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| | | Home»Application of Hydroponics |
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| | | | Application of Hydroponics | | | | | |
| Application of Hydroponics
Science of Hydroponics can be applied at many levels of complexity or simplicity. Your potted houseplants are in a soilless culture system. A nutrient solution is used to fed by drip or ebb & flow irrigation systems in greenhouses. With ebb & flow the nutrient solution is periodically flooded at the base of the potted plants followed by complete drainage. They use a "peatlite" mixture of peat, perlite and/or vermiculite for their medium. After they have left the greenhouse or garden center they will no longer receive the food normally provided to them by a hydroponic system. The point is that the growing of individual plants in a pot with a soilless substrate is hydroponics in a fairly simple form. This is in effect hobby hydroponics.
Hydroponics in its simplest form may be applied to low income areas of the World. This has been seen in Peru. Mr. Alfredo Delfin and staff at the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina have assisted low-income families to produce fresh vegetables using basic soilless and raft culture systems. No equipment requiring electricity is needed provided the people are willing to spend a little time every day to irrigate their plants manually. These are watered several times a day with a nutrient solution prepared from a formulation developed by the University. These projects have been put together as roof-top gardens on public buildings as well as in people’s back yards. Discarded plastic containers and tires were filled with a soilless substrate of rice hulls and ground coconut husks (coco coir). Such basic systems of hydroponics exemplify how the science may be applied in a simple manner.
This versatility of hydroponics makes it a very fascinating and rewarding hobby. We can get highly technical with hydroponics as we see in greenhouse operations and its use under zero gravity on the space station. You can begin with simple systems and develop more complex ones to suit your needs and interest. It will produce vegetables for you at all stages of complexity. All will give you a sense of accomplishment as you produce some of your own vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, herbs, peppers and ornamentals. As you gain experience you can learn more about hydroponic culture by attending conferences held annually by hydroponic societies, universities, and private suppliers of hydroponic components as well as from hydroponic forums on the Internet. Plenty of hydroponic books are also available, that will teach you both the basics and more, should you wish to develop your own nutrients and systems. You may start with simple systems and work your way up to more sophisticated systems, developing them yourself or purchasing them from hydroponic stores.
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