Hydroponics Project by 2nd Graders at Blue Rock School

A few weeks ago we helped Mrs. Kane, a 2nd Grade teacher at Blue Rock School in West Nyack, NY, with a hydroponics project for her students.  Using recycled water bottles, rockwool mini cubes and a piece of felt as the wick, the students made self-contained wicking hydroponic systems to grow basil and zucchini in.  Here are some pictures of them with their projects:

Zucchini Grown in a Gro Momma Bucket

We've been doing a lot of growing in the shops lately.  One of my favorite vegetables is zucchini, and it happens to grow very well in hydroponics.  We've always grown it in ebb and flow systems, but we decided to give some Striata d'Italia a try in the Gro Momma deep water culture buckets, under a 4 foot, 4 bulb T5 fluorescent fixture, using Canna's Aqua line of nutrients.  We knew that the DWC system would work great because of all the oxygen it delivers directly to the roots, but even we're impressed w/ the root system, speed of growth and overall production!  Here are our results so far:

2 Days Old (w/ some heirloom black tomatoes we germinated at the same time)

6 Days Old (healthy white roots thanks to some Azos!)

2.5 Weeks

5 Weeks

Roots at 6 Weeks (there's an air stone in there somewhere...)

At 6 Weeks - Multiple Flowers & 5 Zucchini