When Starting your own organic hydroponics gardening setup, you should remember that you will need to arrange two beds or layers in your hydroponic garden. The upper bed is, actually, a box to keep the plants in. This box should contain a growing medium for the plants to grow in. You can use perlite, coconut fiber, lava rock, Styrofoam pellets, rockwool or vermiculite for this purpose. The main thing about medium is that it should be able to keep a small amount of moisture for a long time. Experts assure that lava rock is best in this respect.
The lower bed is necessary to keep the water with the dissolved nutrients in it. The water is pumped with the help of an aquarium pump to the upper bed in order to water the plants. This procedure is repeated several times a day at equal intervals, being controlled with a timer.
Gardeners sometimes find it difficult to maintain the pH level of the water, its nutrition rate, and the ration of nutrients at the right level. These are, actually, the key factors, due to which a hydroponic garden or an organic hydroponics prospers. If these three crucial things in gardening are kept in balance with the help of Organic fertilizers, such technique of plants growing is called an Organic Hydroponic Garden.
Organic fertilizers are better for the plants than the chemical ones, as the latter are capable of burning the roots if used in higher concentrations.
When water solution is pumped to the trail with plants, it is partly absorbed by the medium and by the plants roots till saturation point. Consequently, the pumped water, returning back to the reservoir, contains lesser amount of parts per million (ppm) than before.
Organic nutrients make hydroponic gardening easier, as they do not contain any chemicals, which can change the pH level or ppm of the solution. As a result, many problems, listed among the most common ones of organic hydroponic gardening, get solved on their own.
It is a common knowledge that the upper part of a plant’s root uptakes nutrients, while the lower one absorbs water. To increase plant’s saturation with nutrients, it is possible to directly add them to the upper part of the roots, which, in the long run, will result in the more efficient organic hydroponics. To introduce such technique into your organic hydroponic garden, you should develop an organic hydroponics system.
The container can be similar as in the hydroponics gardening, or it can be a coir fiber container. It should be half filled with lava rock at the bottom. Then it is preferably to use a medium divider (e.g. coir fiber). The upper part of the tray should contain a mixture of 1/3 horticulture perlite of coarse grade, 1/3 potting soil, and 1/3 of large horticulture vermiculite.
When all this is set, it is necessary to place this container in the grow bed, with water level being a bit lower than the mixture of soils. Such arrangement will ensure the higher efficacy of the organic hydroponic gardening.
Lava rock with the secondary roots of the plants will be submerged in the water, and it will also serve to make this water flow up and moisten the soil mixture. At the same time, the upper layer of medium will be free to absorb the nutrients added directly to the primary roots.
Such hydroponic system saves a gardener from constant controlling and maintaining of the pH level and ppm of the growing medium. Nevertheless, beware of adding too many liquid nutrients to the soil layer: they may leak into the lava rock layer and disarrange your organic hydroponics gardening.
Posts Tagged ‘Hydroponics’
Starting your own organic hydroponics gardening setup – hydroponics gardening supplies and points to remember
Monday, September 13th, 2010Indoor hydroponics Gardening Guide – Intro to Hydroponics and hydroponic supplies
Thursday, August 26th, 2010Hydroponics otherwise known as indoor gardening has been steadily growing in popularity as a hobby. People, young and new have started turning those empty spaces to their own personal gardens where they could grow what they want and when they want. Imagine yourself in the middle of the desert or that freezing cabin somewhere in the Arctic and be able to grow roses all year round. So if you ever decide to pick up that seed and decide what plant to grow at the convenience of your home or backyard, this guide would help to answer your questions from A to Z. Hydroponics or indoor gardening requires skills and know how, but the rewards in the end like watching that flower bloom or that seed turn into a glorious blossom is reward in itself. So let us walk you through this and answer all your questions in this indoor gardening guide.
Advantages of Indoor Gardening (Hydroponics) over Traditional Gardening
Many people have turned to alternative of indoor gardening. It is more efficient and economical if done properly than traditional soil gardens. Here are just a few advantages of indoor gardening:
Environmental factors such as temperature or soil and weather conditions do not affect hydroponic or indoor gardens as they are sheltered from such elements with fan and climate controllers for example.
Soil based gardens increase the risk of disease as they are ideal habitats for bacteria and microorganisms.
Soil based gardens also present the troublesome work of weeding out undesired vegetation and soil maintenance through fertilization and tilling.
Space consideration is also a factor as a large number of plants could be grown in such confined and odd spaces where creativity is the only boundary.
Scientifically, vegetables and fruits grown through indoor gardening (hydroponics) contain bigger amounts of vitamins and minerals, and are better sources of nutrition.
Indoor gardening (hydroponics) systems are fairly simple. It is tailored to the individual as to what he needs and what he wants. Simple setups for ordinary hobbyists could be turned into complex ones to more season and professionals as they desire. Indoor gardening has no specific person in mind, the love for gardening and growing plants is what is common to hydroponics hobbyists. Proper planning and design together with that you as a hobbyist needs is what makes a successful project. It may seem to require a little effort and expense at the start but the benefits and fruits of indoor gardening far outweigh the costs and effort. It only takes one simple setup if done right and the benefits can be harvested all year long.
