Hello, I'm Pete and I'm interested in all things gardening. I have a retail store here in Melbourne with both paint supplies and hydroponic gardening items. Unusual combination but it works. I am also a keen veggie patch grower. If you are interested in hydroponics you can check it out here Hydroponic Central Twitter
G'day Pete Welcome to the PRI Forum. You're right, it does seem like an interesting combination. The paint stuff I get, heaps of 'home beautiful' types around these days. But the hydro stuff? I mean, surely most of your customers are growing the green stuff in cupboards under lights, yeah? I mean, what else do you need lights for in a country that has some of the best sunshine conditions in the world? Whatever the case, good luck with your venture, and keep having fun in the veggie patch - that's where I like to grow my green stuff . Cheerio, Markos
gday pete have you heard of aquaponics (its like hydroponics cept more kosher) and you get fish as a by product stick around this mob has lots of good ideas
co2 I understand many hydroponics systems add co2 to their setups to make plants grow faster would the co2 from brewing be enough to suplament a growing room?????
Hello everyone, sunshine and warm days is just the best for home gardening however plenty of times my garden has been damaged by hail/ heavy rain/ heat waves/ wind storms/ birds/ possums/ dogs...the list goes on. Growing is much easier in a protected environment, it doesn't need to be inside, a hot house works good. The retail hydroponic industry certainly has all sorts and there are certainly a few people growing 'Mexican tomatoes' however there are plenty of home gardener using this growing technique because it works and it is fun.
Yes, co2 is a proven crop enhancer sometimes used in hot houses to increase yield up to 40%, plants love it. Occasionally indoor growers do use it because it greatly enhances their cash crops. There are two reasons why it isn't used much, high cost of control equipment (decent gear $2500+) secondly the weekly changing of the bottles (22kg) at BOC is an inconvenience that puts people off. My opinion of co2 is that it is a great stuff but I have never been bothered with it personally. The co2 is the standard gas also known as beer gas.
Aquaponics (growing plants and fish in a mutually dependant ecosystem) is an exciting development in intensive agriculture, I haven't tried it personally but one day I'll give it a try. There is heaps on Youtube to see on this subject.