Hydroponic vegetable production (Horticulture systems guide)

Overall Rating:

 

Total Customer Reviews: (0)

Seller: Amazon

Greenhouse vegetable production: Hydroponic systems (MF)

Overall Rating:

 

Total Customer Reviews: (0)

Seller: Amazon

The Tricky Hydroponic Nutrient Formula

Getting the hydroponic nutrient formula right can be a tricky business. Just as using the right amount of fertilizer for ordinary gardening can be difficult to gauge. You risk having weak, anemic looking plants with too little fertilizer; on the other hand you kill off your budding plants with too much fertilizer.

When you are working out the right hydroponic nutrient formula you need to add the fertilizers in the right ratio. Another confusing aspect of the whole thing is how to mix in the fertilizers that come with your hydroponics kit.

The Right Concentration

Mixing the fertilizers that you have in the right concentration is an important step to making sure that you have healthy plants. Because fertilizers sold for use in hydroponic systems are concentrated it is important to get the hydroponic nutrient formula right.

You can start with a concentration of 150-600 parts per million. Usually though this concentration can be made even more specific, for most plants you can use a hydroponic nutrient formula of about 300 to 400 parts per million.

Growth Stages

Plants go through different stages of growth and development, so it makes sense that plants need different nutrients during these different stages. When you are deciding what hydroponic nutrient formula to use you should be aware that there are now different nutrients that are available to suit the different stages of a plant’s life cycle.

During the vegetative growth phase of a plant’s life there are many formulas out there that are typically called ‘grow’ formula. Another popular name for this type of formula is ‘growth’ formula. However once the plants you are growing start to flower you need to switch the type of hydroponic nutrient formula that you use. Look for hydroponic nutrient formulas called ‘bloom’ or ‘flower’.

The strength of the hydroponic nutrient formula must be tailored to the growth stage and health of the plant. If you have a weak plant that is being grown in low level lighting then you should use a weak hydroponic nutrient formula, not a strong one. A strong formula should be used for healthy thriving plants, even if common sense would tell you to do the opposite.

If your plants are thriving and you would like to increase the strength of the formula, you should do this very gradually. Too fast and you risk killing off your plants. You should also make sure the plants are in a well ventilated area with lots of light for good growth.

High-Yield Hydroponic Systems (High Growers DVD Series, Volume 2)

Overall Rating:

 

Total Customer Reviews: (0)

Seller: Amazon

A must see for the serious grower who needs to maximize production. This video takes a close look at how hydroponic grow systems work, and why they work so well. Footage and diagrams show how to set up a variety of system types, big and small. Part I Intro to Hydroponics Part II Getting the Most from Your Garden Part III Three Different Growers DVD[Read More]

A Common Choice: Hydroponic Drip System

There are different places where hydroponic system plans can be obtained, either for free or for a price. In addition, there are companies that will sell hydroponic drip systems pre-made so that the individual does not have to try to follow a plan to get the system built. Building a system from scratch, although fairly simple with most systems, still leaves the possibility of not doing something correctly which will make the system ineffective. Buying a pre-made system allows the individual to have a product that is guaranteed to work for years to come.

Wick versus Drip

There are two systems that are most commonly made from scratch and those are the wick system and the drip hydroponic system. The wick system is very simply constructed. It uses a tray that holds the plants which sits on top of the reservoir that holds the water and nutrient solution. These two pieces are held together by a wick which allows the water solution to transmit these elements into the tray with the plants. The down side to this system is that there is not a way to regulate the amount of solution that is getting to the plants, which means that a small amount of plants can be grown at one time.

The drip hydroponic system is built in much the same way with the tray that sits on top of the reservoir. In this system, however, instead of using wicks to transmit the solution to the plants, there is a submerged pump system that transmits the solution to the plants at whatever rate the person sets on the meter. The solution goes into the tray a drip at a time so that there is a constant flow of nutrients without the plants becoming overly submerged like in other systems.

