Hydroponic Sunflower Cam

The opinions in this article are those of the contributor, not necessarily of the club.

Low cost Hydroponic flood and drain system.
The Scoria is the same Scoria since 1996.
Buckets, (Hence dwarf sunflowers, since the tall ones blow over see below.)
Locn is between the shed and the fence, so out of the way.
Small fountain pump on a timer.
Make a comment, if worth posting a picture of the tube, timer and pump.
Timer set to water during the day, each hour, for 3 mins.
Seeds were sown Dec 1.
Even the 5 consecutive days over 40, with one day at 45.5C days didn't bother the sunflowers.
However, 5 plants were using 10Litres of water a day.

Sunflowers in a row- after 7wks.
(The camera picked up different shades of green, depending on how hot the day was, perhaps the leaves do something to reflect extra light, instead of absorbing it, on 44C days?)

Link to when they've grown up- http://teatreegullydistrictgardenclub.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/sun-flower-cam-update-11-wks-after.html

From previous years.

Club members daughter took this one to school for a morning talk.

The teacher took a photo, never had a morning talk all about hydroponics from a 10yr old.

Same daughter to the left. After they have grown between the shed, they are put on the front porch, with a container to dripper the solution system to each. Not enough room for the pump and tub.
During winter, when not growing over sized sun flowers, this is the same system that is used to grow stocks.
See http://teatreegullydistrictgardenclub.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/double-stock-seeds.html

(The pics and text have been put close together, otherwise while scrolling down, viewers may thing a gap is the end of the article.)