What makes hydroponic gardening different from traditional in-ground gardening is a soilless growing medium. No dirt! All plants require support, to be held up. This basic requirement is dealt with by soilless growing mediums which are inert, meaning they neither add nor take away anything from the growing environment.  There are a perplexing jumble of growing mediums available for hydroponic gardening. Generally speaking, these mediums are porous, light and coarse, allowing oxygen and nutrients to be easy accessible  to the plants roots.

Some of the most common used in hydroponic gardening are: (more…)

There are hundreds of different kinds of growing medium as anything that a plant can grow in is considered a growing medium. They range from organic (natural) mediums to man-made. What growing medium is the best?  The answer depends on the job you need it to do. The best growing medium for your purpose depends on many variables which include the type of system you are using, what kind of crop you are growing and local environment as some of the determining factors choosing a growing medium for your hydroponic systems.  Mostly it comes down to availability, price or personal preferences. The most popular types of growing are Rockwool cubes, Coconut fiber, Perlite, Vermiculite and Soilless mixes.

Rockwool cubes are lightweight pre-formed cubes designed for propagation. An extremely popular medium when growing from seed or from cuttings, cubes have a neutral pH and retains water very well. They are meant to be a starter medium and commonly come in three sizes starting at 2″ x 2″. They can be easily moved into just about any type of hydroponic system or growing medium – including soil.

Coconut fiber is moving into position as one of the primary growing mediums in the world. As the first totally “organic” growing medium which offers top performance in hydroponic systems, it is essentially a waste product (powdered husks of the coconut) of the coconut industry. The advantages – maintains a larger oxygen capacity than rockwool, superior water holding ability than rockwool (a real advantage for hydroponic systems that have intermittent watering cycles), coconut fiber contains high levels of root stimulating hormones and can offer some protection against root diseases such as fungus infestation. A mixture of 50% coconut fiber and 50% expanded clay pellets is the perfect growing medium according to Dutch growers. You must be careful when you purchase coconut fiber. There are lower grades of coconut fiber high in sea-salt and is very fine grained. Expect disappointing results should this coconut fiber be used in your hydroponic systems. (more…)

When setting up to grow with hydroponics, the pH of the water to be used should be tested before you add the plant food – nutrients. pH Testing Kits are readily available online or at your gardening store. You can also use Nitrazine paper which is very inexpensive.  It really is an important step to grow the best plants.

Apparently, an aspirin can be used to lower the pH level or even a small amount of distilled white vinegar. I’ve never tried these myself.  For raising a low pH, you can add either potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide to the water.  However, both of these chemicals are very dangerous and really to be avoided.

As you can see, there are problems with trying to use the cheapest methods for testing and you would do much better to put out an extra couple of dollars and get a proper pH adjuster kit made for hydroponic growing. You will have a better chance of accurately adjusting your pH for successful growing.

One of the most cultivated mushrooms in the world is the the Button mushroom, or Agaricus Bisporus. When it appears in fields, this wild mushroom has a darker, brownish cap with darker gills and is know as a Field mushroom. When commercially sold, they are labeled as Button mushrooms or Portobello mushrooms, which are usually larger in size.

Now Mushroom Growing Kits are becoming increasingly popular as public opinion and perceptions towards fungi seems to have relaxed a little. People are no longer scared of mushrooms and instead are prepared to try growing their own at home.

Although mushroom grow kits are limited in fungi species currently, the button mushroom is by far the most widely available. Many gardening stores and online garden sites sell mushroom growing kits and they seem to focus on the most well known, considered as being “safer” mushrooms, the Button mushroom.

Do you know about Lemongrass? It is a tall, hardy plant which grows in clumps up to a height of about three feet.  It is known for its fragrant flavor that makes it a popular herb in Asian cooking. It is also an effective remedy for various ailments including fever, stomach cramps and arthritic pain. I heard about someone who saved the life of a seriously ill street cat with juice extracted from lemongrass.

This popular tropical grass is very easy to grow and a novice gardener can grow lemongrass without much problem. It is perfect for a kitchen garden and can also be planted in pot or tub in semi-shade conditions. Generally the plants prefer full sunlight so this make it ideal for growing in hydroponics.

