Hydoponics in a lake?

Would floating plants in styrofoam in a lake work? The lake is fed by a spring and it flows over a dam. I envision the little plant boats tied up to my dock.

Comments for
Hydoponics in a lake?

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Jul 27, 2010
Rating
starstarstarstarstar
Hydroponics in a lake
by: Larry

Hydroponics in a lake is an interesting concept; one that I want to try out someday...all I need is the lake.

Theoretically it should work with the right approach but I don't think floating pieces of styrofoam would work very well.

First of all, wave action on the styrofoam would slowly break the styrofoam into pieces not to mention that a storm would probably topple the little rafts.

Second, there would be little to no nutrients available for the plants.

But what you are describing will work and has been done before by the Aztecs with their chinampas. These were floating stick rafts on which were placed a layer of soil with plants.

Eventually the plant roots would hang down into the lake to absorb any and all nutrients it could find - mostly from saturated soil dripping nutrient down from the soil layer on the raft.

So if you could modify your design to include sturdier rafts and place a layer of soil on top that you replenish now and then...I do not see how it could fail.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Hydroponic FAQ

If you like this website, consider downloading this free toolbar for your browser.

Previously I featured a conduit toolbar with radio for download but replaced it with the Alexa toolbar featuring website anaysis tools along with real-time related links to facilitate searching. Alexa is owned by Amazon and will not embed spyware into their toolbar. It's safe and it's free!

gif
Download







| Return to top
| Homepage | Contact Us | Policies | About Us | Privacy Policy | Advertise |
Copyright© Hydroponics-At-Home.com 2006-2010 All Rights Reserved.