no medium nft, can bottom of stem touch steam?

[plzhelp]

I am designing an nft system with a pbc pipe with holes drilled in the top of it. the stream will trickle down the bottom of the pbc and the plants will be in the holes, their roots taking nutrients from the stream
I plan to use no medium, just stems in holes
the problem arises about how to keep the plants upright with their roots dangling in the stream
I could clamp them but I don't want to clamp them so hard that I strangle them
this problem would be easier to solve if it was ok to allow the bottom of the stems to rest on the floor of the pbc pipe in the stream, this way the floor will take alot of the weight from the plant and I can use weaker clamps
would this be bad for the plant? for the bottom of the stems to be in the stream?

[plzhelp]

omg ive been saying pbc pipe all my life and its pvc... so embarrassing

[imafan26]

Usually the seeds are sown in foam blocks first and after they are sprouted they are dropped in the holes. As long as the foam block does not tear it stays pretty square and since it is basically a sponge, it keeps the root moist. I haven't seen hydro system yet that doesn't start the seed in trays first even if you put a net basket in each hole, I would think that the plant would have to be started in a plug first before going in the basket since it would need a stable root system

[Cliver McGuiver]

If you grow tomatoes the stem will become roots if it is in the flow - but rule of thumb do not submerge the crown....

I had an out door solar hydro system. I used an inverter - bad choice, should have gone with the 12 volt pump with high volume and a gravity feed... The solar panels only put out 5 watts per square foot and I had 6 sq. feet...
The inverter wasted a lot of power. One rainy day and the system cratered half way through the next day... Add batteries...