Hydroponics (growing plants and food without soil) is gaining a lot of traction among consumers, as more people take an interest in it. There are a number of hydroponic systems out there, designed to help grow different plants in various quantities. Sometimes, these methods are pre-designed and sold as a unit or kit (a great option for beginners); more experienced growers usually buy components and design their own systems. This article shall discuss few of the more common hydroponic applications and their respective functions.

Ebb and Flow (also called Flood and Drain)
In this most common method of hydroponics, plants are placed in a growth tray over a nutrient container, and a pump is utilized to “flood” the tray(s) with the nutrient solution. Excess solution unabsorbed by the roots “drains” back into the reservoir and is recycled. A variation of this is the Drip System, which utilizes a pump to create a continual drip of nutrient solution into the growth tray.

Nutrient Film Technique (NFT)
Here, the roots of the plants are suspended in a constant “film” of nutrient solution; a pump sends this flow into one end of the tray, and empties it out to the other end into the reservoir. This method is great at nourishing roots but this is also seen as super technical and high-maintenance since the roots are not anchored in a medium.

The Water Culture System
The oldest hydroponic systems, and one of the simplest, a platform of planters simply floats in the nutrient reservoir while the plant roots dangle in the solution. Often, an air pump is introduced into the system to oxygenate the solution. The Water Culture System is certainly an easy as well as inexpensive way to start a hobby in hydroponics.

The Wick System
This is one of the few methods that doesn’t use a pump. A wick (such as an oil lamp wick or candle wick) simply draws the nutrient solution from the reservoir to the growth tray, where the plant roots absorb it. This more passive system is low-maintenance, but it can often over-soak the roots, resulting to a smaller yield.

Aeroponics
This is probably the most effective, and the most technical of the hydroponic systems. The plant roots have no anchor or medium; exposed to the air, they are continually sprayed with a vapor-mist of solution, allowing for quick absorption and lots of oxygenation. When done correctly, this method can generate large, quick-growing plants and lots of fruit.

These hydroponic systems are proven methods of growing plants without soil. As you can see, some are more complicated than others, and some more efficient. Choosing the system for you largely depends on your time, budget as well as overall needs.

The intriguing practice of hydroponic gardening (the act of growing plants without using soil) is a highly misunderstood but widely known practice. Some view it with suspicion because they associate it with growing illegal plants; some see it as an overreaching of science; some see it merely as a novel-but-expensive pastime. The truth is, hydroponics is a system utilized by hobbyists, gardeners, farmers and nations to grow strong, healthy plants of all kinds. To clear things up, let us discuss the common misconceptions.

The first misconception is that hydroponics is used to grow controlled substances in secret rooms. Internet sources do not seem to help since they relate the concepts of hydroponics and illegal activity. This can be explained by the fact that those who are holding those pieces of information know how to use the Internet and not because every hydroponic garden is not legal. Statistics suggest that only a very small percentage of hydroponic gardens grow these controlled substances. A large number of plants and vegetables do very well in hydroponic environments, and there are many good, honest gardeners using hydroponics to do just that. For example, in Canada and Holland, farmers are making use of hydroponics to grow food on a larger scale. Therefore, saying that hydroponics is bad because of its association with illegal substances is the same as suggesting that soil is bad. In short, farming, whatever the method, is still farming – and hydroponics is simply one of the alternatives.

Another misconception is that hydroponic gardening is artificial and unnatural simply because it circumvents the need for soil. The truth is, there are no genetic or chemical manipulations in hydroponics, and no natural processes are disrupted. The natural elements are given to the plants – light, nutrients, water – as is the case when they’re planted in soil. In hydroponics, on the other hand, soil is replaced by other root-anchoring techniques and nutrients, light and water are provided in ways that would optimize health and growth. What’s more, plants that grow in hydroponic gardens would typically turn out to be healthier – and this is done without the use of additives. While the process is made more complicated, the result remains: the natural production of plants and food.

Thirdly, others perceive hydroponics as a useless, costly pastime. True, it is a fun pastime (and more often than not, a growing business), but this practice is nowhere near useless. Hydroponics make growing food a possibility in almost any setting and environment-in the dead of winter, in the extended twilight of the polar regions, in places where soil is contaminated, and even in space. More significantly, this alternative method in farming makes the yield and quality of food-bearing plants better – as a result, food is made readily available to third-world nations and in places where famine is widespread.

