Hydroponics made easy

Our protocol paper outlining how to make an adaptable and versatile hydroponics system useful for many downstream assays has just been published online at Plant Methods, http://www.plantmethods.com/content/9/1/4 . We designed it for use with microeclectrode techniques and the LiCOR whole plant chamber for photosytnthesis measurements but it is very useful for any kind of physiological or molecular assay as the whole shoot and root can be accessed at any stage.

The real advantage of this particular technique is the ease of handling the plants throughout the growth, and the compatibility with many physiological assays. The paper contains many tips and tricks for getting good plant growth in the lab in general, including solution design and macros for measuring growth from images of the plants. The technique is useful for other plants too.

In the first week of being online the paper was viewed over 1000 times and is currently ranked second in terms of impact as measured by altmetrics for all Plant Methods papers, first for papers of a similar age. 

Here is a video that accompanies the paper, outlining the technique.