Nowadays every gardener or farmer is trying to use the hydroponics method as it gives better results to everyone than normal farming but compared to normal farming, the cost of hydroponic farming is high.
In this story, Joseph who is 44 years old grows jasmine and Chikoo on his terrace with the same hydroponics method but at a low cost.
If you are also thinking of starting the hydroponics method, look into the article completely, so that you will able to know how to grow plants in the hydroponic method but at a low cost.
How To Use Hydroponic System With Low Cost – Hydroponic Journey of Joseph
Many of them who are from Karnataka may know about Shankarapura village which is a quiet village in Karnataka’s Udipi district and is famous for jasmine. Here we will see how the hydroponic method worked for Joseph in the growth of jasmine and Chikoo.
- Jasmine is very famous in Shankarapura village and also got a GI tag in 2008 It is having high demand in India and also abroad.
- Even as Joseph is also from the same village, and also one of the farmers who grows shankarapura jasmine.
- As everyone is growing jasmine, Joseph Lobo wanted to grow something different and he chose to grow jasmine through the hydroponic method.
- This hydroponic method was known to him, when he went to attend the session at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru.
- He knows that is a very expensive way to grow but he taught a way to grow jasmine in a hydroponic way with less cost.
- Joseph has a 400-square-foot terrace garden and in that, Lobo has set up a hydroponic system to grow some plants.
- He started a hydroponic system, in the first step, he just took a netted basket and filled it with full of cocopeat, which is made from the husk of coconuts and works as an organic manure.
- Then need to take a bucket fill it with water, and mix it with organic manure.
- Then he placed the rooted saplings on the netted basket, and then that basket was placed on the bucket.
- By this, the roots of the plant will absorb the nutrients from the liquid manure.
- For the complete method, he just spent Rs. 170 per plant.
- If you grow the jasmine plant normally, it takes four to five months to start flowering, but using this method, it just takes two and a half months to start flowering.
- Even after he had success in the Jasmine plant, he also tried the same method for the mulberry and chikkoo trees and he also had success in them.
- Initially, before trying it he taught that the hydroponic method for fruit-bearing trees is not a good idea as it needs more space to grow. But he says that it was the wrong perspective.
- Along with these plants, he also grew 150 other varieties of fruits on his terrace garden and also started doing beehive boxes on his land.
- And even Lobo’s family is also very supportive of his work.
- He also says that, once after he was successful in hydroponic farming with jasmine plants, many farmers came to him to learn this technique and he got an offer to do this method on 20 acres of land.
- But Joseph didn’t accept that offer as he did not do any experiments on huge land.
Joseph says that he also has an idea to start jasmine cultivation in a hydroponic way on the huge land.
Key Outcomes
Today Lobo is growing 32 jasmine plants and 150 varieties of fruit plants on his terrace and also on his land. Joseph has inspired a lot of farmers with his work and he proved even we can earn a good amount of income through farming if we think out of the box rather than doing what others do.
And even he was trying to expand his knowledge on other many varieties of fruits too. We all wish him a good success.