Homemade Hydroponic Systems

For people who do not have the means to set up a conventional garden, a homemade hydroponic system offers an effective substitute, as it is soil-less gardening! If you are planning to build your own homemade hydroponic systems, then this article is an introduction to three major types of hydroponic systems that can easily be set up by anyone.

About Hydroponic Growing Systems

Hydroponics is growing plants without soil. This technique is indeed a radical shift from conventional gardening, farming and allied techniques of growing vegetation which are all soil based. This technique of growing plants involves growing plants in mineral and nutrient rich solutions in water. Soil is essentially a nutrient rich medium from which plants absorb nutrients dissolved in water. The idea behind this new paradigm shifting gardening or farming technique is that plant growth is possible without soil if the nutrient medium that it provides is substituted by a water based solution. Most terrestrial plants have been successfully grown in hydroponic systems.

Advantages of Hydroponic Systems

There are many advantages of having homemade hydroponic systems instead of potted plants. Some of the main advantages of growing plants hydroponically are the following:

• Basic advantage is that you don't have to worry about choice of soil as no soil is used! The absence of soil eliminates all the soil related problems.
• One can achieve an economical hydroponic nutrient supply and save on related costs. One has greater control over the supply of nutrients than in a soil based environment.
• Proven high yields of homemade hydroponic systems are testimony to the advantage it offers over conventional soil based gardening or farming.
• Excessive nutrient pollution that often occurs in soil based systems is avoided.
• Plant related diseases and pests can be eliminated more easily due to the water based culture and the inherent mobility that the technique offers.
• Using homemade hydroponic systems, one can have vegetation where natural soil does not support it or is not conducive to its growth.

Types of Hydroponic System Plans

After a brief overview of advantages that this radical technique of growing plant offers, let us have a look at the main types of homemade hydroponic systems that can be set up easily. Here are three of them.

Deep Water Culture Hydroponic System

One of the most popular homemade hydroponic growing systems is the one they call the deep water culture method. All that you need to build a deep water culture based hydroponic system is a plastic storage bin, air stone, aquarium pump, nutrient mixture and air stones. You fill the (preferably dark-colored) tank with water, add nutrient mixture and cover it with a lid so that the water surface is not exposed to light. Cut holes in the lid to place plants in such a fashion that plants can be placed or grown without the water being exposed to light. Attach the air pump from one side to aerate the water. It is vital that the pH level and nutrient content is maintained for good growth.

Wick Based Hydroponic System

The wick system employs two storage bins instead of one and uses nylon rope and air pumps for setting up a hydroponic system. One bin is the plant container with air stones and air pump attached while the other bin serves as a nutrient reservoir. Placed one above another, let the plant container be at the top and every plant container have a nylon rope passed around it , which is left hanging down into the solution. When each of the plant containers is filled with vermiculite and perlite, wicking of water from the rope to the plant will be made possible.

Ebb and Flow Hydroponic System

In this method, plants and the nutrient solution are separately placed. The plant container tub is periodically flooded by nutrient solution using a timer based pump. When the plant roots have sufficiently soaked nutrients, the solution is drained back in to the nutrient reservoir.

These three are some of the simplest hydroponic systems to set up. Hydroponic system technology is still in a nascent stage and is finding rapid commercial use, due to the reported increase in yield reported by hydroponics based farms and the economy of setting one up. Hope, this short introduction to homemade hydroponic systems has enthused you to experiment with hydroponic gardening technique at home.