Gardening and growing great plants.

Hydroponics Made Easy - the Autopot System.

New Book Release: Hydroponics Made Easy, by Jim Fah. 

By James Wall.

Jim Fah is a legend here at Gardenworld. He is the inventor of a very special system called Autopot. This system has a smart valve that ensures singular plants in their individual containers dictate when they get their supply of water according to their needs.

Jim has spent well over 20 years developing and improving his system. The system is being used commercially around the world, including Malaysia where they grow these bright yellow melons (Kuning Jati) in no growing media at all. Each crop takes 65 days and they are producing 2.5 tonnes of fruit a week.

Another project included a wall of plants along the Flemington Racecourse horse track. At one stage more than 1000 Purple Craze petunias were being watered from one pump. My experiences with planting our spreading petunias around here at Gardenworld has been a maintenance free system that ensures months of spectacular blooms. It is something we are famous for over summer, and because the flowers don't get wet by this system, they last for many months longer than an overhead watering system.

Jim has also had to contend with copy cats, including a trusted former distributor who has even copied the Autopot name. Sure there are patents and potential legal avenues, but this can come at a great cost. Jim is focussing on developing the technology further, so the copy cats will never be up with the latest design.

It is with pleasure that I have just received a copy of Jim's latest book. It is called Hydroponics Made Easy. It is actually the 3rd edition of his original book, but the 2nd edition came out over ten years ago, and a lot a developments have been made since then. As well as providing plenty of information about the Autopot System, you will also learn a lot about Hydroponics in general. There is also an interesting chapter on starting plants from seeds and cuttings.

The colourful book is 111 pages and is on sale for just $15 at both the nursery and the Hydroponics shop here at Gardenworld. It is also available online from gardenshop.com.au with a $6.95 freight charge Australia wide.

What I like about this book is that you get an honest appraisal from the author of his own system as well as a wealth of information of tried and true fertiliser requirements of various crops. Following the instructions of this book, both backyard growers and commercial producers should have bumper crops of quality fruit and vegetables.

 

Linaria - a flowering annual for winter colour.

The spreading petunias at the nursery had lasted about 8 months but they were looking straggly and tired. So we pulled the all out ! My dilemma now was what to put in their place. The usual replacement would have been pansies or violas, but that's what we did last year and it felt like time for a change. Pansies can also lack flower power in the dearth of winter and don't pack them on until spring. We want something flowering now and something that will hang down like a trailing lobelia. That was when we thought, lets try linaria.

Cheapskate's Hydroponics System !

An email from Dennis Ting:

Back in early November (around Cup Day) I got a couple of Tomato Plants – Tommy Toe and Red Fig varieties and a Chilli - Hot Red variety for my daughters to plant in pots.  I cannot keep the dry soil in the vegetable patch evenly wet so have had heaps of disease in the plants the last couple of years so decided to use pots.  Also probably need crop rotation as a build up of disease no doubt.

 

I used some 300mm plastic Terracotta coloured pots (like my fruit trees) and have not pruned out any of the side shoots at all.  The principle here is that spreading the vigour over many branches results in a shorter plants (as with fruit trees – e.g. Cherries).  I used Debco T&T and a Lucerne Mulch layer to protect the soil from the sun.  As you can see they are all fruiting and looking healthy.

 

On the last couple of hot days I just filled the large saucers with water in the morning.  The plants show no sign of wilting and have retained all the fruit on them despite being in the full sun on the hot days.

 

Not a sophisticated system but it works!