Bella Wilson Organic Hydroponics Blog

NFT Systems – Home Built DIY vs Commercial Systems

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:01:00 +0000

by Wayne Schultz
(Collegeville, Pa)

I’ll admit to being a newby to Hydroponics, but I’ve been researching various systems for some time and frankly I’m confused.

Let’s start with the NFT Systems – Home Built DIY (Do It Yourself) vs Commercial Systems

There are an endless number of ‘You Tube’ videos of folks who’ve built all types of NFT systems using PVC pipe, and aluminum gutter downspouts. OK, I’ve been impressed with the ingenuity of home built systems, but then there are the commercial gully gutter systems, and that’s another whole different world. What I’ve been able to view are snapshots of systems either being constructed or are in a growing mode, what I haven’t been able to do is to collect much information about system maintenance, especially on home built systems.

Now I consider myself somewhere between being a hobbyist and a micro commercial farmer. I’ve been doing soil gardening for years and with mixed results, which is why I have bought into the whole Hydroponic concept. I don’t have a ton of money to invest, at the same time I certainly am not interested in making more work for myself. So, here are a few of the things that are bothering me.

For example, a commercial 19’6” gully channel plus the lid with holes 8” O.C. (that’s about 28 or 29 holes) goes for about $22 plus packaging and shipping, and that doesn’t include any of the other essentials that you need to complete the unit - that’s a lot of money. The other side of the coin is when you’ve finished with harvesting the crop from that one channel the lid is easy to remove to clean, and then reassemble, and that’s an improvement really worth considering.

Now, for the home built DIY systems. From what I’ve seen on the videos, they all show product growing very nicely, and I know that their systems are much more attractive investment wise. That does tend to make me think very seriously about going that route. But, whereas the commercial gully channel can be easily disassembled and reassembled for maintenance and cleaning, PVC pipe and aluminum downspout type systems do not offer that kind of flexibility, to me that represents a bigee. Disconnecting and cleaning an 8’ pipe does not look or seem like an easy task. This is an area from which I haven’t been able to find any information that would help in making an intelligent decision.

I also have questions about buying other type of commercial systems, that though well engineered are more expensive than the less expensive, under-engineered, yet well performing DIY systems.

Drip & Drain Dutch Bucket, Ebb & Flow Barrel, and Deep Water Culture Raft Systems all seem to have the same type of questions to which I would like to be better informed.

If you agree or disagree, let’s talk about it.
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Answer from Stella/Simon:
Hi Wayne,
Wow, you have a lot of intelligent questions! I think you would be able to construct a fine NFT system DIY with PVC pipe. If you actually cut the top off the pipe and plant your plants in the bottom, you should have no problem cleaning the pipe out between plantings.

We personally do not use NFT technique because it is a little more complicated and must not be subject to power failures.

Hope someone else chimes in here.

Hope this helps!

***Do you have any knowledge on this subject? Then please join in and leave your thoughts and suggestions below. Help and be helped in the Forums!

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Does lettuce actually flower?

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 20:53:00 +0000

by Allan
(Canada)

I always get confused when looking at nutrients which indicate "grow" and/or "bloom". When growing lettuce, do you actually worry about the bloom part of the nutrients? I am getting mixed recommendations and no one seems to be confident in what they are saying.

Not sure what the best set of nutrients would be best for the lettuce and what stages would you would apply the different levels of growth. Would Stella's mixing chart work fine for lettuce? Any variations when it comes to lettuce?

I am using an aeroponic system that I have created. Attached.
Thanks for your help!
Allan

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Answer from Stella/Simon:
Nice looking setup you have, Allen!
The bloom, or fruiting/flowering stage does not apply to lettuces or greens. They are grown for leaves, not fruit.

Stella's mixing chart would work fine for you, just use the first two stages only. Good luck, and send us a pic when full grown.

Hope this helps!

***Do you have any knowledge on this subject? Then please join in and leave your thoughts and suggestions below. Help and be helped in the Forums!

View the original article here

Compost tea

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 06:47:00 +0000

by Larry Moore
(Toledo Oh.)

I have built an ebb and flow system with 12 Gal in the nutrient tank. I would like to make compost tea from real backyard compost to use for the solution. Question is how much do I add to the tank? Also to what level should the solution come up to on the plant basket when flooding? I am growing herbs. Legal ones.LOL

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Answer from Stella/Simon:

Hi Larry,
Although hydroponics lends itself wonderfully to experimentation and "recycling", we have never tried compost tea.

Why? Since there is no soil involved in hydro, only inert supportive materials like perlite and coco coir, you must supply your plants with the full spectrum of macro and micro nutrients they require, and in the proper ratios. (For a thorough discussion, read this page):

Hydroponic Solution.

It might be hard to give your plants all that they need with compost tea; but give it a try if you want, might work.

As far as how high to flood the pots, just so the bottoms are submerged and the medium inside the pots wick up the solution (maybe 1/4th way up the pot minimum).

Hope this helps!

***Do you have any knowledge on this subject? Then please join in and leave your thoughts and suggestions below. Help and be helped in the Forums!

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Maintaining nutrient concentration

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 14:19:00 +0000

by Darwin
(Alaska)

Your FAQ section was very helpful getting my Aeroponic system started. My tomato seedlings are now moving on into the vegetative stage. I am however, confused by your instructions regarding adding water rather than nutrients to maintain volume in the tank. If I just add water, I am diluting the nutrient concentration which I thought should remain stable. So, after adding water, I have been adding nutrients to keep my concentration at the correct level. Am I missing something here?
Thanks for the help.

_____________________

Answer from Stella:

The best way to explain is this: when your solution volume depletes due to evaporation, the only thing disappearing into the air is water, not the nutrients, leaving behind a stronger mix. So you top up for a while with just plain water. If you keep adding nutrients, you will end up with a way-too-rich mixture. After a few water toppings, you will change out the whole thing. This process is fully explained here, we have had great luck with this method:

Nutrient Solution
Hope this helps!

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Hydroponic ornamentals

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 03:52:00 +0000

by Ed V. Santiago
(DA-ADP Station, Region 1, Philippines)

Two Korean teens being briefed on Hydroponic Ornamental growing.

Another image grown with Ed's Hydroponic System.

Click on each photo to enlarge.

Ornamental crops can be grown successfully with Ed's Hydroponic Technique. I formulated the hydroponic nutrient solution (HNS)and results indicate that it can be used for others such as vegetables. Research is on-going and developments would be disseminated in the Internet.

View the original article here

Bubbler Power

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 09:52:00 +0000

by Memwl
(Phoenix Arizona)

Mimosa(sensitive plant)

Mimosa(sensitive plant)
moves tip the touch,to expose sharp spines
natures way to protect the plant from plant eating animals in a small raft system on
the front window sill.

View the original article here

Chemical Free Nutrients

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 23:43:00 +0000

by Luana
(Barbados)

I am new to your site and new to hydroponics. I would like to start with aeroponics due to space restrictions. On your website you recommend the GH Flora Series nutrients. However, the GH Flora site states they are pharmaceutical grade minerals. Are there any nutrient solutions that I can purchase that are not chemical based? Are there any earth based, natural solutions?

_____________________

Answer from Stella:

Hi Luana,
We have explained the reasons for using chemical nutrient solutions here:

Hydro Solution
Hope this helps!

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depth of rock wool cubes/green on rock wool

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 03:43:00 +0000

by Sue
(NH)

My seedlings have been in my hydro system for a few weeks now and are doing very well. I noticed that some of the rock wool cubes are starting to turn green on the top. I was not sure how deep to put them in the pot. Most of them I have just barely covered, a few of them, because the seedling was so small, I left them high in the pot. My Ph level is at 6.0. Should they be deeper in the pot or could this be some sort of algae? Thanks!
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Answer from Stella:
Hi Sue,
It is algae. From the website:

You know what this looks like; a greenish tinge that covers the top of the plant media, and may infest your nutrient vat, too. Algae is really not a serious problem, however it is unsightly and signals to you that conditions may be a little to moist in there. Algae growth is caused by stagnant water, excessive moisture, and light. You can prevent it from attacking your nutrient solution by using only opaque tubing in your system (not clear). Cover any ports in the nutrient reservoir with hatches or duck tape to keep light out. Other measures that may help:

If using fine, porous medium, like coco coir or perlite mixes, top each pot with 1-2" of leca stones to provide a
dry barrier. This not only holds down the lighter media, it helps prevent algae and fungus gnats.
Scrape off the algae and correct the overly-damp conditions that caused it.
Sterilize your system between plantings with 10% bleach solution.

