this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2025
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Hydroponics
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A community dedicated to every form of hydroponics, a technique for growing plants without soil.
Everything regarding hydroponics is welcome here - from your houseplant in LECA to big scale commercial farming.
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Nice but I think that complexity isn't even necessary just for cress. You can just put it on a plate with paper towel and water and it'll grow just fine in ~3 days.
I know it's overkill, I just was tired of keeping it wet after the seeds sprout, now it is self-watering.
My next experiment will be using tiny dessert cups, put some holes and leca in them, and try making a DIY soilless self-watering seedling nursery from which I can easily transplant into a larger hydro setup.
Kind of unhappy with jiffy-style coco coir pellets and hydro combo, it's ugly and I get the coco leaking into the leca. And removing the net around it is always a bit dangerous while keeping it makes it more difficult for the plant.
But I digress. I'm just starting out with passive hydro and I had a bunch of things I wanted to (re)use and not invest hundreds into possibly useless equip (like special hydro propagators) that only wins on the aesthetics...
Just to make that clear, I didn't mean to insult your experiment in any way. I like the idea of upcycling trash into little projects and creating some useful everyday item. :) It's nice looking and functional. I was just surprised to see a rather complex setup with such an easy plant as cress that usually grows more or less everywhere. But of course it's also a great crop for testing purposes.