There are benefits to using the drip hydroponic system, such as the fact that the individual does not have to monitor the system as often as other systems since the pump and timer handles everything automatically. In addition, since the flow rate can be regulated, there can be larger plants grown as well as larger numbers of plants grown at a time in the system. One down side to using the drip hydroponic system is that it is more expensive than the wick system since the pump for the system has to be bought as well. However, this is a popular system, especially for use in greenhouses where larger numbers of plants are grown at a time.

Concepts behind a Hydroponic Growth System

There are about six types of hydroponic growth systems on the market today and each has its advantages and disadvantages. There are some systems that can be bought already made and others that can be constructed by the individual. There are also advantages and disadvantages to each of these. If a person chooses to buy the hydroponic growth system, he should check to see what the materials are in the product to make sure they are quality materials. It used to be that the best hydroponic growth systems would have titanium piping in it so that they would last for a long time without having to be replaced. With PVC piping today, however, PVC is a great replacement for the titanium piping and is much less expensive. Additionally, if a person is going to buy a system rather than make a homemade hydroponic system, then he should check out the warrantee on the system. The longer the warrantee, the more the manufacturer is certain that their product will not break down, leading to a problem free environment for the person who bought it.

Types of Systems

The first type of hydroponic growth system is the wick system. This type has a tray that is held on top of a reservoir which has the water and nutrient solution as well as an air stone to oxygenize the water. The tray and the reservoir are connected to each other by a wick which allows the water solution to come into the tray and give the plants what they need to grow. They hydroponic growth systems are popular because they are easy to construct and maintain and are also very inexpensive. The problem with the system is that it cannot support a large amount of plants since there is only a limited amount of nutrients that can flow through the wick at a time.

Another type of hydroponic growth system is the water culture growth system. This one is also a fairly simple one to construct, which makes it a popular choice as well. In this system, instead of a tray being set on top of the reservoir, the plants are placed into a Styrofoam strip that floats on top of the reservoir where the nutrients and oxygenizing system is in place. This is beneficial to use since the nutrients can be drawn straight into the plant rather than having to flow through the wick. The downside to the system is that plants that do not need a lot of water do not enjoy this system where they are sitting in the water solution at all times.

Building a Hydroponic System

There are many people who become interested in hydroponic systems because they enable individuals to grow their plants indoors in a controlled environment year round. There are many different types of plants that can be grown by using this method, from fruits and vegetables to flowers and other plants. The basic idea behind a hydroponic system is that the plants do not have to be in soil to grow adequately, instead, they just need to have the nutrients and water that they need in order to grow healthy and strong. There are many different types of hydroponic systems on the market, from types that a person can buy pre-made to those that the individual can build from easy to find materials. In addition, the hydroponic growth system has to be modified slightly depending on the types of plants that are to be grown in it.

Concepts

There are several primary types of nutrients that plants need to grow. There are three main elements that are needed and these are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. If the plants have these nutrients in the proper balance then they are best enabled to grow. There are also some secondary elements that are needed for the plants to grow healthy and strong and these contain primarily calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, zinc and sodium. There are other secondary ingredients that will have to be monitored during the growth cycle of the plants, but these are the main elements that are needed. If these elements are not kept in the proper balance, then the water that the plant is growing in will become toxic to it and it will die. The individual who has a hydroponic system will need to constantly monitor his tanks so that the pH balance stays constant for them.

In addition to the pH balance in the water, there also has to be a lighting system that is put in place for the plants to grow properly. There are different types of lighting that can be used and each has different effects on the plants that are grown. What is interesting is that plants naturally use different types of lighting during their growth cycle to get what they need. For instance, when they are on a high growth cycle, plants will use the blue light, so using this type of light in the hydroponic system during this stage is ideal. When the plants are in the flowering stage, they will use the red or orange light of the color spectrum, so using that type of light in the hydroponic system during that stage is ideal.