bisjac and one of his real life friends are builing a greenhouse. they were just debating things like this. if they would just use planters or something complicated to water them.
i think they are going classic manual watering though
It all depends on budget really, hydroponics can be costly. I went through an 8oz bottle of PH down within a week, it runs about $8 per bottle. The rain water raises/lowers the PH level, on top of that you need to change, and flush the system every week or two. I will start buying the gallon of PH down soon, but it's $32 a gallon. Three gallons of nutrients alone costs me $100 for a good brand, I don't like to use cheap stuff as it could end up killing the plants.
If he's doing dirt you may be able to cut out some watering if his moisture control is good enough. When I start my seedlings I start them in a dome, the moisture is always high in it so I rarely need to water them.
I considered doing aquaponics which is cheaper, but I don't really like the idea of having fish. If Bisjac reads this then I would suggest at least $350 budget for a good 10ft hydroponics system. I have 10ft x 4 pipes. I would also suggest a single flow system, mine is multi-flow and it's a pain in the ass sometimes.