Hope this helps!

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cherry pie 12 days 12/12

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 09:25:00 +0000

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

Perlite

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:55:00 +0000

by Bob
(Bristol England)

Can I use perlite for sowing seeds. Also if the answer is yes do I stand the 2 inch pots in a small amount of water or will the pot become waterlogged.

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Answer from Stella:

Hi Bob,
We suggest using special seedling plugs or pots to start your seedlings, not perlite. See this page for a nice guide to seed starts, http://www.hydroponics-simplified.com/hydroponic-seeds.html.

Hope this helps!

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View the original article here

Tomaotes on a horizontal trellis or utilzing unused space in a greehouse

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 03:22:00 +0000

by Barry Thoele
(Staple, MN)

Tomatoes on the trellis

Ridge vent

Romaine in NFT under Horizontal Tomatoes

rafter Tomatoes

With all the floor space in a greenhouse covered with NFT systems I had maxed my conventional growing area out. But there was so much space left that wasn't being used it seemed a waste. From 5' off the ground to the 14' peak it seemed to me there had to be some way to fill that space.
I have for the last two years been working on a way to grow tomatoes in bags that would allow growing off the ground to keep the work involved in tying up tomatoes to a minimum.
I designed and sewed bags that allowed me to reclaim excess nutrient instead of drain to waste. Yet still allowed ease of planting, large enough to contain the root system but light enough to still be able to hang.
Trellising and growth would be down instead of up.
Then I got a brain storm. Why not use the 9' feet of space not being used by anything in my greenhouse.
It would take some modification to reduce the temperature up there since in the heat of summer it can reach 165 F at nine feet.(I didn't want stewed tomatoes)
I built peak vent on each end (manually operated) to create a convection flow (draft) of air out of the greenhouse. And a trellis 7' off the ground horizontally across the center.
I couldn't have picked a better system for my tomatoes.
I did little pruning I did not have to tie the vines up since they grew across the 6"x6" square fencing stretched over the trellis and the fruit was easy to pick as much of it hung down at just above eye level.
In my 30x72 drop down side Solar Star building my cherry tomatoes produced 250# to 500#'s for over 15 weeks and were able to withstand the first four frosts without significant loss until the over night temps went below 5 F (my solar heating lost the battle).
There is much more to this but I will let the pics do tell the rest.
Barry
Barry's Cherries

View the original article here

Fodder feed

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 07:44:00 +0000

by Debbie
(Chino Valley, AZ)

I have 2 horses and a dozen chicken. With the cost of hay and grain going up every week, I have started to look into a Fodder Feed system, but the cost for even the smallest unit is out or reach for most people, so I am trying to figure out how to build a DIY system.
I live in central Arizona @ 5200 ft. elevation so the winters are cold and we get snow occasionally. I have a cold frame greenhouse and was told that it would be too cold to grow the fodder.
Your closet idea is great, but would need to adapt it to be used outside in the feed room of my barn.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Debbie

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Answer from Stella/Simon:

Hi Debbie,
Have to admit I know nothing about growing feed or fodder for livestock. The growbox plans we offer are generally used for 4-6 specimen plants, like tomatoes or peppers, or medical herbs.

Not sure you would get enough volume for your needs. I am posting this in hopes someone else has more experience with fodder and can help.
Hope this helps!

***Do you have any knowledge on this subject? Then please join in and leave your thoughts and suggestions below. Help and be helped in the Forums!

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Using Green Fertilizer for Hydroponics

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 13:06:00 +0000

by Svetlana
(Kharkov, Ukraine)

The company I'm working for is now working hard to develop a design project of a highly-efficient heating system for a big greenhouse complex.

We now have an idea about using tomatos and cucumbers haulm for making biogas. The biomass is put into the tank, and then, a short time afterwards, we obtain biogas (which can be burned for getting heat energy and CO2) and some waste product which is used in soil agriculture as a good organo-mineral fertilizer. The only problem is that we don't know how to use this fertilizer in hydroponics.

I've read many articles in the Internet, and many of them say that organic fertilizers are not for traditional hydroponics. But the mass we want to use is almost completely steril, and we aren't going to use any other raw materials for biogas making. No stuff of animal origin, no garbage will be used, just the haulm of the plants. Can it be used or not in hydroponics or not? What do you think about it?
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Answer from Stella/Simon:

I'm sorry Svetlana, but I do not think it could be used for a hydroponics system, here'e why...

In hydroponics, you take soil away from the plant, so you must supply perfectly balanced and complete nutrition for it.

Plants need large amounts of 6 macro-nutrients: Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K). The NPK numbers you see on a manure or fertilizer bag (like 30-10-30) are simply telling you at what ratio these three macro-nutrients are mixed in that bag of fertilizer. The other 3 macros are calcium, sulfur and magnesium. All 6 are provided in the proper ratio in all hydroponics solutions.

Plants also need micro-nutrients (minute traces of other elements) in order to thrive, just like you do. The nutrient solutions you buy for your hydroponics garden are different from ordinary plant fertilizers. They include all the trace elements, too. So hydroponic solution is kinda like your One-a-day Vitamins; it contains traces of iron, boron, manganese, zinc, molybdenum, copper, cobalt, chlorine, selenium and silicon.

The special hydro nutrients you buy supply everything in just the correct amounts.

Hope this helps!

***Do you have any knowledge on this subject? Then please join in and leave your thoughts and suggestions below. Help and be helped in the Forums!

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Wanting to design my own hydroponic system

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 19:29:00 +0000

by Nick
(UK)

Hi there,

I'm a product design student on my final year of my Bachelor degree. I'm very into self-sustainability and for my final project I would like to design a new small hydroponics kit that would encourage people to start growing their own herbs (in the hope that would lead to bigger things, veg etc).

I know that the site suggests the "Hyrdo farm - Homegarden" unit for beginners but it is fairly large, not very attractive.

In my head I would like to design a unit that can be as small a single plant but can be attached to others in a modular fashion so it can expand as your needs require.

Has anyone got any suggestions as to what they would like to see from a beginners unit and any advice in general?

Thanks
Nick

View the original article here

brown leaves on some

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 01:44:00 +0000

by Sue
(NH)

Stella,
I am growing different things with my hydro system. It holds 15 pots and I have tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, strawberries and assorted flowers. I have attached two pictures, one of my totatoes, which are doing great, the other of my strawberries, which are doing not so great. I have the MH light on them for 15 or so hours a day, water four times a day with the nutrient mix that you suggested on your chart. My PH level is 6.0. So everything is doing great except for the strawberries, which as you can see the leaves are starting to brown on the edge. So I am wondering if maybe it is not such a good idea to have a mix of different things growing in one system? Do you think the strawberries take a different mix of nutrients?
I also have another question. I also have the HPS light but was curious what to do when my plants start to flower and I have to change to the HPS light, what will that do to the other plants that do not need the HPS light. Thanks for your help!!
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Answer from Stella:

Hi Sue,
We have not yet experimented with hydro strawberries, hopefully someone who has tried will also answer your query. Strawberries are a little tricky as they have an extended growing season.

You might find this page informative: Hydro Strawberries

As far as your lighting question, try to wait til most of your plants are flowering to change over to HPS. If they are not cooperating in that manner, go on and change anyway, HPS will not harm your vegetating stage crops.

Hope this helps!

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ED's HYDROPONICS, PHILIPPINES hanging ornamental plants

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 09:56:00 +0000

by Ed V. Santiago
(Batac City, Philippines)

Click on each photo to enlarge.

My experiments on hanging hydroponic ornamental plants using my FORMULATED GENERAL HYDROPONIC FERTILIZER are promising as you can see in the images. I also use the formulation in growing hydroponic vegetables such as tomato, eggplant, pepper, pole sitao, grapes, etc. Aspiring hydroponic growers in the Philippines may contact me: cellphone no. 09196708130, e-mail edilbertosantiago27@yahoo.com. Hydroponics is still in its infancy in the Philippines and join me in disseminating the technology.

