How to build your own hydroponics system.
Square foot gardens with automatic watering.
Optimize your crop by administering exactly the right amount of water and oxygen with a balanced nutrient solution.
More harvests per year and more flowers or vegetables per square foot.
These are some basic diy examples for homemade hydroponics.
See what an amazing growth of roots can be achieved with roots that receive maximum air and food.
On the other hand there are several disadvantages which each system incorporates.
One of the most important factors is a perfect control of your irrigation water.
Where plants in soil can be very forgiving, such is not the case in hydroponics.
Homemade system half hydroponic and half aeroponic.
There is always a certain level of nutricious water in the tubes.
Nevertheless, the root only get completely submerged when the water pump is running.
See the original explanation for these hydroponics on the Dutch site steigerhout recycling.
If the water level is always very shallow then this system is called a NFT – nutrient film technique.
Nutrient Film Technique – NFT hydroponics.
But beware, if there is a faulty pump or clogged water ducts then there is a good chance that the roots will dry out.
Therefore you will need to keep an eye on the water level.
Too high and the roots might rot, otherwise a too low water level will cause root drought.
Normally the plants are first rooted in rockwool cubes.
Once these grow plugs are fully rooted they are transplanted on top of the NFT bed.
NFT hydroponic system combined with a fish tank, aquaponics.
This delivers new nutrients to the irrigation water.
As a result this system can even be completely independant of plant food.
it is nevertheless very important to controll the water quality.
EC and PH values in hydroponics.
The EC readings in aquaponics should not be too high or too low.
As a rule of thumb an ec value of 1.6 is fine for most growing stadia and for most plants.
EC stands for electrical conductivity.
Concentration of organic and artificial compounds are measured by means of this electrical conductivity or EC.
Keep your PH level balanced.
The acidity of irrigation water is very important as well in hydroponics.
You will have to check regularly whether the acidity is too high or too low.
For most crops an acidity or PH value between 6 and 7 is fine.
But bear in mind that each plant species has different requirements regarding food and acidity.
This can also vary between the various stages of growth.
Your crop will only increase once you have sorted all these details out.
Eb and flow hydroponics explained.
There is however a small investment that you have to make.
The costs consist mainly out of a purpose built table and a pump with timer.
The latter two are identical to the pumps and timers that are used on the other hydroponic systems.