Truly, there is more to hydroponic gardening than what meets the eye – it is way bigger than just an extravagant pastime, an unnatural process, and a hub for illegal substances.

For some, the concept of general hydroponics is tad confusing. It sounds like an ultra-scientific term having to do with laboratories, something that alters a natural process like the growing of plants and turns it into a complex, artificial process. To have a firmer grasp of this concept, let us break this down into its basic components.

The word “hydroponics” comes from two Greek words that mean “working water.” The importance of water to plant growth cannot be overstated, since it’s actually through the water not through soil itself that nutrients are fed to the plants. Hydroponics at its most basic is simply the growing of plants without soil applying the nutrients directly to the plant roots in a water-based solution.

Let it be known that there is barely anything artificial about this process. There are no genetic manipulations and no chemical enhancements in hydroponics. Hydroponics just takes the natural process of plant growth and breaks it down into the basic elements. There are four elements that plants need for growth, these are: water, light, nutrients and anchor for roots. All of these elements (excluding light, which the sun provides) typically occur through the soil; but as we stated before, it isn’t actually the soil itself that feeds the plant roots, but the water in the soil, breaking down the nutrients and minerals and feeding the plant. The only real purpose soil has in the process is an anchor for the roots, and a medium through which water feeds them.

In general hydroponics, these four elements are still present, but these are taken care of by the grower. Indeed, one can say that the natural process isn’t distorted, it is just broken down into parts. A different medium is used to anchor the roots (like vermiculite or coconut) and water-nutrient solutions are introduced to the roots. Lighting may be natural sunlight, or artificial lighting that maximizes the segments of the light spectrum plants thrive on or both.

The benefits of hydroponic growing are that by breaking down the natural elements for growth into different processes, a grower has more control over what the plant needs to thrive, and can make adjustments to maximize plant health and growth. This is not to say that hydroponics is a straightforward process, because the reverse is true – but when done accurately, this alternative can actually produce healthier plants and food. General hydroponics isn’t to grow things in an artificial manner, but to have more control within the natural processes. Know that everything that’s grown using the hydroponic process is natural.

In very simple terms, hydroponics can be defined as the growing of plants without soil. Plants need four basic elements in order for them to grow: water, nutrients light, and an anchor for the roots. While three of these ingredients come from the soil, please not that the soil isn’t where the nutrients come from, instead, from the water in the soil. When you provide a water-nutrient solution and some light for the plant, what you just truly need is an alternative medium – aside from soil – to grow your plants.

While hydroponics is developed as a new science, it is definitely not a new idea. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, for example, is a wonderful and fine example of hydroponics; pieces of evidence of the said method of growing plants were also found in the histories of China, Egypt and the Aztecs.

It might seem a bit absurd at first that people would prefer to grow food without soil, especially when there’s so much soil around! Particular situations, however, would make growing food hydroponically the more appropriate alternative. For example, it is okay to grow food out of season because hydroponics isn’t reliant on weather. Also, the method isn’t solely reliant on sunlight – so artificial lighting can be used. Lastly, and perhaps most notably, hydroponics provides hope for growing food in parts of the world where soil is contaminated.

In theory, hydroponics enables us to grow food in situations where it’s potentially impossible to do so: in the dead of winter, in Arctic regions and even in space! All we need is to provide the 4 elements that plants need for growth all of which can be given without soil.

These days, it’s not only the scientists that are exploring the use of hydroponics. Nations like Canada and Holland are now utilizing this method extensively to grow food. Some individuals are also maintaining hydroponic gardens at home. As a result, there is an increased demand in hydroponic products – due largely to the increase in awareness of this practice. While this will not totally replace the old-fashion ways of the soil, hydroponics will certainly provide us with a wonderful alternatives to agriculture.

Hydroponics is definitely revolutionizing the growing industry, albeit not being an entirely new concept. Individuals and hobbyists are keeping hydroponic gardens in their homes; people are having hydroponic grow rooms in their houses as an alternative to maintaining outdoor gardens; and now, we are starting to see the hydrofarm emerging as an alternative to regular farming.

Hydrofarm is more than just a brand name of hydroponic products – more importantly, it’s a farm that grows its produce using the concept of hydroponics. By definition, hydroponics involves the following: (1) absence of soil and using an alternative method to anchor plant roots, and (2) the direct supplying of nutrients to plants using a water-based solution. Hyroponics is said to have a positive impact on the plant’s health and yield because the elements needed for productivity are carefully controlled.

