Quick Navigation.If you’re like me, you probably started out in your gardening hobby by growing in soil. I started out with some pepper, and from the local garden store, threw them in some pots and watered them every few days.Watching them grow over the months was an amazing introduction to the magic ofListen to this post on the Epic Gardening Podcast:However, I was hungry for more.I stumbled upon hydroponics through a friend and became fascinated. I was the kid in elementary school who spent his summers at science camps and got microscopes and crystal growing kits for his birthday, so it’s no surprise that as soon as I heard about hydroponics I wanted to give it a try.After some experimentation, I was hooked. It became clear to me that growing hydroponically was vastly superior to using soil both for commercial growers and hobbyists like myself.I put together this list for those of you who are thinking about jumping in to hydroponics from soil gardening. There’s a lot to learn! Space SavingsHydroponics saves an incredible amount of space compared to traditional soil gardening.
Usually, a plant’s roots need space to spread out through the soil. Instead, they are submerged in a bath of oxygenated nutrient solution. Vertical Stacking of Lettuce – Soil Can’t Do That!Imagine if you had everything you needed to eat in a little pill.You didn’t need to hunt around for food or eat three meals a day – you simply popped the pill and your body was dosed with a perfect supply of nutrients.This is what hydroponics provides your plants. Instead of using soil as a carrier for the nutrients your plants need, to surround your plants with perfectly calibrated nutrition all of the time.Because of this, you get to pack your plants closer together, resulting in a huge space savings! Hydroponics Saves WaterLet’s think about how the average soil gardener waters their plants. Usually every few days they dump a good amount of water into their soil, ensuring good penetration into the soil so the roots can suck it up.Sounds great, right?Well, it’s only part of the picture.Some of that water drips out of the bottom of their container or seeps further into the ground.
Some of it evaporates out of the soil.Only a small percentage of the water is used by the plant. Hydroponics solves this problem by using what is called a recirculating nutrient reservoir in most types of systems ( being one of the most popular).This means that a plant’s roots will only take up the amount of water they need at any one time and leave the rest in the reservoir for later. The reservoir is covered to prevent evaporation and no water can seep out of the bottom.This allows the same amount of water that was used to water a plant in soil for a day to water a plant in a hydroponics setup for days or weeks at a time. You can save around 90% of the water used in soil gardening simply by switching to a hydroponic setup. No Weeding NecessaryOne of the most common excuses I hear when someone tells me why they don’t want to garden is:I don’t want to spend all of my time on my hands and knees weeding!Easy solution.
Switch to hydroponics. No soil, no weeds.
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Simple as that. Less Pests and Diseases No Soil = No More of These Bad BoysFollowing that same logic, pests and diseases are drastically reduced in hydroponics. Soil is taken out of the picture and replaced with one of the common. Eliminating soil also eliminates a lot of the different soil borne diseases and pests that plague traditional gardening. Double-Headed Time SavingsThis is my favorite reason of all. Not only does growing hydroponically save you the time of weeding, pest control and watering, it also speeds up the growth of the plant.If you’re growing outdoors, that means you get to squeeze in more harvest cycles before your growing season ends.You also get to observe the growth of plants at a quicker pace and learn about all of the different things you could do to improve the growth much quicker.For example, you can take a head of lettuce from seedling to harvest in around a month in hydroponics compared to two months in soil.
Imagine how much faster you could become a gardening expert with a time savings like that! Gives You EXTREME ControlAll of the reasons above combine to form one uber-powerful mega reason why hydroponics (and all soilless growing, for that matter) absolutely dominates soil gardening: control.You become the master of your plant’s environment. It’s up to you to create the perfect nutrient mixture, temperature, humidity and growing schedule.It’s kind of like that movie “The Truman Show.” You’re the showrunner, and your plants are Truman. You turn the sun on and off. You control when your plants get fed and what they eat.
