Hydroponic gardeningAll about hydroponic gardening information

When I think of gardening I think dirt, weeds,bugs and cold, dirty fingers. I also think of wonderful, flavorful, fresh and pesticide free food and that’s the reason I tolerate all that other “stuff”.

Would you be interested in getting rid of the dirt, weeds,bugs and the cold dirty fingers and still get great garden produce. What If you could grow all this indoors with almost no effort? Does this sound like something you want to do? Then you need to think Hydroponics.

A method of growing plants both for home and commercial use without using soil is hydroponics. The interest in home hydroponics is a recent phenomenon and is increasing in leaps and bounds and with very good reason. Hydroponic plants are usually more healthy, mature earlier, and use less space.They can be grown year round.

If you are serious about growing clean, flavorful, healthy food and herbs at home year round I would suggest you get one of the many portable hydroponics systems. Get one that promises to have all the instructions you need. If you don’t have a large window to supply enough light for growing plants, get a system with a proper light source

If you are interested in constructing your own system you will be able to find lots of information on the various types of system to build. Don’t let the idea of building your own scare you. It is really quite simple.

Try this to get a beautiful lettuce crop: Get yourself a cheap plastic tote from any hardware store. Be sure it is dark colored. (light colors allow excess green algae growth) You will need 2″ thick styrofoam slightly smaller than the tote. This needs to be carefully shaped, pay particular attention to the corners. It has to move up and down freely inside the tote. (It will float on the liquid underneath). Cut it so that you do not allow any more light than necessary under it. Cut 2″ holes in the styrofoam raft to accommodate your plants growth. they should be 7″-8″ apart.

Next you need an air pump, an air stone and a length of plastic tubing from the pet store. Put the air-stone in the bottom of the tote and carefully place the tubing down the corner so as not to interfere with your styrofoam raft. Use a bead of silicone and press the tubing into it and let dry for a few hours. The air stone infuses the solution with oxygen. Cut foam rubber discs the same size as the holes in your raft. Cut these about 2/3rds of the way across. These will hold your seedlings in the raft. That is essentially all there is to the construction.

By: Carm Paynter

In lean times, people have looked to ways to provide for their families, and one of those ways was through growing some of their own food. The “Victory Garden” came into being during World War II and times of food rationing. Today many people are looking for easy ways to grow delicious fruits, vegetables and herbs, and this can be done through indoor gardening. There are gardening methods, such as hydroponics, which require no soil at all in order to grow wonderful foods, as well as aeroponics, which allows plants to grow in the air. With any of these indoor gardening systems, you will need appropriate grow lights in order for the plants to grow and thrive.

Plants need light in order to perform photosynthesis, whereby the plant converts light to energy for itself. This energy is what causes the plant to grow, mature and reproduce. The key to good photosynthesis in indoor gardening situations is having ample grow lights available to all plants. Without grow bulbs, growing plants will struggle to reach the little light available, and will grow spindly and weak stems, if they grow at all.

There are many different types of grow light available, and what you will use depends on the kinds of plants you are growing, in which stage of growth they are, and your budget. Young seedlings require grow lights that are in the blue temperature range, which helps the little plants to grow. Mature plants that you wish to flower and set fruit require grow bulbs in the red and orange light spectrum. You also need very bright light for indoor gardening, because you are trying to imitate natural sunlight.

Many gardeners choose LED grow light for indoor growing. LED grow lights are easily suited to any color spectrum you need. These powerful grow lights also produce much less heat than standard grow bulbs, eliminating the need for fans and cooling systems. LED grow lights also consume less electricity than non-LED grow lights do, saving you money over time in energy costs. LED grow lights are also much lighter in weight than standard lighting fixtures, which makes them easier to hang over your plants, and they do not require extra equipment such as ballasts in order to operate properly.

You can learn more about LED grow light, other types of indoor gardening lights such as HID lamps, metal halide lamps, high pressure grow bulbs and all other types of lighting equipment including digital ballasts, light movers, reflectors and hangers suitable for indoor gardening by looking for information online.

By: Susan Slobac

For me Hydroponics is an art that takes time to grasp and is a never ending learning experience. I play the guitar (like jimmy hendrix!, “I wish”) which took me years to learn and a lot of days of sore fingers and I am still learning. For me Hydroponics is so similar and addictive. You can still get your hands dirty and you can still use the power of the sun instead of indoor lights.

Anyway, before you start your project you need to take some things into consideration. What you want to grow? How much space have you got? And what can you afford?

