Smart Gardening Tips

Hydroponics Drip systems belong to those most frequently used worldwide. They are often employed in commercial facilities and provide good yields of long-term plants and vegetables as, for example, peppers and tomatoes. Drip hydroponic systems offer even better aeration rates than flood and drain systems, due to the partial dipping of the plants roots, which are, at the same time, protected from drying out. Additional aeration, created by water splashing down into the reservoir, is also present. 

Drip hydroponic systems have something in common with the yard drip irrigation system. The ducting from the pump branches out into smaller tubes, which supply nutrients to many plants. Nutrient rich water drips near the base of each plant stem. Then it flows down into the growing medium, where it can be easily absorbed by the roots of the plants. The access of the solution tickles down into the reservoir.

Hydroponic Drip systems can be on all the time; however, many gardeners prefer to water the plants for an hour and then turn the system off for another hour. The systems are also controlled with the timers, set according to the gardener’s preferences. Often it is recommended to experiment with the system to find out what schedule is best for the particular kind of plants you are growing.  

Building Your Own Drip System

It is very easy to build and modify the drip systems. In addition, they are inexpensive. One of the most convenient ways is to arrange your system as follows: the plants are grown in the pots with the growing medium. Individual pots are then placed on a tray, underneath of which is a reservoir for nutrient solution. The latter is supplied with the help of a pump.

The main tube, connected to the pump, can be ½ inches wide. It is also possible to use several similar tubes to branch off this line. Try to make the ducting as smooth as possible with the help of the ½ inches connectors/tees/elbows, avoiding kinks. Do not forget to block each tube with ½ inches compression end cap. Then put the tubes along the top edges of the pots.

Next step is to connect the drip rings to the ducting. For this purpose define the places where the drippers should be and pierce the holes there. Upon connecting the drippers make sure that they are facing down.

Plug in and turn on the pump to check whether the hydroponic Drip system is working properly.



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Hydroponics vs Soil Grown Plants

The benefits, offered by hydroponics, are pretty simple, yet impressive: one can receive 200-1000% increase in yield with only half of time and space requirements in comparison to traditional soil horticulture. Absence of soil also results in protection of growing plants against pests, commonly living in soil. In hydroponic systems, plants receive all the necessary nutrients through hydroponics nutrient solution and never suffer lack of water. As the result, hydroponic plants concentrate of producing fruits instead of growing large roots to extract water and nutrients from the soil. Hydroponic plants have smaller roots in comparison to common plants, which grow in soil. This allows increasing the density of plants in your garden. It is also a proven fact, that food products, produced in indoor hydroponic systems, are cleaner and have longer shelf life.

Usually, hydroponic plants can grow both indoor and outdoor; furthermore, even a loft, cellar, or closet can be turned into a garden with hydroponic system.

There are two major subtypes of hydroponic plants: solution and medium cultures. Solution culture does not require any growing medium for its growing; the only thing necessary is nutrient solution. Among solution cultures aeroponics, static and continuous flow cultures are defined. Medium culture needs a particular growing medium to grow in, for example, rockwool, sand or gravel. In most cases, the growing medium is contained within a reservoir, made from plastic. However, glass, metal or wooden containers are also used. The only requirement to hydroponic container is that it should not let light pass.

History of Hydroponics

Hydroponics as a term was first mentioned in the middle of the previous century to identify a method of plants growing without soil in the special growing medium. However, the method itself has roots in the prehistoric times. The Floating Gardens of Aztecs and those of the Chinese, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, perceived much as the myth only, and the flooding of the Egyptian Nile may now be treated as the very first attempts of hydroponic gardening. Moreover, even ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic records, which are actually documents, not myths, mention the ways of growing plants in water.

Thus, it would be unfair to say hydroponics is a brand new method of gardening: even Da Vinci made much progress in creating what we now call “hydroponic gardening”. At the same time, research of the last decades has significantly explained and improved the nuts and bolts of this agricultural option, actually, reviving it. This process started during World War II thanks to the government financing, and in the 50th of the 20th century it gained worldwide popularity. Just for the record: these days the incidence of hydroponically grown fruits and vegetables occupy about 65% of all those sold in the UK stores, and about 90% of the sold cut fresh flowers are grown with the help of hydroponics and HPS grow lights.   

Among the researchers who worked on creating the ideal conditions for plants growing was a Belgian scientist Jan van Helmont, who discovered in 1600 that plants receive elements for the normal growth from water. Robert Boyle from Ireland managed to grow plants in the bottles with water, which is recorded in the documents dated 1666. 33 years later a notable discovery was made by the English scholar John Woodward, who found out that various constituents from different types of soils were also of vital importance for the plants growth. Thus, he made a valuable contribution to the work started by Jan van Helmont. Unfortunately, the absence of the necessary equipment prevented John Woodward from proceeding with his work.   

With the development of chemistry the world got to know that plants consist of chemicals obtained from air, soil, and water as food and the materials for the proper growth. This real breakthrough was made by the French scientist Nicolas de Saussure in 1804. Jean Boussingault, his fellow countryman, made much progress in studying plants growth in various types of medium, as quartz, charcoal, and sand. That was he who found out that dry plant material is mainly made of hydrogen and carbon dioxide, received from the air.

Knowing the plants’ chemical structure and the ingredients necessary for the growth scientists became curious whether it was possible to grow plants without soil.

The scientists who succeeded in this task were Germans Sachs and Knop, who managed to grow plants in water solution in 1860’s. They called their invention “nutriculture”. Many years passed till the real interest to the “nutriculture” appeared. The pioneers of the greenhouse industry fully understood its cons and helped in the further improvement of the method between years 1925 and 1935.

The first effort to turn laboratory “nutriculture” into a commercial product was first made by Dr. William F. Gericke, who explored soilless plant growing at University of California Davis and was very successful. It was Dr. Gericke, who first used the term “hydroponics”, which means “waterworking” in Greek. Since then, the public interest to hydroponic gardening spread rapidly around the world.  It is interesting to note that even the U.S. Army had special units, whose main duty was to grow hydroponics and provide fruits and vegetables for kitchen. In the military environment it is not always possible to grow plants in a traditional way, so hydroponic systems and hydroponic supplies was chosen as the way to grow plants virtually anywhere.



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