Landscaping & Gardening Information | home | site map | contact us |
Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction To Hydroponics Gardening For Beginners (part 4) Environment
THE BASICS OF HYDROPONICS. The Success or Failure of Your Plants Depends On Their Environment The environment, or climate, in which your plants are grown is one of the most important factors affecting your end results. The temperature and humidity have to be right for the type of crop you are raising, the lighting has to be of sufficient intensity and duration for the stage your crop has reached. These and many other factors have to be considered before you can hope to grow a healthy and productive crop. Let's look briefly at the various factors involved. Growing plants indoors means that you have to create similar conditions to those outside. This may seem obvious at first glance, but is it true? Askyourself what the advantages of Hydroponics gardening are. The outside climate is very varied and does not always work to the plant's advantage.For example a bad storm or a late frost can damage or kill tender young plants. One of the major advantages of hydroponics gardening is that you can control the climate within the grow room. This means that you can supply your plants with the ideal conditions for their healthy growth, throughout their lives. This ensures a good healthy yeild and a biggerprofit margin. So what do you need? Having decided upon which type of hydroponics system to use, you now need to promote the right growing conditions. All healthy plants require a good supply of water and balanced nutrients. They need the right kind of light, for the right period of time, each day. Your plants will need some kind of support for their structure, especially as they mature and grow heavy with harvestable produce. Like outdoor plants they also need thetemperature to be within a certain range. Too cold and your plants will not thrive, but remain poor stunted things. Too hot and they may well dry out, then their leaves will wither and the plants die. The addition of Carbon Dioxide gas (CO2) may be advisable to promote Photosynthesis within the green leaves of your plants. Finally some form of clean fresh air circulation is needed to ensure that your crop can breathe. Like you, your plants need Oxygen for life. They breathe it in through their tissues and like you, can become sick if it is dirty or contaminated. So, taking these factors one at a time, how can we create the optimum conditions for our plants? Firstly water and a good supply of balanced nutrients are essential. Which nutrient to buy and how to use it? This again is a major question to some people. My advice to you would be to go with a nutrient that you can understand and are comfortable using. As you gain experience and confidence you can experiment with other methods and suppliers at will. Lighting is another key area that seems to cause newcomers a problem. The type of light and the number of daylight hours are determined by the speciesof plants you are cultivating and their stage of development. Young seedlings and cuttings, for example, need much softer light than do plants about to flower. Equitorial plants will generally need a higher light intensity for a longer period than will plants from the regions where days and growing seasons are short. Ask your hydroponics supplier for helpin any of the areas you are unsure of. He will be pleased to assist you. When looking at lighting you also need to take into account the area to be covered and whether the lights are to be static or moving. A Brief Word Of Warning. Poor quality lighting systems can be very dangerous and accidents are more likely to occur if the person who sets up the equipment is not particular about safety. Always buy quality assured electrical equipment that carriesthe safety mark for your country. Do not risk your life or the lives of those you love just to save a few pounds or dollars. IF IN DOUBT CONSULT A PROFESSIONAL ELECTRICIAN Plants can be supported in a variety of ways, by using frames and tying the plant stems to them at regular intervals using plastic ties. Automatic reels can be bought which makes the job a lot easier. They consist of a spring loaded reel of cord with a hook arrangement that fixes to the ceiling, or a top runner, and a hook or loop to tie to the top area of the plant stem. As the plant grows so the slack in the cord is taken up by the reel. Depending on your growing system the roots will either be supported or not. If no support is used, for example in a water culture system, then the plant should be supported at or near the base of the stem, to stop it lifting if reel supports are used. And so to the temperature control in your artificial climate. The optimum temperature for your plants will again vary with both genus and species. Askyour supplier what this should be. Now you will need devise a system to maintain the temperature within the optimum top and bottom limits. This can be achieved by either a series of fans and/or heaters together with various other pieces of equipment such as timers, controllers, monitors and CO2 dosers, or by a commercially produced environmental control system. These ready made systems come in a variety of price options designed to suit almost every pocket.In general, the more you are prepared to spend, the more sophisticated the systems that are available to you. Fresh air requirements for your grow room are normally provided using a fan assisted ducting system . This introduces clean air from the outside, via a filter to remove impurities. An Ozone generator is often used to improve the supply of oxygen and neutralize any noxious odours. Another similar ducting system then extracts the dirty air back to the outside, again via a filter to remove impurities and cut down on unwelcome odours. Humidifiers can be used, if needed, to increase the amount of airborne water vapour. Copyright (C) 2004, 2005 - John R Haughton. A partner in a thriving retail hydroponics supply business, Rickie Haughton is the owner of hydroponics-gardening-information.com which aims to cater for all levels of expertise in the field of hydroponics gardening. The website is packed with good content about all aspects off hydroponics gardening and offers a free hydroponics Club membership to all subscribers.
