Hydroponic gardening is a way of growing plants which gives us the ability to control all aspects of it's growth and development, ensuring that the plant is allowed everything it needs to flourish to a far greater extent than had it been grown naturally in soil.
The reasons for this staggering growth are the ability, crucially, to allow the roots of the plant open access to oxygen because they are in direct contact with the air, plus the ability to provision the plants with an unlimited supply of nutrients, added directly into the water supply, which in turn is also unlimited.
In addition a sterile environment means the plants remain free of soil carried disease and careful monitoring of the plants environment ensures complete control. Indoor gardening
It follows that if the advantages of hydroponics are based on maintaining a high level of control over certain aspects of a plant's environment, then to maximise results further you must have the same level of control over the other aspects of that environment. Namely, temperature, light and humidity. This can only be done by growing plants indoors.
These days all the tools you need to grow plants indoors are readily available, and technological advances mean they are improving all the time. Lighting systems, fans, Co2 generators and atmospheric controllers combined with a quality hydroponic system mean that you can supply your plants with the optimum environment for their growth, which can be tailored to suit the speeches you are growing. In Britain, where our climate can alter drastically in a matter of hours and our levels of sunlight are often limited by cloud cover, indoor gardening is and ideal solution.
Passive: The easiest hydroponics system, requiring no power. Can be effective in an undemanding situation, but in general is less effective than an active system.
NFT: Nutrient Film Technique is the name given to a system of growing plants in a continuously circulating nutrient solution without the use of any solid growing medium. One of the simplest ways to grow hydroponically, NFT is as economical as it is productive and is very popular.
Ebb and Flood: This involves growing plants in an inert medium such as Rockwool, Perlite or clay pebbles. As the name suggest the cultivation area is flooded and then allowed to drain into a reservoir. As the nutrient solution drains oxygen is drawn around the roots in its place. Electronics control the regularity of the process.
Dripper: Popular among commercial horticulturalists, this system continuously drips nutrient solution over an inert growing media [clay pebbles, rockwool or foam]. Excess solution can then be recirculated and reused. A common means of growing hydroponically although lacking the aesthetics of Ebb and Flood and the simplicity of NFT.
To find out more about what is the right hydroponic system for you select a page from the list below:
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