Hydroponic gardening is nothing but growing plants without the use of soil. It is an efficient way of providing food and water to plants. Soil’s function is to supply the nutrients to plants and support plants’ roots. A plant uses food and water which are present in soil. In hydroponic gardening, the plant is provided with a complete nutrient solution and a growing medium to support the plants roots. This helps plants for the easier access to the water and food. If you’re starting a hydroponic garden for the first time, the plenty of resources and information is available online. Good way to start a hydroponic gardening is to follow factors that are useful while gardening. Some of them are mentioned below:
Grow: You can grow vegetables, flowers and medicinal plants hydroponically. Some of them are tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, medicinal plants and orchids. You can start a garden from ordering seeds online or simply purchase it from garden centres.
System or method: There are majorly six different types of hydroponics system which you can use for your garden namely Ebb and Flow, Drip, Deep Water Culture, Aeroponic, N.F.T and Wick System. You can pick any of the system, lighting and growing medium that suit your plants, your garden size and your budget.
Garden area: You need to decide whether you need a small or a large hydroponic garden. Air circulation and capacity to control the humidity and temperature in the room depends on your grow area. Your garden also requires clean water and safer electrical supplies. A steady supply of water with perfect ph level is very essential. For indoor gardening, you require electrical power supply to run water pumps, grow system and fans.
Accessories: According to the complexity and size of the hydroponic garden, you require various accessories such as light timers, fans, water pumps and meters that helps in measuring temperature and humidity levels. You can take assistance from other hydroponic gardeners for selecting different garden needs.
Lighting system: If you are planning to start an indoor garden, light is the main essential component. Understand your grow room and select a perfect lighting for your garden. You can choose high-intensity grow lights that can provide sun like lighting to your indoor garden.
Nutrients: In hydroponic gardening, you don’t use soil to grow plants. Hence, you must provide complete balance nutrition to the plants. Plants need majorly six types of micro-nutrients namely Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, sulphur and magnesium. Some of the micro-nutrients a plant requires are little traces of vitamins, iron, boron, zinc, manganese, copper and cobalt. Choose a perfect nutrient solution for your plants that supply good amount of macro and micro nutrients.
Growing medium: Hydroponic means gardening without soil and hence you must replace soil with a perfect growing medium. These growing medium will supply nutrients to the plants. There are huge varieties of growing medium you can use namely Coconut coir, Organic soil, Mats, Compressed bricks and rock wool.
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