View the original article here

Hydroponic gardening with organic fertilizers

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 07:39:00 +0000

The major difference between a regular hidropónico cultivator and a practitioner of diligent organic hydroponics is what feeds the plants. Whereas products chemical hydroponic only provide plants with food that crave, benefits of plant organic hydroponics systems going to its roots and helpful to modify the forms work. A good organic hydroponic mix is balanced and takes care of all the components of nutrients such as enzymes, plant hormones, humic acids and fulvic acids, minerals - basically, all primary and secondary nutrients essential to the development of the plant. Organic hydroponics brings the promise of hydroponics - fresh, juicy, flavorful produce is not dependent on the ground. With environmentally sensitive organizational decisions, to stimulate growth through the use of raw premiums organic and natural to start your organic hydroponics company.
However, they may face problems to find a good organic nutrients for your hydroponic garden. For example, the mixture of organic compounds is quite difficult. It not only leaves a foul odor, also play harmful fungus and makes sick plant search. To solve these problems, nutrient advance is introduced in the market, Iguana juice, an organic nutrient that, unlike other mixtures in this category, promises a good result. This is 100% organic formulation and uses premium quality products, the most powerful and resourceful than this highly effective nutrient ingredients. For example, several types of guano from different sources are used to obtain a wider range of nutrients of guano. And advanced nutrients carefully washes the guano to only obtain guano purified extracts are disinfected, and deodorized by what your garden free of any odor.
Iguana juice has been especially designed for all types of media more and more. It has been designed by advanced nutrients for all types of hydroponic systems with sizes of 1 L, 4 L and 10 l. can be easily diluted in the reservoir very well without causing any problem or you and your plant stress. Eliminates all issues related to organic gardening. The manufacturing process is very advanced that helps preserve the nutritional value without further contamination. In fact loaded this powerful and unique organic nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and micronutrients your plants need as fish extract, guano, castings of earthworm, yucca, krill, alfalfa, volcanic ash and other exclusively-origin, premium quality.
Juice of iguana, an organic nutrient of a part, is very easy to use and is undoubtedly the best choice as a cultivator. He has created many mixtures of volcanic ash from different parts of the world to form the most powerful and effective formula. It comes with a softer ratio of nitrogen to facilitate optimal growth. Be 100% organic, stimulates the metabolism of the plant and incipient floral development sites effectively and improves the taste and aroma of your plants. It comes with a guarantee of repayment of 100% of a year and is absolutely risk-free! You can fully enjoy organic farming with Iguana juice without any problem!

For more information, visit:
Hydroponic gardening information
Organic nutrients from plant

Hydroponic Gardening As an Exciting Hobby

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:29:00 +0000

Everybody has hobbies that they enjoy during their leisure time. Some may have more than one hobby. Well here is one for those arborists and gardeners among us. Try indoor hydroponic gardening as an exciting hobby. If you love gardens and making things grow, then you will love indoor hydroponic gardening.

Hydroponic gardening is just the same as regular gardening, except that there is no mess whatsoever. There is no soil involved in indoor hydroponic gardening. Have you ever seen the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon? This is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and is probably the earliest evidence that we have of indoor hydroponic gardening in the history of mankind.

Now, very few people have the means to grow something as lavish as this worldly wonder, but we can grow our own mini hanging gardens in a hydroponic greenhouse. This is exactly the same thing as a normal greenhouse, but it is hydroponic because all of the plants are grown using light, air, and water.

That is right. No soil is required. That is exactly what indoor hydroponic gardening is all about. Growing your favorite fresh fruits and vegetables in a hydroponic greenhouse, is becoming the latest fad among gardeners. All you need to do if you are interested is to go down to your local lawn and garden store and check out all of the fantastic hydroponic kits. Or you can make your own. However, my advice for a beginner starting this hobby is to procure one of the hydroponic kits. Most people use one of two basic hydroponic kits: the ebb and flow hydroponic kit or the deep culture hydroponic kit. These are simple basic hydroponic kits that include everything you need to start your very own hydroponic greenhouse. You will definitely need to buy extra lights and more nutrient solution if you decide to expand your hydroponic greenhouse. However, in the long run, it is a good investment.

Scientific studies prove that produce grown in a hydroponic greenhouse is actually brighter, juicier, and more nutritious than the store bought produce. An added bonus is that there are virtually no pesticide problems that usually faced by outdoor gardeners. There are very few pests in a hydroponic greenhouse. This in turn means that there is no need for harmful and dangerous pesticides and insecticides. Another great advantage is that by using hydroponic kits, you can grow your favorite fruits and vegetables all year round. Wow! How great is that! I mean, you can grow your own food, protect your family and yourself from harmful chemicals, and enjoy your favorite foods at any time during the year.

Indoor hydroponic gardening is a great hobby. Not only is there virtually no mess, no chemicals, and as far as the eye can see multiple benefits. You get to grow a garden, which is something that you love, and lose all the downsides and headaches that normally come with gardening. So if you want to try something new, go all out. Grab some of your friends, go down to the store and buy some hydroponic kits and set up your very own hydroponic greenhouse. Then sit back and enjoy your favorite foods anytime you like.

Learn more about hydroponic gardening, tips and advices in sourcing for hydroponic gardening supplies, hydroponic kits, hydroponic grow lights. Get your hands down on indoor hydroponics.

The Benefit of Having a Hydroponics Greenhouse Over Indoor Hydroponics Gardening

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 06:21:00 +0000

For years, I have heard about hydroponics gardening, but I always had the question on how the vegetables can be grown in the indoors without the requirement of soil and water? How can the nutrients be enough for the growth of the plants? Hydroponics seems a combination of Chemical solutions with the plants.

These factors had made more surprised & created a curiosity to learn more about this wonder technique of growing fruits or vegetables with the soil. The major advantage of hydroponics method is yielding increased crop gain, than that of the conventional farming.

For example,

Yield of Tomatoes grown in ground is only five to ten tonnes. In greenhouse, the harvest is 60 to 300 tons!
Yield of Cucumber, the figures are 7000 pounds whereas in greenhouse it is 28,000 pounds
Yield of lettuce is 9000 pounds in ground & 21,000 pounds in a hydroponic greenhouse.
If you have a hydroponic garden, then you can plan or read about the purchase or construction of a hydroponics greenhouse. Many people start with a kind of hydroponics with a small setup at home or in their spare basement room. But it is much easier to manage all the prerequisites for a thriving garden, if you are having a ready made hydroponic greenhouse. It is much easier to manage the requirements for lighting, ventilation and temperature in that.

Hydroponic garden courtyard Vs Hydroponic greenhouse

The growth of plants in your hydroponic gardens courtyard may not seem ideal like that in the use of Hydroponic greenhouse. A hydroponics greenhouse offers better lighting and irrigation on the configuration of the system. Not too many people will support the green house concept if they are used to the hydroponic gardens system.

You need plenty of space for the installation of irrigation systems and lighting systems that are necessary for the hydroponic gardens. Where is space available in this fast paced world cramped with houses & skyscrapers? But, if you have a hydroponic greenhouse, then you can position these systems much easier & in a smaller space too. Lighting & other arrangements come with the greenhouse, so one need not worry on those factors.

Most plants thriving under greenhouse hydroponics conditions are carefully examined. Gravel is usually seen as a means to support the root user, and a balanced mix of all nutrients regularly flow cultures in liquid form. This method is called a "subculture of irrigation."

In a large perfect hydroponic greenhouse, once the plants were planted almost the entire work is supported by automation. Sensors in the gravel decide when the plants need more solution, based on that they control the pumps accordingly.

The biggest advantage of using greenhouse hydroponics for your garden is about light. To be successful, the plants grown in hydroponics need lots of light. But remember that too much light allows with algae to thrive, and that do not want.

In a hydroponics greenhouse, sunlight is filtered and dispersed as a matter of time. You can also specify or control the number and angle of the light through the use of colors and shutters. Another advantage is that you require less energy because you do not continue to grow light all the time.

You will also find that the procedures for the supply of nutrients to the plants are easier to install and maintain if one has a hydroponics greenhouse. Of course, this is very important for the health of the plants in hydro culture.

If the plants do not grow in the soil, the pH is rather different. You will see the large fluctuations in the acidity and alkalinity, as it is water based. A greenhouse hydroponics setup is simple; the implementation of an automatic pH control keeps checking the figures.

And you need not worry about how your plants will stay warm in winter. A good greenhouse has an acceptable temperature, even in the cold days without heat. This is especially advantageous if you live in a region with lower temperature, but lot of sunshine. Fans and also vents may also be installed to help regulate the temperature in your greenhouse. Remember, control of temperature for the plants in hydroponics gardening is important.

