How It Works
How We Use Water
Our system uses about 90% less water than growing in the ground. Here's how that works in practice.
One of the first things people ask about when they see our setup is the water. Fair question. We're growing food hydroponically, and the whole system runs on nutrient water. So how much does it actually use?
A lot less than you'd expect. In a regular field, most of the water you put down never reaches the plant. It soaks into the ground, runs off, or evaporates. A big percentage of it is just lost before the roots see any of it.
How Our System Works
We recirculate everything. The nutrient solution flows past the roots, gets collected at the end of the channel, checked, topped off if needed, and sent back through. The only water that leaves the system is what the plants actually drink, which is the whole point.
To put a number on it: a head of lettuce in the field typically takes 15 to 25 gallons from start to harvest. In our flood table system, that same plant uses roughly 2 to 4 gallons. When you're growing a lot of greens, that adds up quick.
Nothing Goes Down the Drain
The other advantage of a closed-loop system is nothing runs off into the environment. No fertilizer getting into local waterways. The nutrients stay in the system until the plants use them. It's a straightforward concept, but it's one of the real benefits of growing hydroponically.
The Trade-offs
Hydroponics isn't perfect. We run pumps, lights, and climate controls, so the electric bill is real. The nutrient solutions are manufactured. There are trade-offs with any way of growing food.
But on the water side, the math is clear. Less in, none out, same yield. For us, that made the approach worth pursuing.