How to properly use hydroponics for growing vegetables and flowers?

Vegetables, greens and flowers are successfully grown at home, without using the soil. This method is known as hydroponics. The whole essence of this technology is to create an enabling environment for the development of the root system. Thanks to the saturation of the plant with oxygen, as well as nutrients, it can blossom blossom and bear fruit.The only problem is that you need to prepare the right substrate and a solution with mineral fertilizers. All this requires an ultra-precise dosage. Among other things, this installation must be equipped with special lamps. If you do not adhere to these norms, then cultivated crops become ill and may even die.

The leading role in obtaining a high-quality and abundant crop is played by nutrient solution. The hardness of water and the content of soluble salts in it must correspond to a norm of -3 g per liter of liquid.

Greenery

Do not underestimate the cost-effectiveness of this technique, which includes rational water and space consumption. It is very simple to assemble a hydroponics unit at home to grow fragrant greens. Its harvest turns out to be so great that many use this technology for commercial purposes for forcing:

• bow on the pen;
• parsley;
• fennel;
• salad;
• dill.

Since a special substrate is used as the soil, the plant receives a sufficient amount of useful substances. In this regard, all its strength it gives to the formation of a dense top, and not powerful roots. You can make such a design as follows:

1. Prepare a plastic pallet. Choose a black container with a matte finish. Such a surface does not let light into the middle, and prevents the formation of algae in the water. In the shops you can find special pallets for hydroponics of the new generation.
2. Smaster the floating platform. To do this, you need to cut an appropriate size sheet of foam. Make holes in it, the diameter of which will be the same as the pots with greens. However, they should be well fixed in the funnels and not fail. The distance between the holes should be chosen medium, so that the grown bushes do not interfere with each other.
3. Prepare planting tanks for the root system. These special hydroponic tanks are baskets that look like Soviet string bags.
4. Acquire an air compressor of aquarium type. It is worth remembering that hydroponics is a technology that involves the use of special equipment for growing plants. Such plants ensure saturation of the nutrient solution with oxygen.

Darken the surface of the pallet with black paint. Moreover, some use food foil for these purposes. This layer will also protect the substrate from overheating, beating out heat and light rays.

Now you can start planting seeds. Filler can be moss, hay or mineral wool. Hard or large substrates for growing greenery are not suitable. Before planting, the planting material should be thoroughly wet.The tray should be filled with a solution so that 1/3 of the pots are in it. A stock of water with fertilizers should be replenished every 14 days (in summer it should be done much more often), and it should be completely replaced once a month.

Instead of pots, some successfully use disposable cups. Only in them it is necessary to carefully cut holes around the perimeter.

Vegetables

Independently make a primitive hydroponics - equipment for growing vegetables can be, if you adhere to a certain scheme. However, you still need to use specialized devices from the store.The process of building such a self-made structure consists of the following stages:

1. Purchase a container (15 liters), as well as several flower pots.
2. From the foam, you need to cut the lid to cover the tank. If this is an ordinary bucket, then it can make a special lid of dense material. The holes correspond to the size of one or more pots.
3. At the bottom of each container, cut 2 funnels. By the technology of hydroponics, they are necessary for the intake of nutrient solution and removal of excess moisture.
4. In the first hole, you need to fix the tube that is connected to the compressor (for example, an aquarium pump). The second duct serves as a drainage component to prevent flooding.
5. Now the pot (if desired a few) must be filled with planting material: expanded clay, vermiculite (mineral co layered structure), crushed stone, crushed coconut shell, perlite, coarse-grained sand mixtures, gravel.
6. Planted seedlings. At the same time, the roots should be carefully spread out so as not to damage them.
7. Fill the bucket with a nutrient fluid with special additives.
8. Switch on the compressor.

At the first stage, you need to set a timer with a periodicity of 15 minutes. This allows the system to evenly fill the reservoir with the substrate with a liquid. To the next run, excess moisture will leave the pot.

The technology of the above hydroponics with its own hands is widely used for growing cucumbers and tomatoes at home. Such crops can rightfully be awarded the title of eco-friendly food.They do not grow in soil that would accumulate metals or remnants of fertilizers, but in a specially prepared solution. In this case, the gardener should not worry about pests that are often planted in the ground, or about diseases that affect crops.

