Hydroponics gives new meaning to watering the plants

A different style of growing plants is budding in Wrangell, though it might take a while to bloom.

Hydroponics, a technique that doesn't require soil, only water and nutrients, could be a more sustainable approach in places where viable soil and ideal weather are harder to come by.

While some green thumbs on the island have tinkered with the method, one grower took hydroponics to a commercial level. Kelsey Martinsen, owner of Happy Cannabis, has used a flood-and-drain system to grow his marijuana plants since opening more than three years ago.

"The roots always have the availability of whatever kind of nutrient they're fed," he said. "It's always in there. They don't have to go out in search of it in the soil."

With the flood-and-drain system, plants are flooded with nutrient-rich water periodically. The water is then drained back into a reservoir, giving the roots access to oxygen and resting before being flooded again.

Before using that system, Martinsen used a deep-water culture system, which has been labeled as the easiest to use and the least expensive, making it ideal for gardeners looking to get into hydroponics. An air pump and air stone, which sits in the reservoir and bubbles up to mix oxygen and nutrients, are used to keep the nutrient solution continually oxygenated.

Martinsen has used hydroponics to grow bonsai trees and flowers, but it can also be used to grow tomatoes, lettuce and other popular vegetables.

One of the biggest benefits to hydroponics other than a faster, fuller crop yield is a lack of bugs.

"I think the biggest benefit to hydroponic systems is there's no bugs - unless you accidently introduce bugs into the system," Martinsen said. "With soil you're always going to have gnats or spider mites or something you're going to have to battle with. As long as you have a clean environment and you don't bring those bugs in, you won't get them naturally."

Other methods are also used but can become more complicated and costly. Aeroponics keeps the roots out of any sort of medium, like rockwool or clay pebbles, suspending them in the open. A series of misters delivers nutrient solution directly to the roots, decreasing the amount of waste and saving on nutrient costs.

Another method, nutrient film technique (NFT), is one of the more popular systems with commercial growers. It uses both flood-and-drain and deepwater methods by keeping roots suspended in a nutrient solution that is continuously circulating between the plants and the reservoir. Roots are only partially soaked in the solution so that they still have access to oxygen.

"NFT drop systems seem to be the most popular now," Martinsen said. "It seems to be where everyone is going for hydroponics now."

As beneficial and sustainable as hydroponic growing can be, it does have drawbacks.

"With soil I can leave a plant for three or four days, no problem," he said. "In my system, if something goes wrong in a day, they'll all die. It's a lot more maintenance involved."

There is also the added cost of electricity to run the air pumps and to keep the water chilled between 68 and 72 degrees. And there needs to be a backup system if a grower loses power.

Even though Martinsen has used hydroponics since opening his shop, he is in the process of reverting to a soil-grow system. Part of the reason is, in his opinion, a better product.

"You get less product, but the product is just better. You can't simulate the natural things the roots need in the soil, mainly like the biomes and microorganisms that are growing in the soil. You really can't replicate those," he said. "We had a really sophisticated (hydroponic) system before, so we're kind of going backward. The more plants we get, the (simpler) we make it."