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Biodegradable Coir Planting Pots

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Horticultural technology is growing back to natural sources. One of the most valuable new developments in recent years is a series of planting containers made of coir, or coconut fiber. Coir pots are 100% biodegradable when placed in environments hospitable to natural breakdown. Until such time, the pots retain their shape for three to five years, making them natural choices for outdoor container gardens year after year.

Coir: A Natural Resource
Coir is fiber from a coconut husk. Prior to its use for garden pots, coir was primarily used to make rope and weave mats. The word coir is Malayalam, from the word kayaru, which means “to be twisted.” Coir is made from a renewable resource, and coir pots use little energy to produce. Their biodegradable nature makes them ideal for production large and small scale, as use of coir will reduce plastic thrown into landfills.

Coir Pots Promote Plant Growth
Plants growing in traditional plastic pots tend to develop tightly massed root systems that do not take full advantage of the growing area. When growing in coir pots, plants grow throughout the entire pot, and grow into the pot wall. Once the roots reach the outer edge of the wall, they stop growing out and continue to grow inside the pot. Because coir is biodegradable, commercial growers can use the pots to grow plants that can be planted directly into the ground, skipping the transplanting step, which often leads to transplant shock. Plants planted directly into the ground in coir pots will settle in and take off more quickly.

Coir Container Gardens
Coir pots are also perfect for patio container gardens. The pots hold their shape for 3-5 years. As natural substances, their appearance changes over time, lending character to outdoor container gardens. Once the pots have reached the end of their useful life, they can be tossed into the compost pile and eventually returned to the garden as fertilizer.

Hairy Pot Plant Company
Coir pots are great for the home gardener that does not have to worry about large scale disease and destruction from plant pots. The Hairy Pot Plant Company in the UK has also developed a way to use coir pots effectively in large-scale greenhouse production. They steam the pots on arrival to their facility in order to kill any bacteria or insects that may have arrived with the pots. Once steamed, the pots are ready to go. They cite advantages of using the coir pots, including providing economic resources coir pot producers, who often dwell in economically poor countries.

Hairy Pot Plant Company produces plants that can be planted directly into the ground in their coir pots. They also sell a wide variety of coir products for the home gardener, including seed-starter pots. Start your seedlings in coir pots, and you will gain valuable growing time, as they will not have to recover from transplant shock.

Coir is clearly the way to go for plant production in environmentally friendly ways.

Adding Pizzazz to the Bar-B-Que

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Make Your Own Cajun Spice Mix

Authentic Cajun spice is a combination of herbs.  This mixture works best if dried herbs are combined and ground up together, although fresh herbs can be chopped, added to olive or herbed oil and rubbed into the meat.

  • 2 1/2 tsp thyme (12 ml)
  • 2 tsp oregano (10 ml)
  • 1 1/2 tsp cayenne (7 ml)
  • 5 tbsp paprika (75 ml)
  • 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder (7 ml)
  • 1 tsp kosher salt (5 ml)
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin (7 ml)
  • 1/4 tsp ground coriander seed (1 ml)

Mix thoroughly and rub into meat or sprinkle over vegetables.  This can be mixed up ahead of time and added as a spice to pasta sauces or used in a marinade.  It makes a great flavour zapper for tomato sauce.

Vertical Farming

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The horse and plow gave way to the tractor.  Soon, the tractor will give way to a “farmer” strolling through aisles of produce growing in twenty story buildings!  Vertical farming is the way of the future.

Las Vegas Plans to Farm
Or not.  Early in 2008, rumors circulated rampantly around the internet that the city of Las Vegas was planning to build a thirty story vertical farm.  This farm would have fed 72,000 people for a year, and would have been opened as yet another tourist attraction.  Since the viral spread of this news on the internet, the city of Las Vegas has denied any plans to construct such a farm, and Chris Jacobs, the designer of the building pictured in articles and blogs about the project, has written that he was never approached for a design.

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Start with the Basics: Make Your Own Herbed Vinegar and Spiced Oils

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By: Charlene Rennick

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Herbed Vinegar

Fresh, home-made herbed vinegars can be used as the base for marinades, salad dressings and pasta sauces.