You’re fully responsible for their well-being. It’s a wonderful thing! You Get To Become a Guerilla Scientist Run Your Own Mini-Lab With a Hydroponics SystemAll of the additional control you have over your growing environment makes for a great way to learn how to grow plants. You can tweak the variables and see how your plants react. You get to customize the “environmental recipe” to whatever plant you’re growing.Believe me when I say that each plant is unique. Figuring out what adjustments you should make to your environment when you’re growing lettuce vs. Basil is like solving a puzzle: you need to make the pieces fit together to produce a great final product.That’s part of the fun of it!
Hydroponics provides a miniature lab for you to conduct any experiment you can dream up. What Are You Waiting For?I’ve given you seven reasons why you should at the very least supplement your soil garden with a hydroponic system. You don’t have to start big. If you’re stuck for ideas, check out my. It’ll walk you through a basic system that produces fresh herbs year round! You can also check out the.Also, if you have any other reasons why hydroponics wins out over soil gardening, feel free to let me know in the comments!Photo Credits (in order): Kanu Hawaii, photochempa, phil and pam. I am a naves and by no means an expert in farming.
I live in Hawaii where approximately 80% of our goods are shipped in. You can imagine we pay a good fortuned for a simple meal compared to main steam USA. I have been conducting my own independent survey regarding hydroponics as an alternative to traditional farming.Based on my survey, I chose hydroponics over traditional farming for the following reasons; a healthier product, environmental friendly, ability to grow produce in the least amount of time and space required.
It will reduces my dependency of purchasing produce from grocery stores thus, a cost saving in the long run.If more people conducted their own independent survey they’ll arrive with the same conclusion that hydroponics is the way to go now and into the future. Mahalo for taking time to write your article. You can rest assure you’ll be placed on my favorite list for updates.
It has advantages but there are just a lot of limitations too. And these reasons aren’t enough for it to “win” against soil.And since you are talking to gardeners one thing hydroponics really fail is in aesthetics.
It just looks really ugly. You might like its sciency aspect but it is a great turn off to most gardeners.Also, the complicated mumbo jumbo. Hydroponics is not intuitive. I’m a science lover but I just want to raise a garden not doing a science experiment.
Guerilla Scientist? I want to be a gardener.And it is really difficult to make those nutrient solutions. You can buy them, but make them yourself? Good luck with that. With hydroponics you’ll end up really dependent on stuff because it is impossible to make a hydroponic garden by your own.Really, in a lot of ways. Hydroponics is a loser.
Hi Kevin:Two questions,: One, in soil farming, organic growers make a distinction between organic nutrients, and chemicals such as ammonium nitrate, etc. Is there any such distinction in hydroponics?Two, what sort of results have you gotten growing high calorie vegetables such as squash, sweet or regular potatoes hydroponically.
How about lima beans or other beans.?The thing is, if you want a survival garden, you can’t just have greens, peppers, etc. You need high caloric and protein crops.thank you. Okay, the plants are bigger with hydroponics so you conclude that hydroponics is better than soil for growing plants.
The flaw in your reasoning is that you “know” exactly what to feed the plants. You might know how to make them grow faster and larger but what you don’t know whether the plants are just as nutritious as soil-grown plants. This is similar to the hubris of Big Agriculture providing plants with N-P-K but stripping the soil of micronutrients with every harvest. It is likely that plants get nutrients from the soil that you cannot replicate with your defined conditions. Hey Gen,You bring up some good points here.
There have been a number of studies analyzing the nutrient composition of hydroponically grown plants vs. Organically grown in soil plants, and a lot of them have found that hydroponic plants are equivalent or better in nutrient density. I agree Big Ag has a lot of hubris, but I disagree that we are “just feeding them NPK” in hydroponics. There are a ton of micronutrients included in many nutrient solutions that give most plants everything they need to survive and thrive. Oh hey, Kevin. Thanks for the info.
I found your site during my research to understand whether hydroponics can produce not only large, beautiful plants, but also nutritious plants. Actually, I don’t mean to imply that hydroponics is as silly as N-P-K growing of plants. But really, what the heck do you feed the plants that can approximate soil? Fish emulsion?
