Hydroponics - The Other Gardening Part 1 Hydro Basics

Static Culture

"OKAY, I calculate I'll still give hydro a shot. So how many $ am I seeing by spending?"

Ebb and Flow or Flood and Drain Sub-Irrigaton.

That depends. As I said above, hydroponic gardening tin be for easy as growing a factory in a jug full of dirt. Add a raw siphon fed trickle line apt that, and you have a hydro system because below $5. If you determine ashore a more perfected system, your costs will scope from approximately $50 for a altitude feed bucket to over $1000 as large multi-site systems. Other items to think when purchasing a hydro system embody water testing meters and kits, water chillers/heaters, and even water purifiers.

Passive Sub-Irrigation, or Wick System

In a static culture system, plants are grown in containers of nutrient solution. The container can be anything from buckets, jars, or plastic buckets. The solution is routinely aerated but does not have to be. If left with no aeration, the solution level is kept cheap enough that the roots are above the solution so they obtain plenty of dissolved oxygen. A hole is hack out of the lid of the container to accommodate one or more plants. An mushroom in container size may be required as the plants grow. If a high solution class is maintained, aeration must be used to provide oxygen to the plants roots. This is typically done with an aquarium or commercial air pump spliced to air hoses and an air stone/diffuser. Clear containers must be completely blacked out as so no light gets to the solution. Light drips to the water solution will cause algae to grow. The nutrient solution is changed on a controlled schedule. A float valve can be joined to retain water level with addition premixed nutrient solution. This way the solution will never drip below the necessary level.

This is also known as passive hydroponics or semi hydroponics, Where in this method plants are grown is a porous middle that transports the nutrients to the roots using vein action. The pots sit in a superficial pond of solution and the plants draw the nutes up. There are alot of different mediums accustomed in this technique. An advantage of passive hydroponics is the decrement of root rot deserving to less humidity.

This system brings nutrient solutions to the plants without the use of electricity, and instead using gravity. The solution is placed over a series of hydroponic pots. Each pot has a retard valve to ensure one adequate measure of nutrients to the pot. Capillary operation paints it up into the roots of the plant. This system is like a large constant feeding dog dish.

This isn't to mention that growing in soil is easy either. Truly mastering either method requires knowledge and experience, and sometimes a lot of patience.

In this method a plant is suspended above an aerated and oxygenated nutrient solution. This traditionally favors the use of 5 gal buckets or large containers. Plumbing these buckets attach and linkage them to a reservoir and pump will establish a re-circulating deep water culture or RDWC. The keys to these systems is good solution manoeuvre and lots of aeration. The bigger the air pumps you supply, the better as you can never have enough good dissolved oxygen. An increased path to scamper this system is shrieked bubbleponics. This method adds a top feed system to the deep water culture bucket.

"Doesn't alphabetical soil-grown produce smell and taste better?"

In its most criterion form, this method consists of a dish above a reservoir of nutrient solution. Either the tray is itself, or individual vessels are filled with a medium. At regular intervals, a clock reasons a dipped pump to fill the upper tray with nutrient solution. Once the upper tray fills elapse the tall water drain, the solution begins re-circulating until the pump is turned off. When the pump no longer on, the water in the upper tray drains back into the reservoir. This flood and drain action keeps the medium regularly flushed with nutrients and ventilation.

Continuous Flow Culture, or NFT (Nutrient Film Technique)

"Don't plants NEED soil to grow?"

First off, no, it's not a tomato...Very simply, if a plant (or crop) is grown without using soil and fed with a complete nutrient fertilizer, that's hydroponics! It can be as elementary as growing a plant in a pot of sand or cube of rockwool, or as complicated as re-circulating deep water mores and aeroponic systems.

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"Sounds easy. I think I'll go with hydro for sure!"

"What in the marthaforkin' heck is hydroponics?... isn't that a type of tomato?"

The short response to that is no, not necessarily. The common question of 'organic vs. hydro' is a Pandora's carton in the gardening world, with many gardeners firmly (and periodically angrily) choosing sides. I can make valid points for both, yet that argument is best saved for a alter day, alter story...

That my friends is hydroponics, the basics. We'll be covering some of the systems above in more detail, and also discussion the 'organic vs. hydro' publish in future articles. But, that's it for immediately. Remember to have amusement, love your garden, and grow BIG flowers!

Gravity Fed Systems

No, soil is NOT required to plant growth. In truth, plants need 17 elements to sustain life and growth, and soil is not one of them; here's why... Researchers in the 18th centenary base that plants absorb minerals from nutrients as inorganic ions in water. Soil contains composting matters that are constantly creature expended by worms, bacteria and other micro-organisms. This process creates ions (inorganic factors) that are liquefied in water. In hydroponics, nutrient minerals are applied directly to the water afford, completely eliminating the need fjust aboutil and soil organisms.

Hydroponics - The Other Gardening, Part 1: Hydro Basics

On Sunday, May 8th, 2011 at 7:34 pm, No Comments »

"Why should I work hydro? Mother Nature seems to be act very well with soil..."

MyGardenDoctor.com

Not so fast my friend. Plants grown in a hydroponic system can have certain advantages over their soil grown counter-parts, but I not said it was effortless. Hydro systems require that the PH and TDS of the nutrient solution be checked frequently, if only everyday. Doing this ensures your plants are receiving the appropriate amount of minerals in the correct PH range. Also, because hydroponic nutrient solutions are made so readily available to plants, over-feeding is general. It can take multiple grows with the same variety of plant to successfully "dial-in" your feeding levels and timetable for most results.

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Aeroponics is a chart that continuously reserves a very saturated environment by spraying or misting the root systems. These systems are set in due timers to sometimes spray the roots with the mineral nutrient solution. This likewise allows for excellent aeration of the nutrients. The advantage of aeroponics is that suspended plants receive 100% of the accessible oxygen and carbon dioxide to the roots zone, stems, and leaves,[11] thus accelerating biomass growth and reducing rooting times.

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The question of which system to use truly comes down to a material of personal favorite and which one best fits your absences. Each system has its advantages, and each has its limitations. When trying to select an, the premier entity you ought consider is the size of your grow space. A 60 site Aeroflo won't do you much nice in a 2′x4′ space, when someone like a Microgarden or Turbogarden would eligible that space nicely. There are other asset to consider besides size; so let's take a closer look at some hydroponic systems and means, and examine what makes them unique.

In this technique the flow of nutrient solution is forever (or "continuously") being passing through the roots. This system is a mini easier to automate than the static solution culture because catching readings and accommodating your nutrient concentrates happens in a larger cache tank (reservoir). The most warmhearted used variation to this method is the NFT(nutrient membrane technique), whereby a very shallow stream of water embodying always the dissolved nutrients is re-circulated past the bare roots of plants in a watertight thick root mat, which develops in the base of the aisle. an luxuriant supply of oxygen is catered to the roots of the plants as well. NFT's are designed to have the correct tilt and channel length.

Deep Water Culture (DWC) and Re-circulating (RDWC)

There are many good reasons to grow in a hydroponic system. One of the cardinal reasons to go hydro is simply not having to handle with soil. That stuff is massive, and not to mention nasty. Because it comes from the outdoors, soil can also introduce needless pests, like thrips and spider mites, to your grow room. Aside from that, the benefits of hydroponics are many. Nutrients are given to plants instantly and at very accurate levels. When done right, this results in growth rates and yields that are much higher than what soil/organic methods can fulfill. Because of this, hydroponics have chance a staple in the horticulture and agronomy industries.

Aeroponics

"What are the different 'systems' you keep referring to? And which one should I use?"