To get started you will have to spend a bit of your hard earned cash but prices vary depending on the type of system you choose.

Not Forgetting that Hydroponics is about using inert mediums and not soil. So we will start with the Mediums.

What Medium?
Rockwool, Coco Coir, Pearlite, Vermiculite, Clay Pebbles (Hydroton) just to name a few!

What System? (Just to name the popular techniques)

NFT System (Nutrient Film Technique)
This is were the nutrient is pumped onto spreader matting which is tapered down to a reservoir then back again. The plants sit on top of the spreader mat in 3 – 4″ rockwool cubes and take up as much nutrient as they need.

Flood & Drain (Ebb & Flow)
This is were the nutrient reservoir on a timer is triggered and then pumps to a second pot (Brain Pot) which gravity feeds the individual pots with your plants in. The “Brian Pot” then pumps the nutrient back to the reservoir while sucking in fresh air into the root zone. This system is good for clay pebbles.

DWC (Deep Water Culture)
This is were the plants are sat in net pots above the nutrient reservoir which has a airstone that is bubbling away and spraying the suspended roots with nutrient.

Dripper System
This system is were the timer triggers a feed from the nutrient reservoir and pumps the nutrient to the plants via thin “spaghetti tubing” that has emitters attached to the ends. This then delivers a controlled amount of nutrient to the base of the plant.

Seeds or Cuttings
Seeds give the grower the option of tinkering with different strains of the plant of their choice and find what suits him/her. Cuttings will speed your crop circle up and is a very effective method of producing plants that are almost perfect replicas of there mothers. You should always take cuttings from your best, healthiest and strongest plants!

Lighting

Your choice of lights is ultimately determined by the type of plants you are growing and where your indoor garden is located. How low is your ceiling height? How many plants? Will Heat be a problem? Is electricity a worry? Etc. There are many factors to consider.

Metel Halide (HID)

Blue spectrum light is great for promoting leaf growth. It also helps to keep the plant nice and compact. Many can find the plants in their hydroponics garden getting leggy as it strains for the light, blue light helps to combat this. This is the best type of hydroponics system light for a primary light source. The average Metal Halide light gives around ten thousand hours of good light. After that it will start to put out less and less light. The best way to light your hydroponics system seems to be with a combination of blue and red-orange light, to keep plants compact and flowering.

High Pressure Sodium (HPS)

High Pressure Sodium lights producing an orange-red spectrum last around eighteen thousand hours of use. It’s best for flowering plants. The orange-red light stimulates plants hormones, which makes for more flowering in the plant. Be careful about placing a young plant under red-orange light. It may grow very quickly but you will see only vertical growth and it will become leggy and thin. This is because of the lack of blue spectrum light available to the new plant. The best way to light your hydroponics system seems to be with a combination of blue and red-orange light, to keep plants compact and flowering.
CFL (Compact Fluorescent)

Compact Fluorescent lamps are an ideal lighting system for starting seeds or cuttings. They can even be used all the way through your grow. With this type of lighting you will save on electricity and they do not give off as much heat as the High Intensity Discharge Lamps. A must have for growers of seeds or cuttings.

In Short plants can grow at amazing rates and will develop optimum levels of appearance, yield and flavour when grown Hydroponically. You can grow approximately twice to ten times the yield in half the space and half the time.

So go on, give it a go,  you will enjoy it immensely!

By: Mike Atherton

Congratulations! At last you have decided to have a nice garden for your biggest house. Now the big question is how to choose gardening supplies, which are useful for your garden at nominal price but with good quality. Identifying proper gardening supplies is an important thing for a garden lover like you.

Do you know gardening is an art, which requires tender care and deep passion for growing plants? But the part of the art knows how to choose gardening supplies. Just like that of pet care, you pat them on the head, you take them for walks and you talk to them. Your plant also requires same care from you. You should clearly know how to chose the gardening trade tools.

As you care your plants, you can visually see how they grow? It can be both fulfilling and gratifying and also teach how to choose gardening tools is a step towards that goal. You should also know that different kinds of garden require different kinds of garden supplies.

In general most of the these are available in packages, which deals with a particular type of garden. Hence the first and foremost tip on how to select your garden supplies depends mainly on the type of garden you own or envisioned. Some garden requires specialized watering system and not a water sprinkler, and some garden may require held shovel instead of ditch digger. It is also advisable that you don’t spend more money on garden supplies than necessary.

