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What is Hydroponics?
Hydroponics is the cultivation of plants without soil, using a nutrient rich solution to feed the plants. Historically plants have been grown in sand, perlite and other inert medias. There are a lot of different options for medias currently, which may or may not be inert. They include expanded clay pellets, rockwool, mineral rocks, and coconut coir mixes.
How do people grow plants hydroponically?
A popular technique is the nutrient film technique or NFT whereby a very shallow stream of water containing all the dissolved nutrients required for plant growth is recirculated past the bare roots of plants in a channel. This is a good option for production of smaller plants.
With a Top Feed system, nutrient solution is periodically applied to the medium surface. This may be done manually once per day in large containers of some media, such as rock wool. Usually, it is automated with a pump, timer and drip irrigation tubing to deliver nutrient solution as frequently as 5 to 10 minutes every hour with lighter medias like hydroton.
Deep Water Culture is a hydroponic method of plant production by means of suspending the plant roots in a solution of nutrient rich, oxygenated water. Traditional methods favor the use of plastic buckets and large containers with the plant contained in a net pot suspended from the center of the lid and the roots suspended in the nutrient solution.
Ebb & Flow, In its simplest form, there is a tray above a reservoir of nutrient solution. At regular intervals, a simple timer causes a pump to fill the upper tray with nutrient solution feeding the plants, after which the solution drains back down into the reservoir.
Some other methods also used are aeroponics, passive irrigation or wick method, and hybrid systems. These are less common, but can be very successful ways of growing plants.
How do I create the best nutrient solution for my plants?
The nutrient solution is a very important part of successfully growing plants hydroponically. Each plant is different. You need to research the plant specific details to have the best results.
My first tip would be to get the cleanest water possible to use for your solution. Many municipal water supplies will be OK, but a lot of them supply “Hard Water”, meaning artificially high mineral content. A Reverse Osmosis system would be the best way to get pure water. There are other filters on the market that also de-chlorinate and remove sediment, which is a must in well water situations. But the basic idea is to keep your PH adjusted at the specific range for maximum nutrient uptake by your plants. Generally, most plants fit in the 5.5-6.5 range.
The next would be to make sure the amount of nutrient you are using is proper for the size and vigor of your plants. Most manufactures give you guidelines for use. Things to remember would be to use small amounts early in the life-cycle and larger amounts in the end of the life-cycle.
What should I do when my when my plants look unhappy?
Generally speaking, people think that more is always better. When it comes to feeding your plants, more nutrient in your solution can be toxic. If a plant is stunted or sick, they will not need much nutrient, if any at all. The best thing to do is flush the plants with PH balanced water to remove any salt build up and try to establish vigor again. Start by adding oxygen, B vitamins, some rooting hormones, and Hygrozyme to your solution without any nutrient. Then slowly bring them back onto a nutrient program. You can go back to full strength once you see they have fully recovered and are vigorous again.
How often do I change out my nutrients?
Clean and fresh nutrient solutions produce the best results. For best results, I would recommend using 1-2 gallons of nutrient solution per plant when they are small and 2-4 gallons of nutrient solution with larger plants. I would change out my reservoir once every week. I have heard of people not changing their reservoir for an entire life cycle of a plant and being successful. They might have just not killed them and that would be their definition of success. At least every 2 weeks. The other thing I recommend is giving fresh water in between changes. I like to do it everyday, and then pH balance my solution.
What should the temperature of my nutrient solution be?
The nutrient solution is best kept in the 70’s. High 70s is getting a bit warm and can facilitate growth of things that wreak havoc with root zones. Low 70’s is getting a bit cool and can stunt the growth of your plants.
How often do I water my plants?
I would put the pump on an automated timer with minute increments. The media you are growing in and how much water your plants are consuming will define your watering regimen. The basics would be that in medias that retain moisture you would only water once or twice a day unless the plants are root bound or very large for the container size. In lighter, less water retaining medias you would water more frequently, like 4-6 times a day. In NFT systems the solution continuously flows because there isn’t any media to retain moisture. In Aero systems people don’t have media, but the chambers retain some moisture allowing people to use a cycle time which waters for a minute every half hour. Water during the daylight hours only; allowing time before the light cycle ends.
