FieldNotes: Hydroponics Exploration

Season Extension 

No soil, no backyard? No natural sunlight? No problem. A hydroponics growing system can give you the ability to work with your space to grow food year-round! Feeding Laramie Valley has been utilizing hydroponics for season extension (lettuce in January? Yes, please!), starting seedlings to be transplanted outside, and to test different methods of hydroponic growing systems.

What is Hydroponics? 

Simply said, hydroponics is growing plants without soil. The narrative that soil is indispensable to plant growth is being proved wrong by the versatility of soilless growing. While soil has its irrevocable place in growing, hydroponics has proven to have a place as well.

Hydroponics functions off of a reservoir to hold the water and nutrient solution, and, in some cases, the plants themselves. In addition, it requires lighting, a growing medium, and ventilation of some sort. 

What are the Potential Benefits of Hydroponics? 

1. Season Extension: in geographical areas, such as Laramie with a very limited outdoor growing season, indoor hydroponics can be a great way to grow year-round. 

2. Location: Generally, hydroponics can be built and catered to your specific space and location. It allows people that may not have quality soil, a backyard, or the desire to garden outside an alternative option. In fact, hydroponics has been used by NASA to grow vegetables like lettuce in outer space. 

3. More controlled, faster plant growth: from our own experience and outside research, plants can grow more quickly in controlled, hydroponic systems. In-soil plants send out roots to search for nutrients, some of which may be high or low depending on soil type and/or not in a form that is able to be used by the plant. On the other hand, hydroponics, provides a constant flow of water, oxygen, and essential nutrients over the roots, taking the unknown variable out of the equation. 

4. No weeding: One fantastic aspect of hydroponics is that there is no need to weed! That has been one of our favorite benefits. 



5. Easier to replicate: Since hydroponics doesn't experience all the variability of traditional outdoor growing (temperature, hail, rain), the results can be more automated and consistent across the board, allowing you to master one specific method. While there can still be unknown variables such as pests and variables that can cause changes in pH, temperature, or plant needs, with attention to detail, most can be easily remedied.

Our Top Drip System Growing Lettuce in Winter 

Through the USDA, Feeding Laramie Valley received a Specialty Crops Program grant that supported the development and implementation of hydroponics and aeroponics indoor growing systems, designed to move a community food system into sufficient production for addressing year-round food insecurity. This funding enabled our team to scale up practices learned through the pilot process to produce a variety of specialty crops, greens, and vegetables to be distributed throughout all four seasons. 

With this grant we were able to trial two different systems that would fit our space, address our needs and would be replicable for community members.

1. Results showed that indoor growing systems for specialty crops are viable to support sustainable year-round production. 

2. The hydroponics system was especially viable for producing spinach, kale, lettuce varieties, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and culinary herbs. 

3. A majority of plants reached a larger size more quickly and had a better success rate for fruiting than their same counterparts started in soil.

4. The bin style hydroponics system would be a great option for an individual looking to provide a single-family home with year-round produce; the top drip style was best for larger scale facilities and required a larger amount of space and resources dedicated specifically to hydroponics.  

   
   

Our top drip hydroponics system this year was able to produce 140 pounds of kale, butterhead lettuce, oregano, cilantro, and basil, in addition to 112 Lunch Box pepper starts, 112 Fairy Tale eggplant starts, and 120 Cherokee Purple tomato starts. With the hydroponics system lowering the number of days until harvest for peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants, it increased the amount fruit we were able to produce over the short growing season, which typically gets cut short with the first frost and decreases our yield!

Keep your eyes open for a more detailed newsletter and workshop on hydroponic growing! 

Deni, a member of the 2024 Summer Production team, transplanting peppers into soil from hydroponics (look at those roots!)