Most gardeners and crop growers have at least heard of hydroponics. If you want to learn more about it yourself, you should know that there are at least four categories of hydroponic systems. The different systems are water culture, wick, drip, and also a nutrient film technique. While these are the basic systems, you should know that you will likely see multiple variations a hundred times over.

Water Culture

If you are just getting your feet wet in terms of learning hydroponic systems, try the water culture method first as it is the easiest method. You have a tank or storage area filled with the mineral and nutrient liquid solution in which the plants are floating in on a Styrofoam platform. An air pump aerates the water of this holding tank and the bubbles provide a way to bubble up not only the oxygen needed in the roots but also the nutrient solution as well. While this is the easiest system, especially for teaching, it is not conducive to large scale growth projects.

Wick Method

The wick method of hydroponic systems is fairly easy to operate as well and is known as a passive technique in which to keep your plants watered with the proper nutrients. You have a growing tray with a medium like pea gravel which is situated over a holding tank containing the liquid nutrient solution. There are wicks which go from the holding tank to the growth medium to carry the needed water and nutrient solution in a steady manner. (more…)

The quality of hydroponic plants is quite higher than in plants produced using traditional systems. Moreover, the required cropping time is much less for hydroponic plants compared to that of traditionally grown plants. However, not all plants can be grown following hydroponic system. The plants which can be grown using hydroponic system are chives, dill, sage, fennel, thyme, parsley, tarragon, rosemary, sweet basil, chili peppers, zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, strawberries, asters, forget-me-nots, California poppies, chrysanthemums, dwarf zinnias, ageratum, candy tuft, and dianthus.

Nutrition

In order to grow healthily, plants need adequate amount of minerals as well as trace elements in appropriate proportions, no matter where they are growing, whether it is a soil based production or hydroponic system. Hydroponic plants get the facility to obtain much higher levels of nutritional benefit. For hydroponic plants, since water delivers the nutrient mix to the plants, the maximum possible delivery of the nutrients can be ensured. Additionally, the accurate measurement of nutrient supplies can be established for hydroponic plants. This helps in eliminating or preventing undesired nutrient compounds. (more…)

In simple words, hydroponic gardening implies a garden where plants are cultivated in water. In other words, hydroponic gardening refers to a garden where no soil is necessary for the cultivation of plants. If you have planned to do hydroponic vegetable gardening indoors, you can be rest assured that you can employ the hydroponic technique to a wide variety of plants. No matter where you have set your arrangement, outdoors or indoors, hydroponic vegetable gardening promises you high quality product in much lesser cultivation time.

Benefits Over Traditional Gardening

There are several benefits of hydroponic vegetable gardening, both indoors and outdoors. Although the entire technique stands on water-based nutrition supply, the requirement of water is much lesser in hydroponic vegetable gardening, both indoors and outdoors. Additionally, when you do not have sufficient fertile land for cultivation, this technique is ideally fit to meet your needs. Hydroponic vegetable gardening indoors facilitates the growers and enthusiasts to grow vegetables like tomatoes and carrots inside their room, which is virtually impossible in traditional systems. (more…)

Hydroponic nutrients are available for growing excellent plants without the soil used by ordinary plants. This method has been used for growing plants for some time, and it is now possible to grow plants in a small apartment because of the great hydroponic nutrients that are available. There are many brilliant scientists who study the growth of plants for better harvests both large and small. Scientists study the best methods for growing acres of plants with soil and proper nutrients, and some scientists study the growth of plants with hydroponic nutrients. The use of these hydroponic nutrients constantly improves because of the information gathered by these experts.

Ordinary plants are grown using soil combined with appropriate nutrients, but hydroponic nutrients make it possible to grow plants without the usual soil. Researchers have studied the necessities and processes for growing plants for a very long time. In ordinary plants, the soil is used to hold the nutrients necessary for the growth of the plants. The soil is only necessary as a receptacle to hold the nutrients. Hydroponic nutrients dissolve in water so the roots of plants can absorb them like they do with the nutrients captured in soil. (more…)

Hydroponic gardening was once a fringe movement that not many people knew anything about. Today, in the days of over-farmed and over-crowded land, many farmers and gardeners are taking hydroponic gardening seriously and using this method to grow food and other plants with much success.

