Hydroponic: Difference between revisions

From WikiDemocracy
Jump to navigationJump to search
Lilly (talk | contribs)
No edit summary
Lilly (talk | contribs)
No edit summary
Line 490: Line 490:
Although water in the system is absolutely critical, some people put more importance on water quality than is necessary.  Use water that’s safe to drink for your hydroponics system.  Water from a well or from a municipal supply is fine.  A lot is made of water pH in hydroponics, and for commercial producers, correct pH is important to maximize uptake of micronutrients, but fine-tuning water pH can be difficult and expensive.  For home hydroponics a water pH between 5.5 and 7.0 is fine.
Although water in the system is absolutely critical, some people put more importance on water quality than is necessary.  Use water that’s safe to drink for your hydroponics system.  Water from a well or from a municipal supply is fine.  A lot is made of water pH in hydroponics, and for commercial producers, correct pH is important to maximize uptake of micronutrients, but fine-tuning water pH can be difficult and expensive.  For home hydroponics a water pH between 5.5 and 7.0 is fine.
As far as other elements dissolved in the water (minerals, “hardness”, chloride, etc.), a commercial producer will mix up exactly the nutrients needed for the crop so knowing the level of these nutrients already in the water will allow her to save money by including less of these.  You are likely to use a pre-formulated fertilizer, however, so knowing the concentration of plant nutrients already in your water will be of little value.
As far as other elements dissolved in the water (minerals, “hardness”, chloride, etc.), a commercial producer will mix up exactly the nutrients needed for the crop so knowing the level of these nutrients already in the water will allow her to save money by including less of these.  You are likely to use a pre-formulated fertilizer, however, so knowing the concentration of plant nutrients already in your water will be of little value.
=====How to Grow Hydroponic Plants=====
[https://permies.com/t/144394/Grow-Hydroponic-Plants by Shir Gutman permies.com]
The premise is it uses no soil, and instead uses inert mediums such as rock wool, clay pebbles, sand, coconut hulls and others as the "soil" for the roots to grow in. There are also techniques that don't involve any mediums and the plant is held upright in a netted cup and the roots just grow in water. The water must be oxygenated and not allowed to go anaerobic. It requires buying special fertilizers that have all nutrients in a ionic or chelated form, ready to be taken up by the plants roots without the aid of microbial activity. There are microbial and fungal products on the market to put some biological activity in the water. That's my simple layman definition of the gist of how it works.