Hydroponics has ceased to be a mere segment of agriculture that fought its way out of the stereotype that it is utilized to grow illegal plants – today, powerful countries like Canada and Holland are beginning to adopt this alternative in producing food in a larger scale. Throughout the country, the hydrofarm is a-plenty and owners are participating in farmer’s markets or selling directly to consumers to market their produce.

The increasing popularity of hydrofarms can be explained by the fact that people consider their produce as safer and more effective – food can be grown out of season. Many people perceive hydroponics as artificial – but truth be told, this is just an alternative way of providing and carefully controlling the elements that are needed for plant growth. Ironically, most people prefer hydroponic products because they see them as more natural and healthier, as compared to those that are produced by other agricultural methods.

Later, the hydrofarm may become a primary food supply for third-world nations or places where it’s not conducive to grow in the soil. Interestingly, this alternative is also being investigated as a way of growing food in space! In essence, to the ignorant, the hydrofarm is just a fringe concept, but to the learned, this is critical for the future of agriculture.

Hydroponics is the exciting practice of growing plants without the use of soil – this goes without saying then that nutrients that should’ve been provided by soil must come from another source, like the water solution. Indeed, the type of advanced nutrients solution that is being provided to hydroponic plants would largely affect their yield, health, and growth.

There are around seventeen different elements found naturally in soil that plants require for healthy growth, and most basic solutions formulated for hydroponics will provide these elements (you can also mix your own, if you know what you are doing). The need to use formula made especially for hydroponics should not be underestimated as regular fertilizers typically lack some of the elements required by the plants.

There are also advanced nutrients available-special formulations and/or additives that elicit specific behaviors or growth in the plants. Making the best nutrient mixture is indeed complex – what with all the factors that have to be considered such as the kind of plant, nutrient blend that is most appropriate to a particular plant, the desired result. True enough, there’s an endless list of combination of elements and quantities. Essentially, this is chemistry; and if you took chemistry in high school, you probably recognize that the correct blend of chemicals can be beneficial, while the wrong blend can be catastrophic. Thankfully, there are a lot of products available where the homework has been done for you; but you still need to be aware of your plants and their needs, and read labels to ensure you’re giving them the right thing-particularly when it comes to advanced nutrients and additives.

It’s safe to conclude then that while basic nutrient solutions promote the needed health of plants, it’s the advanced nutrients that give the extra push on some areas. Some blends deal with keeping the right pH balance in the water, which is very important in hydroponics. Others are about increasing the yield of harvest, encouraging thicker foliage, affecting the blooming stage and promoting accelerated growth. However, it is not as simple as placing an additive in your gas tank, or applying the right formula to get the desired result.

Plants espouse the adage, “you are what you eat” too; so what you feed them shall ultimately affect their health. Just as taking a certain medicine, it may treat some symptoms but the fact that side effects could be felt is also there. In the same way, plants would feel some unwanted effects in some areas by the mere “taking” of a booster. Thus, it is truly important for you to know about the different nutrients that affect plant growth, this way, you have a clearer idea of their results.

Thankfully, many hydroponic developers want you to have the “correct” result from their advanced nutrients, so they will put important information on the label. It’s therefore very important to read the label before buying a certain product. Among the many pieces of information found in the label are the benefits of and the nutrients that make up the solution. If the product does not have enough information on the label, do not trust it.

The Medical Marijuana patient is permitted to grow marijuana in several states. Depending on rate of consumption, growing your own marijuana makes sound financial sense. Doing so also allows you to have unlimited supply of your favorite strain of weed.

Unless you own a vast estate, your best bet for growing marijuana is to grow it indoors using a hydroponics system. Hyroponics systems could go as low as $300 to as large as many thousands of dollars. Different hydroponic systems largely vary according to (a) amount of automation (b) one stage only versus all-inclusive mother plant area, vegetation and flowering area. The advantages of the latter are essential: by having a permanent mother plant, you have access to unlimited clones anytime them; you can reduce the gap between harvest with the separate vegetation and flowering areas. Stealth Hydroponics has some very efficient low end systems. Their grow tents are great if you do not have a closet. If you want to go all-the-way extravagant, take a look at BC Northern Lights, the Rolls Royce of hydroponics.

