hydroponics structured water

 It's been sixteen days since my last posting of the greens.  No disappointment here.  Once I got past the learning curve, the system evened out and every plant is doing pretty good, even the weak ones.  Fact is, I can no longer tell which ones were the runts.

It took a while for the root mass to develop properly but after that, they stabilized and took off.

I've been harvesting leaves from all of these plants on a regular basis with no slow down in growth.  It seems periodical trimming only makes them grow all the more. 

It's pretty much maintenance free and my only chore is checking on them once in a while and replenishing the nutrient water supply about once a week.  That's it. 

In comparison with the raised beds, it's no contest.  The greens in the raised beds are doing ok but nothing like the hydroponics.  Don't get me going on the increased rabbit population with an appetite for swiss chard.   Rodents is one problem this system doesn't have.

All that aside, today I introduced structured water to the mix and I want a before picture to see what effect it has on the plants.  Before I provide a detailed account on how I made the structured water, I want to see if it's worth the effort.  I figure I'll do an update sixteen days from now and we'll see the changes, if any.

It was never my intention to do anything with this unit outside of growing a few greens for the summer but it'll do just as well inside during the winter months with the help of a grow light.  A unit twice this size would take up the same square footage and be able to support about thirty small plants.  Growing larger plants is just a matter of controlling the root mass and providing support.

Something to think about in a SHTF scenario.