We don’t really understand soil at all–can we approximate its complexity with a defined media? Do we need to?Here is where I’m coming from: It is late August in the Northeastern US and my thought are turning towinter. What the heck am I going to eat this winter without my garden?I can plant some lettuce seeds now in my garden, which is a raised bed with compost-supplemented soil. The lettuce will grow in Aug/Sept to edible size. Then I could try to protect them from the cold during winter and harvest them over the next several months. Protection consisting of hoops and plastic i.e. Build a greenhouse-like cover made of hoops and 6 mil plastic and put a heat sink in there?Or should I grow greens in the windowsills of my home, which I am kind of fond of heating in winter anyway?
Here are the options:1. I can plant a WindowFarm Garden. This method was highlighted in a TED talk a while back.
It is essentially a hydroponic method that uses hanging containers with nutrient solution dripping down and recirculating. But what to feed the plants?2.
I can grow lettuce and other greens with traditional hydroponics? Again, what do I feed the plants?3. I can prepare some window boxes with compost-supplemented soil 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 compost (combine multiple sources of compost to cover all nutritional bases) and grow lettuce and other greens in my south-facing windows.4. Is there any hybrid method that takes advantage of the complexity of compost with the powerful growth potential of hydroponics? I don’t see this information anywhere. Maybe I should do the experiment?. Hey Gen,Sorry for the late response – was on vacation!1.
Window farms are a great beginner method, but I’m not a huge fan of their design. I would feed the plants on a window farm the General Hydroponics Flora 3 part series as it has all of the macro and micro nutrients that a plant needs.2. Same as above3. Sounds like you’re using Mel’s Mix there. I worked hands on with him for a year! More is better – why not add the window boxes and grow greens in them?4. If you want, you can feed your hydroponic systems compost tea and get some of the benefits of compost.
The reason hydroponics is so fast is because plants don’t have to work to get the nutrients out of the soil, and they’re consistently watered (with adequate oxygen as well). I haven’t seen a soil method (yet) that can grow plants as quickly, so I can’t help you out there!Hope those answers help!.
Nutrients for Hydroponic SystemsHydroponicnutrients are different than nutrients for growing plants in soil. Soilnutrients don't contain all the micro-elements the plants need. Theydon't because the micro-elements are in abundance in the soil, so therenot added to nutrients designed for soil grown plants. You'll neednutrients designed for growing plants in hydroponic systems.
There aremany brands and types on the market to choose from, and most are justover priced. While liquid fertilizers tend to be easier to use, dryfertilizers are much cheaper to use because your not paying for the toship all that water in the liquid fertilizers to the stores. For moreinformation about finding economical hydroponic nutrients, andhydroponic nutrients in general, visit this page.
PH Test Kits versus Electronic pH test MetersThereare many different electronic pH test meters on the market. Howevergood electronic pH test meters expensive and often wind upgiving you false readings, even if they are calibrated often andstored properly. General Hydroponics makes very good pH drops (picturedright).The pH test drops wont give you falsereadings, they don’t need to be calibrated, you don't need to buycalibration fluid for pH drops, don't need special care to storeproperly, and only cost between $6 and $8 depending on where you getthem. Even of you buy an electronic pH test meter, make sure tohave some pH test drops on hand so you can verify the readings yourelectronic test meter is giving you if there is any question about it'saccuracy.Most hydroponic supply stores will want to sell youthe electric meters, and do so saying that they are more accurate, orthe pH drop kits are hard to read.
But the truth is you simply don'tneed to measure the pH down to the nearest tenth of a point. And theyare very easy to read the results.
The plants just need to be within arange like 5.5 to 6.5, not down to a specific tenth like 6.2. The dropswill last a long time as well, they don't expire. The directions say tofill the vile ½ way and add 3 drops. But if you just fill the vialabout ¼ inch and use just one drop, you'll get the same color, andthey’ll even last three times longer. PH adjusterspHadjusters are what you will need to adjust the pH if it isn’t withinrange. Make sure you get pH adjusters designed for hydroponics.