You can build your own greenhouse hydroponics, or buy ready. Yes! You can get it in different sizes and styles. There are lots of models that also take into account the expansion of the garden in the future. Maybe it's time that you have a hydroponics greenhouse & have those favorite fruits or vegetable garden.

Do you want to go green no matter where live? Did you know that there are 7 different types of hydroponic systems? Gila Karash is using them for many years. Want to build your own hydroponic greenhouse? How about using ready to use kits? Find out how easy it to do it yourself. Visit Gila's site and read about it. Hydroponic systems and kits - http://hydroponics911systems.com

Hydroponics in Commercial Food Production

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 15:20:00 +0000

Commercial Hydroponics

With the first successful application of hydroponics techniques in the 1930s the stage was set for a paradigm shift in crop production from conventional geoponics or cultivation in soil to hydroponics or soil less cultivation. The first crops to be commercially harvested with hydroponics included tomatoes and peppers, but the techniques were soon successfully extended to other crops such as lettuce, cucumbers and others. It was not long before hydroponics techniques were successfully adapted even to cut flowers production; in fact any plant can today be grown hyrdroponically.

Commercial Systems Overview

Commercial hydroponics systems can be classified into bare root systems comprising nutrient film technique (NFT), deep flow and aeroponics systems and substrate systems.

Bare root systems do not use media to anchor the plant roots; the roots are left bare while in substrate systems plant roots are anchored in media such as perlite, vermiculite, sawdust, peat etc. Hydroponics is basically all about growing plants in a controlled environment and this is best provided outdoors in greenhouses that can incorporate several means to monitor, regulate and control the environment inside them. For instance, the air entering the greenhouse can be filtered to exclude entry to pests and parasites that can harm plant growth. Such means help provide optimal conditions for plant growth both in and out of season. In fact, hydroponics allows cultivation throughout the year which makes for year round availability of hydroponically grown produce at all major supermarkets across North America. Valued at 2.4 billion dollars the hydroponic greenhouse vegetable industry has a growth rate of 10 percent per year and accounts for nearly 95 percent of the greenhouse vegetables produced in North America.

Hydroponics Advantages

The extension of the growing season is not the only advantage contributing to the growing popularity of hydroponics production with both growers and consumers. There are several additional advantages as well including nutritious, healthy and clean produce, improved and consistent vegetable quality and elimination of the use of pesticides and herbicides. Pesticides and other chemicals used in conventional agriculture have an adverse environmental impact; the run off from these chemicals contaminate groundwater supplies. Commercial hydroponics systems eliminate these toxic chemicals and contribute substantially to keeping the groundwater free from contamination.

Yields

Commercial hydroponics systems have proved more productive than conventional systems of agriculture not only in the laboratory but even in actual practice. Most commercial hydroponics greenhouse facilities are built large to take advantage of economies of scale; typically these cover areas more than 10 acres while smaller ones measure around two acres. In the research greenhouse, yields with hydroponics techniques have averaged around 20 to 25% higher than in conventional soil cultivation. In actual commercial practice, however, over a number of years, the yield of hydroponically grown tomatoes can be more than double that of soil based systems due to the reduced turnover time between crops, better nutrition and crop management. Additionally commercial hydroponics growing techniques are also less demanding of chemicals for root zone sterilization and control of pests, weeds etc.

The dramatic increase in yields with hydroponics is best illustrated if we consider the actual production figures of soil grown and hydroponically grown produce. Field grown tomatoes average yields ranging between 40,000 to 60, 000 pounds per acre; on the other hand top growing hydroponics facilities in the US and Canada report average yields of more than 650,000 pounds of tomatoes per acre. Additionally, given the fact that only 10 years ago top hydroponics producers were producing around 400,000 pounds per acre, the increase in yields with improvements in growing practices has been truly phenomenal. Similar production figures can be quoted for other agricultural produce like cucumbers with 10,000 pounds per acre for field production and 200,000 per acre for hydroponic greenhouse yields. Hydroponics lettuce and pepper yields too average around four times the corresponding yields of agricultural production.

Global Trends

Given the number of advantages of hydroponics it is not surprising that hydroponics techniques are increasingly finding favor for commercial food production in many countries all over the world. According to recent estimates countries having substantial commercial hydroponics production include Israel - 30,000 acres, Holland 10,000 acres, England 4,200 acres and Australia and New Zealand around 8,000 acres between them. The fastest growing area for commercial vegetable greenhouses is Mexico. There are several reasons for this including free trade and favorable winter conditions that attract vegetable growers in large numbers. Mexico has summers that are considered hot in the summer, but with greenhouses located at the right altitudes vegetables can be grown in the hot summers as well as the cold winters. Though much of the produce comes from low tech plastic houses, many of these greenhouses use hydroponics technology, which indicates the growing popularity of hydroponics in commercial food production.

Pesticides and other chemicals used in conventional agriculture have an adverse environmental impact; the run off from these chemicals contaminate groundwater supplies. Commercial hydroponics systems eliminate these toxic chemicals and contribute substantially to keeping the groundwater free from contamination.

Growing Your Own Hydroponics Garden - Introduction to Hydroponics Gardening

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 22:33:00 +0000

Hydroponics gardening becomes more and more popular these days. Some consider it miraculous. But what is hydroponics gardening after all? How does this system work? Why is it considered more convenient and more successful than classic gardening (geoponics)? What are the advantages and disadvantages of growing your own hydroponics garden? Here are some answers to the questions above.

With hydroponics you can grow plants (fruits, vegetables, flowers etc.) using water and mineral nutrients instead of soil. The idea behind hydroponics gardening is to provide the plants with all the nutrients they need to absorb, without using soil. Besides, soil is just a nutrient reservoir and its not critical to the plant growth.

You can grow almost any kind of plant using hydroponics techniques but there's no guarantee that you will produce greater crops and more nutritious or better tasting products than with quality soil. What is certain is that hydroponics gardening is cheaper, less tiring and it allows greater control of the plant itself.

Here is a list of the great advantages that hydroponics gardening has to offer comparing with classic geoponics gardening:

- In geoponics gardening you kill the plant when you remove it from the ground while in hydroponics gardening you can package the plant and keep it alive and fresh for longer periods of time.

- In geoponics gardening you have to dispose, sterilize and reuse a solid medium while in hydroponics gardening you don't even use any kind of solid medium.

- In hydroponics gardening you have eye contact and full control of the plant's root system while in geoponics gardening roots are hidden in the ground.

- In hydroponics gardening there's no need to worry about over watering or under watering the plant while in geoponics gardening you always have to change and adjust your watering techniques according on the weather and the soil condition.

- Hydroponics gardening can be developed in areas where there's no quality soil present. For example in areas covered with snow or in a space station while geoponics gardening should always be developed in quality soil in order to produce best crops.

- Hydroponics plants is an excellent plant research and plant learning tool. They can be transferred anywhere without any hassle. In order to study a geoponics plant you have to move to the place where the plant grows.

- Plants grown with geoponics methods may suffer from all kinds of diseases, pesticides, weeds etc. caused by the presence of soil. In hydroponics gardening there's no soil at all no weeds and no pesticides of course.

- The use of water to maintain and preserve the plant can be dramatically reduced in hydroponics gardening, while in classic geoponics gardening you always have to use more water than you need for irrigation.

- A hydroponics garden may be set up with timer systems to automatically fertilize the plants while in geoponics gardening fertilizing the plants is always a pain and most of the times it must be done manually.

- Plants grown with hydroponics techniques are healthier because they receive a balanced and controllable portion of nutrients while with geoponics gardening you can never be sure about the plant's nutrition because there are too many factors to consider, for example whether the soil already contains enough minerals to grow the plants or whether it should be enriched with the right mix of minerals etc.

Here are some of the disadvantages of having your own hydroponics garden:

- Hydroponics gardening usually relies in electrical systems like timers or pumps. These systems control critical aspects of the plant's nutrition routine. If any of the system fails it could result to the total destruction of the plant. In geoponics gardening you just add the water and let soil do the rest.

- If you are serious about hydroponics gardening you need more technical knowledge and information on various subjects (different solutions and mediums, types of irrigation, various materials etc.) while in geoponics gardening the rules are pretty standard and well known to almost everybody.

- Hydroponics plants require close attention, care and support and will die if not frequently monitored while geoponics plants do not require such close attention.

