Hydroponics Garden

You are familiar with all the basics of hydroponics gardening. What next, you might ask. You know how t balance your nutrient solution so that it stays at the right pH and can give your plants good light and set perfect temperatures. Your hydroponics system has been successful, but since you are a go-getter, you’re always looking for ways to improve the functioning of your hydroponics system and maximize profits. Let us go over some popular methods hydroponics growers might use to reach more advanced stages of hydroponics growing.
LED Grow Lights are the next big thing in hydroponics lighting systems. They help your plant get lots of light and grow strong. Studies show that plants growing under such lights grow stronger and faster. Their growth is much better than those of hydroponics plants grown under traditional hydroponic indoor lights. Also, there are other benefits. The energy consumed by LED lights is less, so your electricity bills go down drastically. So while LED lights cost more to buy, they save you so much more money in the long run.
CO2 Generators are slightly expensive and require astute mathematical skills to be used optimally, but working them the right way could give you some of the biggest yields you have ever seen. The generator will be one of your biggest hydroponics investments but is also capable of phenomenally profitable results. A CO2 supply of over 1500 ppm is dangerous as it could hurt your hydroponics garden by restricting plant access to other vital nutrients.
Root Boosters are for those who really want to take their hydroponics system to the next level. The bigger and more complicated your root system is, the more nutrients it will safely absorb, becoming healthier as it grows more tangled. Root boosters are full of bacteria that help roots use nutrients like nitrogen more efficiently. This extra boost of nutrients goes a long way in helping your roots grow thicker and stronger.
Foliar feeding helps your plants absorb nutrients from multiple points, helping your hydroponics system grow thick and strong. The leaves of plants are covered with pores called stomata that can absorb nutrients. This can lead to even more hydroponics nutrients absorbed by your plant. Use a surfactant that lets nutrients coat your plants more evenly, leading to better absorption of hydroponics nutrients.

Hydroponics Nutrients

Hydroponics works by growing plants in static growth media or solution cultures. Nutrition has to be added to the water or growth medium. The nutrients used for hydroponic growing are called hydroponic nutrients. They are often sourced from fertilizer-like hydroponic nutrient products designed to aid the growth of hydroponic plants. Hydroponic nutrients are of many types, designed to satisfy diverse plant needs.
Hydroponics nutrients must be suited to the plant you are growing depending on what stage of growth it is in and the desired result. Hydroponic nutrients can be delivered to plants through a solution culture or through root zone media with absorbent properties. Hydroponics nutrients are obtainable in liquid formulations or as powder that can be suspended in water. There are chemical hydroponics nutrients and organic hydroponics nutrients available.
If you are using chemical nutrients, the pH factor of your hydroponics nutrient solution is very important. Tap water is ideal to make nutrient solutions because it has a pH factor suited to the ideal range for hydroponic crops. Use a meter to check the pH levels of your hydroponics nutrient solution; the wrong pH, whether up or down, can cause serious damage to your plant because then the solution will be too acidic or too alkaline.
Your hydroponics nutrient solution, which is circulated within a closed reservoir, must be changed every two to four days, because it only takes that long for the plants to create pH imbalances in the Hydroponics system.
Your plants need different hydroponic nutrients depending on the stage of evolution they are in. Different nutrients work well at different stages of plant evolution. Some of them trigger root density and factors vital to the survival of a young plant while other hydroponics nutrients are specifically addressed to plants that must produce lots of flowers and bigger and better fruit.
Hydroponic nutrients are the key to successful hydroponics gardening. And that those nutrients need to be good goes without saying. With a range of resources at hydroponic gardening stores and on company websites online, it is not too difficult to select the best hydroponics nutrients that cater to the need of your hydroponic crop at all stages.

How To Identify Hydroponics Nutrients Deficiency !

 

Hydroponic tool to help you diagnose nutrient deficiency. read the descriptions and use the pictures to help keep your plants healthy.

The highlight of hydroponics systems is that you have full control over the nutrient level of your hydroponic plants. But, this can be a drawback because you have to be extra careful in how to alter your hydroponic nutrients to get best growth. Listed below are common symptoms of a few important nutrient solutions deficiency.
(1) Nitrogen: If your hydroponic plants are suffering from nitrogen deficiency the leaves may change their color to pale green and yellowish in extreme nitrogen deficiency cases. Also, you may see a light purple tint on the stems and the leaves. However, if your there is excess nitrogen the roots of your hydroponic plants may become stunted and may cause slow flowering.
(2) Phosphorus: Phosphorus deficiency may result in small roots and flowers and dark leaves with red or purple appearance. Not necessarily the deficiency of phosphorus may occur due to lack of phosphorus in plants, it may occur due to nutrient solution being cold, which may result in the decrease of nutrients uptake by your hydroponic plants.
(3)  Potassium: Potassium deficiency will result in blackened leaves with dead, brown spots. These symptoms occur on old leaves in the start. Potassium deficiency also results in lighter and weaker hydroponic fruits and flowers.
(4)  Magnesium: This deficiency will be seen when your leaf turn yellow from edges. This deficiency is most commonly found in tomato plants.
(5)  Calcium: Calcium deficiency is usually seen in young plants than the older ones. These affected leaves will look abnormally small and mangled.
(6) Iron: Like Calcium iron deficiency also shows its symptoms on younger leaves. In severe instances leaves look pale and white. Iron deficiency may be caused because of extreme cold water and not because of deficiency in the hydroponics nutrient solution.
(7) Manganese: Manganese deficiency affects older leaves. However, if there is excess manganese provided to the plants it will result in iron deficiency.
(8) Copper: Copper deficiency is very rare among plants because plants don’t need copper. But, copper deficiency is possible in plants that may result weak and distorted young leaves. Also, over supply of copper to your hydroponic plants create roots that are abnormally darker and may decrease branching.
(9) Boron: Less boron may result in abnormally dark leaves. Boron deficiency further results iron deficiency.
(10) Molybdenum: This deficiency results in dark and curly leaves; it will result in unusual small leaves.

