I'm not in Toronto or the GTA but we use Homegrown Hydroponics here in Barrie. DH works in Toronto and went to the HGH store out by the airport. He says it has more supplies and part of their store is set up with grow stands etc. I would recommend them. BTW, the people who work there also use hydroponics.

The first question of commercial hydroponics is : What is there a market for? It's one thing to grow it, another is to sell it. Typical hydroponic crops: Lettuces Mesclun Mixes Herbs Tomatoes Cucumbers Flowers In your climate, where I suspect cheap produce is available year-round, you will need to find a niche that is looking for and willing to pay a premium price for premium products. Up-scale hotels and cruise ships come to mind. Also look for products which w=you can sell which are not being produced by anyone locally, for example is anybody producing arugula? Is there an expatriate community of Americans and Europeans who will pay a premium for knowing where and how their food is produced? There are growers in SE Asia supplying these type of communities through a weekly subscription. The unit of measure you are looking to evaluate when you do your market research is $/sq. ft./month. You will need to calculate your yield in pounds per square foot per month (including seedling growout time). Then calculate the price you can sell it for in your market. This way you can estimate which crop is better for you. For example, when I started my latest greenhouse I had a choice of growing basil or growing chives. The price for chives was 50% higher than the price I could get for basil. But after you figure in a 12-week growout and 4 weeks between harvests vs. 6 weeks growout and 2 weeks between harvests, basil turned out to be the more profitable crop.

I prefer to maintain my planting beds year around with the addition of finished compost spring and fall. If I had a cow and composted her manure I would use that also when ready. I have never agreed with adding a fast acting chemical fertilizer when I thought the plant needed a boost during the season. Al

as usual I am the first one to comment on my own post lol after a lot of research in Pythium. this nasty stuff are not easy to get rid of .. for a complete disinfection I have to disassemble my setting and disinfect all the nooks and cracks. I see inside the tower I have brown slime build up on the inside walls .. Pythium biofilm I highly doubt that would come off by chemicals.. I need to get in there and cleana nd also discard all the plants and start over.. man that takes too much energy and time that I am not up for .. not today lol