What is hydroponics and how to use at home..

 Hydroponics is a farming technique that usesup to 95% less water than traditional agriculture and yet water is what it relies on insteadof soil. How can Hydroponics revolutionize the waywe farm in the 21st century? Hydroponics does not rely on soil. Instead of growing in the earth, the plantsare placed afloat circulating nutrient rich water. The nutrient content in the water is adaptedto the plants needs. By changing the nutrient formula, you cangrow almost any plant in hydroponics. All while using 20 times less water than traditionalagriculture. Why is that? Agricultural flood irrigation in large fieldsloses water to simple evaporation, run-off, and dispersion beyond the reach of plant roots. 

The agricultural industry is changing itspractices to be more water-wise, but even the best drip irrigation only cuts flood irrigationlosses by about one-fourth, nothing close to hydroponics. The second resource that is used much moreeffectively is space. Because all that plants need is provided andmaintained in a system, you can grow in your small apartment, or the spare bedrooms aslong as you have some spaces. Since the plants roots don’t have to expandin search for nutrients and oxygen, you can grow your crops much closer to each other. In hydroponics, the unnecessity for extensiveroot growth also gives the plant the opportunity to invest more of its energy into growth aboveground, giving you a bigger harvest. Through space savings and higher growth, theyield of hydroponics is up to 8 times higher than traditional soil-based agriculture. Another yield increasing factor is the lackof pests and diseases. Many diseases are soil-born, so are many organismsthat potentially feed on the plant. The problem of annoying weeds that must beremoved is also exclusive to soil-based agriculture. Since weeds, pests, and plant diseases areheavily reduced, there are fewer chemicals used. This helps you grow cleaner and healthierfoods. The cut of insecticide and herbicides is astrong point of Hydroponics when the criteria for modern life and food safety are more andmore placed on top. Hydroponic systems can be built and maintainedindoors, so there is no need to adapt to the outside climate. In Hydroponics, you can grow each crop continuouslyall year round. By establishing a decentralized network oflocal hydroponic farms, you can grow everything locally, eliminating the need to import manyfruits and vegetables from far-away countries. Strawberries from New York in December? No problem. Bananas from Seattle? No big deal. Hydroponics gives us the opportunity to reducelogistics costs and thus helps fight climate change. No airplanes and ships, no carbon dioxide. Through the saving of space, farms can beplaced inside urban areas. And because of their effective water usage,hydroponic systems are ideal for arid regions like many sub-Saharan countries and areaswhere water is scarce. One special form of hydroponics is Aquaponics,which combines a recirculating aquaculture with soilless plant culture. In short: Aquaponics is a sustainable methodof raising both fish and vegetables. It is a closed system in which the fish’sfeces are used as fertilizer for the plants. The water from the fish tanks is directedinto the hydroponic system where the plants absorb the nutrients and clean the water. The freshly cleaned water gets back to thefish. So not only can you grow fruits, herbs andvegetables all year round but also fresh fish, a rich and sustainable protein source. Entire communities can be fed through aquaponicsystems. You are certainly asking yourself, then whyisn’t hydroponics used more or even exclusively in commercial farming? First off: The initial investment. For a large-scale hydroponic operation, youneed to build the facility first. A large field that you can pour tons of waterover is cheaper than building gigantic greenhouses. Small decentralized hydroponic operationshave a cost-advantage here. They can be established in pre-existing spacesfor little cost. Another reason is that expert knowledge inthe field is still hard to find. For commercial systems to function properly,you need the technical skills to keep it running and for constantly controlling the systems. If a disease does make it into the system,it spreads much quicker in water than in soil, or if a pump malfunctions and stops the circulation,all raising the need for tighter quality control. And not all crops can be grown successfullyin hydroculture. Some root-based vegetables such as potatoesand carrots do better in traditional agriculture. There is still a lot to learn and to improve. But one thing is clear: Hydroculture is avery big opportunity for us to change agriculture in the 21st century. Stay valorous.

How  

Hello everyone .I'll be showing you guys how to build a simple hydroponic system today. So stepone, you're going to need a reservoir. Now anything from ten to twenty gallons ofwater is what you're going to need. Now in here is what you'll put the nutrientsolution in. Now the nutrient solution will need an EC of about 1.5 to 2.5, andthat'll be best for plant growth generally. Depending on the species, it'llvary. A little bit of research, you can find which one is best. You're going towant to replace the solution weekly in order to maintain the electricalconductivity which is basically how many or how much in nutrients and mineralsare in there as well as the pH. Now after you have the selected nutrient solution,you're going to need a fountain pump. Now this is a 15 gallon per hourfountain pump. It's just for aquariums depending on how much water you wantmoving. It's gonna be continuously recirculating so make sure it's submergedYou're going to need to check what the outside diameter of the littleconnection is. Then you're going to want the correct tubing for it. The outerdimensions of this one is about a quarter of an inch so I found a couplefeet of quarter inch tubing. You're going to want to cut a five to six inch lengthof this and just put it on there. You want it so that when, it needs to belong enough that the fountain pump is completely submerged while it isdirecting water up to the upper layer. Now this is what, this is the tray thatthe plants will sit in. Now you'll see that I have two holes one at the inletand one at the outlet. Now one of these holes you're going to have the tubingthat you just cut popped into there, just slide it in. I used a simple drill bit toget these holes in. Even if they're a little bit small, that's probably for thebest because you want it to fit snugly. If it's not snug, then likely the tubingwill fall out from the force of the water and your plants willdie because they dry out. So after you connect that,you fit it in here. Make sure that the inner dimensions fit in the containerand then the lip fell right over it so it holds. So now that we haveeverything put together, you can put the plants in here. For a beginner, lettuce isa good option. You could also do spinach. What I found is lettuce germinatesreally well. The whole thing will grow, and I can get a full lettuce plant inabout 30 days. What you're going to grow the plants in for hydroponics is alittle rockwool cube. Now a rockwool cube is made of an inert compound. It's a nicemedia for hydroponic growth because you can just put the seed in the top, andit'll sprout and however long it takes to germinate. An alternative torock wool is coconut core, and that's biodegradable but this is not.So I guess it depends on preference. Before seeding, make sure to soak therockwool cubes, so that they're very well moistened and everything, and then youcan plant the seeds in there. These seeds will then absorb the water and germinatethat way. You're gonna make want to make sure that the rockwool cubes are alwaysmoist, and when each of these seeds germinates and grows to about two inches,that's about a good time to transplant into the hydroponic system. Soas you can see, I have separated rockwool cubes right here, you're going to want toplace it into a net cup. You put the seedling inside of here, and these littlenet cups are useful because they let the water flow over, they hit the roots, andthe roots are able to easily grow through the net cup. Now what I generallydo is I have a styrofoam sheet that I cut out holes with the various number ofplants that I want. So right now I have six plants, this is optimal for lettuceor different leafy greens, and I just have holes cut out for the desired netcup size. And then you can take your seedling in your net cup and place itdirectly into here. And then I can start up the pump andeverything recirculates nicely. You're going to want to keep it in awell-lit area to make sure that it gets 10 to 11 hours in a well-lit windowsomewhere in your house. You're gonna want to keep the whole system in awarm environment. As long as it's above sixty degrees Fahrenheit, then yourplants will be happy and healthy, and there you have it: a simple hydroponicsystem.