The easiest way to propagate the plant is to cut a few stalks of fresh lemongrass and put the slips in water for about 10 days. Prune off the long leaves but make sure that a short stump of the rhizome remains at the end of the slip. Roots will emerge and then the slips can be planted right away.

Who knew that planning a garden was a much better idea than just planting wherever the fancy takes you?  This was my system for a long time but now I’m growing vegetables and want to get the most out of my small patch, I’ve become a ‘planner’.

One of the first thing to do when planning your vegetable garden is to decide how big an area you have to work with and how much space you can allocate to each vegetable. I’ve had really good luck with growing in raised beds.  They seem to yield a much bigger harvest.

Make your selection of seeds based on what you like to eat.  It’s no good growing vegetables that you don’t like, except to make compost with. Then you should consider how much space the plant needs to fully mature. The easiest way to do this is often by reading directions on the seed packet; they should indicate how much space is required between plants and rows. It will also tell you how to propagate the plants.

Cloning can be a difficult and tricky procedure; however this little guide should help eliminate some of your hurdles. To start, take a clone from a mother plant while still in the vegetative phase. Use a sharp knife or razor blade and cut a 3inch or so branch from the base of the mother plant at a 45 degree angle. Make sure there are a few leaves on the new clone so it can absorb enough light to take root.

Now at this point, you can take the cut end of your new clone or stick it directly into the 2inch neoprene plug so that the stem of the plant fits snuggly in the small hole in the middle and is deep enough that the cut portion of the stem is at least ½ ways down the length of the netpot. Make sure the hydroponic fogger unit is on and the area under the netpot is filled with a heavy fog. This will aid in faster root development.

Propagating plant clones, or cuttings, is not a new concept but the process of aeroponic cloning is not always well known.  In aeroponic propagation, the cultivation of sibling or cloned plants is done using an aeroponic system instead of the more traditional soil-potting.

When setting up an in home garden, aeronponic propgation might sound like something you may be interested in.  Here are some basic steps to follow to start your own aeroponic cloning operation:

• Select a healthy branch from the parent plant with several clusters of leaves.
• Cut off a piece of the branch leaving at least 2 leaf nodes intact.
• Remove the largest few leaves as they can be hard for a rootless plant to maintain in the early stages.
• Then remove all branches and leaves apart from the top 2 sets. Make sure they are within close proximity to the aeroponic fogger and aeroponic mister.
• You are now well on your way to procuring your first crop of cloned plants.

When setting up your hydroponic indoor garden and once you’ve decided on the growing medium you will use, you will need to decide how you will feed your plants.  In a passive technique, the water and nutrients wick up through the medium to deliver the nutrients to the roots.  In an active system, you will need a small pump to keep the water and nutrients circulating.

The nutrients vary but most people using hydroponics agree they should be in ionic or inorganic form.  Most of the nutrient products involve dihydrogen phosphate sulfate, nitrate, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Some people feel that hydroponics also calls for the addition of nickel, chlorine, boron, zinc, copper, manganese, and iron, among others. You should know, however, that the plants themselves will use one or more of these specific nutrients faster than others. The Ph may be changed by the plant making it more alkaline or acidic.

Misting systems allow plant propagators to keep the cuttings moist, but not overly wet, and save considerable time. Cuttings are usually placed out in the open or an open enclosure, not under a sealed enclosure, which allows the circulation of fresh air.  The plants require this for respiration, cooling, drying, and watering requirements. Because of the automation, many more cuttings can be done at one time.

Mist kits for plant propagaton have the same basic components:

* A timer to turn the system on and off daily.
* A timer to control the misting duration and frequency.
* A transformer to reduce the voltage to the voltage the solenoid requires. Please note that transformers and solenoids are AC voltage and others are DC voltage! Voltage for the solenoid and transformer MUST be the same!
* A solenoid valve that controls the flow of the water to the mist heads.
* A reliable water supply.
* A reliable electrical supply.
* A manifold to carry the water to the misting heads
* Mist heads to spray a fine mist over the cuttings