| A crochet hook is an inexpensive but valuable item to add to your urban garden tools.
Not only can it come in handy as a probe for things too small for your fingers to handle well, it can be used to seat sprouts into cubes. Here we have a poor homeless sprout, with nowhere to go, and a sproutless rockwool home. |
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Insert the hook into the bottom of the cube, and out through the top. |
| Very carefully catch the end of the root with the hook. |  |
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And carefully pull through.
While simple in theory, you may want to practice with a bit of string or yarn a couple of times before risking sprouts. It takes a soft hand, but it is a knack worth having. |
| Gentle reader, you may be saying to yourself:” What is so half-cooked about that? That is just a helpful tip.
Fear not, for as I have been known to say: “The only way to make 100% sure you’ve gone far enough, is to go too far.” I found myself with a sprout in a cube, and no pot to put it in, but I was holding a crochet hook… Introducing the crochetted hydroponic system: |
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Although hydroponic systems can be massive in terms of size and cost, they don’t have to be.
This is a simple passive hydroponic system. The bottom of the netted cup is kept in contact with the perlite to wick the nutrients to the roots. Just to hedge my bets, I’ll stick a nearby air-line into the nutrient solution on a daily basis. That will technically make it an active system, but that’s fine with me. If I had a spare air pump, I’d just use that. Once the roots start reaching into the solution, I’ll lower the solution level, which will make it a deep water culture. Well, assuming it lives that long. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Peace, love, and puka shells, |
OK, this is cool AND cute! Glad to find your site, UGM, & thanks for supporting the SF Garden Show!
Welcome Laura, glad you stopped by. Keep an eye out for part 2 of my adventures in crochetted hydroponics.