Growing Indoors and Friends

Shortly after the first article I wrote about hydroponics appeared in The Growing Edge I got an email from Marlan Showalter. He described himself as an enthusiastic hydroponics hobbyist himself and said he had a store in the Dayton Farmer's Market, a regional attraction in Dayton Virginia where a host of small proprietors from the Mennonite community did business.

I just figured anyone in business would likley be middle-aged, so when I went down to meet Marlan I expected at least a 30 something to 40 something fellow. So you can imagine my surprise when Marlan turned out to be a personable young man of about 20. He was selling a variety of produce in his shop including hydroponically grown lettuce from a local hydroponics grower. To show people what hydroponics was all about he had a little system growing lettuce under flourescent lights. (see the photo) This is a miniature two channel system. The lights are just a tad anemic for growing lettuce but it will grow. Many plants that are able to grow in deep shade will grow just fine under flourescent lights, but from the viewpoint of what plants expect, they are not all that bright.