irrigation system for hydroponics.

[Dennis]

Ron, i have a couple of questions. First of all, I was wondering if it is possible to use an irrigation system for hydroponics. In other words my idea is to hook up a fertilizer mixer/dispenser to the water outlet and let the mixture flood the 9 plant garden setup. I plan on attaching a timer so that everything is controlled. When draining the system is it necessary to recycle the mixture or would discarding it cost too much money?

[Ron]

That is the way most commercial growing systems work. Bags full of perlite with holes in the bottom sit on the ground and drains out the bottom onto the ground. Disney World uses a scale hooked to a computer to weigh how much water the first bag in the row gets then it knows how much to water the rest of the row should get. That way they have very little drain waste.