Johnsons hope to get Lincolnites hooked on ponics
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BY MICHAEL McHALE/Lincoln Journal Star
Standing tall near a glass window, plants soak in sunrays and relax under light bulbs.
Green, healthy herbs command attention.
Open soil is nowhere to be found.
That’s the whole point of Patio Ponics, 3255 Cornhusker Highway, Suite 4, which opened its doors to Lincoln in June. The store offers hydroponic systems that use nutrient solutions in place of soil.
The eco-friendly liquid mixtures have all the food plants need, rendering useless the traditional powers of dirt and earth.
Like it or not, the growing technique is here to stay.
“This isn’t just a fad or the next big thing that will pass us by,” said Andrew Johnson, who co-owns the store with his father, Terry, and mother, Pamela. “This is (truly) what’s next.”
In reality, hydroponics have been around for a while. Terry said he’s been reading about the subject for more than 10 years and that some European countries, such as the Netherlands, have been using the technique for decades.
In fact, he said, people who have purchased potted plants and bedded flowers have seen the fruits of hydroponics. Both are usually grown in non-soil mixtures of peat moss and other blends and automatically watered with nutrient solutions.
Also, many greenhouse-grown tomatoes, Dutch greenhouse peppers and European cucumbers sold in the United States are grown with hydroponics.
“I think most people at home have had exposure to it,” Terry said. “They’re just not aware of it.”
Word has spread slowly in Lincoln, and money might play a role.
“The initial cost of starting up is expensive,” said Ellen Paparozzi, professor of agronomy and horticulture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Hydroponics require pumps and monitors, she said, along with special containers for fluids and plants. The Aerogarden, for instance, is a common hydroponics system selected by first-time buyers. Its price tag is usually more than $100.
But it has its benefits. By feeding roots directly with phosphorus, nitrogen and other nutrients found in soil, plants get a healthy diet void of disease. They also grow quickly all year-round.
“If you provide all the right conditions in the right environment,” Terry said, “plants do what they should do.”
The roots to Patio Ponics began to sprout five years ago, when Andrew made his own hydroponics system with a couple of household items.
He put nutrient solution into a tub and covered it with foam. Then he cut small holes so plant roots could hang down and feed on the liquid mixture.
“I kind of had my own little system,” Andrew said. “And we’ve been joking around about turning this into a business and bringing the idea to Lincoln.”
A variety of customers have visited the store since it opened, he said, from experts to novices in the hydroponics world.
The Johnson family is more than happy to explain the history of the growing technique and the modern processes they use. They will show customers the small, block-like “seed starters” where roots initially sprout by feeding on a little water.
They will demonstrate how the spongy block with its new roots is placed in a hydroponics system and provided nutrients. Often plants are surrounded by clay pellets or coco fibers, anything to lend support usually provided by soil.
Then they’ll explain the different solutions sitting on their shelves. Plants generally need more nitrogen in the green growth phase and more phosphorus during the flowering and fruit stage, and Patio Ponics provides customers with a grow solution, a bloom solution and a micro solution to be used throughout the process.
Everything else takes care of itself.
“All you need to do find a plant,” Terry said.
A simple hydroponics system will cost $64 total, he said. Customers can place it on their patio or in their kitchen, and they can grow traditional herbs such as salad greens, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and more. As long as the roots and plant have room to develop, customers can grow whatever they want.
And they can find some soil mixtures at Patio Ponics. The store provides organic dirt with various ingredients such as earth worm castings and fish remains.
“It’s all natural ingredients,” Andrew said. “There’s no chemical mix, and it’s better for the environment.”
And that, ultimately, is the goal of hydroponics, he said — to provide an eco-friendly way to grow plants efficiently and abundantly.
The Johnsons plan on offering classes in the fall to demonstrate how to put together systems at home, and eventually they want to discuss the social and economic benefits of hydroponics in general. No dates for the classes have been scheduled yet.
Until then, Patio Ponics will provide information to curious customers.
“(A hydroponics store) was going to happen in Lincoln,” Andrew said. “Somebody was going to jump in.”
The Johnsons decided it was time to leap.
Reach Michael McHale at 473-7254 or mmchale@journalstar.com.
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