Don'ttry using pH adjusters for soil, or household products like whitevinegar or baking soda. Anything other than pH adjustors designed forhydroponics wont be stable, and constantly adding different things toyour nutrient solution is a bad thing. For a list of pH ranges fordifferent types of plants visit these pages:Likewith the nutrients, liquid pH adjustors are more expensive than thedry adjustors. Both General Hydroponics and Earth Juice make verygood and inexpensive dry adjustors. A little goes a long way.Depending on how much you grow and the water quality you use, onepound of the dry adjustors will probably last you between 6 months to2 years.
Make sure to get both pH up and pH down, even if you don'tthink you will need both. There will be times when you over adjust,and you'll need to bring the pH back the other way. Pump TimersFormost hydroponic systems you will need a timer to run the water pump. Ageneral purposes heavy duty (15 amp) light timer works fine. Werecommend 15 amp timers because in our experience we have had the 10amp timers burn out, and the 15 amp timers don't cost but a dollar orso more depending on where you get it. Manufactures generally calltimers that can handle 15 amps “heavy duty.” Though it isn’t alwaysnecessary, we prefer to use indoor-outdoor timers as well, theirgrounded and help protect against electrical shorts. Basically theirsafer to use around water.Also we would recommend using theless expensive dial (mechanical) timers, rather than the more expensivedigital timers.
Unless your digital timer takes a separate battery tohold memory when the power goes out. It's happened to us in the pastwhen even a short 2 second power outage wipes out any memory in thedigital timer, then nothing gets watered, even after the power comesback on. Besides the possible power outage, the same thing happenswhenever you unplug it for any reason. Like just taking it into theother room to change the settings.
Mechanical timers will just pickright back up when the power is restored, and don’t have memory toloose.Notall timers are the same, make sure the one you get has many settings.Some timers come with only a few pins around the dial. That willseverely limit your options for on/off cycles. We wouldn’t evenconsider a timer unless it has pins all the way around the dial likethe one in the picture on the right. Preferably with 15 minute minimumon/off times rather than the more common 30 minute minimums. 30 minuteminimum on/off time settings will usually be fine, but 15 minuteminimums will give you more flexibility. When you need to use timer for the water pumpYou'llneed a pump timer for any Ebb & Flow (Flood and Drain) system, Dripsystem, Aeroponic system, and sometimes some people use them in NFTsystems as well. Water Culture systems use an air pump which is leftrunning 24/7 (so no timer is used in water culture systems), and Wicksystems don't use any pumps at all.For Ebb & Flow, Drip,and NFT systems the general purposes heavy duty light timers are fine.While NFT systems don't use a pump timer by definition because thewater is left continuously flowing through the system 24/7.
Somegrowers still like to use timers in their NFT systems.Foraeroponic systems true aeroponic system uses high water pressure tospray a fine mist (around 60-90 psi), and a true aeroponic systems usea special type of timer called a “cycle timer” that is designed to goon and off frequently, the timer is usually set to a specific “cycle.”As an example, it might only be set to go on for 30 seconds, but set tospray the roots every 5 minutes. So the cycle would be 30 secondson, and 5 minutes off, cycling on and off all 24 hours a day like that.Most people use low pressure in their aeroponic systems. Mainlybecause it's much cheaper to use a low pressure pump. If your pumpdoesn’t have a psi rating, it's a low pressure pump.
You still spraythe roots with spray heads, however they are more like sprinkler heads,and the water droplet size is much larger because of the lowerpressure. Although you can still use a cycle timer in a low pressureaeroponic system, a regular general purposes heavy duty light timer canwork as well, as long as it has enough settings. Usually a timer withpins all the way around the dial, and with 15 minute on/off times. Thensetting it for 15 min on and 15 off all day. How often to water the plants in your hydroponic systemHowoften to water the plants in a hydroponic system is one of the mostasked questions.