Ref: http://www.softsia.com/hydroponic-nutrients-download-gsnd.htm

Hydroponics Systems – Plant Propagation, Seeds Germination

Hydroponics Systems – Plant Propagation, Seeds Germination

Hydroponics Systems - Plant Propagation, Seed Germination

It is a known fact that gardeners who are beginners want to accelerate seeds germination as much as they can. Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn’t simplify this task by designing every seed as tough and heavy as possible, which may improve the chances of survival rate of seeds in the wild, but makes it complicated for you to germinate your crops. To solve this problem, hydroponic growers treat their seeds before planting them by using Hydroponics Systems. Scarification done mechanically Scarification is basically means scratching, breaking or weakening the coating of the seed to soften it, therefore making it easier to reach the moisture and gasses it requires to germinate efficiently. If the quantity of your seeds is very small, you can simply rub them with sandpaper, soften their coats with a file or simply break them with a hammer. It is advisable that you do maximum damage to the outer layer of the seed rather injuring the seed wholly. On cracking the seeds, the coats should appear worn down, but see to it that the damage shouldn’t reach the core parts of the seed. There are quite a few mechanical techniques you might try on few seeds before you experiment on the full group. Soaking the seeds This is also a reliable method for softening tough shells. Heat a pot of water, in excess of 170 degrees Fahrenheit, to near-boiling. The level of water should be four times the volume of seeds. As soon as you place the seeds in the pot turn off the heat source. Slowly as the water cools down, soak the seeds in the water for about 18 hours, and then plant them immediately. Boiling can give the similar effects, but it is much more harmful to the seeds because of the high temperature. Therefore, it is advisable to not use the boiling method. Scarification done with acid Acid scarification is also a possible method to soften the seed coating with the help of acid to make plant propagation easier. However, you need to be cautious because it involves handling dangerous sulfuric acid. Therefore, you should be careful and it is advisable to wear appropriate clothes and goggles when using this method. To start with this hydroponics systems, in a glass container place dry seeds and cover them with the layer of sulfuric acid. The precise ratio should be one layer of seed to two layers of acid. Ensure that you stir the seeds occasionally to soften the skin of the seed. The ideal temperature in the room where you are applying this treatment stays somewhere between 60 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The time of treatment depends upon how thick the coating is. It can be between 10 minutes and 5 fours. Remove a seed and see its thickness, to test, and as and when you feel the skin has become thin remove the seed immediately. Rinse the seeds for about 10 minutes immediately after the treatment. The precise Hydroponic Systems that works best will totally depend upon the nature of the seed you are using for the propagation of your plants. You may be tempted to experiment different techniques to figure out which is suitable for fastest germination.

What is Hydroponics

Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in water using mineral nutrient solutions in the absence of soil. Terrestrial plants, ones that are grown in soil, may then be grown with their roots immersed in mineral nutrient solution only. A second stream involves the use of an inert medium in hydroponics, with the medium being organic or inorganic. Some hydroponic media include perlite, gravel, vermiculite, sand, rockwool etc.

Research on growing plants in water was being conducted as early as the 17th century. In the 19th century, it was deduced that plants absorb essential mineral nutrients as inorganic ions in water. Plant roots are able to absorb the mineral nutrients in the soil once they dissolve in water. Hence, in hydroponics, when mineral nutrients required by a plant are introduced into the water supply, soil becomes secondary to the growth of the plant.

Almost all plants can be grown using hydroponics. Hydroponics is a standard technique in biology research and teaching. Hydroponics suits those with limited gardening space and water scarcity issues. Such basic problems can often make a garden an unattainable dream. Hydroponics is simple to implement and easy to follow.

Hydroponics is increasingly gaining popularity among individual growers and hence it is becoming easier to grow in water and root zone media. There is a lot of quality information on hydroponics to be found on the internet. One can also buy hydroponics products off the internet.

The yield from hydroponics is much higher than what you will obtain by conventional farming. In fact, one could hedge that it is the solution to the world’s food shortage problems. Hydroponics could also help stall the necessary conversion of forest land into agricultural land, as hydroponic gardening takes less space. This will help us retain our much-needed forest cover and reduce the strain on natural resources.