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Hydroponics

I debated whether or not to include hydroponics on my website. I do not condone or participate in drug use and struggled with sharing information about a growing method that has been stereotypically used for growing illegal drugs. I decided to include a small ode to hydroponics because it is a valid method of growing food and other plants. So I bless this page in the purity of that thought.

I worked at a hydroponics store for about 2 years. I voraciously learned the craft and found it delightful that you can grow plants without soil. Hydroponics gets you thinking about all aspects of how a plant grows because in essence you are Mother Nature by providing light, nutrient, water, pH balance, air, and growing medium to the plants.

Lighting is provided by 400 or 1000 Watt bulbs (typically). Lights near the blue-end of the colour spectrum are used in vegetative, leafy growth. Lights near the red-end of the colour spectrum are used in flowering and fruit production. Window light isn't usually adequate unless you have a greenhouse or atrium that can provide light from many angles and at higher intensity. This is why the high watt bulbs are used. The electricity bill isn't cheap, but perhaps this is where a solar panel setup would be beneficial. You also need a lamp shade of sorts to direct the light towards the plants.

Nutrient is provided in the water. You cannot use just plain water because it doesn't provide the plant with food! Learning about fertilizers becomes very important. Different fertilizers are needed at different stages in the plant's life cycle - from seed to sprout, to leaves to flowers and fruit. The water also needs to be changed regularly so the plant doesn't sit in it's own waste. The fertilizer water could be used on your outdoor plants - they would love it!

The water also needs to be moving to oxygenate the water and make sure the plants don't suffocate. This is where the water pumps and air pumps come in. In passive hydro systems (no pumps) air flow is still taken into consideration with net pots and position within the water.

There is no soil in hydroponic gardening, but the plant needs some kind of medium for support to hold itself up. Rockwool (a man-made mineral wool, similar to insulation), expanded clay pebbles, perlite, foam discs (as in aeroponics), etc. can be used. Pots are used but are usually very holey or nets so water and air pass through easily. There's also lots of tubes, buckets and containers, pumps, fittings, manifolds, electrical boxes, etc. that you'll need - not cheap and you need to research this.

One thing I did notice is that there seemed to be a greater chance of imbalance in hydroponic growing. You have to monitor the light, nutrients, etc. much more closely than in soil gardening and imbalance can show up quickly. An imbalance could be an infestation of insects, poor nutrient absorption, nutrient lack or toxicity, stretching from lack of light, etc. Most often you are also growing plants indoors, so the wonderful myriad of beneficial insects and natural influences are not present to help you out. However, being aware of all these aspects could lend itself to some interesting and fun lessons from Nature!

If you'd like to have fresh tomatoes and cucumbers in January, or grow salad greens or wheatgrass, or have a clean indoor garden for houseplants...give hydroponics a try!

Videos About Hydroponics

Videos courtesy of Youtube and Google Video and Copyright to Their Owners