But both the easiest and hardest question to answer atthe same time. Simply because the only real specific answer to thatquestion that fits every situation is the general rule of thumb, “longenough to get the roots wet, but not so long they suffocate.”Everybody’ssituation is different, as well as the type of system their growing in,how they built the system, type of growing media their using, how muchof it, type of plants their growing, their temperature and humiditylevels etc. There are just to many variables to give a one sizefits all answer to that question, other than a general rule of thumb.Mostnew growers tend to try and over-think how much to water their plants,and if they stick to the general rule of thumb (“long enough to get theroots wet, but not so long they suffocate”), they will be fine.
That'swhy having a timer that gives you flexibility in your settings isbeneficial.If the growing media and roots seem to be gettingto dry between watering, increase the frequency that you water them. Ifthey always seem to be very wet, cut back on your watering times andsee what happens. You can always increase or decrease it again. Everygrower will quickly learn what's best for their situation, type ofsystem their growing in, growing media, etc., as well as develop theirown preferences. Plants are highly adaptable, so don't over-think it.WateringHowoften and how long to water is a good question, but has so manyvariables like air temperature, water temp, type of growing mediumused, type of plants (do they mind wet feet), how big the plants are,humidity etc.
That there's simply no real straightforwardanswer, except to say the goal is to water long enough to get the roots(and growing medium) wet, but not so long that the roots suffocate fromlack of air/oxygen. Also to water often enough that they never dry out.If you see sings of wilting they are either well past dry, or to wetand suffocating.Basically speaking, the roots just needenough moisture that they can absorb enough water to support the plantsfoliage. Bigger plants need more moisture (because they have a lot morefoliage to support). Plants growing in dry conditions use more waterthan those growing in more humid conditions. Some growing medias holdmoisture much better than others, thus don't need to be watered asoften etc. So just keep the growing media moist/damp.Dependingon the time of year (daily highs and lows), for this system I let itwater for 30 minutes on, and between one and two and a half hours off.Just check the moistness of the growing medium.
You will probably wantto try setting the timer for different settings to find what works bestfor your plants, as well as your local conditions. Watering at night(during hours of darkness) is not typically necessary, because plantsonly suck up water during light periods.
But I typically water a coupleof times during the night in any system anyway, just to keep thingsmoist. Water level in your hydroponic systemThewater level of your hydroponic system will vary depending on the typeof system your growing in, as well as the type of growing media yourusing.
The type of growing media makes a difference because some willabsorb and hold moisture better than others. In any hydroponic systemthe goal is to keep the roots moist, but not let the stem stay wet sothe plant develops stem rot.Flood and Drain SystemsWitha flood and drain system where the water floods the plants containerfrom the bottom, you generally want the water level to be abouttwo inches below the top of the growing media when the system isflooded. If your using a growing media like rockwool that becomessaturated easily, you may want it even lower.
Growing Cannabis Indoors Hydroponically
Basically the very top ofthe growing media should be almost dry to avoid stem rot, but a coupleinches down where the plants main root-ball is should bemoist. NFT SystemsNFTsystems typically just run a continuous thin layer of water along thebottom of a trough or tube. Just a millimeter or two deep. Butdepending on how you set up your NFT system, type of plants, and ifyour using much growing media the, your water depth may vary. If theroots are able to wick up enough moisture to keep the growing mediaslightly moist, your fine. But if the the growing media is saturated,you may need to reduce the water flow through the tube/trough, or tiltit more to get the water to flow faster. Or even do something to keepthe roots from blocking the water flow through the system.Drip SystemsThewater depth in a drip system isn’t really a concern because the wateris supposed to drip/trickle down from the top of the growing media tothe bottom of the plant container, then back to the reservoir.
So whenworking properly, the water never actually builds up in the plantsgrowing container, the water just moistens the growing media as itdrips downward.But depending on how you designed your dripsystem, and if the roots begin to clog your drain lines, you may getwater pooling in the bottom of the plants container or even overflowingbecause it can't drain back properly. Make sure you check your drainlines regularly for clogging roots. Especially when they get big, andunclog them before the roots can build up to much. Just a quickdisconnect from the container, then cut and poke through the opening isall that's needed.If your plants container is deep enough, aninch or so of water pooling in the bottom wont be a problem saturatingthe growing media.
