Starting Hydroponic Seeds - For Beginners

1. Get great seeds. Fresh for this year. Organic.
A couple of great companies... Urban Garden Solutions - http://bit.ly/ioSKvP
Heirloom Organics (for bigger quantities)...http://bit.ly/kIxJrD
Some of these companies will put a price together or they have a package to meet your needs for everything from a small balcony garden to a commercial farm.

2. Start with a great spot. Make sure it's warn enough. We are always anxious to get started, but if we start out too early, you'll need to start again and then can be very far behind. The starts will be ready for sun as soon as they break out of the growing media

3. Extend your grow season. Greenhouse, hotboxes, plastic covers, inverted/recycled plastic soda bottles, heat pads, anything to help add a few degrees can help add a few weeks to the grow season. Grow lights can help you start early (indoors), too.

4. Get dissolved oxygen into the growing media. Plant roots need oxygen. Leaves have access to oxygen, but roots don't. Use an aerator to deliver oxygen through an air stone to the nutrient solution. Depending on how you deliver the solution, some air will be added (like through an ebb and flow-when drainage happens there is some oxygen sucked into the growing media. Some hydroponics systems work entirely with aeroponics to grow plants. Aerating solutions kills pathogens called anaerobes, that can be harmful to your plants, it's also why we sometimes add a product like hydrogen peroxide to the nutrient solution (another article).

Note: If there is enough oxygen being pumped into the nutrient solution, my seed starts do well sitting in about 1/4 inch of nutrient solution (a 25% strength solution). This allows them to be relatively self serve, as the solution will last the 10-12 days it takes to get plants ready to move to their next home. It's OK to extend the time in this system (above) for longer, just be sure to change the nutrient solution.

5. Be aware of the Ph of the solution. Different regions have different water supplies (and may be different from different sources on your property). Always monitor Ph when you mix nutrient solutions or enter new water to part of the system.

6. 100% Perfect seed starts. A well built system can yield 100% perfect starts. That's your goal.