How to Hydro RSS

Hydroponics is worth considering when you want greater control over watering and plant nutrition, need to grow without traditional soil, or want a cleaner indoor growing method built around a managed nutrient solution. It is not automatically easier than soil growing, because successful hydroponics depends on choosing the right system and monitoring water, nutrients and pH correctly. If you are deciding whether hydroponics is right for your grow, begin with the practical questions: what do you want to grow, how much space do you have, how often can you check the system and how much control do you want over...

DIY home hydroponics can be a practical way to start growing plants without soil, but a successful system needs more than a container of water and a pump. You will need a suitable growing method, hydroponic nutrients, oxygen or irrigation at the roots, dependable lighting where required, and regular pH and EC checks to keep the nutrient solution usable for your plants. There are two sensible starting routes for a home grower. You can begin with a compact ready-made system such as deep water culture, or you can build a more involved setup around pumps, containers, reservoirs and growing media....

Food and Hydroponics Labelling There's great debate over the use of organic labelling as it relates to hydroponics. As consumers become more focused on the origins of their food and its impact on their health, they frequently turn to foods labelled as organic. Requirements for organic labelling vary from country to country, with some countries considering crops produced without pesticides as organic and other countries qualifying the organic label to mean completely natural. In the very strictest standards, natural is defined as plants that are grown in the earth using traditional agricultural methods. Under these standards, no pesticides or chemicals may be used, and the plant...

Hydroponic Equipment Yesterday we looked at the different type of hydroponic systems, let's take a look at some of the tools and accessories that work to complement the various systems The most important part of any hydroponic system is, of course, the nutrient solution used. Hydroponic nutrient solutions are readily available from our website or store and are composed of a blend of such nutrients as nitrogen, potassium, calcium, magnesium and other minerals. Different nutrient solutions are used depending on what type of plants you're trying to grow, what system you're using and what mediums, if any, you're working with....

The Science behind Hydroponic Nutrients and systems Before we can take a look at how hydroponics works, we must first understand how plants themselves work. Generally speaking, plants need very little to grow. They can subsist on a simple blend of water, sunlight, carbon dioxide and mineral nutrients from the soil. Plants are able to transform light energy into chemical energy to form sugars that allow them to grow and sustain themselves. Thus, plants convert carbon dioxide, water and light into sugars and oxygen through a process called photosynthesis. The photosynthesis process requires that the plant has access to certain minerals, especially nitrogen,...