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 FAQ Hydroponics Hydroponics FAQ
Are there different types of hydroponic growing? Some different types of soilless cultivation. Aeroponics - the roots of the plants are in an environment saturated with a mist of nutrient solution. Water culture - The roots of the plants are submerged in a nutrient solution. Sand culture - plant roots are grown in solid particles with a diameter less than 3mm. Gravel culture - plant roots are grown in solid particles with a diameter greater than 3mm. Rockwool culture - plant roots grown in rockwool or similar inorganic compounds. NFT or nutrient film technique where the roots lie in a shallow channel and a thin film of nutrient solution flows over the roots. Companion and antagonistic plants Read more... Home made pesticides and insecticidal plants Read more... How do I clone a plant ?
Cloning: The art of producing an identical copy of an existing plant. This can be done by tissue culture or more often by taking part of the living mother plant and growing it away from the parent. First prepare the medium to receive the clone. One of the easiest methods is to use wrapped rockwool cubes. Soak the cubes in a half strength nutrient solution that has been made up using spring water. Plan on putting the cubes in a tray or trough to keep the bases wet... Read more... How do I make a simple drip feed system ? Chose a location that will suit the plants to be grown to give good light, warmth and shelter from strong draughts. Mount the gulley so that it is horizontal and the drain end is just higher than the top of the waste bucket. Make sure that the holes in the gulley are facing up. Set up the reservoir so that the base of the reservoir is 30 cm above the drip-in hole of the gulley... Read more... How do I start growing hydroponically? Getting started KEEP IT SIMPLE - Use readily available bits & pieces and keep the moving parts to a minimum
Little seed starter kits suitable for hydroponics are available costing from $2.00 Mediums cost from 25 cents per litre upwards Nutrients cost varies from 1/2 a cent to 9 cents per litre of working strength solution
How long will it take my heater to warm my nutrient ? First a little physics is required
P = E/t Calculate the change in heat of the substance
delta h = C*m*delta T Assuming no energy losses by conductance from fluid to surroundings and using a 250 watt heater in a 200 litre reservoir with the water at 12 degrees Centigrade how long will the heater have to be on to raise the water to 22 degrees Centigrade ? ... Read more... I've bought seedlings and want to grow hydroponically ? You will need the following
And of course some seeds and plants. One of the easiest methods of starting is to take a standard plastic garden pot of 10 or 15 centimeters ( 4 to 6 inches ) and sit it in a plastic saucer or old ice-cream container. Wash the medium to be used and then put it in the pot. Plant the seed in the medium at a depth equal to twice the diameter of the seed. Water daily with rain water or spring water and keep a little water in the saucer. Keep the pot in a sunny warm position. When the seed has germinated and the seedling is 10 days old start addding the balanced hydroponic nutrient to the water you put on the medium. Use the nutrient at half strength for a week and then gradually increase to full strength over the next week. Make sure that there is always a little liquid in the saucer to keep the medium damp. If you buy a punnet of seedlings from a plant nursery they can be converted to hydroponics as follows. You will need two containers each three times larger than the punnet of seedlings.
Is there a suggested reading list? A Suggested reading list
Nutrient deficiency symptoms - a brief summary
Potassium
Nitrogen
Too much N/NO3 - plants uncontrollably vigorous
Phosphorous
Calcium
Magnesium
Iron
Manganese
Boron Drought conditions or high salinity can cause the edges of the leaves to burn and in severe cases leaves will drop from the plant.
Nutrient solutions - more technical Hoagland & Arnon in U.S.A. in 1938 developed a nutrient solution for laboratory research purposes and their formula is listed below. To the right of their formulation is the general range of nutrient elements used by plants... Read more... pH - a more scientific definition Read more... Soladome Hydroponics ? Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil. Soladome has a number of simple systems from $1.00 to get you started. The plants are grown in a sterile material called a medium - some of the popular mediums are Versarock, Perlite, Vermiculite, Growool, Expanded clay, quartz gravel, dolomite. A fertiliser especially made for hydroponic growing is mixed with water and fed to the plants. The plant containers can be placed at a convenient height to avoid bending down and because there is no soil then there are no soil-bourne diseases or pests to worry about. There are fewer weeds and because the mediums are generally well drained the roots have plenty of air for healthy root development. All sorts of containers can be used to hold the medium and plant. All your old plant pots can be adapted for use in a simple system. There are automatic feeding and watering systems to suit a variety of climatic situations. Although there has been a lot of recent interest in hydroponics this method of growing dates back to 600 BC wuth the Hanging Gardens of Babylon located in what is now southern Iraq. King Nebuchadrezzar The Second built a series of hanging and terraced gardens to cosole his wife and remind her of her undulating and lush homeland. Read more... Summary of a talk on "Hydroponics as a business" Read more... Testing working strength hydroponic nutrients Read more... Water - some useful requirements Drinking water should be clear, bright, colourless, adequately aerated and with no discernible taste, odour, suspended matter or turbidity. It should be pleasant to drink and free from harmful organisms and should not contain excessive amounts of certain chemical substances. Guidelines for impurities... Read more... What are the advantages and disadvantages of hydroponics? Advantages of soilless gardening
Some disadvantages
What influences plant growth ? Read more... What is conductivity factor ( cF ) ? This measurement is derived from a measure of the Electrical Conductivity ( E.C. ) of a solution. E.C. can be measured in millieSiemens per cm2 and for normal plant growth hydroponic nutrient solutions are in the range 0.5 to 4.5 mS/cm2. The cF is the E.C. value multiplied by 10. ( E.C. 1.0 is equivalent to cF of 10 ) The cF is one measure of the concentration of the nutrient salts and any contaminates in solution. Plants tend to fall into three groups requiring a high, medium and low cF... Read more... What is pH and why is its value important for plants ? The pH indicates the acidity or alkalinity of the solution. The pH should be kept between pH 5.5 and pH 6.5 to enable all elements in the nutrient solution to be available to the plants. Most plants, except sweet peppers, release alkaline bicarbonate ions into the nutrient solution when nitrate is taken up. Some of the bicarbonate ions are neutralised by the sulphate salts in the solution. If the solution becomes too alkaline then acid must be added (phosphoric, nitric or citric ). Under some conditions if the pH remains below 5.5 then alkali must be added to the solution ( potassium hydroxide, potassium carbonate, bicarbonate of soda ). If the pH falls below 4 root death will occur. If the pH remains above 7 the leaves of the plants will turn yellow because the plant finds it difficult to absorb iron ( Fe ) when the roots are in an alkaline solution. Where does the name hydroponics come from? Hydroponics The name comes from the Greek "hudor" for water and "ponos" for work hence the word hydroponics meaning "waterworking". An easier term to use is soilless gardening. Soilless gardening can be divided into two sub-groups:
But in both cases the plant roots are supplied with a nutrient solution made by dissolving nutrient salts in water. Who were the early hydroponic gardeners?
The ancient Egyptians grew plants in water King Nebuchadrezzar 11 built a series of hanging and terraced gardens to cosole his wife and remind her of her undulating and lush homeland. The king built a series of terraces which were roofed with stone on which was laid various materials in layers. Reeds, bitumen and lead were used so that inorganic water could seep through the terraces. Water was pumped to the gardens from the River Euphrates. Kashmir in India had floating gardens. Aztecs in the fifteenth century had functioning hydroponic gardens in the form of rafts of branches covered with rotten vegetables. Crops thrived on these bases which floated on lakes. Marco Polo recorded seeing floating gardens in China
Why grow hydroponically ? Some claimed benefits of using hydroponics for commercial crop production rather than using the soil.
Why is soil-less gardening growing rapidly?
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