I saw some pumpkins growing suspended on wires about 5-6 ft off the ground. It was cool looking and the little wheels in my head started turning. Anyone know how they did that or where to look for info on how they did that? It looked like some sort of a hydroponic set up so I figure someone here would know about it.
Question about what they did at Epcot
I don't remember what part the pumpkin was was in. I assume you're talking about the behind the scenes tour in the Land pavilion. They had both hydroponics and aeroponic systems there. I have both hydroponics system and aeroponic systems. The hydroponics system was purchased from the same place that Epcot got their systems (based on their recommendations). They sold smaller system to individuals and home growers. I don't remember the company name anymore. But hydroponics is getting a lot more attention nowadays. I'm sure if you google it, you'd get a whole bunch of distributors that sell these hydroponic systems.
I now moved on to the aeroponic systems. With the Aerogarden, it's just so easy. It's a no brainer. I'm having salad coming out of my ears. I've done herbs too. I'm playing around with it and growing other things in there now too. It's just soooo simple.
The actual pumpkin was hanging from wires so it looked like you could walk under them. They also had tomatoes the same way. I don't remember the buildings name, it had a big resturant in it and you took a boat ride around looking at different things being grown and I remember one part had something to do with NASA. I'll check out Google and see what I find out but I really no nothing about hydroponics or aeroponic systems so it might not be easy to find what I'm looking for. My first thought was wonder if I can grow melons like that? LOL. It might be dangerous to have something that big growing off the ground. Looked like something to tinker with.
If you get a hydroponic system, it's for the roots. So, most things will grow fine. I'd wonder about root vegatables in hydroponics though. So, melon would just have the plant in the hydroponic system and you'd have to rig up some sort of support system for the melons. I think that the pumpkins were probably in the hydroponic area from the sound of it. And you were definitely in the Land Pavilion. Sounds like you only took the boat ride. There's an optional behind the scenes tour there to learn more about hydroponic and aeroponic systems that they use there.
Verti-gro has a system at Epcot. Lots of information available by googling verti-gro. Similiar systems using stacked containers and hydroponic fertilization can be had by googling EZgro, stack-a-pot, agro-tower and hydro-stacker. I have some verti-gro units and some EZgro units. I prefer EZgro which has larger pots with larger plant sites in each hard plastic pot. Verti-gro uses smaller styrofoam pots with smaller plant sites in each pot. In their simpliest form, you just manually pour fertilized water in the top pot and it soaks down through all the pots (normally about 5 pots per stack) and drips out of the bottom pot. Five pots with four plant sites per pot gives you 20 plant sites per stack. If you use a soluable hydroponic fertilizer, you can claim that you are a skilled knowledgeable hydroponic gardener of the first degree. If you use miracle-gro stuff from home depot, you may not be able to lay claim to being a highly exalted "hydroponic" grower. :) Actually, both work well, but the stuff labled hydroponic seems to have a more complete fertilizer formula and in my opinion, works better. The EZgro system comes with a grow mix of about 80% perlite and 20% vermiculite and works well when watered about 2 times daily. I like that mix because you just cant over water with it. When it is thorougly soaked it still maintains enough open spaces for plentiful oxygen to get to the plants roots. These stackable pot systems are simple and easy to use and not all that expensive.
Thanks that was what I was looking for. Think I know how they did it.