Hydroponics gardening gives you the chance to grow almost anything anywhere. In your kitchen, in your roof-top or anywhere inside your apartment. It can be done easily and effectively if you know what you are doing and you love gardening and plants. For further information grab this free hydroponics gardening e-course for beginners or experienced gardeners. You could amaze your friends and your family by growing your own homemade plants and vegetables the easy way.

Hydroponic Lights

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 08:15:00 +0000

Hydroponic gardening requires three things for healthy plant growth. Water, hydroponic nutrients and special hydroponic lights. Most home hydroponic gardeners grow their plants either inside a greenhouse or in a room in their home or garage. Because this type of gardening requires less room than soil gardening you can grow more plants in a smaller space.

Setting up the Hydroponic Garden

When setting up this type of garden the home gardener may choose to buy a special kit that has all the containers and the water system for his garden. In order to make sure that your garden is going to grow as it should you need to buy special hydroponic nutrients that contain not only the nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous your plants need to be healthy but all the trace elements as well. The type of hydroponic lights you will need will depend a great deal on what you plan to grow.

Hydroponic Lights

If you are planning on planting a small scale herb garden then you will want to choose florescent hydroponic lights for this type of garden. Florescent lights are placed close to the plants and aid in giving them the light they need in order to grow healthy and strong.

Vegetable and Fruit growth needs to use HID hydroponic lights. There are two types of HID lights used in this type of gardening. Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium. The Metal Halide lights are used to encourage overall plant growth while the High Pressure Sodium is used to encourage the plants to flower and bear fruit.

There are now HID lamps that are designed so that you can use both the Metal Halide and the High Pressure Sodium bulb in the same lamp making it necessary to only have one lamp instead of two. You will want to look for a kit for Hydroponic lights that comes with reflectors to help direct the light where you want it to go.

How Much Light Do You Need

The amount of light you need will vary depending on the type of plant you grow. The amount of artificial light you will need for your garden will depend on where you live and whether or not you use a greenhouse or a room with limited outside light.

If you are using a greenhouse for your garden you will more than likely need very little artificial light during the late spring and summer months. However, you will need artificial hydroponic lights to supplement the sunlight during the fall or winter months especially if you live in an area where there is very little sunlight and frequent storms that keeps the natural light from reaching your greenhouse.

Some indoor rooms rely almost solely on artificial light as they have limited sunlight reaching the plants. To ensure that your garden grows and produces the way you would like, you simply have to give it the right amount of water, the proper hydroponic nutrients and the correct amount of light. Supplementing natural sunlight with hydroponic lights will ensure that your plants get the proper amount of light they need.

Laura Greene is a DIY gardener. She loves to assemble her own hydroponics gardens. She has found out that two most important things in the system is hydroponics lights and nutrients.

Hydroponics Lights
Hydroponic Nutrients

A Brief History Of Hydroponics

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:05:00 +0000

The study of crop nutrition began thousands of years ago. The earliest published work on growing terrestrial plants without soil was the 1627 book, Sylva Sylvarum by Sir Francis Bacon, printed a year after his death.

Water culture became a popular research technique after that. The word 'Hydroponics' was coined by Dr. W.F. Gericke in 1936 to describe the cultivation of edible and ornamental plants grown in a solution of water and dissolved nutrients.

It literally means working water; 'hydro' meaning 'water' and 'ponos' meaning 'labour'. Many civilizations have utilized hydroponic growing techniques throughout history. For example, the hanging gardens of Babylon and the floating gardens of the Aztecs of Mexico and those of the Chinese. All these are superb examples of Hydroponic culture.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were built around 600 BCE by King Nebuchadnezzar for his wife, Queen Amyitis who was homesick for the mountains of her homeland in Media, Persia.

The ruins lie in the long since gone ancient city of Babylon, which was near the modern city of Baghdad in Iraq. The gardens were a very beautiful structure, using advanced hydroponic technology. Babylonian engineers designed an advanced system of shafts to carry buckets of water continuously. The water carried in the buckets filled the fountains and pools in the Garden. The energy to allow this was supposedly supplied by slaves turning massive screws. This well system was the first and only one of its kind in Babylon.

Hieroglyphic records from Egypt dating back several hundred years B.C. describe the growing of plants in water. Hydroponics is hardly a new method of growing plants. However, much development and improvement has been made over the years in this innovative area of horticulture, and agriculture.

In 1699, John Woodward published his water culture experiments. He found that plants in less pure water sources grew better than plants in distilled water. By 1842 a list of nine elements believed to be essential to plant growth had been made out, and the discoveries of the German botanists, Julius von Sachs and Wilhelm Knop, in the years 1859-65, resulted in a development of the technique of soil less cultivation.

Growth of terrestrial plants without soil in mineral nutrient solutions was called solution culture. It quickly became a standard research and teaching technique and is still widely used today. Solution culture is now considered a type of hydroponics where there is no inert medium.

Throughout the last century, scientists and horticulturists experimented with different methods of hydroponics. One reason behind the drive to develop hydroponics was the need for growing fresh produce in non-arable areas of the world. Today, it is a well know fact that in some parts of the world, plant life does not grow in the available soil.

During the Second World War, troops stationed on non-arable islands in the Pacific were supplied with fresh produce which was grown in locally established hydroponic systems.

Later in the century, hydroponics was integrated into the space program in the USA. Hydroponics is NASA's solution to provide a self sufficient food source for future space stations and proposed visitors to Mars. The administration has sponsored a research program called Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) in order to further develop hydroponics technology and carry it into the future.

When NASA considered the practicalities of locating a society on another planet or on the Earth's moon, hydroponics helped to fulfill the answer to this plan. In fact, NASA have a list of 15 plants, grown using hydroponics that will save your life (should the need ever arise).

By the 1970s, it wasn't just scientists and analysts who were involved in hydroponics. Traditional farmers and eager hobbyists became attracted to the virtues of hydroponic growing.

In 1978, hydroponics pioneer Dr. Howard Resh published the first edition of his book; Hydroponics Food Production. This book spurred what has become known as the 3-part base nutrients formula that is still a major component of today's hydroponics gardening.

Resh later went on to publish other books, and is currently in charge of a highly advanced hydroponics research and production facility in the Caribbean.

Some of the reasons why hydroponics is being adapted around the world for food production include:

No soil is needed
Water stays in the system and can be reused, lowering water costs
It is possible to control the nutrition levels in their entirety lowering nutrition costs
No nutrition pollution is released into the environment because of the controlled system
Stable, safe and high yields
Pests and diseases are easier to get rid of than in soil because of the container's mobility

Today, commercial growers are utilising hydroponics more than ever before. The ideals surrounding these growing techniques touch on a number of subjects that most people care about today such as helping to end world hunger and making the world cleaner.

In addition to the extensive research that is going on, everyday people from all over the world have been building or buying their own systems to grow good-tasting, fresh food for their family and friends and ambitious individuals are striving to make their dreams come true by making their living in their backyard greenhouse, or attic, and selling their produce to local markets and restaurants.

For others, hydroponics allows them to build impressive 'vertical' gardens, that would otherwise be impossible using traditional soil based methods.

In fact, most of the plant and flower arrangements you see nowadays in large office apartments are displayed using hydroponic systems. It makes feeding the system so easy, ensuring healthy looking all-year-round displays.

George Pattenson

[http://www.howto-hydroponics.com]

http://hydroponicsfaq.blogspot.com

The Secrets of Master Hydroponic Growers

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:39:00 +0000

Starting and running a hydroponics garden may seem a daunting task but is actually a walk in the park. All you need is learn the basics and spend ample time fine-tuning your system. Once you have learned the fundamental concepts, set up your hydroponics garden, and have well adjusted all elements and factors, then everything should be running smoothly.

The secret to hydroponics gardening is that "the food is in the water." Designing and setting up your system will focus and depend on this and the types of plants you intend to grow.

So read on to find out more about this secret.

Nutrients: The Perfect Mixture

Foods Your Plant Cannot Live Without

All plants require foods in the form of macronutrients and micronutrients to properly grow and bear the ideal yield. The same is true with hydroponics gardening. The first group is composed primarily of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium and secondarily of calcium, magnesium, and sulfur. Some of the micronutrients needed by plants are boron, manganese, copper, zinc, chloride, iron, and molybdenum. In growing your favorite plant, it is a must that you use the perfect mixtures of nutrients that vary according to the particular growth stages they are in or else your investment in them will go down the drain.