Picking your own herbs or snipping from an indoor hydroponic garden or kitchen aerogarden adds extra love in the flavour.  Always pick herbs before the light begins to warm up the plant.  The natural oils from the plant will be at their highest concentrate.

The best herbed vinegars are made from wine, rice or apple cider vinegar.  Start with a clean mason jar or other bottle with an air-tight cork or lock.  Stuff the jar full of herbs and pour approximately 2 cups of the vinegar over top.  Seal it and leave to age.  Taste it after a season; it should be ready for cooking.  The herbed vinegar will keep in the jar for several years.

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Using the Whole Herb: Holistic Hydroponics

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By: Charlene Rennick

People want food that tastes good without devoting a whole day to the preparation of the meal.  We want quick and easy solutions, but we don’t want to admit that we have been reduced to buying the glossy, pre-packaged, high carbohydrate food.   The new consensus is that food grown in cardboard is unhealthy; yet, we don’t have time to start right from garden on a regular basis.  Where is the balance?

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Hydroponics in Urban Farming

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Urban farming is a challenge for those without large lots.  For culinary fiends craving fresh lettuce, microgreens and other treats year-round without having to break the bank, vertical growing systems are one source of horticultural happiness.  Large cities such as New York and Chicago provide flourishing markets for fresh produce.  Commercial growers with time and energy to set up shop nearby can capitalize on a “growing” market.

Hydroponics Basics
Hydroponics gardens grow in water, nutrient solutions, air, or different growing media such as vermiculite or coir.  Hydroponically grown plants do not grow in soil.  Nutrient solutions given to plants in hydroponics gardens provide necessary minerals, nutrients and water needed for optimum plant growth without soil.  A variety of hydroponics growing systems abound, including new vertical growing systems.

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Hydroponics In History: The Babylonian Gardens

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By: Charlene Rennick

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Many new devices, ideas and civilizations have emerged because, “Necessity is the mother of invention” (Plato, The Republic).  The shortage of water and available fertile soil for planting crops is not a new issue. Throughout history, archaeological evidence shows us that thousands of cities have been built on land that was safe from invasion, but not necessarily ideal for agricultural use.  People have been using water and rock in place of soil to support plant growth for centuries.

Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of ancient Babylon during the Chilean dynasty in 600 BCE, built the hydroponically-engineered gardens  in the palace courtyard located just outside of present day Baghdad, Iraq.  The rumour is that he had these constructed to please his wife, Amytis of Media, because she was homesick for her childhood home in the mountain springs. 

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Hydroponics at Disney World

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Many happy horticulturalists sprout from visits to the Land Pavilion at Walt Disney World’s Epcot theme park.  The Land Pavilion houses a restaurant and several attractions, but the star of the show is the large greenhouse complex through which visitors float via boat. During the boat ride, visitors learn about hydroponic gardening and aquaculture—with many visitors receiving their first look at this unusual form of farming.

Mickey Mouse Shaped Vegetables
A highlight of the tour is a view of “Mickey Mouse” shaped fruits and vegetables growing.  Cucumbers, melons, tomatoes and pumpkins all become “The Mouse.” This feat of farming is accomplished by fitting mouse-shaped plastic enclosures around fruits as they begin to form.  As they grow, they will fill out the shape, turning into Mickey Mouse himself—only more orange!

All of the vegetables and fruits grown in The Land are served around the Walt Disney World resort.  Nine pound lemons, huge eggplants, tomatoes from the “tomato tree,” lettuce of every variety and more are staples of The Land’s regular plantings.

Ground-Breaking Hydroponic Research
In addition to the fun of huge vegetables and oddly shaped fruits, serious research in hydroponic gardening and aquaculture happens in The Land.  Hydroponic research for NASA includes experiments about growing plants without soil or water.  Such research could help future explorations into space, and make vegetable growing on distant planets a reality! Visitors are treated to plants growing without soil or water.  These plants are hanging in the air on a special rotating fixture.  The plants are intermittently sprayed with a nutrient solution, providing water and nutrients to the plants.

Hydroponic Forms and Fixtures
Plants in The Land grow in every type of growing media available.  They grow in sand, soil, water, nutrient solutions and even in the air!  Trays, spiral hanging fixtures, traditional troughs, and other fixtures sprout lettuce, tomatoes, eggplants, microgreens and more.

