By: Kyler Bottke Tomato Plant

What is Hydroponics? -Hydroponics is a soilless way to grow a plant. How can other people utilize this system? -You can make this aquaponics system g o in just a small area of a house or an apartment. Hydroponics can be used in icy places where soil is scarce. People that live in icy places can use this invention because it does not involve soil at all.

How to build a mini Hydroponics system First you take two kitty litter buckets. Secant you cut them both in half. Use one of the bottom buckets for the bottom reservoir. Use one of the top buckets for the top reservoir. Third you drill two holes, one to fit the pump in and one to drain the water. The tube that you put in for the pump, you have to have it level to the floor of the top bucket. The drain tube has to be about 3 inches tall so the water has to get to 3 inches before it drains. Finally when you go to put the water in, you need to put twice as much water as the top bucket so the pump has no problem doing its job for whatever plant you want to grow. The flower pot I used was a butter tub. With a razor blade I cut vertical slits around the side. I cut the slits because it allows the plant to get water. In the flower pot the medium I used was ground coconut. On top of that I used hydroton clay balls. The reasons I used coconut was because it gives the plant something to anchor to and the other reason is because it acts like a sponge to the plant. I used hydroton clay balls because it helps the plant get oxygen. Every 10 to 14 days, you have to flush the plant. Flushing the plant means putting new water in the bottom reservoir. Run the system for 24 hours. After 24 hours is up, Dump the flush water and put new water and nutrients in. than do it again in another 10 to 14 days. The reason for flushing the system is because the uptake is so efficient that the plant would go in to a nut-lock. A nut-lock means that the plant blocks anymore nutrients from being absorbed in the plant if not flushed.