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hydroponics set-ups

David Hershey dh321 at excite.com
Mon Jan 31 21:01:54 EST 2000


I once used the metal twist closures on the wide-mouth Mason jars but
because of sharp metal edges replaced the metal lid with a plastic
circle cut from the wall of a black polyethylene nursery pot. Then I
switched to 2-liter soda bottles. The removable base of the old design
two-piece soda bottles worked very well as a lid for hydroponics. For
the new one-piece bottles, you can use plastic coffee can lids or
bottoms cut from other one-piece soda bottles. 

To automatically keep the reservoirs full, you can use a Mariotte's
bottle or siphon system. 

My favorite plant for deficiency demonstrations is the houseplant
piggyback plant (Tolmiea menziesii). It is a rosette plant so does not
need staking, which is a key advantage. The foliar plantlets can be
rooted directly in solution by stuffing the leaf into the hole in the
reservoir lid. If cuttings are taken from the same stock plant, they are
all the same clone. Tolmiea is also an iron inefficient plant so is easy
to induce iron deficiency even if the roots are red wth iron oxide (as
long as Hoagland solution number one with all nitrogen as nitrate is
used).    

Details in:

Hershey, D.R. 1994. Hydroponics for teaching: history and inexpensive
equipment. 56:111-118. 

Hershey, D.R. 1995. Plant Biology Science Projects. New York: Wiley.

David Hershey
dh321 at excite.com


    > From: sandram at maroon.tc.umn.edu (Sandra Mackey)
    > Organization: MRC Human Genome Mapping Project Resource Centre
    > Date: 31 Jan 2000 17:57:20 -0000
    > To: plant-ed at hgmp.mrc.ac.uk
    > Subject: hydroponics set-ups
    >
    >
    >
    > I am getting ready to set up a demonstration for mineral nutrition
using
    > Hoagland's solution and hydroponics. We have been using styrofoam
tops on
    > wide mouthed quart canning jars. The styrofoam tops are not
entirely
    > satisfactory because they don't stay in place well, especially
when they
    > get bumped in a crowded situation. We've tried taping them in
place but
    > the tops need to be lifted up daily to add more solution. Does
anyone have
    > any suggestions? Thanks for any help.
    >
    >
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    ~~> ~
    > TT
    > Sandra Mackey 612-625-1983 || TT
    > / \ ||
    > Sr. Lab Services Coordinator / \ / \
    > College of Biological Sciences / o \ o |
    > University of Minnesota ( ______ ) __/
    >
   
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