Hydroculture Basics & The Importance Of A Water Level Indicator

The trick to keeping plants in Hydroculture is knowing your plants water requirements, your plants root depth and your reservoirs water level. The latter is easily measured with a Water Level Indicator. (These Indicators are fairly difficult to find, which is why I make my own or eyeball it. But they can be bought here.)

There are three zones to keep in mind when planting in hydroculture, 1) the dry zone, 2) the moist zone, 3) the wet zone.  Depending on the water requirement, it's important that the roots will end in one of the appropriate zones.  The majority of plants will be most comfortable with their roots in the moist zone.  The moist zone is determined by the absorption rate and retention of the soil less media.  Clay pebbles will retain water differently than for example vermiculite, perlite or rockwool. Below is a diagram showing the three zones.

How To Start Seeds In Hydroculture

I recently saw a sale on seeds in my local ace hardware store. The seed packets were expired, so I had my pick for 50 cents. I ended up getting Thyme (Thymus Vulgaris), Chives (Allium schoenoprasum), Sage (Salvia officinalis), Italian Flat Leaf Parsley (Petroselinum crispum), Dill (Anethum graveolens). The packets had an expiration date of December 2009. One year shouldn't be so bad...

I wanted to start all of these in hydroculture and grow them as if I was using soil. On top of that I thought it would be fun!!

DIY Soil Less Seedling Tray

This is my makeshift seedling tray. It's a plastic egg container with the bottom spray painted silver (I think black would be best, but I still had silver spray paint left over). I like this triple sided container because it's very versatile. Close the lid on one side and you have a dark environment, close it on the other side and you have a humidity dome.