Hydroponic gardening is similar to regular gardening, but with one notable exception: there is no soil. When the soil is removed from the growing process, the plants do not have to concentrate so much energy on sending their roots out to find nutrients. The nutrients in hydroponic gardening are supplied directly to the young roots. The plants can then spend their energy growing up and out, and producing more fruit or flowers.

This ingenious method allows plants to be grown indoors, around the year, and in any climate. You don't have to worry about soil diseases or flooding, and pest interference is kept to a minimum. An indoor hydroponic garden is almost like a self-contained farm. (more…)

A water pond filter is useful to help maintain the garden in balance. The internal Lowboy Filter is a low-maintenance in-the-pond mechanical and biological pond filter designed for ponds from 100 to 1000 gallons. In a properly planted and stocked pond, the Lowboy Filter will help keep pond water crystal clear. The filter contains two large filter pads with a total of 908 square inches of surface area, plus plastic bio-balls and aqua rock bio-media. This filter is easily adaptable to all pumps for your water garden and is easy to clean and maintain. Maximum flow rate is 500 gph and filters up to 1000 gallons.

Previous articles have addressed various nutrients and their roles in aquatic plant] uptake, metabolism, enzymatic adaptations, physiology and cycling. This month’s methods for supplying nutrients to submersed aquarium plants: the substrate and the water column. These two locations have been hotly debated over the last 20 years and very intensely since the introduction of PMDD(Poor Man’s dosing Drops, or some referred to them as Poor Man’s Dupla Drops) back around 1995-1996.

For the best results with aquarium plant substrate, I highly suggest that everyone reading this also read the Sears and Conlin paper. Water column: Paul Sears and Kevin Conlin among many others from the APC mailing list helped to developed a low cost simple plant nutrient formulation using KNO3, MgSO4, K2SO4 and the CMS+Boron trace mix. This approach was based upon Liebig’s law of minimums and the prevailing limnology of northern lakes and papers from such researchers as Phillips et al 1978.

(more…)

Aquatic plant growth is often measured as a change in total area, length, volume, height, wet or dry weight. These approaches may not always be an appropriate measure of growth at a particular phase of plant development, e.g., a germinating seed or tuber or bulb may show an overall loss in dry weight due to the utilization of food reserves during respiration, although the seed is definitely growing as evidenced by its emerging roots and shoots. You can learn more about artificial aquarium plants at the Barr Report. The relative growth rate (RGR) which is the size increase per unit interval of time has two ve|components: the net assimilation rate (NAR) and the leaf area ratio (LAR). The NAR is the rate of increase of dry weight per unit time per unit of leaf surface which is a measure of the amount of photosynthetic product going into plant material. The LAR is the ratio of leaf area to dry weight which is the measure of the proportion of the plant that is active in photosynthesis.

(more…)

When it comes to a new growth technique for the amateur gardener, it always pays to start off small and work your way up as you go along. This principle applies to hydroponics, the method by which plants are grown without soil. Hydroponic kits are the best way to get your feet wet and decide if this new growth method is right for you.

Choosing The Right Kit

Before you can choose from the many hydroponic kits on the market today, you should decide which hydroponic system is best for your beginning needs. For the most part, the water culture and the wick method are the easiest to understand and set-up, particularly on a small scale. However, you are just as likely to find uncomplicated ebb and flow or nutrient film kit options as well.

Price may well be a deciding factor and both the system as well as the size will dictate how much the hydroponic kits will cost. Simple kits will start near $100 and climb up to hundreds of dollars based on the amount of extra equipment as well as the number of plants you plan to cultivate at one time. (more…)

We all know how valuable tomatoes are in our regular recipes. Dating back to the Inca civilization, tomatoes were treated with great importance. This is why it is considered as one of the most authentic aboriginal crops in America. The University of Arizona's research and development program on hydroponic tomatoes started during 1960s. In this article, we will shed light on the fundamentals of growing hydroponic tomatoes as adopted from University of Arizona reports.

Environmental Control System

Photosynthesis is the leading factor of optimum growth and high level of production. It is so vital to the overall production, that only one percent of decline in the light can lead to one percent decline in the production. If the degree of photosynthesis is declined as a result of cloudy weather, it may result in pale tomato leaves low in sugary content. However, when a hydroponic growing system is used in the greenhouse environment, an additional source of artificial light is supplemented to complement the requirement of light used in the photosynthesis process. (more…)