A floating hydroponic garden is easy to build and can provide a tremendous amount of nutritious vegetables for home use, and best of all, hydroponic systems avoid many pest problems commonly associated with the soil. This simple guide will show you how to build your own floating hydroponic garden using material locally available at a cost of about .00 Ongoing research with plants such as tomato in floating systems indicate that larger plants may require more above-water rooting volume (more air-space) in order to produce successful yields. To produce more root mass above the water, you may want to test a system that uses two stacked styrofoam floats with holes drilled in the bottom one and all but a six-inch edge around the perimeter cut out of the top one. Fill the empty top float with perlite, vermiculite, or other hydroponic media and plant vegetables or flowers into it the same way you would plant a normal garden. Preliminary results show this method to be promising if starter fertilizer is used on the young plants until their roots reach the fertilized hydroponic solution below the floats. Tomatoes and peppers are also challenging to grow in floating systems due to the high nutrient requirements for calcium. Blossom-end rot is caused by low calcium in the fruit. Supplemental calcium can be supplied in addition to the recipe above. These calcium products are available at most of the same suppliers that sell the net pots. However, for challenging crops like tomato and pepper, greater success will be achieved with standard hydroponic fertilizers where one of the ingredients is calcium nitrate. All crops can be grown with regular hydroponic mixes. Video Rating: / 5 Related PostsNelson & Pade hydroponic floating raft system in the N & P aquaponic system, UVIPi Wall Vertical Hydroponic Grow […]