In case if you are going to make a nice garden, you can contact the nearby garden supply store and may ask them to stock your requirement or in some instances gardening supplies can be made by yourself. But it is necessary to know how to choose your required items so they won’t pinch out much from your budget.

Another important indispensable matter to consider is knowing the garden supplies stores that can accommodate your type of garden. There are multiple stores, which are specialized in rooftop gardens, indoor gardens, and all the other kinds of gardens. Even you can easily identify the stores, which offer alternative goods such as ergonomic garden tools, pest control methods, and organic fertilizers.

If you find no time to visit mortar and stone shops of shopping malls to get your required things, you can browse and get your preferred garden supplies through online. Online shopping helps a lot to the gardeners by the way of comparing the prices for better tools. In addition to this, online shopping helps to order your stuff without leaving your homes, and also get to know the latest trends. It is noted that some online shops offer discounts for your supply of tools in their shops. So go visit the online store to get a product at nominal price with esteemed quality.

By: Michael Gooden

Are you interested in gardening? Is gardening one of your hobbies? You have heard about Hydroponics gardens and want to know more about it before it? If the answer to these questions is yes, then you have reached at the right place. Here are some of the hydroponics gardening tips that will definitely help in setting up your first hydroponics garden. But before that let’s know what does the term Hydroponics stands for.

Hydroponics is a word made up of Hydro + ponics. Hydro means water and ponics means science of agriculture, thus Hydroponics means a growing of plants in a nutrient rich solution instead of soil under controlled situation of light, temperature, and humidity. It is also known as Aquaculture. The required essential nutrients are given to the crop through water.

Everything has its own advantages and disadvantage and the same is true in case of hydroponic gardens too. Hence before you decide to set up your own hydroponics garden, let’s discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages that you may be consider:

Advantages:

# You do not require soil: Since all the nutrients are pumped to plants through water, this gardening approach does not require soil.

# No Soil, No soil borne diseases: Since the soil is not used for growing of plants in a hydroponics gardening hence the risk of having soil borne diseases are virtual eliminated.

# No Weeds: There are no chances of weeds growing with your plants and thus you generally require fewer pesticides.

# Hydroponics Gardening is considered as a bets option for plant production in those areas where soil is not available for cultivation, like in an apartment balcony or on the terrace.

Disadvantages:

# Good technical information: A person growing plants through hydroponics gardening should usually have a good technical knowledge than in case of growing plants in soil.

# Extra Equipment: Hydroponics gardening usually requires extra equipment use.

# Maintenance: If you are doing Hydroponics gardening, then the maintenance of the equipment is another burden on you.

# Cost: On top of everything, hydroponics gardening makes it more expensive to grow plants. When you add up all the cost of maintenance, equipments and so on the cost of plant cultivation in case of hydroponics becomes much more instead of in geoponics methods.

At the end decision of going for hydroponics gardening entirely remain in the individuals hands.

By: Prashant T Verma

Storage building kits are actually a storage shed in a box. The box contains all the material that you need to construct the shed and also the blueprints or building plans that aid you in creating your do-it-yourself masterpiece. For years, they have been popular since it gives an easy solution to backyard storage issues. Most of these kits are easy to assemble and directions are usually clear and concise. Some also have photos to help with the directions.

With building kits, you will find a list of materials and also a list of tools that you will need in construction. Some kits come with step-by-step instructional brochures, drawings, photos, and some helpful tips about how to erect your building. A few hand tools and materials are the only things you will need. Kits are made for beginners who want to put up storage sheds in their backyards. It is perfect for people who have limited know-how in wood crafting.

When shopping for storage building kit, you must first choose what material you want to use. There are many materials to choose from wood, vinyl, steel, plastic, and others. With each material you have of course advantages and disadvantages. Some material such as wood is very versatile and can accommodate customization, such as adding windows and skylights whereas others materials such as vinyl and steel are very restrictive in customization.

All storage building kits come in many different sizes and of course some companies can custom build your kit to whatever you desire. They can match the color and even the design of your house.

There are of course downsides to storage building kits and of course many horror stories. Here are some tips:

Buy your kit from a reputable source. Sometimes there are pieces that are damaged, missing or do not fit and must be replaced. With a reputable dealer you will not have any problems. Read some reviews of different products in forums. Look around your area and if you see a building that you like then ask the owner his opinion. This may seem odd to go knock on a stranger’s door, but people are generally open to their opinions. Do not rely upon past reputations. Some companies that were once very reliable have been sold to overseas companies and are now building inferior products. Ask the sales people if the finished product is available for inspection and if so do a close inspection of the finished product and ask the owners opinion. Check to make sure there is a help line that you can call if you run into problems. Check with your city engineer to find out if there are any building restrictions, also ensure that your subdivision does not exclude out buildings.