Your natural tendency is going to be to grow as big of plants as you can. This can backfire on you. Each plant needs a footprint of at least three feet by three feet. Going below this limit would affect the amount of illumination that gets to your plant. On the other side, trying to grow really huge marijuana plants may also result to them growing right past your lights. To ensure that you’re on the right track, remember these: (1) during the flowering stage, your plant will grow one and one-halffeet and (2) you should start the flowering process when the plants reach to within 24″ of the lights in their highest position. Typically, this occurs anywhere between 3 and 8 weeks from starting with a clone.

Finding a source for clones is the true secret to successfully grow marijuana. This ensures two things: 1) your plant shall be a female; and 2) your plant will survive (the most delicate stage in a plants life is the first week or two when sprouting from a seed). The great thing is that once you have a clone, you can make clones of your own and have a perpetual crop going year-round.

Advanced nutrients are important to a good marijuana crop. Miracle Gro and other normal fertilizers will not work. It’s wonderful that Stealth Hydroponics and BC Northern Lights offer a wide range of this kind of products. If you follow a thorough schedule of draining and refilling the water every two weeks and adding nutrients as required, you really won’t fail. Tap water, let set for about ten minutes is perfect. Much is made about treating your plants gently and carefully: controlling PH, CO2, humidity, as well as temperature. Note that in reality, Marijuana is a weed, so it will take quite a bit to kill it. Just one suggestion though, don’t add the first round until two weeks after the vegetation stage.

Lastly, regarding lighting… Lighting is important in growing marijuana. But you have a wide array of lights to choose from: silver halide, CFL fluorescent as well as other high tech lights. They could do the job perfectly. Vegetation spectrum is in the 6000 Kelvin range and the Flower Spectrum is in the 2700 Kelvin range. Thus, it is useful to take note of both spectrums; but of course, pay more attention to the one that matches the phase where your marijuana growth is at.

About 12 weeks, that is the total time from cloning to harvest when you grow marijuana. Yield is within 4-6 ounces per plant.

Hydroponic lights, or grow lights as they’re usually called, come in many varieties and can be utilized in combination with one another to achieve the best results. Natural sunlight can still be used together with grow lights but if you’re purely on artificial lighting, then your setup should be more elaborate.

In setting up hydroponic lighting, it’s important to understand the principle of color temperature and its effects on plant life. For starters, color temperature is measured in degrees Kelvin and refers to the color spectrum of light – not heat or cold. Blue light – at about 6000K – is considered the coolest while red-orange light – at the 2000K range – is considered the warmest. The darker blue spectrum – which resembles normal sunlight the most – is ideal for full-vegetation plants, while the slightly warmer color temperatures are most appropriate for fruit and flowering plants. In the reproductive/flowering phase, plants draw from the red-orange part of the spectrum. Ideally, though, your hydroponic lights should be a combination of different colors to best suit the needs of your plants.

The most popular type of bulb utilized in hydroponic lighting is the Metal Halide (MH) bulb. This High-Intensity Discharge (HID) light leans most toward the blue part of the spectrum, resembles direct sunlight the most, and is preferred for almost all growing situations. Of course, leafy, full-vegetation plants do well with MH bulbs.

The High Pressure Sodium (HPS) bulb is yet another HID bulb. This bulb tends to produce the orange-red light approximately on the 2200K mark, and is good for flowering plants, but not ideal as an artificial lighting substitute. It should generally be used together with natural sunlight or other artificial bulbs.

A third option is fluorescent lighting. The advantage with fluorescents is that even if they are less intense, they are less costly, can be placed close to the plants because of their low emission of heat, and in combination with one another, can cover the color temperature spectrum fairly well.

Still, you have even more alternatives: (1) incandescent light which is not as intense and would get too warm when placed too closely to the plants and (2) LED lights, which can cover the spectrum well without emitting heat but are a bit too expensive.

As discussed above, you actually have a wide range of hydroponic lights from which to choose from. The combination that works best for your garden can be determined with your retailer.

In hydroponic gardens, natural sunlight is replaced by specialized “grow lights” which are especially made to emit the spectrum that the plant needs most. The type of grow light you need, obviously depends on several factors, such as the kind of plant and the plant behavior that you’re trying to elicit.

