Starting plants

It's pretty easy to start plants. I always start from seeds. In my experience starting with plants that were grown in nurseries or in dirt is just a recipe for getting pathogens into your nutrient and causing problems for all you plants. Starting with sterile media and seed minimizes the chance of problems developing. Think clean room. You don't have to be too excessive, but care will ensure that your plants get off to a great start.

Just for fun one year I took a plastic tub and turned it into a baby continuous flow system and used it to start plants. It was fun and easy. I took a very small pond pump and used it to pump nutrient to the cover of the tub and cut a hole in the other end and ran it slightly tilted. The only slightly annoying feature was that the algae liked it even through it was flowing continuously and I got a little algae build up on the cover. The plants liked it to though so it was a fun way to get my plants started.