Planning is a big part in buying a storage building kit. Building your own storage building from a kit can be a great learning experience and a great storage solution or it can be a total disaster.

By: Eugene Dillon

Hydroponics has become very popular lately among indoor farmers. Hydroponics is simple. Hydroponics is nothing more than growing plants with water instead of soil. The water is pre-mixed with hydroponics nutrients that will give the plants roots all the fertilizers they need to grow big and strong as if they were in nature. Hydroponics nutrients are similar to the fertilizers that are found in nature from the earth. Plants grown hydroponically using nutrients in grow bigger and faster than plants in nature using fertilizers and that’s because hydroponics spoon feed a plant everything it needs to grow at very fast speeds.

When plants are growing in a hydroponics application such as a nice hydroponics grow box for instance, plants will receive much light per hour than they would ever receive in nature. This is because you can keep a light in the hydroponic grow box system on longer than the sun would naturally stay up in nature. The plants are being spoon-fed exactly the right amount of lighting in high dosages. On top of that you have to consider that plants grown hydroponically also receive a high amount of water and nutrients to the root system.

A plant’s roots do not have to work nearly as hard in hydroponics to get the nutrients they need as they would in soil. In soil plants you’ll typically see a very large root system and a very small plant above the surface. Hydroponics is exactly opposite however. In a plant grown with hydroponics you would see a very large plant above the surface but a very small root system below the surface. This is because the plants will need to develop a much smaller root system in order to get the same amount or more nutrients as they would need a much larger root system in soil. Plants grown in hydroponics will grow at rocket speed because they are receiving so much light, nutrients, oxygen, and water all exactly as they need it.

When you add to the amazing ventilation and air conditioning properties of modern hydroponic grow box systems you can keep the temperature range exactly where your plant needs to be for optimum growth. By having control of the temperature you know that your plants are growing in ideal conditions and you can now use CO2 to boost that the growth rate by a further 50%!

Keep in mind that hydroponically grown plants grow 10x faster plants than plants grown in soil. Now add CO2 to the equation which allows you to grow your plants even 50% faster than that. By utilizing CO2 correctly in your grow box you now have control over all aspects of your hydroponics grow and you can really increase your output tenfold. CO2 is the single biggest and most important gas that every indoor hydroponics gardeners should know about and be using to get the most out of their yields.

When CO2 is injected into the interior of a hydroponics grow box at a level 1500 ppm, it can seriously speed up your plants right of growth by as much as twice. A plant is like a car battery that’s stores up energy that is create from the power of the sun. Now when CO2 is made available to plant a specific ppm level that plant can use all that built up energy to grow at super fast speeds. This would never be possible in nature and is a huge advantage to using a hydroponics grow box with a ppm controller to accurately inject CO2 of the proper dosages into your hydroponics of growing equipment.

By: Wilfredo M Mullen

Growing herbs indoors means you will have an all-year-round supply of fresh herbs.

So no matter what the weather is like outside, frost, snow, torrential rain, your indoor herb garden will continuously and happily provide you with fresh herbs ready for when you want them.

And the easiest way to start your indoor herb garden is with readily available herb growing kits.

Herb growing kits are an easy and inexpensive way to start your indoor herb garden.

There are many different types of growing kits available from a simple plastic pot with a packet of herb seeds to over the top kits with self watering, heating and misting functions which also include compost and several different packets of seeds.

But the most common type come with about three ceramic pots, enough compost and three different types of seed. Many come with a stand for the pots and all will have basic instructions.

These are the best type of herb growing kits for getting started.

They are real easy to use and will reliably produce good edible herbs for use in your cooking and food flavouring.

Once you have sown your seeds and they have germinated, usually within around seven days or so, there is very little you need to do.

Just keep them somewhere with good light, a windowsill that receives plenty of sun is ideal, and keep them well watered and give them a fortnightly feed with a soluble plant fertilizer and they will grow away happily just waiting for you to harvest them.

There’s lots of herbs you can easily grow indoors,

Thyme
Dill
Tarragon
Basil
Rosemary
Chives
Mint
Parsley
Marjoram
Oreganobr
Sage
Fennel
Borrage

All of these will grow well indoors and they are all ideal for flavouring your food and adding to your cooking.