These are the foods that your favorite plant needs in order to survive, yield the fruits you want in terms of quantity and quality, and grow healthy enough to reproduce:

Nitrogen: Plants need it in order to produce the proteins and enzymes that are used in photosynthesis and to enable the metabolism processes that are involved in it too. The healthy and right dosage of this nutrient will assure your fruit's quality of leaves and rapid seed production.
Phosphorous: It is primarily involved in the creation of oils and starches in plants. It aids in the transformation of energy from the sun into the much-needed chemical energy thus allowing your plant greater stress tolerance and proper maturation.
Potassium: It aids in protein building and ensures that plants have greater endurance against diseases.
Calcium: It makes the cell walls of plants stronger and provides greater strength to them.
Magnesium: It is essential to photosynthesis because it is a major part of chlorophyll.
Sulfur: This nutrient enhances the growth of plants and their resistance to cold weather.
Boron: It is an essential element in the production of seeds and fruits of plants.
Copper: It is an important ingredient in the reproduction processes of plants.
Zinc: This regulates plant growth. It produces auxin, which is and essential growth hormone. Zinc is also essential in the plant's root development and starch formation.
Iron: An ingredient in chlorophyll creation. Iron deficiency in plants can be minimized by choosing appropriate soil for the plant's growing conditions.
Molybdenum: It assists in nitrogen uses. This important nutrient is important in pollen formation.
Manganese: Assists in the breakdown of nitrogen and carbohydrates.
Magic Mixture Ratios Your Favorite Plants Would Love

Just like children, your favorite plants in your hydroponic garden need the right diet so that they will grow productive and healthy. Too much and too less of any of the nutrients will cause you problems that will cause you mental anguish and financial setbacks. You should take into consideration their growth stages before feeding them any mixture, which are the following:

Vegetative stage refers to that brief period of time where the plant begins photosynthesis. This also refers to the growth period where it develops its height, the thickness of the stems, would-be bud sites, and side branching.
Flowering or fruiting stage, which you will find very fulfilling, is the period when your plants will show their sex and bear flowers.
The 2:1:1 NPK Ratio

During the vegetative or growing stage in your hydroponic gardening, your plants should be fed a ratio of 2:1:1 nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K). Here are some tips pertaining to the appropriate ratios that can be used during vegetative stage:

A ratio of 20:10:10. This would mean that 20% of the mixture should be composed of nitrogen, 10% should be phosphorous, 10% should be potassium, and the remaining 60% should be composed of secondary macronutrients and micronutrients.
A ratio of 30:15:15. This would require 30% of the mixture to be nitrogen, 15% phosphorous, and 15% potassium. The remaining 20% will be consisted of the secondary macronutrients and micronutrients.
These mix ratios will give your plants greater resources during photosynthesis and result to better quality of leaves and seeds.

The Flowering Mix

When your favorite plants begin to flower, adjust the ratio to 1:2:2 nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. There should be more phosphorous and potassium than nitrogen in the mix. If you use the 20:10:10 ratio during the growth stage, make use of 10:20:20 ratio during the flowering stage. And if you use the 30:15:15 ratio in the vegetative period, you must use the 15:30:30 ratio during the flowering period. With these ratios, your plants will become stronger and bear greater stress tolerance. Furthermore, it is even suggested that during the flowering stage in your hydroponic gardening project, you can stop feeding your plants with nitrogen and focus on phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, and sulfur. Overfeeding just like in the case of humans could kill.

10 Friendly Tips on Formulation and Feeding

There are two ways to procure the magic mixture and the right ratios. You either purchase pre-formulated nutrients or you formulate them on their own. In the first option, all you have to do is combine a standard quantity prescribed by the manufacturers of the concentrate with water. The second option though is the more cost-efficient and effective because your mixes will be based on what your plants would need. Whichever you choose, there are considerations that you must not forget such as the pH level or acid content of the formula because the ability of the roots to absorb the nutrients will depend on it. Here are some friendly tips you can peruse and consider:

Maintain your formulas' pH level at the best range for your favorite plants, which is 5.8 to 6.5. A level of pH at 1 is acidic, at 7 neutral, and 14 basic. You can measure the pH level by using a chemical test kit that needs replenishment because the materials are consumed or through electronic methods such as pens with LCD monitors that are dipped into the solution.
Adjust the ph level if necessary. This can be done by using distilled vinegar. A perfect mixture or balance among phosphoric, nitric, and sulfuric acids is important especially that they maximize the potential benefits that your plants could derive from nutrients such as phosphorous, nitrogen, and sulfur. In order to increase the pH base you can use potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxides. You can use soda as an adjusting agent too.
Use alternative hydroponic systems in feeding the nutrients to the plants aside from those that are already in practice. Those systems that are most commonly used are aeroponics, continuous flow solution culture, static solution culture, flood and drain sub-irrigation, passive sub-irrigation, top irrigation, ultrasonic irrigation, and deep-water culture. Alternative feeding systems include the use of coconut fibers that are pre-treated. They have lesser potassium and sodium contents and are very rich with magnesium and calcium, which are both very useful in increasing or improving the growth of your plants.
Replace the nutrient solution at an interval of two weeks. Remove the old solution from the reservoir and clean the equipment with hot water to kill any unfriendly bacteria that could have been accumulated.
Recycle the old solution. Instead of throwing it away, use it to water the plants.
Maintain the level of the water reservoir. Be sure to check on it on a daily basis because water evaporates faster during hot days.
Do not overdo the feeding. Too much nutrient could lead to the death of your dear plants and would mean great losses on your part.
Dissolve the powdered solution before you place it in the water in the reservoir. If you are using concentrated liquids, better mix them before directly placing them into the water too.
Stop nutrient feeding your plants at least seven days prior to their harvest. Continue the water feeding though.
Oxygenate your water. You can age tap water for three days by placing it in a container.
Ventilation: Managing Heat

Due to the susceptibility of plants to weather changes, it is important that you manage heat well in your hydroponic garden. Some countries have only two seasons: wet and dry; and one of them is Australia. The dry seasons would usually last for six months where temperature is lower. During the wet seasons, which usually takes a period of six months too, there is too much rain and the temperature is high due to increased humidity in the air. For hydroponic growers like you, these weather changes could pose a lot of challenges because with the use of artificial lighting, natural temperature is heightened by the heat exuded by the artificial illumination. The more wattage you use, the greater heat is generated. Too much heat can kill your favorite plants even before they enjoy growth or flowering.

What You Can Do

There are several things that can be done to manage heat--to increase or decrease it. You must learn how to handle heat because they could either be too low or too high. If it is too low, your plants will die with cold; and with it too low their leaves will coil in and eventually die. These are some simple things you can do:

Use air-conditioners or vent systems to regulate airflow and thus the temperature of your hydroponics space. If air conditioners are too expensive for you in terms of electricity usage, then create a vent system. The most common vent systems are those that make hot air flow from the ceiling of your planting area to another room. Other vent systems are installed to exhaust the air through the chimney, walls, or even roofs. You can use simple equipment such as bathroom fans to serve as exhaust.
Monitor the humidity and temperature of your hydroponic growth area through a thermometer. Create a system that can clear up the heat in five minutes and in cycles of twenty-five minutes when the artificial lightings are turned on. You need a timer and fan for this type of system.
Set up a system that is based on thermostat. It will automatically turn a fan or air-conditioner on when a specific temperature or heat level is reached and will turn off the cooling equipment when the level decrease by at least 4 degrees Celsius.
For internal air movement purposes, oscillating fans will do. It will aid carbon dioxide circulation and at the same time will keep down the mounting humidity inside the garden. This is necessary to be done in order to reduce incidence of plant ailments due to fungus and absorb the moisture in the room.
To avoid declines in temperature, which usually takes place at night or when your artificial lighting is off, you should install a propane heater that is set to coordinate with a thermostat or timer. If you decide to use a thermostat, set it to detect a temperature fall below 20 degrees Celsius and to turn on the heater and to turn it off once the heat level is at 30 degrees Celsius. Furthermore, this system will provide your plants greater resources of carbon dioxide, which is an essential element in photosynthesis.
Installation of a thermo-hygrometer. You can switch it on for a period of twenty-four hours or longer. It will provide you accurate monitoring of the levels of humidity and temperature.
Lighting: Fluorescent and HPS

Light is needed by your favorite plant even in your hydroponic garden for photosynthesis and as indicators of weathers and seasons. With hydroponics lighting systems, you could control the time and duration of the exposure of the plants to light for purposes of standardizing the photosynthesis cycles. With them you could also simulate the seasons in order to encourage them to flower and extend the growing season so that you would enjoy year-round supply of your favorite plants and fruits. Imagine that even in seasons of winters, your plants would still continue to grow and prosper. If humans are provided calories by fats, plants get them from light. With artificial lighting, your favored plant could grow as high as six feet tall in three or four months.

