The revolutionary Hydro-Garden (above), occupying only 4 feet by 4 feet of ground space, grows 98 plants almost anywhere rapidly without soil and with little maintenance

and does so at a cost of less than 20 cents per plant!

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[Authors note: A shorter version of this report appeared in the June, 1980 issue of The Herbalist magazine. The report presented here greatly expands on the former, providing much more information on the remarkable Hydro-Garden.] Inexpensive, virtually automatic, and incredibly bountiful home food-growing is now a reality. Neo-Techni Corporation recently began marketing a most amazing unit called the Hydro-Garden, which easily meets most of the fresh fruit and vegetable needs of vegetarians and health-conscious individuals. Besides this, the Hydro-Garden also drastically reduces the family food bill. Developed by Vincent Carl, president of Neo-Techni, the Hydro-Garden operates according to principles of hydroponics, and its performance and productivity are remarkable. Most important for vegetarians, you can now grow your own organic fruit and vegetables right at home without having to slave over a garden or even possess a backyard. As an added bonus, you can grow practically every kind of herb in the Hydro-Garden, and they respond like you wouldnt believe!

These two Hydro-Gardens grow a total of 196 plants in what clearly is a fairly small backyard space.

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Briefly, Neo-Technis Hydro-Garden is a series of horizontal (PVC) pipes arranged in a terrace or pyramid shape. The pipescalled hydroductsconnect to one another with flexible hoses. Each of the hydroducts has 8 large holes evenly spaced along the top and in line. Into these holes are placed special foundation cups, each cup possessing slotted openings on its bottom. Seeds are planted in the cups, which need only be filled with plain construction sand. The roots of the plants grow through the bottom slots in the cups and lie in the hydroducts.

The roots of the plant grow through slots located on the bottom sides of the support cup; to ensure proper water and nutrient flow one needs only to periodically lift the cup out of its hole in the pipe and clip the

roots, a process that takes just a few seconds for each plant.

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A 30-gallon water tank contains the necessary water, to which organic (kelp based) or regular hydroponic fertilizer is added. The water connects to a small pump (280 gallons per hour) which pumps the solution to the top hydroduct. From this point gravity takes over; the nutrient solution flows through the Hydro-Garden, immersing the roots lying in the hydroducts. The solution cascades internally down from one hydroduct to the next one below. It finally reaches the water tank where, with the aid of the pump, it begins its life-giving trip all over again. Youll find that the Hydro-Garden produces fruit and vegetables tasting extraordinarily sweet and juicya common feature of hydroponically-grown food. Also, herbs grow like crazy in the Hydro-Garden. Carls own personal unit, for example, yields huge crops of parsley, chives, endive, sage, and rosemary. Meanwhile, my ageless grandfather, George Stevenson, has had striking success growing mint and Chinese celery in his Hydro-Garden. With the mint he simply transplanted a slip from his regular garden, and the Chinese celery he grew from seed: both took off. In fact, so rapidly does just about any herb multiply in the Hydro-Garden, you soon get to the point where you dont know what to do with it all.

George Stevenson, age 91, shows off some of his mid-December strawberry crop. He finds his Hydro-Garden easy and inexpensive to operate. Clearly, the

Hydro-Garden can help solve the worlds pressing food supply problem.

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The Hydro-Garden outperforms conventional hydroponic systems in several other important areas. These are: 1) The Hydro-Gardens actual contact with the ground is a minimal one square inch, eliminating problems of snails, worms, and other crawling insects.

2) The Hydro-Garden design makes flooding by rain impossible. In the Hydro-Garden each plant contains only a 2 inch diameter of exposed sand.

3) The Hydro-Garden permits easy relocation of plants. This ease in mobility of individual plants provides the grower with several plant location options he doesnt enjoy with standard hydroponic systems. For example, small young plants that are shaded by larger older plants can be switched to other more desirable locations.

The numerous drawbacks of conventional hydroponic systems prompted Carl to design the Hydro-Garden. I like yard work and gardening, he states, but my backyards too big. So, in an effort to get away from all the work I turned to hydroponics as people normally know it. I put together in my mind a new design for hydroponic gardening, and decided after going through a lot of calculations that it would work. I then put up a prototype of what we now call our Hydro-Garden 98and that worked. Weve made a lot of changes, but it worked.

Plants grow prolifically in these two Hydro-Gardens in Carls backyard.

