Before building a hydroponic garden, it’s best to have had some hands-on experience with the hydroponic system you intend to use. In the garden, illustrations and instructions are seldom equal to real-life experience. Buying an inexpensive hydroponic system will help you understand your new garden on more than a theoretical level and likely save you time and money.

Basic hydroponic systems

Hydroponic systems can be either active or passive. Active hydroponic systems circulate nutrient solution using equipment such as pumps. Passive hydroponic systems have no moving parts. Instead the nutrient solution is passed to the roots through an absorbent growing medium or wick.

There are many different types of hydroponic gardens, but most are similar to these six:

Wick system

A wick system is a passive hydroponic system. A wick draws the nutrient solution from a reservoir below the growing medium. Wick systems are the easiest hydroponic systems to build, but can’t always keep up with the nutrient demands of larger plants.

Drip system

In hydroponic drip systems, a submersed pump controlled by a timer provides nutrient solution to each plant via a small drip line. Drip systems can be set up to recycle unused nutrient solution, though doing so requires monitoring of pH and nutrient strength levels.

Water culture system

The plants grown in water culture hydroponic systems sit on a platform directly above the nutrient solution, and an air pump propels the nutrient solution up into their roots. Water culture systems are often set up with old or unused aquariums.

Ebb and Flow system

Ebb and Flow is a very popular hydroponic system. A submerged pump operated by a timer fills the growing tray with nutrient solution, which drains back down into the reservoir below. The Ebb and Flow system works best with water-retentive growing mediums such as Rockwool or vermiculite.

Nutrient film system

Also known as nutrient film technique systems or NFT, nutrient film systems feature an unceasing flow of nutrient solution to the plants. Solution is pumped from the reservoir into the growing tray and over the plants’ roots before draining back into the reservoir. A downside to nutrient film systems is that pump failures will cause roots to dry out very quickly.

Aeroponic system

In aeroponic systems, the roots of the plants hang in the air and are sprayed with a mist of nutrient solution every few minutes courtesy of a timer.

I’m sure this is a debatable topic and maybe that’s what we should do is leave it up to you to give us the major pro’s and cons. My thought is that “it can be.” Taking into consideration how your plants are grown, the source and type of nutrients and type of energy you use for light, heat and airflow used for your hydroponic garden.

Hydroponics uses up to one tenth the amount of water for growing an equivalent crop that is field produced.  Hydroponics uses less fertilizer as well.  With less water, you are flushing less fertilizer into the water table through drainage and there is of course no soil erosion to consider. The type of Nutes for your garden is something you can consider. Read the labels, do the research and make the most “green” choice.

The amount of space required for growing hydroponics is smaller as well. I guess a more debatable question might center on energy consumption. Although electricity is considered more Eco friendly than a fossil fuel driven power source, there are energy concerns centering on how you facilitate light and climate control.  Depending on where you live there may be readily available power sources like solar panels, wind turbines or even hydro power.  Some of systems like the Ecogrower Max tout being eco-friendly, growing larger plants more efficiently.

If you are really into going “green,” then work on ”Growing Green,” by doing the research and making the right choices to make your hydroponics garden truly Eco friendly.

People ask all the time if side lighting is needed for hydroponic growing. Or, could they can just use mylar or some other reflective material to do the side lighting, and if it would work just as good. Well, I did a little research and found some interesting information.

Side lighting does make a noticeable difference in plant growth and crop yield. Having reflective materials does work some, but not as good as using direct lighting. Using Mylar, Permaflect or Black & White Poly would help but the reflected light is just not intense enough to make a noticeable difference in the crop yield. It does help in confined areas were you don’t want excessive plant growth however.

The most popular form of side lighting is T5 florescent, these are easy to hang and they run cooler than HID lights and you can get cool or warm bulbs (cool = grow, warm = flower). Adding light to the side allows a larger surface area of the plant to be in contact with direct lighting, which in turn allows more of the plant to grow and bloom, giving larger yields. The down side is they do grow more, so if you are limited in space it could become a problem if the plants out grow your area. Also more lights = more heat so keep in mind airflow, good air movement and venting will be necessary to help maintain the temperature levels in your hydroponic growing area.

So if you have the room, good airflow and you want larger yields definitely add side lighting. It will make a better outcome for your next harvest.

Tim

Many new growers, especially those looking for a new hobby wonder whether they should build or buy a system to start their foray into hydroponics growing. It really depends on you (stating the obvious). It depends on how much disposable time you have on your hands and the reason you want to grow. There are volumes of material on how you can build your own system, starting with a simple bubbler.

The Hydroponic bubbling planter is simple and inexpensive to build. Using the empty plastic bucket container that you might have purchased your pets kitty litter in, a small electric device to aerate and a sharp instrument, you can get to work. Then start bathing your plant roots in oxygen infused nutrient solutions you’ve added to the planter and there you go.

This is way over simplification of course, but you can realistically put a do-it-yourself hydroponics beginner system together very inexpensively. Now weigh the time and effort doing this against the other factors and decide whether to do this or say buy a ready made hydro system like the WaterFarm module for under $50.00.

In both cases you will need to know more and will want to spend the time learning if you really want to get into hydroponics, but this may very well be your first decision. Stating the obvious again… it’s up to you!

Welcome to our new Blog where we will try to give some helpful tidbits and tips for all you hydroponics growers. We’re new at Blogging, so if you can help us by giving us some subjects you’d like us to post about please let us know. 

Where to start with your Hydro Garden?

Well, as the name implies, Hydroponics starts with water.  You must have an adequate water supply for your garden.  Hydroponics systems like Emily’s Garden are good for getting started and growing a small amount of plants. For a more ambitious undertaking and bigger plants you will want to make sure you have plenty of water.  Larger reservoirs are needed and they typically make it easier to balance the PH.

As far as the water supply goes; the options and opinions vary but the general concensus is that you can’t go wrong with an RO (reverse osmosis) system for your hydroponic garden, as long as you provide the correct measurment of nutrients.   You want to add a good, high quality, hydroponic nutrient solution supplying your plants with the proper nutrients in the correct ratios.

Your hydroponics store should be able to tell you exactly which nutrients you need for your type of  system and water supply.