Thread: Sustained yield
View Single Post
  #1  
Old 11-21-2013, 01:11 PM
pengyou pengyou is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 9
Default Sustained yield

I am just getting my feet wet in hydroponics (pun intended) by growing wheat grass in water. My next step is to grow kale and other green leafy vegetables, followed by tomatoes, etc.

Has anyone looked into the feasibility or made a model of sustained yield plantings? By sustained yield I mean being able to harvest each week what I need that week. For example, if I need 10 carrots a week, I know that I need to plant 10 carrot seeds a week - maybe an extra in case of failure.

If this is possible/feasible it will save lots of $$ on storing and processing food. In the typical soil based model of growing produce, veggies are planted in the spring, harvest mid summer to fall and have to be canned/frozen/dried to be able to be eaten the rest of the year. Or, in warmer climates, they have to be shipped hundreds or thousands of miles to other places so that they can be eaten "fresh", at significant increase of cost and use of more carbon to do so. If I can plant so that I can harvest every week - even every day, I maximize the nutritional content of the produce, reduce the cost of buying and operating freezers, don't need to buy as big a house/space to store them in, etc

My dream is to be able to come with up a model that will allow me to use hydroponics to grow all of the veggies for a family of 4 in a room x' by y'. I am not sure what these dimensions are yet but I think with proper shelving and lighting, 10'x10' might be possible.

Reply With Quote