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* * * * For those interested in how the Hydro-Garden differs from, and is much superior to, conventional hydroponic systems, Carl provides the following detailed information:

The Hydro-Garden design is not based on a large, flat, open area of growing media as are other hydroponic systems. Nor is its design based on rooting plants in a media through which nutrient solution is passed, as is the case with other systems.

Contamination and Adulteration

The Hydro-Gardens are designed so that when a plant is removed, the Support Cup and media (plain construction sand) is removed with the plant. Therefore removing a plant does not leave broken roots behind in a media to generate contamination. Because the growing nutrient solution is not flooded or injected through the supporting sand, foreign organics and chemicals do not reach the nutrient solution and therefore cannot contaminate or adulterate it. Hydro-Gardens are designed so that each plant has an exposed area of sand around it of only approximately 2" in diameter. In the event of rain the leaves of most plants will prevent all but an insignificant amount of rain from penetrating the sand, eliminating the need to throw out diluted nutrient and re-establish the tank with fresh nutrient. No amount of rain could cause flooding of the roots (and resulting root rot) since the roots hang in the open and are always automatically drained free of excess solution.

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Evaporation While evaporation of nutrient solution is a problem in traditional hydroponic systems because of the wide, exposed growing media area, it is of very little consequence in the Hydro-Garden. Because the amount of sand used to support the plant is so small, evaporation is held to a minimum. In addition the design of the Hydro-Garden provides for some nutrient solution to be present in each of its hydroducts at all times, even when the reservoir pump is not operating. Since the operation of the pump causes the nutrient solution in a given hydroduct to be removed and replaced several times a day, it does not become stagnant but maintains a clean, clear condition at all times. Because the Support Cups are self-sealing, the entire system is essentially sealed. Thus, the environment inside of the hydroducts is dark and humid, providing ideal conditions for the plant roots.

Nutrient Buildup

Hydro-Gardens are designed so that they do not filter the nutrient through supporting media. They simply flow the solution over the exposed plant roots. There is no media in the hydroducts. Sand is used in the Support Cup to provide support to the plant stem, but it is retained in the Support Cup, not in the hydroduct. Therefore the collection, buildup and uncontrolled release of different elements by growing media is not a problem in Hydro-Gardens as it is in traditional hydroponic systems. Unlike other hydroponic systems, Hydro-Gardens do not have a problem with pH buildup and the resulting need for constant pH control.

Pumps, Timers and Drain Failures

The Hydro-Garden design precludes drain holes from clogging in the same way traditional hydroponic systems do, since there is no way for leaves or other foreign material to enter the system. (Drain holes can be restricted, however, by roots from large

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rooting plants growing into the drain holes. Location of these types of plants at the opposite end of the hydroducts from the drain hole will prevent this from occurring.) It is not nearly as critical a problem if a pump or timer fails to function in the Hydro-Garden. The design of the Hydro-Garden produces an almost hermetically-sealed unit. All of the hydroducts will retain some solution in them when the pump is idle. In addition, since there is essentially no air flow in the hydroducts, the humidity is extremely high within. Should a pump or timer fail, the plants should be able to last for several days before they begin to show signs of not receiving any nutrient solution.

Potential External Damage The Hydro-Garden is designed so that it is well off the ground and so that all four of its legs combined represent less than one square inch of contact with the ground. It is essentially small animal proof, and it is highly unlikely that snails, slugs or other crawling insects will find one of the four legs to climb. However, should the unit be situated in an area where snails, slugs or other crawling insect infestation is extremely high, it is a simple matter to provide further protection by depositing a deterring liquid or powder at the base of each of the legs.

Light and Airflow The Hydro-Garden, because of its unique terraced tubular design, provides for growing many more plants than other hydroponic systems per square foot of ground space (one model, the Hydro-Garden 98A, grows 98 plants at one time using only 4 feet by 4 feet of ground space). At the same time it provides for an unusually astonishing amount of open space between the plants, allowing for a great deal of air flow and light around and under the plants.

