Soil-less crop growing

Crops can now be grown with the least available soil and space. Thanks to snap hydroponics.

Snap hydroponics is a simple method of growing tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, zucchini, watermelon, melon, sweet pepper, cauliflower, broccoli, and celery.

A small space is needed to protect crops against rain and strong sunlight. It is appropriate in urban areas where soil or space for growing crops is not adequate. It can be done in apartments, townhouses where small terraces can be used for growing plants. Residents in these type of houses can grow crops for their own consumption.

Snap hydroponics of crop production requires covered containers or pots that can contain about 2 liters of water, snap fertilizer and seeds of chosen vegetables which are heat tolerant.

The four basic procedures in adopting this technology are preparation of containers for growing solution, preparation of glasses with seedlings, mixing of growing solution and growing of seedlings.

The researchers explain that adopting snap hydroponics for commercial production of lettuce in a 200-square meter area requires an initial investment of P66,925 and an annual production cost of P65,555.83. Assuming that there will be ten croppings per year and the average price of lettuce is fifty pesos per kilo, the return on investment is computed at 51 percent. The investment cost can be recovered in less than 2 years.

Primitivo Jose A. Santos and Eureka Teresa M. Ocampo, researchers from the Institute of Plant Breeding at the University of the Philippines at Los Baños, Laguna (IPB UPLB) developed this technology. They can be contacted at IPV, UPLB, College, Laguna, tel. 536-2697 for more information. – Adoracion Armada, S&T Media Service