If your concerned about the growing media becomingsaturated from pooling water, you can fill the bottom of the containerwith a couple of inches of river rock to aid drainage and keep it fromtouching the water in the bottom.Water Culture systemsInwater culture systems the roots remain submerged under water 24/7, butnot quite all of them. The baskets or cubes holding the plants aresuspended above the water. Usually on floating Styrofoam rafts, orthrough holes in a stationary lid of a container. In either case youwant the basket positioned so the growing medium can wick up a littlemoisture so it remains slightly moist, but wont become saturated. Sothe type of growing media makes a big difference.
The splashing of theair bubbles as they break the surface of the water sprays little waterdroplets on the bottom of the baskets/grow cubes. If you have enoughair bubbles going, that should be enough to keep the bottom of mosttypes of growing media moist without actually touching the water.Theunderwater roots in water culture systems get oxygen from all the airbubbles from the air pump and air stones in two ways, that way theywont suffocate.
Some of the fresh air bubbles will rise up through theroots as they rise to the top of the water, in doing so making directcontact with the roots as they do (the more the better). Also as theair bubbles rise, they transfer oxygen molecules directly into thewater itself, called “dissolved oxygen” that the plants can absorbthrough roots as well.Aeroponic systemsThewater level in aeroponic systems doesn’t really apply. Basicallybecause the roots are hanging in mid air, and are never actuallysubmerged. The timing of how frequently you water the roots so theynever have a chance to dry out is what's important in aeroponicsystems.Wick SystemsWithwick systems the water level in the plants container doesn’t reallyapply, other than you always want the wick to be submerged in water.Moisture is wicked up into the plants growing container through a wick.Usually some type of felt fabric. The water never gets a chance tobuild up and saturate the growing media. But the moisture level in thegrowing media can be controlled.
Simply by using a larger or smallerfelt wick, or using more than one to get even more water to wick up.Also using a good moisture absorbing growing media like coco fiber orcoco chips will aid in moisture retention in wick systems as well. What size reservoir to use in your hydroponic systemUsingthe right size reservoir is very important to growing successfully inhydroponic systems. If your reservoir is to small, that could cause youa number of problems. So sizing a reservoir for the type of plants yourgrowing, as well as how many your growing in your system is key. Thegeneral rule of thumb for smaller plants like lettuce or strawberry’setc.
Is a minimum of ½ gallon of nutrient solution per plant in thesystem. For larger mid range size plants like herbs or bush varietiesof peppers etc., a minimum of 1 to 1.5 gallons of nutrient solution perplant in the system. And for large plants like tomato’s, largervarieties of peppers, melons, cucumbers, squash etc., a minimum of 2.5gallons of nutrient solution per plant in thesystem.Nowthose are just minimum recommendations. We always try and double theminimum recommendations. You don't need to fill the reservoir all theway up while the plants are small, but you'll need the full watervolume when the plants get bigger and begin to reach full size.Starting with a reservoir that will be big enough to begin with is mucheasier (and cheaper) than replacing one that is to small with a biggerone later.If your reservoir is to small for the plants asthey get bigger, you'll wind up dealing with problems you don't needto.
Problems like large pH swings, needing to replace water to yourreservoir daily as the plants drink it up, constant nutrientconcentration fluctuations, even temperature fluctuations. All of whichcan lead plant stress and deficiency’s. Water QualitySaveyourself the potential for a lot of headaches, and use a good qualityfiltered water from the beginning. Don't underestimate the importanceof the water quality you use for your hydroponic systems, it can make abig difference in the health of your plants.
Tap water, well water,stream water, rain water all have the p otential for problems. Even though water filtered through a water softener is basically pathogen andbacteria free, as well as most of the dissolved minerals have beentaken out. It has trace amounts of salt (sodium chloride) that is toxicto plants, even in trace amounts.
