Hydroponics Gardening

When you are an avid gardener, it can really be a drag when winter approaches and puts a chilly end to your gardening season. By taking up hydroponics gardening, though, you don't have to stop gardening when the weather turns. No soil is needed for this type of gardening, as plants are grown in mineral nutrient solutions. It is pretty easy to grow vegetables, fruits and flowers indoors, even in the depth of a bitter winter, when you choose hydroponics gardening as a hobby.

Hydroponics systems basics

The easiest way to get started with hydroponics gardening is to purchase what you need in a kits. All plants require adequate light to thrive, so grow lights are an important part of your hydroponics system. Grow light kits are available that include all the parts you will need; the grow lights, digital ballast, and reflectors. Many gardening enthusiasts prefer LED grow lights because they are small and don't overheat. They also produce a tremendous amount of light efficiently in all spectrums plants need to flourish.

There are several different ways to go about hydroponics gardening. Static solution culture is one method used. The plants are grown in solution within a container that holds the liquid; a jar, plastic tank, tub or bucket. You can cut a hole in the lid of the container to hold the plant out of the liquid, but allow the roots to reach the solution containing the nutrients they need. Roots also need oxygen, so many gardeners use an aquarium aerator. In this method, it is important to replenish the nutrient solution on a regular basis.

Some hydroponics systems require a growing medium. This can be gravel, perlite, vermiculite, rockwool, or clay granules. Passive subirrigation allows plants to sit in the growing medium, which conducts nutrients and water to the roots. Because the growing medium is coarse, oxygen also has easy access to the roots as well. The container that holds the plants can sit in nutrient solution or on top of a mat saturated with the solution. This easy method is fairly low maintenance. You only need to occasionally refill the nutrient and wash out the system to get rid of salt buildup, which can kill plants.

It's not complicated and provides enjoyment and fresh produce year-round. Try a new winter hobby: hydroponics gardening.

Perhaps you love to garden, but are frustrated because you live in a high-rise apartment building. There is no soil in which to grow plants, and lugging bagged soil up to your apartment is no easy task. There is, however, an easy way to enjoy growing indoors - try hydroponic gardening. Hydroponics is a method of cultivating plants without soil. A small hydroponics system can fit easily on a windowsill, or if space permits, a larger system can provide more area for indoor growing.

Hydroponics gardening basics

To start growing indoors hydroponically, you will need to to choose between two basic systems: water or media based. Media-based hydroponics do not use soil. Composted bark, gravel, peat moss, perlite or vermiculite can be used instead. Also, there is some variation in equipment required. Active systems need electronic timers and pumps, whereas passive systems use a wicking agent to deliver nutrients to the plants.

Because the plants are grown in water, they receive no nutrients from the soil. Instead, nutrients are delivered to the roots via a nutrient solution added to distilled water. The major nutrients plants need to thrive are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Other nutrients, macro and micronutrients, are needed as well and should be included in the nutrient solution.

Benefits of hydroponics gardening

- Plants are less prone to pest infestation and diseases. Many plant pests live in the soil, so when you eliminate the soil you often remove the pest's habitat.

- Plant propagation can be accomplished without using a great deal of pesticides.

- More food can be produced through hydroponics than possible in the same amount of soil.

When the weather is bad, most people do not want to go outside, but want to garden all the same. This is one reason why indoor gardens have become so popular. Some plants are better suited for growing indoors, though. Herbs, for example, make great choices for indoor growing as they can easily flourish under indoor conditions and are very useful. Not only beautiful and fragrant, they are also edible.

You can either start your herbs from seed or purchase plant starts at a nursery, hardware and grocery stores (in season) for growing indoors. Starting seeds is very cost effective, there is a much wider selection from which to choose, but it does take longer to produce an edible plant. If you want to enjoy your plants sooner, look for plant starts instead.

Lighting indoor gardens

Some herbs thrive with just the natural light that is available. Herbs like mint, rosemary and oregano work well in natural light, for example. However, if you wish to grow plants like basil or cilantro, you will need to make sure that you give them extra lighting. For this reason, hydroponic lights can be important to indoor gardening.

There are a few options for in hydroponic lighting. Fluorescent grow lights can work well for this purpose, as can metal halide HID lamps. Both produce the blue color spectrum (needed for early plant growth) and the red and orange spectrum, needed for flowering stages).

Best herbs for indoor gardens

Some herbs that are well suited for growing indoors are :

- annual basil
- dill
- summer savory
- parsley
- mint
- thyme
- winter savory
- marjoram
- chives

Tips for choosing the most efficient grow lamp.

• Incandescent lamps are not a good choice for growing indoors because they burn hot and can burn the plants. They also have a short life span.


• Fluorescent lights work well if you want to start seeds indoors, and work nicely for growing the little plant seedlings.


• HID lights, or high intensity discharge lights, are good for growing indoor plants because they produce a lot of light. The drawback is that these can run very hot and require adequate ventilation so that the plants do not suffer from excessive heat.


• LED grow lights make a good choice because they can be tuned to specific wavelengths according to the needs of the particular plant. LED grow lights are also much more efficient, using only a fraction of the energy required even by fluorescent lights while providing much greater luminescence.


• For the best cost efficiency of your hydroponics garden, you need to know what stage of life your plants are at as well as what color light they need at that stage, so that you do not pay for what you do not need, thereby saving money.

In general, a plant that is in the growth stage needs more red spectrum light, whereas a plant that is flowering or fruiting uses more of the blue spectrum. Metal halide (MH) lights are good for the former, while High Pressure Sodium grow lights (HPS) work better during the latter stage. Some of the newer LED grow lights can actually be adjusted for different kinds of plants and various stages, however these are more expensive than the standard types of grow lights.

There is a lot of information on the web about Hydroponics. You don't have time to read them all - so hopefully you will find these as beneficial as I did.
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