Hydroponics for the Home Gardener

Rating:
Summary: Gardening By Numbers ¿ With Missing Numbers
Review: I borrowed this book from the library, learned many useful things from it, but also found it maddeningly sketchy and incomplete. Thinking that a new edition would improve things, I ordered this one, but there is very little difference between versions.

A short, introductory text for beginners can get away with describing "how-to" while going light on "why-to," but only if the instructions are error-free and complete. The authors would have been better to leave out the extensive sections on history and commercial methods and concentrate purely on simple systems suitable for the home. They could also have explained a little more why things are done the way they are.

For example: many pages are devoted to the description of methods for circulating nutrient solution, either by hand or automatically. Why nutrients are circulated is barely mentioned. The reader is left wondering why a constant flow of the same nutrient solution is better than just leaving the solution where it is. (Answer: for the same reason that blood circulates.)

So, a maddening book, but still a useful one. I used it to design some cedar window-boxes, fed by inverted 2-litre soda bottles that look like enormous IVs.

After modifying my design to account for the authors' nearly-fatal omission that their choice of growing medium, perlite, is actually lighter than water (!), the tomatoes and herbs exploding out of my boxes now block the sun, and the neighbours are jealous of my IV-covered walls.

Rating:
Summary: Excelent for beginner
Review: The book is very good at giving the basics of getting started into the world of soilless plant growth. The book is very easy to read and also gives formulas for producing your own nutrient solutions. I think this is an excellent starter book and it will have you looking for more information.