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The Hydro-Garden comes in several different models. From left to right (above) appear the following Hydro-Garden models (the model

numbers refer to the number of Support Cups each unit contains):

Hydro-Garden 32F Hydro-Garden 48F Hydro-Garden 54F Hydro-Garden 98A Hydro-Garden 56A Hydro-Garden 40A Hydro-Garden 24A

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Plant Location

The Hydro-Garden uniquely permits relocation of plants with ease. A plant (with the Support Cup) can be removed from any cup hole and moved to any other cup hole with no problem at all. This ease of mobility of individual plants provides for several advantages over other hydroponic designs: 1) Small young plants that are shaded by larger older plants can be switched to other more desirable locations;

2) Individual plants can be relocated at will to organize them by size of plant or by type of plant; 3) Flowers can be grown in the Hydro-Garden, and when desired, an entire flowering plant can be taken indoors to be used as an attractive growing bouquet or centerpiece (when this is done, the Support cup would be placed inside of a more ornamental vase with water, but the plant would be left in the Support cup). After another 3 or 4 days the flowering plant can be replaced in the Hydro-Garden, and possibly another type of flowering plant can be taken into the house for variety. Of course, with this living, growing bouquet arrangement you never have to cut flowers and thus affect the appearance and growth of the flowering plant; 4) Plants can be started in Support Cups and later placed in the Hydro-Garden without disturbing the plant. Thus young replacements for older plants can be in readiness at all times for instant installation in the Hydro-Garden; 5) Any plant and Support cup can be removed from a cup hole at any time and the entire root system structure can be examined up close. Watching the growth of roots of an individual plant in this way is very interesting and is especially fascinating to children of all ages; 6) Some experts maintain that fruit-bearing plants such as tomatoes, strawberries, blackberries, melons, etc. produce more

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fruit if the roots are pruned. Such a practice is almost academic and certainly done haphazardly if a spade is thrust into soil (in soil garden plants) or into growing media (in other types of hydroponic units) to sever unseen roots. Too much or too little of the root structure may be cut. Short of digging the plant and washing off the roots, pruning the roots and replanting the plant, there is no way the gardener can know to what extent he pruned the roots. With the Hydro-Garden you can, of course, simply lift the plant and its Support Cup from the cup hole, clip the roots and replace the plant in a matter of seconds with full visibility of the action; 7) The Hydro-garden lends itself uniquely and efficiently to experimentation. Since all plants in the unit receive exactly the same type and amount of nutrient, it is extremely convenient and easy to experiment with the growth rate, productiveness, taste, etc. of different brands of hybrids of given types of plants. For example, comparison and evaluation of different lettuces or different tomato plants or different cantaloupes, etc. can be accurately and easily made.

System Cleanout

Cleaning the Hydro-Garden is unbelievably simple. You do not remove the plants from the unit or disturb them. Nor do you have to clean or replace any growing media. You first remove (temporarily) a single plant Support cup from the Top Hydroduct. A garden hose is inserted into this opening and the hose is turned on full force. The water from the hose will clean all of the hydroducts and flush the old nutrient into the reservoir. At the same time the hose used to carry the nutrient from the reservoir pump to the Top Hydroduct is disconnected (a quick disconnect is provided for this purpose). The pump is turned on. This will cause the solution in the reservoir to be pumped out onto the ground. (It may be collected in a bucket for use on potted plants or it may be carried to a flower bed by attaching a longer hose.)

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The garden hose and the pump are allowed to run for 20-30 minutes or until the water being pumped from the reservoir runs clear. Then the Support Cup is replaced and the reservoir pump is reconnected. Fresh nutrient is then added to the reservoir. This method of cleaning is effective and easy to use. It does not disrupt the plants growing in the Hydro-Garden. It requires very little time and needs to be done only about twice a year.

Cost The Hydro-Garden is a very economical hydroponic system. The model 98A, for example, grows 98 plants at a time using only 4 x 4 of ground space. The initial purchase price prorated over 8 years costs only about 12 per plant. The operating cost, including the fertilizer and electricity, may run less than 2 per month per plant or about 5 per plant over a three-month growing period. This added to the prorated purchase price totals about 17 per plant total cost. This, of course, is dramatically less than the cost of traditional hydroponic systems. Another way to compare the Hydro-Garden to conventional hydroponic units is to look at the productivity. If a 3 x 5 conventional unit (costing about 60% more to purchase and about 7-15 times more cost per plant to operate) grows about a dozen plants at one time and the Hydro-Garden 98A grows 98 plants at one time, the conventional system will have to be operated through almost eight crops in order to produce the same amount as the Hydro-Garden 98A. Or another way to put it is: a conventional 3 x 5 hydroponic unit will take over 2 years of steady, year-round growing to yield what the Hydro-Garden 98A can produce in 3 months.

* * * * [Note: Carl was awarded a U.S. Patent for the Hydro-Garden in 1981. This patent contains additional informative information on the Hydro-Garden, and appears on the following pages.]

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