By: Chris Cangialosi

Vegetable container gardening is a great way to garden year round. Not only that, but it makes vegetable gardening a real option for many folks who might otherwise never try gardening. This would include people in an urban setting like apartment dwellers and high rise apartment owners.

One other major advantage to container gardening is that it can help extend the growing season. If you are in a hot and dry environment, you can more easily manage the moisture levels in a container garden, and there are even self watering containers that make it snap to put the plants in a container and not worry daily about the moisture levels.

But, in spite of the best efforts you can occasionally run into problems with vegetables growing in containers. So we’ve listed a few of the problem areas that can arise, and some tips you might try to get your vegetables back on track.

Plants growing tall and spindly – poor production: Almost always this is a lighting problem If your are using artificial lights be sure to put them very close to the plants, in many cases almost touching, as they are not as intense as the sun. Alternatively, you might just need to have them stay on for a longer period of time each day.

Your vegetable plants have stunted growth: Often this is a problem with lack of nutrient, specifically low levels of phosphate in the soil. This can be improved by changing the fertilizer. If your are growing warm weather vegetables it might also be caused by a low ambient temperature.

Wilting vegetable plants: Most of the time this is caused by inadequate watering. It might be either not enough water, or sometimes it can be due to inadequate drainage in the container. Be sure to check that the container’s drainage holes aren’t plugged. Check that your container has enough water for the plant, and be sure you are watering regularly enough. You may want to invest in a self watering container if this is a chronic problem.

Burned plant leaves: This can be a real problem is containers, and it often caused by high salt levels in the soil. It shows up as a crusty white layer on top of the soil. Try flushing the soil out with water, but be aware that in hard water areas the problem can be caused by watering with tap water. And refresh the soil each year to reduce this problem.

Plants leaves are yellowing, with some leaves dropping: Usually caused by too much moisture in the container. Try reducing how often you water, and once again check the drainage from the container. This is sometimes caused by low fertilizer levels.

Spots showing on the leaves: This is often some kind of plant disease. Take a sample to your nursery and try applying the appropriate fungicide.

These are the major problems you may find with container gardening. Hopefully these tips will get you on the way to a successful garden.

By: J Ruppel

A metal halide light bulb is every indoor gardener’s friend. It offers a great solution for growing the best plants and flowers in the most efficient way possible. However, metal halide lighting isn’t the right solution for every plant or every situation. Metal halide light bulbs give off a blue-white light, which is ideal for young plants. This particular type of lighting can help young plants to mature and maintain that maturity much quicker and more effectively than any other type of lamp out there. Like other fluorescent light bulbs, the metal halide light bulb cannot function without a proper ballast. You need to make sure that you choose the right ballast for the amount of light that you need, and also that you find a ballast or grow fixture that is affordable and works for your indoor garden.

The ballast helps control the flow of electricity, which is critical with the metal halide light bulb. You can choose to get a standard ballast or a digital ballast, which is a newer, more innovative tool that many gardeners love. If you get the right ballasts, you can even dim the lights as needed, to allow your garden to experience a situation that is closer to natural sunlight than you would get by turning lights on and off with no transition. When you work with these bulbs, you also need to make sure that you have cooling fans for them. They are known for getting extremely hot, and they can short out much easier if they are not properly cooled. When you invest in a metal halide light bulb system and ballast, make sure that you take all of these things into consideration.

The temperature of the light is similar to the wattage of a traditional light bulb. While regular incandescent lamps or other fluorescent lamps will be measured in watts, grow metal halide light bulbs are measured watts and by temperature, in Kelvin (K) degrees. They are manufactured with this spectrum rating, starting with 4100K and going up to 20000K. You should make sure that you know what spectrum of light your plants need so that you can get the right kelvin color every single time.

With the right lamp and the right ballast, they can be an effective lighting solution for plants. They are designed for the growing and vegetative phase of your plants. You should also know about metal halide actinic bulbs, which are great for supplemental lighting. These lamps offer a white light rather than blue, and can be a great addition to your existing lighting. Giving plants supplemental illumination like this can encourage growth and maturation that you might not have expected. When it comes to growing with metal halide, there are a few basic things to remember:
Know your plants and what temperature of light they need Get a ballast/fixture that is rated for the temperature of lights that you use Make sure that you have cooling fans so that the lights don’t get too hot Try an actinic lamps for supplemental plant light
Keep these things in mind, and your metal halide growing experience should be a great one.

By: Mark P Hudson