Monday, January 3, 2011

Hydroponics in a SHTF or WROL Situation

I keep seeing more and more videos on You Tube and writings in blogs about preparing for some type of Armageddon. With the way things are going I can see why some people are really getting concerned. If you really think about it, most of us rely heavily on our local grocery store. If society broke down for what ever reason could you feed you and your family for a year, a month, a week?

I not talking about a bad storm that knocks out your power for a few days. I'm referring to a collapse of society that lasts a year or more. A real Mad Max-The Road Warrior, gun toting bandits out to steal the remaining few drops of gasoline, and YOUR FOOD.


A lot of the preppers will tell you to store away food, water, and seeds. I think this is a good idea also if for no other reason than a week long power outage, blizzard, flood. In a real Sh!t Hits The Fan situation, do you think a garden would be possible? It seems to me you would have to be prepared to use deadly force to guard it or it will simply be stolen from you. Unless you have a warehouse full of food you will eventually run out. I think this is where knowledge of hydroponics could save your life.

I would rather not to have to kill another human for trying to steal my food or even worse, be forced to defend my family and my self against someone trying to kill me for my food. Even if you implemented raised bed gardening to maximize your available growing space, you are still going to need several dozen square feet. Your are also going to be subject to the normal growing cycle of the plants. What you are going to need is a way to grow your food in an even smaller space and do it faster than normal. This is where hydroponics could come in handy. You won't need as large an area for each plant. Because the plants aren't struggling for the needed nutrients and water they will grow faster and produce more food. Since your plants will need less space they would be easier to hide. If no one knows you have food growing, it will be much less likely someone will come looking for it. With a little ingenuity it could be done even without electricity.

Lets say it doesn't get all that desperate. Even in The Road Warrior people settle into gangs or communities. You would be a valuable member of any community if you have the ability to help them grow more food faster. You will have an important skill to barter with and that could be the difference between survival and personal extinction.


These are just a few of my thoughts. I would really love to hear what other people have to say on this subject. Please sign in and comment below.  

  

6 comments:

Hydroponics said...

Hydroponics

Thanx dude........its really awesome........I hv got lot of info regarding gardening here.........waiting for your next post........keep it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thefreezy said...

You are very correct in what you have said about peple relying on groceary stores. You've hit on the very reason that I had looked into hydroponics in the first place. However, in a SHTF situation, long term, would you be able to access all of your nutrients necessary for growing? What about power in an EMP situation?

With those potential issues, I decided that aquaponics would be a better route to venture down. No chemicals to add, less water consumption, and you can make a fully sustainable Eco system if you create a worm box to feed your fish with. In short with aquaponics, you get to raise fish and plants together.

60 years ago, if you didn't grow it or raise it, you starved.

HydroponicsFriend said...

Thanks for the encouragement Jiniffer. It really helps me want to continue this project.

Very insightful post thefreezy. It got me thinking in a couple new directions. :)

Loss of electricity is a very real possibility and EMP is only one of many possibilities. I was in the Blackout of 2003 when part of the grid collapsed for the northeastern U.S. and parts of Canada due to "overgrown trees".

Aquaponics would be a good alternative, especially on a larger scale. The hobby and commercial systems I've seen rely heavily on pumps, both air and water. Even if you consider an Aquaponics system has to maintain a fairly good chemical and biological balance to be productive, when your life is on the line we can get pretty darned creative.

On a smaller scale I think an individual or family could build and maintain a smaller system using compost or worm tea as a liquid hydroponic nutrient.

I find it interesting that we both considered worms could play an important roll in this.

thefreezy said...

Always a pleasure to help stimulate new ideas!

Well I also raise meat rabbits, and I am planning on using their manure in "tea bags" to start before i introduce fish into my system. Then also of course use the rabbit manure in worm beds.

Along with the plants, I'm planning on growing duckweed, which can be used to feed the fish, and rabbits. Or other livestock. 

Ultimately, I would Ike to run the setup with solar power once I have my total power consumption figured out. Harbor Freight tools has a nice 45 watt set up for around $200 to $250. If you work your coupons right with sales you can get it for cheaper.

I'm aiming for my setup to be as self sustained as possible. So worms feed fish, fish feed bacteria, bacteria feed plants, plants feed me/ rabbits, rabbits feed worms. So hopefully I can make it work. I keep track of my progress in my blog if you're interested, although I'm still very early in.

Unknown said...

I like this information of hydroponics stores and local grocery store of hydroponics.Thanks,for this nice information.

hydroponic

Unknown said...

Many kinds vegetation that can be expanded in a hydroponics program. Some vegetation will grow better in hydroponics program than others, but some of the most well-known are lettuce, tomato vegetables, cucumbers, herbs, watercress, and various other passable vegetation. This is very nice article, I am impressed.
grow box

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