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
The Benefits of Using Landscape Software If you enjoy making your yard as beautiful as it can be or if you own a landscaping service, you may want to consider investing in landscape software.What is landscape software?Landscape software allows you to come up with new designs for your landscaping needs and to view them as a finished product to decide if they are right for you. Invite Spring Early - Grow in Your Basement Now's the time to get ready to grow your own seedlings! It's not really difficult, and can extend your growing season by many weeks. For example, by planting brassica's (cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower) in February in your basement under grow-lights, you can put large, sturdy transplants into your garden by the end of March or early April, and be eating them when others are just seeing them come up! However, remembering that photosynthesis, using light, heat and moisture causes plant growth, you must follow a few key natural principles very carefully, or you will be disappointed. Drying Roses There are many reasons why you might want to dry your roses. Some people just want to keep a memento of a special moment. Garden Swings Create an Enchanted Garden Setting Nothing invites one to sit and enjoy a lovingly created and tended garden quite the way that a garden swing does. Only from the perch of a gently swaying garden swing can one fully appreciate the bounty of nature complete with the subtle flowery and earthy smells of the garden. 7 Factors Needed for a Compost Pile Compost, made from decomposed grass clippings, leaves, twigs, and branches, becomes a dark, crumbly mixture of organic matter.Learn how composting works. Fuchsia procumbens Fuchsia (named after Leonhard Fuchs, a 16th century German botanist) is a genus of over 100 species of shrubs and small trees. Although there are four New Zealand native species (colensoi, excorticata, perscandens and procumbens) and one from Tahiti, the vast bulk of the genus occurs in Central and South America. Gardening During Hard Times or Emergencies - You Can Feed Yourself! Do you ever worry about always having to rely on getting seeds and fertilizer from the store? What would you do in a survival situation, if you could not go to a store to purchase these things?Let's compare it to your food supply. What would you do about your store-purchased food? Many wise people buy more than they need of food items that store well, and create a "year's supply" of the essentials in their basement or other cool, dry place. Poly Tarps: More Than Meets The Eye To many people, "tarp" conjures an image of a crumpled canvas in the corner of the garage, or maybe that shiny blue plastic sheet in the hardware store.But tarps are the beneficiary of some of the best technology in textile and chemical treatments. How to Find and Work With a Porch Swing Contractor To Install the Porch Swing of Your Dreams You've found a great Porch Swing and you know exactly where you want to put it, and it's not on the Porch. If you're a Do-it-Yourselfer, no problem. Ship Ahoy! The Nautical Touch in Your Outdoor Living Space Would you rather be sailing or are you strictly a shore bird? Whether you're land-locked or seaside, you can create a nautical look in your outdoor living space by following a few easy principles. You'll find that even landlubbers can answer the siren song of the sea. The Tools of Rose Gardening Like any job you tackle, it's always easier if you have the right tools. Before heading out to your rose garden, make sure you arm yourself with these basic rose gardening tools. Hummingbirds ? Attracting Those Little Flying Powerhouses It's early in May a beautiful fairly warm day so I've decided to enjoy it and sit on the front porch.While relaxing in a rocking chair with my eyes closed, just enjoying the sun and early warmth I begin to hear a sound off in the distance. How to Make Your Backyard a Wonderland Oasis Home and garden accessories make the difference between house and home. Unfortunately, quality accessories can be notoriously expensive and in today's economy, finding beauty at a price one can afford is sometimes difficult but can be done. Planting Bare Root Roses Before planting, the plants must be prepared. The following suggestions will help insure that your roses grow into healthy bushes, trees, etc. How to Grow Snow Peas Snow peas may have been named because in bright sunlight their light green pods look as if they might be tinged with frost. One of the oldest vegetables, the earliest recorded pea was grown in 9750 BC on the Thai-Burma border. Basics of Pruning Roses Pruning your roses does not need to be a dreaded task. Follow these tips and make rose pruning an easy gardening job. Cast Aluminum Furniture In days gone by, outdoor furniture was cast from iron. Today, cast aluminum furniture is used more often. Riding Lawn Mowers Most riding lawn mowers are machines fun ride and extremely cool to look at. However, they are just a dream for many gardeners who can not afford one of these powerful gardening equipment. A Beautiful Rose Is Natures Gift Roses are one of natures most beautiful and splendid gifts. Roses come in a variety of colors and scents, from deep, deep red to the brightest yellow. What to Feed Your Fish During Colder Winter Months With air and water temperatures dropping in most parts of the country, now is the time to greatly reduce the amount of food you are feeding your fish.When your water temperature starts falling below 65 degrees, you should consider switching your fish food to a more digestible wheat germ food. |
home | site map | contact us |