Hydroponic Troughs for Soiless Gardening

Sunday evening we were walking around in Home Depot shopping for a trellis to support some cucumber plants we're growing.  As we walked down one of the aisles, my wife pointed out a crude, but interesting, amateur hydroponic set-up on display.

The exhibit consisted of a black utility mixing tray about 10 inches deep and 3 feet long x 2 feet wide filled with water. Various plants were growing in net pots and inserted into holes cut out of a piece of styrofoam trimmed to fit into the utility tray. The holes were big enough for the roots to have contact with the water below, but small enough so the net pots would not fall completely through the piece of styrofoam into the water below.

I'm not exactly sure what they were using for nutrients in the water, but I suspect it was some liquid fertilizer that was on display nearby.  I don't have an exact hyperlink to the instructions they had on display with the exhibit, but it was similar to this document posted on the University of Florida IFAS Extension website.

Here's a description of water culture growing methods from the IFAS article:

In water culture, plants are grown with roots submerged in a nutrient solution, with the stem and upper parts of the plants held above the solution. With this system, the main considerations are: provision of a suitable container, suspension of the plants above the water, provision of a suitable nutrient solution, and proper aeration of the water solution.

I don't think the Home Depot display was using any type of aeration for the water, but an inexpensive aquarium air pump and air stones would likely work well.

I am not sure about the advisability of using styrofoam to suspend the plants, since I have no personal experience using it, so before you try to use these methods additional research needs to be performed.  I have been told that BlueBoard manufactured by DOW is often used in aquaponic systems, but again I cannot recommend for it or against it since I have no personal experience with it.

I may try some of these techiniques in the future.  Until then, if you decide to try it or you have personal knowledge of using this growing approach I'd enjoy hearing from you.