|
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
|
 Summer and salads… what a combo! And the star of any green salad has to
be the lettuce. But if growing lettuce is a little complicated and gets
on your ‘wick’, here’s an effective approach to hydroponic growing from
reader Gene Oh of Auckland.
The man himself
After his retirement Gene turned to gardening to occupy his spare time.
Interested in a scientific approach, he began to seek out innovative
growing methods. Beginning with commercially available sub-irrigation
systems, Gene pieced together ideas from existing methods to formulate
his own approach.
With his wick system (outlined below) ‘green Gene’ has successfully harvested more than 600 lettuces to date!
He has also achieved success, with such plants as African violets, orchids, poinsettia and chillies, growing indoors and out.
You will need
A black plastic container (growing container)
Transparent container (reservoir)
Black plastic bag
A short length of nylon rope
 How to grow
Punch holes in the bottom of your growing container (if necessary) and thread the middle of the nylon rope through.
Fill the container with 5% vermiculite, topped off with a good potting
mix, and transplant lettuce seedlings from seed boxes after they have
been growing for approximately four weeks.
Pour water into the reservoir and place the growing container into the
top, ensuring the water level does not reach the bottom of the growing
container. The two containers should fit together snugly with the ends
of the rope dangling into the reservoir below.
Wrap the reservoir with a black plastic bag to discourage algae growth.
 Care
Add roughly ¼ cup of water daily for the first week, subsequently toping up the water level as required.
After one week, apply Neem spray, as an insect repellent, on a weekly
basis. Also apply foliar fertiliser spray on the leaves, and a liquid
fertiliser on the top of each pot once every 14 days.
And… that’s it! Because the lettuce will draw water as needed through
the nylon rope, little attention is needed until the plant is ready to
harvest.
While there may be many commercially available hydroponic systems
available, Gene’s wick system is simple, sophisticated and, by all
accounts, very effective.
Please try this system, email
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
and 'lettuce' know how you get on.
Thanks to Gene for sharing this with us; he’s a true garden champion with lettuce as his laurels!
 |
Home 