Choosing Indoor Hydroponic Systems over traditional Gardening
Hydroponic Systems present numerous advantages for the gardener, freedom from uncontrollable environmental factors such as the weather, soil condition and time of year presents the most obvious reasons. Different types of growing mediums allow for those who plan to grow fruits or vegetables, better tasting and more nutritious products is the definite advantage. Production is also increased so those who plan to use indoor gardening (hydroponics) present a better yield thus is it more financially rewarding.
Numerous systems ranging from simple to complex can be tailored to each individual’s specific need. Setting up complex systems for a business for individuals who want to make it their livelihood or for that individual who lives in an apartment with a limited space presents no difficulties. It is only an individual’s desire and imagination that limits indoor gardening (hydroponics).
Hydroponics Gardening for Organic Vegetables – Introduction
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010Hydroponics gardening or growing plants in the growing media other than soil has been known to humans since ancient times. It is known that during the times of King Solomon, people practiced soil-less gardening, which later became known as hydroponic gardening.
The word “hydroponics” is derived from two Greek words: “hydro”, which means water, and “ponics”, which stands for labor. The principles of gardening without the use of soil were developed many and many years ago. Since then this type of gardening demonstrates certain valuable benefits in comparison to traditional growing plants in soil. One of the key benefits is that hydroponic plants grow 30-50% faster than plants, grown under the typical conditions in soil.
Traditional organic gardeners have always demonstrated certain level of contempt for hydroponics as the type of efficient and successful gardening. The followers of the traditional soil gardening consider hydroponics to be a kind of chemical gardening. Organic gardeners have always been pretty pessimistic as to supplying their plants with a balanced and calculated set of chemicals, which is a common practice among hydroponics gardeners. However, such an attitude of wide publicity and professional gardeners to hydroponics had changed after Steve Fox demonstrated his achievements in hydroponics gardening.
One of the key components of hydroponics gardening is growing media, an inert material, which unlike soil, does not supply any chemicals or nutrients to the plant. There are multiple types of growing media used today. The examples are sand, gravel, coconut fiber, perlite, and vermiculite. Amazingly, but even air can be used as a growing media for growing hydroponic cultures under the certain conditions. The undeniable benefit of hydroponic gardening is that it protects the fertile soils from exhaustion. Besides, it does not presuppose the use of chemical pesticides and other chemicals, which are extremely harmful for the environment. In general, hydroponic gardening may ensure greater yields and, at the same time, let the fertile soil regenerate itself for further organic farming.Though hydroponic gardening also uses some of the chemicals to feed the growing plants, all the chemical plant fertilizers and nutrients are contained within the enclosed area of hydroponic greenhouse and do not spoil the open air, water or fertile soil.
Hydroponics Gardening:Food Growing for All
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010Hydroponics gardening is great for anyone who wants to do some gardening but may not have the space or a lot of experience.
Hydroponics gardens are different from regular gardens in that there isn’t any soil involved, which makes them great for indoors. The word begins with hydro for a reason! Hydroponics gardening isn’t anything new, either, as it’s been around since as early as 600 BC. The other wonderful thing about hydroponics gardens is that they can be grown anywhere. For example, NASA uses indoor hydroponics gardening for growing produce during lengthy missions. Lettuce is also being grown on U.S. submarines.
To get started with hydroponics gardening, you will need to germinate seeds just as you would for any other type of garden. Then you choose a growing medium. The medium can be anything from composted bark to peat moss to sand to nutrient-enriched water. You can also purchase kits that have everything you need to get your hydroponics gardening started—and growing. For the beginner, this is probably the best way to go, as you can get everything you need along with expert advice.
The benefits of gardens grown using the hydroponics gardening method are many. They allow you to grow your produce organically, without harmful pesticides or fertilizers. And since water is re-circulated in a specialized system, you also conserve water. This is great news for people who live in drought-stricken areas or in places where water is scarce. Even in these places hydroponics gardening is possible.
Hydroponics gardening is also very low-maintenance. Because the produce is grown in water, you don’t have to do any digging. Even better, with these gardens, there’s no weeding involved either. Plants grow faster, too. Thirty to forty days from seed to fruit or flower is average. This is 30-50% quicker than plants grown in soil.
Also, hydroponics gardening makes it possible to grow produce year-round. This means you can enjoy fresh vegetables and fruit anytime of the year without paying outrageous prices for them. Plus, since there’s really no telling just how fresh the produce is in your local market, you’ll never have to guess about freshness and purity again. You’ll know because you grew it yourself under circumstances you control.
This is an important advantage that hydroponics gardening has over traditional gardens. When you grow plants in soil, even under the best of circumstances, you don’t know for certain that your plants are truly getting the nutrients vital for them to grow. In gardens grown hydroponically, you know your plants are getting the very best nutrition right at their root system. This not only ensures the highest quality possible, but it also takes the guesswork out of your hydroponics gardening.