To understand the concept of grow lights, it pays to know a little bit about color temperature and how it affects plants. In the field of plant lighting, “temperature” refers to color, and not heat. The color spectrum is measured in degrees Kelvin, in the same way as some applications of heat and cold are except higher temperatures are considered “cooler”, and lower ones are “warmer.” The temperatures ranging above 5000K bear the highest resemblance to the intensity and color of sunlight, and are blue on the color spectrum. Fascinatingly, the reds, oranges and yellows are lower temperature, ranging from 2700K and below. The importance of this spectrum is that flowering and fruiting plants tend to do better with slightly cooler color temperatures usually around 4800K, which is still considered in the “blue” zone but leafy vegetation does better in the 6000K range (essentially full sunlight). Plants are also drawing more from the orange-red color temperatures, which are around 2700K, when they are flowering and reproducing. So you can see why the appropriate grow light setup can be so important.

In hydroponic gardening, the three most common kinds of grow light are veered towards the cooler temperatures – as this is most needed by the plants. The first of the most popular types is the Metal Halide bulb. If you want a grow light that resembles natural sunlight the closest, then you should go for High-Intensity Discharge (HID) bulb, Metal Halide bulbs. These are especially good for leafy plants. A second option (also a HID bulb) is the High Pressure Sodium bulb. Producing the orange-red part of the light spectrum (about 2200K), these bulbs are most appropriate for flowering plants but do not encourage full foliage. They are not generally used as a standalone, but in combination with other bulbs and/or natural light. Of course, do not take your focus away from the 3rd most common bulb – the fluorescent, both high- and low-output. Even if they’re not as intense as the HID bulbs, they remain useful especially due to the fact that since they emit so little heat, they can be placed close to the plants.

In more recent days, LED bulbs have been designed, some of which claim to take care of the full range of color temperature for plant life with almost no heat. The only major disadvantage is, they are usually very costly – and many cheaper alternatives are available that can do the job just as perfectly.

For most hydroponic gardens, different bulbs are combined to cover the full spectrum of blues and orange-reds that plants need for various stages of growth although leafy plants will lean more heavily toward the blues. Refer to your retailer for the best grow light combination that can address your needs.

While natural light is essential for plant growth in hydroponic gardening, it may well be substituted by artificial lighting. Grow lights, as they are referred to, are effective in replacing daylight for plant growth. Because plants need a certain amount of intensity of light and draw from the full light spectrum for different stages of growth, standard incandescent lights do not work well as grow lights. (Consider that you have to mimic sunlight as much as possible.) Usually, hydroponic plants do well with High Intensity Discharge (HID) bulbs, two of which are discussed below. Aside from those two, there are still several kinds of bulbs that are ideal for hydroponics:

Metal Halide Bulbs (MH)
This is the most popular HID-type bulb largely because it closely resembles summer sunlight; it produces the blues, which are ideal for vegetation plants. MH bulbs are likely to die out gradually and need to be replaced before they actually burn out, because they eventually don’t yield enough lumens to help the plants anymore. Good thing that they’re long-lasting, having an average life of 10,000 hours, or a year.

High Pressure Sodium Bulbs (HPS)
The High Pressuure Sodium bulb is best for supplementary lighting – this means that it should be used with natural lighting. HPS bulbs emphasize the orange-red band of the spectrum, which is good for flowering plants. Compared to metal halide, HPS bulbs as grow lights are longer-lasting (averaging to 18,000 hours) and are less costly. HPS bulbs, on the other hand, aren’t recommended to substitute natural light, because they are deficient in blue light. They are best suited for a greenhouse environment.

Fluorescent Bulbs
Where before fluorescent light bulbs were not intense enough, these days fluorescents are made that have enough lumens to supply light for hydroponics. This can be done either with high-output tubes or with larger quantities of lower-output tubes. Since they produce less heat than HID bulbs, they can then be placed closer to the plants, thereby making up for their “lack of intensity.”

LED Grow Lights
The newest version of grow light, the advantage of LED bulbs is that they’re comparable to the output of a high pressure sodium bulb while being remarkably energy efficient, and emitting almost no heat. The disadvantage is that they’re costly and promote slower growth. In fact, fluorescent grow lights can obtain the same results as LED bulbs, without the issue on finances. So while they are the newest thing, the jury is basically still out on whether LED bulbs shall be the wave of the future for grow lights.