Hydroponics and Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable agriculture techniques are of great concern for the future.  Soil continues to erode with every planting season, and farming as we know it will not last forever.  The Land Pavilion researches sustainable agricultural practices such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM), crop rotation, inter-cropping, irrigation techniques and hydroponics.

Hydroponic gardening is key to large-scale sustainable agriculture, as many rotations of crops can be produced with no disturbance of the soil.  Nutrient solutions can be recycled and purified, and hydroponics, despite the fact that it is primarily driven by nutrient solutions in water, uses less water than traditional farming methods.  Hydroponic gardening also allows production of food crops in areas that traditionally are too dry, cold, or otherwise inhospitable to traditional farming methods.

Living With the Land
The Land Pavilion at Epcot is a wonderful place to introduce visitors young and old, experienced and novice to the idea of hydroponic gardening.  Viewing plants growing soil-less for the first time is a mind boggling experience, sure to stay with someone for years.  It is possible that the seed of interested planted by the visit to The Land Pavilion will blossom into a life-long interest in horticulture and hydroponics.

You can see some interesting shots inside the greenhouse portion of the tour on this video posted at YouTube.

Horticultural Therapy with Hydroponics

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Horticultural therapy is a growing form (no pun intended!) of therapy for all types of medical patients due to its versatility.  Patients with limited mobility, cancer patients, patients recovering from post traumatic stress disorder, as well as incarcerated individuals all benefit from horticultural therapy.

Traditional Horticultural Therapy
Horticultural therapy for patients that do not experience mobility challenges is as simple as regular gardening.  Schools, hospitals, prisons, day-homes for adults and other facilities all may have gardens maintained by their constituents.  School gardens can have fun themes such as the alphabet or nursery rhymes.  Day-centers and prisons may find that their gardeners enjoy tending flowers and vegetables the best—so they can share their products with others. 

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Hydroponics in the Classroom–Make Science Fun!

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A fundamental aspect of keeping children engaged in learning is to make learning fun.  Hydroponic gardening projects are a great way to liven up any classroom environment.  Kids will be instantly hooked on hydroponics because the practice goes against everything they may have learned about growing plants.  Until they are introduced to hydroponics, they will think that every plant needs soil to grow.  They will be fascinated by the idea that plants can grow without soil!

Attention-Grabbing Projects
Keeping kids excited about learning is crucial to success.  Growing plants hanging from the ceiling, or in pop-bottles, but not soil is sure to catch their attention.  In Mansfield, Massachusetts, science teacher Robert Cote captivated students with a tomato plant growing project that involved old two-liter bottles and torn-up shirts.  As reported in the Sun Chronicle, students learned the water cycle while producing hefty tomato plants suspended in air. Soda bottles held the nutrient solution, while the old shirts served as wicks carrying the solution to the plant.

Many Applications in the Classroom
Hydroponics projects reach deep into the realm of science and beyond.  Simple experiments help teach biology—including basic principles of plant growth.  Math is involved when calculating nutrient solutions, and writing skills are important for reporting results.  As a subject foreign to many students, history may also be incorporated, as students learn of the origins of the horticultural technique.  (Most likely first used in the first century to grow cucumbers during cold months of the Roman Empire, according to researchers at the University of Arizona.)

Because of the many skills needed to successfully plan, implement and report, hydroponics experiments are great for holistic learning projects.  They involve every skill set a student possesses to work toward a goal.

Easy Experiments
Hydroponics projects can be simple or complex.  These projects are perfect to introduce the concept of variables in scientific experiments.  Students can test different types of light on their plants, and see which plants grow the best.  The students can vary the components of nutrient solutions used to feed their plants.  They will learn cause and effect relationships, and the importance of a control group in the experiment.  They may learn that certain things they thought might influence the plant growth really make no difference.

Information Resources
The internet makes information about hydroponics readily available for everyone.  Many websites provide kids, workbooks and lists of activities involving hydroponics.  A local agricultural agent or cooperative extension program is also a good source for information.

Teachers will find that once they engage their students in simple hydroponics projects, they will be rewarded with better focus and more interested students.  They will also do their communities a service by inspiring children to have an interest in plants and the world around them.