If
you’ve read my article on Solar powered Organic Farming in the Geezam blog entitled “Solar
Powered Organic Farming – Sustainable Agricultural Development and Jamaica’s
Food Security”, you may be thinking that this is a very expensive and
labour intensive project to undertake.
But
if you’ve built the Solar Desalinator as described in my Geezam blog entitled “How
to Make Distilled Water using a Solar Desalinator” you may by now be
starting to get the hang of this DIY (Do it Yourself). Even better, if you’ve
upgraded it using the Fresnel Lens as described in my blog article
entitled “How
to upgrade your Solar Desalinator to a Solar Cooker and make a Solar Foundry
for Vacuum Pyrolysis” you will realize that you can do a lot of cool stuff
as well as produce a lot of Distilled Water for which you may find difficulty
using all at once.
So why not do a Hydroponics Garden System similar to the ones being done by the Harpers as stated in the article “Herbs: The Healthy Hydroponic Way”, Published Thursday March 22, 2012 by Sacha Walters-Gregory, Staff Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner?
It
does indeed have certain advantages that were brought to light by the recent
discovery by the Jamaican Police of a Hydroponics Farm in a rented house
belonging to the Jamaica Baptist Union (JBU) in Old Stony Hill Road in St
Andrew being used to grow Marijuana (Cannabis Sativa) as stated in “High-tech
ganja farm found on church-owned property”, published Thursday, June 13,
2013 BY KIMMO MATTHEWS Observer
staff reporter, The Jamaica
Observer.
The
video below explains the advantages of a Hydroponic Garden System and its
potential to shape Jamaica’s agricultural landscape once it becomes a
large-scale practice applied to Greenhouses:
According
to the video, there are five (5) main types of Hydroponics Systems:
1. Ebb
and Flow
2. Nutrient
Film
3. Drip
Irrigation
4. Aerophonics
5. Wick
System
Advantages
of Hydroponics Systems in a Greenhouse include:
1. Soil-less
medium means less problems with soil based pathogens
2. Shorter
harvest time for crops
3. Stable
and higher yields crops
4. Better
tasting food as no need for the use of Pesticides and Fertilizers
5. Higher
quality crops as the growth environment is controlled in the Greenhouse.
6. Allows
for the Recycling of Water, thereby mitigating against drought
7. Eliminates
stigma of Farming and has the potential to attract more Millennials (ages 18 to
28) to take up Farming
In this article, I’ll show you how to make a Wick based Hydroponics System using old Glass Bottles. Glass Bottles are best, as you can control the rates of Evaporation of the Water from the Nutrient Solution.
You’ll
need:
1. 100%
pure acetone or Isopropyl Alcohol
2. Bravery
like Samson
3. Cigarette
Lighter or Matches
4. Cotton
or Cloth
5. Distilled
Water from your own Solar Desalinator
6. Glass
Bottle
7. Heat
treated Sieved Washed Sand or Fine Gravel purchased at your local Farm Store
8. Plastic
Crates
9. Seive
to sieve out Sand
10. Solar
Desaliator with the Fresnel Lens upgrade as a Solar Pyrolizer
11. Tub
of Ice Cold Water
12. Water
Soluble Nutrient Mix at your local Farm Store (ask and they’ll show ya!)
13. Yarn
The instructions are as follows and are as plain as the picture above:
1. Soak
the Yarn in the 100% pure acetone or Isopropyl Alcohol
2. Wrap
it around the Glass Bottle tightly at the point where you want the Glass Bottle
to be cut
3. Light
it with the Lighter and spin the bottle around to make sure it burns evenly
4. Just
as the fire goes out, rapidly and suddenly dip the glass bottle into the Tub of
Ice Cold Water
5. The
Glass Bottle will Crack perfectly without splinters exactly where the Yarn was
wrapped
6. In
the meantime sieve the Sand until you get it as fine as possible. Wash and
leave to dry
7. Use
the Solar Desaliator that’s upgraded as a Solar Pyrolizer to cook the Sand.
This kills all bacteria in the Sand. Do not directly heat with the Fresnel Lens
as this might cause the Sand to fuse.
8. Leave
the now Pyrolized Sand and let it cool
9. In
the meantime Wash out the cracked Glass Bottle and the cracked off top
10. Mix
the Water Soluble Nutrient Mix into some distilled water as per instructions
and pour it into the Glass Bottle
11. Invert
the cracked off top end of the Glass Bottle and plug the bottom with Cotton or
Cloth
12. Thread
the Lamp Wick through the hole so that it makes contact with the Nutrient
solution
13. Fill
with the now Pyrolized Sand
14. Insert
the Plants into the Sand
15. Place
on your Rooftop in the Plastic Crates
16. Patience
like Job as the Plants begin to grow towards the wick that absorbs the Nutrient
solution
The
secret of the technique is the fact that Glass and other similar ceramics are
insulators. The sudden application of heat then cooling causes the molecules to
vibrate and thus crack at the point where the heat was applied and removed
suddenly. This provides an explanation as to why pouring hot liquid into a cold
Glass cup will cause it to shatter.
Here’s
a video explaining the above process to make the Glass.
That’s
a wrap!
You
can use this technique to create an entire Garden or Hydroponic Plants that
will grow much faster than regular Plants. Eventually, you can even end up doing
your own Herb and Spice Garden, even growing Lemon Grass (Fever Grass)
Hydroponically for making Citronella Oil as described in my Geezam blog article entitled “How
to make Environmentally Friendly Citronella (Lemon Grass) Oil for Mosquito
Repellant Lotion and Candles”.
No Green Thumb required as you become a Rooftop Gardener and avoid Soylent Green (1973)
No Green Thumb required as you become a Rooftop Gardener and avoid Soylent Green (1973)