Great Artificial Lighting Systems

Your favored hydroponic plant will surely bloom to its fullest potential and give you the best quality and quantity possible through the following artificial lighting systems:

Fluorescent and LED (or light emitting diodes) are best used during the stage where the seedlings of your plants are starting to grow.
Metal halide (or MH) and high pressure sodium (HPS) systems would be best for the flowering stage.
Fluorescent Bulbs Explained More

Fluorescent bulbs are ideal for seedlings, and because of their low intensity they need to be placed nearer the plants. They should be hanged at least eight to fifteen inches from the plants. They have the following benefits:

Enhancement of the health and strength of seedlings or cuttings
Superior root growth and quality
Maximize the plant response in terms of photosynthesis
Unveiling Metal Halide Bulbs

They provide your hydroponic garden abundant blue and green spectrum light, which is essential in the growth of the plants. With them, you can be assured that your plant's leaf growth would be maximized and they will grow sturdy or compact. Compared to fluorescent and incandescent bulbs, they are best for the flowering stage because their brightness is 125 lumens, which is quite enormous compared to the 18 lumens of incandescent and 39 lumens of fluorescent bulbs. They are both efficient and effective during the vegetative and flowering stages.

HPS Bulbs at Their Best

High pressure sodium bulbs are considered as best for the enhancement of the budding and flowering processes of your favored plants because they emit light of the red and yellow spectrum. In other words, they are bulbs emitting light that closely imitates natural light. Most users prefer them during the flowering stage of their hydroponic garden.

Basic Lighting Tips You Must Practice

Whatever your preferred system is for your hydroponic garden, you should not forget to do the following in order to maximize your plants' health, growth, and reproduction:

For two months, continuously expose the young plant or seedlings to light. When in vegetation stage, illuminate them at twenty-two hours in a day; and when they are flowering, keep them lighted at a maximum of twelve hours a day.
Keep the light close to the plants, but never allow them to touch even the leaves. When the edges of their leaves curl, it means that they are overheated.
During the vegetation stage, use bulbs that emit blue or red bands of the spectrum. Metal halide lamps provide the blue light; and fluorescent, the red light.
Minimum light exposure is twenty watts per foot. You can go much higher but not too high or else your plants may fry and not too low because they might droop.
Fix the lamps to the roof to afford you flexibility. As the plants grow taller, you can raise the bulbs higher.
Use reflectors to ensure uniform illumination among all your plants. Those that do not get sufficient light as the others would grow disfigured, taller, and thinner.
Plan and design a daily lighting cycle. If you will not do this, your plants will grow poorly. And if you wake them up when they already have been accustomed that it is the dark period of the day, they will be traumatized and could become ill.
Paint your walls, roofs, and even floors with white to provide greater light reflection capacity of your space. Brighten the days of your favorites and make them feel loved and cared for.
Clones: Increasing the Success Rate of Your Hydroponic Gardening

Cloning is simply taking a cutting from your growing plant and placing it together with other cuttings in a separate pot or container. Be sure that the clone you choose comes from female plants. When properly taken cared of, they will become mature plants that are exact copies of the original or source plants. It is a method that would surely aid you in controlling the quality of your plants, seeds, and their fruits. The clones grow faster than those that are raised from seeds, and this will make your time usage more efficient.

Useful Tips to Improve Your Success Rates

Clones are very effective tools in reproducing your plants in your hydroponic project. You must take extra care though to ensure the success or else you will just be wasting time, energy, and money on them. These are useful tips that could help you:

Only clone plants that are healthy, well developed, and have enhanced flowering capabilities.
Take more cuttings than you need to plant so that you will have a wider range of choices. Choose among them the best.
Before taking a cutting, remove the nitrogen from the source plant by feeding it heavily with water that is pH adjusted and without any fertilizer or nutrient for at least two and maximum of three days. If you fail to do this, you will impede the growth of the roots of the clones.
Choose well the media that you will use for your clones. You can make use of cubes that are pre-formed and contain holes fit for the cuttings.
You should cut holes in the top of the medium that would be of the same size or circumference as the stems of your clones.
Take extra care when you cut. Do not forget to sterilize your cutting equipment before you proceed with the cloning process because you might infect the mother plant. Be sure that when you cut, you do it quickly in order to keep air from being shot into the stem.
The clone should be between three and six inches long--no more and no less. There should at least be one leaf inter-node and if possible, two inter-nodes.
Place the cuttings in a misting dome where they will be artificially moisturized two to three times in a day. Keep them well ventilated too by cutting small holes on the top of the dome. Maintain their temperature at 72 degrees to 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
Use double tube fluorescents that emit white light--both cold and warm. Keep them close to the clones at a distance of one or two inches. In case you use an artificial lighting system that utilizes metal halide bulbs or high pressure sodium lamps, keep the cuttings at a distance of two or three feet if the light source is between 175 and 400 watts. If the bulbs' wattage is at least a thousand, keep them at a distance of at least four feet. Keep the cuttings illuminated at least eighteen hours a day.
Water the clones every two days with distilled water with nutrients. If the external temperature is high, you can water them once a day. Do not make the mistake of submerging or setting them in water because the stems will become rotten or decayed.
In about a week, check on the clones. If you see that they have started to root, stop the misting or artificial moisturizing procedures. If they have properly rooted already, remove them from the dome and plant them.
Harvest: Curing the Correct Way

The Right Time to Harvest Your Hydroponic Garden

If you have reached as far as this, it only means one thing: you have been successful with your plants' growth and flowering stages. You have won over the challenges of hydroponic gardening and triumphantly circumvented the adversities of raising your beloved fruits. The average harvest time is after eight to twelve weeks of flowering. You must remember that they are best harvested when trichomes production or THC level is at a maximum. An indicator of this is when at least a third of their pistils or hairs have turned from white to dark such as brownish or reddish in color. Use a magnifying glass to monitor the pistils. Do not over-wait though until all of the pistils are dark because it will decrease the value of your plants.

Potency and quantity are two non-parallel objectives in harvesting. If the former is your goal, you should harvest when the THC level production is at its maximum and your harvested plants will weigh lesser but their quality would be a lot better. If the latter is your target, then harvest them after all the pistils are dark.

Drying to Improve Quality

After harvest, you have to separate the leaves from the buds. The next step would be to dry and cure them. You must not forget that your leaves and buds leave a bad taste in the mouth and have harsh aroma if they are used or consumed right after harvest. They must be dried to take out or evaporate the water from them. The curing step will complete the drying process and completely transform the leaves of your plants to bearers of good dreams and magic. Here are some things you must do when drying your plants:

Hang them in an environment that is dry, dark, and cool. Keep the temperature at 20 degrees Celsius or 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Too much heat and light will destroy their quality.
Do not directly handle the plants. Avoid damaging the quality of the heads, buds, and leaves by contaminating them with dirt or the sweat of your hands.
Separate the large branches and wider leaves in order for you to give better drying exposure to the smaller branches and narrower leaves.
Keep the drying branches at a distance of half a foot. When they are too close to each other, your plants might attract mold; and when they are too far from each other, they will be dried faster than what is necessary. Both situations will lead to the loss of potency and decrease in quality.
The average drying period is between a week and three weeks. To check if your plants have properly dried up already, take some branches and bend them. If they would snap at an angle of 90 degrees or less, it means that your plants are well dried already. If they will not, then you have to let them dry some more.
The Magic of Curing

Curing is an important procedure in your hydroponic gardening project as they are responsible for transforming your plants into marketable products with quality that is of high commercial values. Just be sure that before you do any of the steps related to curing, you have properly dried them. Observe the following tricks and for sure, you would enjoy the triumph that you have longed for:

Place in air-tight containers your plants. Store the containers in a room where the temperature is stabilized at 20 degrees Celsius. Be sure that no light will permeate the room because it will damage the product.
Any remaining moisture in the contents of the sealed containers will definitely evaporate and cling to the internal surface of the containers. Slowly open the lids and let the extra moisture escape. Do this during the first week at an interval of twenty-four hours for about a period of thirty minutes. During the second week, repeat the process at an interval of forty-eight hours. Repeat this in the third week and other succeeding weeks if necessary until all condensation is removed.
Watch out for possible decay caused by too much moist. Signs of decay include a smell that is the same to that of compost and new grass clippings.
Keep the dried plants that are not so green anymore stored in air-tight containers that should be placed in a place with a temperature of twenty degrees Celsius.
Keeping them in a fridge would help a lot in avoiding exposure to contamination, heat, and light that could cause deterioration of quality and shortening of shelf life. Keep them untouched for several weeks or months.
Prevention and Eradication

The prevention and eradication of bugs have been one of the most important concerns among hydroponic planters and scientists in agriculture. With the advent of more scientific researches and methods in studying bugs, modern science have came up with innovative methods to counter the growth and prevent the existence of bugs. The most recent and effective so far is biological pest control. This method is simple and only requires that friendly bugs are introduced to the environment to counter the damage of harmful bugs.

