Hydroponics | Steps To Start Hydroponics System | Pros & Cons
What is Hydroponic Farming?
Growing plants without soil
In simple words Growing plants without soil is hydroponics system. What? Yeah why so amazed this is just as simple as you grow plant in a jar of water, exactly this is what hydroponics system is.
But How is this possible to row plants without soil? Keep calm and read!
As its quite Clear from its some combination of “Hydro” Water and “Ponics” mean water in short its’ like water work.
hydroponics
The most important things for a plant life are:
- Water
- Air
- Light
Nutrients we look for in soil, water have. Or we add (dissolve) needed nutrients in water depends upon hydroponics system. This makes water nutrient rich .
The water consumed in hydroponics is 85% less then used in soil farming and saves land and labor too . how? Come on lets know more about hydroponics.
6 Steps to Start Hydroponics System:
Starting a hydroponics system at home is damn easy in fact it’s a great learning for kids.
Step 1: Chose the Roots:
First of all, you should decide what you going to grow because all other factors depend upon nature of seeds. There is huge variety in Hydroponics plants lemma share with you some options:
- Lemon balm
- Mint
- Bok choy
- Lettuce
- Spinach
- Female dragon
- Dumb Cane
- Oregano
And many more….
Step 2: Decide your Hydroponics system:
Types of Hydroponics system:
1: Aeroponics:
In Aeroponic Hydroponics plants are in contact with air and are grown in mist environment. It’s a bit technical and difficult type of hydroponics
2: Wick System:
This hydroponics system is simplest as plants are directly in contact with nutrient rich water.
3: Drip system:
Drip system hydroponics also known as micro irrigation system or trickle. It uses a pump as like of aquaponics which pulls water and keep watering plant regularly.
4: Ebb and Flow (Flood and Drain):
Ebb and flow system hydroponics is mostly popularly use in Pakistan. This system is similar to aquaponics in part of grow bed and pump, there is also a drain pipe. This type of hydroponics is budget friendly and need small focus to set up.
5: DWC (Deep Water Culture):
This hydroponic system is also quite simple but in this type plants which need more oxygen are used to grow. Plants are suspended in oxygenated – nutrients rich water.
6: NFT (Nutrient Film Technique):
This Hydroponics is so versatile it is more preferable for farmers as compare to home. It’s a pump which automatically works, keep watering plants enough for their best growth and make sure there is enough supply of nutrients.
Step 3: Construct Your Hydroponics System:
So, after deciding for which type of hydroponics system you are going for its time to construct your hydroponics system. Make two holes in grow tray at bottom and top with help of drill. Add an air and nutrient pump in water reservoir, place one side of nutrient in water reservoir and other with grow tray and pass it from the whole on top of grow tray, so pump can water plants regularly.
hydroponics system
Step 4: Decide Hydroponics System medium for growth:
Most popularly use mediums are:
- Coco Peat
- Rockwool
- Clay pellets
- Perlite
- Grow Rock
- Oasis Cubes
- Starter plugs
- Rice Hulls
- Pumice
- Gravel
- Sand
- Polystyrene packing plugs
- Brick shards
- Wood fiber
Step 5: Light and ph. meter:
Light is lifeline of hydroponics system. Natural is not a good option. T5 or HID bulbs are preferred and gives good result in blooming and growing. Don’t forget to buy a ph. meter. Its so important to maintain right ph. level otherwise all hard work can be in vein.
Step 6: Take Care:
Setting up hydroponics system is so easy but maintain it is not. there is lot more to do on regular basis like
- Monitor plant blooming and growing
- Right amount of light
- Insect detection
- Disease detection
- Amount of nutrients required etc.
Look that’s it. How simple is it to develop a hydroponics system. right?
Pros and Cons:
Everything have some pros and cons but if pros are more than cons, I think you should go for it. Let’s discuss some pros and cons of hydroponics system.
Pros of Hydroponics System:
1: Space Saving:
One of the biggest pros of Hydroponics system is its space saving it can be grown anywhere you don’t need to worried about finding a fertile land and then reserving it for food growth which is a bit disturbing in such an over populated planet. It uses only 7% of space as compare to soil land.
2: Water Friendly:
Another major pro is hydroponics system are so water friendly. It consumes only 20% of water in comparison to fertile land farming. In fact, it keeps filtering and reusing same water.
3: Budget Friendly:
In hydroponics systems there is reduction of nutrients leakage in environment which reduce your money. Cost of labor and land is also almost eliminated.
4: Higher Yields:
In Hydroponics system there is no restriction of climate, everything is under control so hydroponics automatically yields more. In fact, as all circumstances are under control, so it produces nearly 20% more than soil land.
5: No Weed:
Enlisting one more pros of hydroponics system. As weed is familiar to soil so no soil no worries of weed which mean no worry of ailments.
There are a lot of pros of hydroponics like I can keep writing and writing and its endless but not anything can be perfect so there are few cons too let’s discuss them too so can avoid if possible.
Cons:
1: Technical:
One thing seems to some people as con of hydroponics system is being a bit technical. Understanding right amount of nutrients, providing and maintaining nutrients, managing right amount of light, heat and oxygen are little technical and hard to understand and if you fail to exact understand techniques you may have loss. Because it need experience to run a productive hydroponics system.
2: Cost:
No doubt Hydroponics systems are budget friendly but in some aspects. Initial investment for hydroponics systems is expensive because people are still unfamiliar with this type of farming.
3: Water Disease:
Of course, Hydroponics systems eliminates soil pests and diseases but cannot get rid of water borne diseases and pests. yeah it is treatable some times and sometimes not.
Conclusion:
Hydroponics is such a vast farming field that we can write pages on it. let’s cut it short for now looking on the above information its concluded that due to high availability of nutrients and customized environment hydroponics can grow faster and healthier than soil plants. No doubt it has some cons too but they are treatable and in coming times world is going to adopt such space and time saving techniques. So, let’s adopt tomorrow today.
