mixture of animal manure with some well draining top soil.
5.A knife to cut the bag.

Step by step illustration:

1. Create a base on the sack bottom by filling it with soil.Place the cut bottle on the centre of the sack and fill it with gravel and stones. Fill the sides with soil. Continue doing so until you almost reach the top of the bottle.

2. Continue with the gravel and soil process until you reach the brim of the sack.The stones and gravels are used as a watering system whereby  water is poured on the bag and seeps through the soil helping to water the whole bag.

3.Make/cut holes on the  sides of the sack where you desire to plant the seedlings.Let them have some even distances apart.

4. Transplant your seedlings on the selected sites. Plant some on the top of the sack too.

5. Continously care for the seedlings by watering them through the rock channel created. Harvest the produce on a continuos basis till the growing season is over.At that point you can empty the old used soil and replace it with new growing matter.


 Note: Sack gardens require not only water but also enough sunlight to flourish well.


Embedded below is a video on the same by Solidarites and the sack project they had on Kibera slums ,Kenya

For more resources on the same, see the A Garden in a Sack: Experiences in Kibera,Nairobi


Enjoy and share! :)