The Predator Bugs You Must Destroy in Your Hydroponic Garden

At different stages, your plant could suffer from different kinds of bugs. You should be familiar with them so that you will know how to prevent and destroy them. During the growth of the seedling of your plants the following bugs could infest them and either kill or damage them:

Cutworms: Larvae of the turnip moths. They feed on the leaves, stems, and buds of young seedlings.
Hemp flea beetles: They are very small jumping beetles that eat the leaves of seedlings.
Crickets: They are harmful to humans but very deadly to plants because they feed on leaves and buds, especially those that are just at their early growth.
When your plants grow taller and develop wider leaves and when they also start to flower, the following bugs would surely give you tons of headaches unless prevented:

Spider mites: They are very small and almost invisible to the human eyes. They reproduce at a very fast rate; and before you know it, they have destroyed your whole crop. The proof of their presence is usually the occurrence of dead spots on the leaves. When they have powerfully infested your plants, the leaves will turn yellow, almost the shade of bronze.
Aphids: They are also called plant lice and are very common in temperate zones. They feed on the sap of plants and are most likely to damage the flowers even before they bloom.
Whiteflies: They look like fruit flies but are more devious because they chew on the leaves and flowers of your dear plants.
Leafhoppers: Taxonomy wise, they are like grasshoppers just pretty smaller. They thrive on green leaves.
Other bugs that could infect the stems, stalks, and roots are the following:

European corn borers: They are generally found in corns, but they have also been observed to damage your favorite plants' stems.
Hemp borers: Most of the time they infest fruits, but they also love the stalks of your green healthy produce.
Weevils: They prefer dry plants or environment. They are dangerous destroyers of stalks and stems.
Root maggots: They feed on the roots of plants. They damage the osmosis capability of the roots.
Termites and ants: Self-organized insects that feed on the roots and are capable of adapting to whatever environment the plants are in.
Fungus gnats: They are dark small flies with short lives but vicious effect on the roots they infest.
The Best Solutions

There are many available solutions that would help you eradicate and prevent bug infestation of your favored plants. Five of these techniques are the following:

Biological pest control through the use of a beneficial or small animal that eats the bugs that damage your plants. They control adult pests and destroy their young, eggs, and larva. Some examples are predatory mites to counter greenhouse mites, nematodes for weevils, lace wing for aphids, and parasitic wasp for white flies.
Bio-best spray that either come in concentrates or spray cans. All you have to do is spray it on the affected leaves.
Sticky plates that serve as the alarm systems, and they draw bugs because of their yellow color.
Plant protectors that emit odors that are bug repellants.
Neem oil that damages the nervous systems of bugs.
Sound Preventive Measures

Eradication could be very expensive, and prevention could cost you nothing at all. Here are some suggestions that you may consider to prevent bugs infestations in your growth room:

Always clean your tools before and after using them.
Maintain proper drainage to ensure cleanliness of the area.
Do not overwater because the unused water can become the haven of bugs.
Quarantine infected plants to prevent others from being infested too.
The Perpetual Harvest: Sea of Green Techniques

These techniques involve the harvesting of batches of small plants that mature early. They refer to that method in hydroponic gardening where smaller plants are grown over shorter periods of time instead of growing few big plants over a long period of time. With hydroponics where the environment is controlled from lighting to ventilation, it is possible to start one batch at an earlier time, and as they mature, another batch is started. This method results to a year-round growing and harvesting cycle. Another way of doing this is starting all the plants together and creating a green canopy where you let your plant be harvested more times than once. Taller plants will be harvested from the top first without uprooting them. As the plant grows some more, the earlier lower level becomes the top that is ready for harvest.

Nadya Joy Ador is a work-at-home mother of two lovely daughters. She has been doing freelance work for more than three years now, catering to more than twenty clients from across the globe. When she's not writing or editing, she keeps herself busy playing or shopping with her two angels.

Hydroponic Plants Triumph in Unlikely Places

noreply@blogger.com (tenom894) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:26:00 +0000

The art of growing plants without soil (hydroponic growth) is now so advanced that it can help humans to survive for long periods in previously inhospitable environments such as Antarctica.

Traditional plant growth relies on plants absorbing minerals and nutrients from the soil. Plants do not actually need to be placed in soil to obtain the nutrients they need. In fact the soil is simply there to support them. There are many areas on Earth which do not have the necessary soils to support plant growth, preventing humans from living there.

Over recent years, this restriction has been combated by growing plants hydroponically. Hydroponics uses nutrient solutions applied directly to the roots instead of soil, in order to allow the plants to grow in unlikely places.

One of the earliest hydroponic success stories happened on Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean. The island was first discovered in 1568 by Álvaro de Mendaña de Nevra, who noted that it was a "low, barren island." Later, when the island was surveyed in 1840 by the US Commodore Charles Wilkes, it was officially recorded as having no fresh water.

In the 1930s, Pan American Airlines began using the island as a refuelling stop between America and China. The airline constructed a village for its workers; the first time the island had been inhabited by humans. Because of the distances involved, it would have been expensive and impractical to import fresh food to the island, so the islanders relied on hydroponic methods for growing food instead for many years.

Hydroponic techniques are not as new or miraculous as some people may think; they have been developed over many centuries. However, perfecting the nutrient solutions which are used will really affect the success of hydroponic crops in remote or harsh conditions.

Perhaps the harshest environment of all is Antarctica. At the McMurdo station on Ross Island, a community of nearly 1000 people survive by relying on hydroponic techniques to grow food.

These techniques allow people at this icy station to enjoy fresh lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, fruit and herbs for use in cooking, throughout the year.

The Antarctic environment is unusual because it enjoys four months of continuous sunlight, followed by four months of darkness, not to mention high winds and extremes of temperature.

To survive this harsh climate, seeds are planted in a hydroponic mix of perlite and vermiculite and placed in a totally enclosed, insulated greenhouse at the station. Nutrient solutions are fed to the plants to ensure healthy growth and other environmental factors are dealt with by using hydroponic techniques. For example, artificial lighting is used to simulate a more normal day to night pattern in which the plants will grow best. The air is kept warm and humid by fans and hydroponic ventilation equipment, and at night an electric furnace is used to generate more heat. This gives the fresh fruit and vegetables ideal growing conditions to allow them to flourish.

Hydroponic techniques are now so advanced that we really are able to grow food anywhere on Earth, regardless of the external environment or the availability of light.

Growing food hydroponically is a fascinating process, making commercial sense for many growers who are now able to produce on a large scale without an enormous land investment.

In fact, the same techniques which keep people alive in Antarctica can be practiced in your own home using a hydroponic kit available online from Great Stuff Hydroponics. Kits and equipment for commercial growers are also available online, along with information downloads and expert advice.

Find out more about Great Stuff Hydroponics at http://www.hydroponics-hydroponics.com

About Great Stuff Hydroponics

Great Stuff Hydroponics is based in Middlesborough (UK) and supplies a vast array of hydroponic equipment for all your hydroponic plant cultivation needs. The Great Stuff Hydroponics showroom is open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm and Saturday10am-2pm. Sales can also be placed online at http://www.hydroponics-hydroponics.com

Please direct all media queries, requests for press information and editorial details, to Rebecca Appleton. Tel: 0208 123 5178 or email: press@topposition.co.uk