HOME HYDROPONICS

Lesson Structure

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction to Hydroponics & Plant Growth
   • Scope and Nature of Hydroponics and terminology (Water Culture, Sand and Gravel Culture, Rockwool, Vermiculaponics, Hydroculture, etc)
   • How it Works
   • A Simple Manual System to Create
   • History of Hydroponics
   • Understanding How Plants Grow
   • Understanding the Water Requirements and Management
   • Photosynthesis
2. Basic Chemistry, Nutrition & Nutrient Solutions
   • Significance of understanding chemistry for hydroponics
   • Understanding Basic Chemistry
   • Atoms and Compounds
   • The important Plant Nutrients
   • Writing Chemical Names
   • What concentrations of different nutrients does a plant need?
   • Nutrient solutions
   • Preparing Nutrient Solutions
   • Mechanisms of Nutrient Uptake
3. More on Nutrient Solutions
   • Understanding differences between Soil Culture and Soil less Culture
   • The nitrogen Cycle
   • Mycorrhizae
   • Summary of fertilizers used in Hydroponic Nutrients
   • Calculating Chemical Formulae
   • Hydroponic Nutrition
4. Media and Types of Systems
   • Classification of Hydroponic Systems
   • What Makes up a System; system variables; Solution Dispensation, Closed or open, Drip, slop, capillary feed, wicks, misting, dry fertilizing etc, Automatic or Manual Operation, Type of Medium, Construction Materials, Rate & Frequency of Irrigation & Feeding, Air Injection (In water culture), Plant Support, Environment controls.
   • Choosing a System
   • Types of Media
   • Rockwool
   • Vermiculite
   • Sand
   • Leca, (Expanded Clay)
   • The Bentley System
5. Designing a System
   • Nutrient Film Technique
   • Alternative NFT Layouts
   • Solution Dispensation Options (closed or open system, drip, slop, flood, capillary, dry, mist, etc)
   • 16 Other System Options
6. Problems in Hydroponics
   • Pest and Disease
   • Nutrition
   • Environmental
   • Diagnosis of Nutritional Problems
   • Controlling Acidity
7. Plant Culture
   • Flow Charting a Crop
   • Greenhouse Management
   • Controllers (Salinity, pH)
   • Adjusting Solutions using an Electro Conductivity Meter
8. Solid Media vs Water Culture
   • Indoor Plants
   • Berries
   • Gravel Culture compared with NFT
9. Growing Vegetables in Hydroponics
   • Fresh Cut Herbs in Hydroponics
   • Lettuce
   • Tomatoes
   • Cucumber
   • Review of all other common vegetables that are suited to hydroponics
10. Growing Cut Flowers in Hydroponics
    • Overview
    • Roses
    • Chrysanthemums
    • Carnations
    • Review of many other common flowers that are suited to hydroponics

Aims

• Describe the nature and scope of hydroponicS as a hobby
• Explain plant nutrition for hydroponic situations.
• Differentiate between a different fertilisers and hydroponic nutrient solutions
• Recomment how nutrients might be appropriately used in a hydroponic garden.
• Compare different growing media and systems, appropriate to a home hydroponic situation.
• Design a hydroponic system suited to a particular home situation
• Diagnose common ailments in a hydroponic system, make suggest treatments.
• Describe general hydroponic crop in a home situation.
• Differentiate between solid media and nutrient film hydroponic techniques, and the way in which plants may be treated differently in each.
• Plan production of a sequence of crops in hydroponic production.
• Determine methods for hydroponic cut flower production.

How Easy is it to Get Started?
 
There are lots of options of how you can grow hydroponically.  It does not need to be complex at all to get started; but if you want it to be, it can become increasingly complex as you learn more about hydroponics.
 

Choosing the Category of System
The first choice is whether to use water culture, aggregate culture or rockwool. All three are viable and used successfully with a large variety of crops in many different parts of the world.

Your choice should take into consideration the following:

• What is the cost of each and how readily available are materials in your area?
• Is rockwool made/sold locally? If not, what freight charges are involved in having it delivered?
• Is there a local source of sand or gravel which can be used, or do you need to pay high cartage costs?
• What types of plants will you grow?
• Some plants require better aeration than others. Some systems provide better aeration than others, for example NFT systems.
   

Choosing Media to Grow in 
There are three main groups of hydroponic media, based on their origins:

1. Media derived from rock or stone
2. Media derived from synthetics
3. Organic media

General Characteristics 
Media is the term given to the solid material(s) used to replace soil in aggregate culture and rockwool culture. 

Hydroponic media must fulfill the following criteria:

• They must be chemically inert.
• They must be chemically stable.
• They must be clean.
• They must drain sufficiently freely not to create water logging problems.
• They must have adequate water-holding capacity.
• They must have adequate air-holding capacity. 

Also:

•  Buffer capacity should be good – this is the ability of the media to resist changes in pH.
• It is preferable that cation exchange capacity is at least moderate to good.
   

Getting a Nutrient Solution 
Nutrient solutions for small hydroponic systems can often be adequately prepared by adding some additional components to a standard, general fertiliser (e.g. 5 parts gypsum and 1 part Epsom salts added to 6 parts of any powdered soluble plant food such as Thrive, Aquasol or Phostrogen). Sometimes it might be necessary to add a minute amount of micronutrient.

Larger scale hydroponic growers need a more accurate control of the components in a nutrient solution to achieve commercial success. A large number of different nutrient formulas have been developed for use in hydroponics. Some give better results than others, however there is no single formula that outshines all the others. The success of each formula depends on the conditions in which it is used and on which plants are being grown. 

To make a nutrient solution you need to know the relative amounts of the different nutrients in a plant requires. The requirement is different for different types of plants. You need to know what proportion of each chemical ingredient you are using is actually the nutrient (e.g. one chemical might contain 20% nitrogen and another chemical 45% nitrogen; you need less than half as much of the second chemical to supply the same amount of nitrogen). 

• You also need to know how soluble the chemicals you use are.
  Some chemicals need more water or more mixing than others. Be aware of potential interactions between the chemicals you use.
• Some chemicals cannot be mixed with others, because they react together and become something new. This can be something you might not want in the solution, or something inert that can’t be used by the plants you are growing. In most cases, an amateur grower is better to purchase pre made nutrients, rather than try to make their own. It is nevertheless still important to understand how nutrient mixes are constructed, in order to make informed decisions about what to use and how to use it.

You may use what you learn to become more productive with the equipment you have already been using; or it may provide the knowledge and awareness you need to make better choices about setting up new systems.

New opportunities to utilise hydroponics will gradually become evident; and the stage will be set for you to continue growing your capacity to grow all sorts of things hydroponically.