Some plants will tolerate it betterthan others, but the salt will build up in your hydroponic systems overtime.Tap water can contain any number of chemicals, minerals,and even that can build up to toxic levels. It can even have pathogensand fungi spores in it. Using tap water cause many diseases, mineraltoxicity, and wide pH swings. Rain water can contain all sorts ofpathogens, bacteria, fungi, chemicals from smog, and even saltfrom places near the ocean. Well and stream water not only can containall kinds of unwanted minerals, but it also can contain a ton ofmicroorganisms, soil borne diseases, bacteria and fungi etc. That youcould introduce to your plants. Once you do they can be just aboutimpossible to get rid of.So doyourself a favor and start with a good quality filtered water to beginwith.
RO water would be the best choice. If you don't have a RO system,then invest in a good water filtrationsystem. You can even build your own filtration system like we did usingthe water filter canisters that take replaceable filter cartridges. Weeven added quick connect couplers to make it quick and easy to connectto the hose when we needed it.If you do, makesure to have at least 3 filters. First, a sediment filter. Second, aactivated charcoal filter, Third an 'absolute one micron' filter (0.5microns). The better filters you use, the better your water qualitywill be.
If you cant afford a filtration system, you can buy water fromthe machines at the grocery store. You don't know how often they changetheir filters and if they keep up the maintenance on them. But at leastit went through a filtration system and better than the other options.
Artificial Lighting used for HydroponicsIfyou cant grow your hydroponic plants in natural sunlight, you'll needartificial lighting to grow them. Electricity isn't free, so we try anduse natural sunlight as much as possible. But if weather conditions,space issues etc. Prevent you from being able to do so, artificiallighting would be necessary. There are a wide variety of lightingavailable for hydroponic plants. Some being better for some plants, andother lighting better for others. But that's an entire subject all byitself, you can find out a lot more about artificial lighting types forhydroponics, as well as growing plants with them on our page.
Water Temperatures and Oxygen for the rootsThenutrient solution is more than just a simple mix of elements in waterthat feed the root systems. It's also part of the environment for theroot system (root zone). The root system environment is just asimportant as the above ground environment of the foliage, if not evenmore important.Along with the mineral elements,the nutrient solution will also contain microorganisms (both good andbad ones). They get in there both through the air, as well as fromanything that has been placed in it that wasn't sterilized first,even from your hands. Microscopic microorganisms, bacteria, fungispores etc. Are on everything and in the air everywhere, and their justlooking for a nice place to grow and multiply (like in your nutrientsolution).The.
That's optimum, if it's a littleabove or below that you should still be fine. When the water (and rootzone) temperature gets in the low 80's and higher, Some negative thingsbegin to happen. Pathogens (bad microorganisms) like and thrive in warmwater, then they begin to outnumber the good ones. Bacteria and fungithrive in warm water as well. Another problem with high water temps isthe plant itself begins to suffer from heat stress, and generallyabort fruiting just trying to stay alive. Also the higher the watertemperature, the less of an ability the water itself has to hold ontodissolved oxygen molecules. The plant needs to absorb these oxygenmolecules for plant growth, as well not to suffocate.
Especiallyimportant in water culture systems where the roots are submerged in thenutrient solution 24/7.Using an aquarium air pump with theair stone in your nutrient solution can help in two ways. First itreplaces the oxygen molecules that the plants absorb. The bigger theplant the more oxygen the plant absorb, and you can never get to muchoxygen to the root systems. Second is that pathogens are reduced in theoxygen rich water, but beneficial microorganisms thrive.Lowwater temperatures aren't as bad for your plants, but will stunt andslow the plants growth. Once the temp gets in the 50's it will becomenoticeable, and in the 40's the plants growth gets really slow. If yourwater temps are getting to low, you can use an aquarium heater to warmit up.
But make sure it doesn't come in contact with a plastic surfaceor it could melt a hole in it, also make sure it remains submerged allthe time. If not, the glass can crack and break.