Flowers

Flower growers will also be interested in this technology. Lush and dense flowering on the windowsill will delight households and neighbors all year round. In order not to torment readers for a long time, what is hydroponics for flowers, it is worthwhile immediately moving on to business. Perhaps, this is the simplest hydroponic plant, which is used in gardening. For its construction you will need:

1. Transplant the flower into a ceramic or clay pot with a hole on the bottom, and also the side walls. The diameter of each of them is either 1 cm or,
2. Planting granular material (the options are listed above) should be sifted through a sieve to separate it from unnecessary impurities. The diameter of the filter cells varies from, up to 2 cm. Then the soil must be treated with a disinfectant (potassium permanganate solution).
3. Plant young shoots a few cm deeper than usual.
4. Immerse the pot in a container filled with water, half-filled. After 7 days, replace the liquid with the prepared solution.
5. When new roots appear (they will be visible through the holes at the bottom of the pot), it is necessary to make an air "pillow" for them, slightly lifting the pot. Then the roots will get enough air and do not die out.

Transplant should be carried out in the warm season (spring or summer). In a cool microclimate, they can not successfully adapt to the new conditions.

Make hydroponics with your own hands can be from pallets, buckets or ordinary household bowls. It is advisable to buy basins of dark shades, so that they do not miss the light. Among other things, tanks should be made of strong materials that will not enter into chemical reactions with other substances or change their structure under the influence of temperature.However, these items are advised to be used only in the first stage, until new roots appear.

Hydroponics does not recommend use for varieties whose root system is rotting. It is forbidden for succulent plants (do not require frequent watering, withstand drought), as well as bulbous flowers.

When water is replaced with a saturated solution, then the distance between the pot and the outer tank is increased from 6 to 10 cm. If you buy special equipment for hydroponics, then in such installations all this is provided by manufacturers.

Additional courtship

However, the presence of such a device will not replace the plant spraying. In addition, you need to regularly pick off rotten or dried leaves / stems. Every 30-40 days it is necessary to control the level of acidity and the concentration of nutrients. It is often important to change the solution. At the same time, it is advised to disinfect dishes, roots and substrate. For this, you can use ordinary potassium permanganate diluted with water.

In the winter season the concentration of fertilizers is reduced by 2 times. It is necessary to lower the water level to the minimum level. Such precautions will allow the flower to safely survive the rest period.

Fertilizers and solution preparation

Moreover, it is necessary to select competently fertilizers for hydroponics. The formation of a nutrient medium largely depends on the result that the gardener desires to receive.For flowers, greens and vegetables, you need to select different components. Here are some of them:

• Magnesium (sulfate or liquid nitrate) and calcium (granulated nitrate) contribute to the enhanced development of roots;
• phosphorus (orthophosphoric acid) stimulates the flowering process, and also accelerates the growth of the stem;
• Potassium (saltpetre or monopotassium phosphate) is responsible for coloring the leaves and shoots of the culture.

Organic fertilizers (including urea) are not suitable for such technology. Their constituent components quickly spoil the essence and it sour.

This technology of root nutrition is a whole art. After all, instead of soil, water is used here, which must be saturated with nutrients and microelements.A ready solution for hydroponics in most cases is better to buy in specialized stores. The acidity of such formulations varies from, or, pH. Basically it is complex fertilizers. To independently prepare a nutritious basis for crops, a gardener should take:

1. Filtered water. It should stand for 24 hours. The temperature of the liquid - room (18-20 ° C), volume - 1 liter.
2. On a precise electronic balance weigh 1 g of nitrogen and 2 g of potassium, phosphorus g, and magnesium g;
3. To prepare another recipe (Knop), take 5 grams of magnesium sulfate and potassium phosphate, potassium chloride, 25 grams, one gram of calcium nitrate and 125 g of ferric chloride.
4. Then take turns to dissolve each chemical in a small amount of liquid.
5. Pour 700 ml into the dishes and start separately to pour the prepared solutions. In doing so, stir very thoroughly.
6. When all components are mixed, then it is important to supplement the volume of water to one liter.

It should be taken into account that iron-containing substances are extremely "capricious so they may precipitate. Their alternative is iron sulfate (, d) in tandem with citric acid (, g). They are bred separately, but then mixed in water.

A properly prepared mixture will not have a precipitate. To avoid this, it is not necessary to mix all the ingredients and then dissolve them in water.

Lamps

An important role in the full growth of vegetables and flowers is played by economical lamps for hydroponics, which help them to develop rapidly. It is important for such "home" plants to get enough light. For this, gardeners use such varieties of energy-saving lamps:

• luminescent (durable, their spectrum includes rays necessary for photosynthesis);
• incandescent (give a maximum of heat, but if there is no ventilation in the room, then lead to mold);
• gas-discharge (metal halide, sodium, and mercury).

They are installed at a distance, m for lighting shade-loving plants and 15 cm for varieties that need more than 12 hours of light. To select such lamps for hydroponics follows individually. After all, crops grown in this way are considered vulnerable enough.

Hydroponics at home - video