Hydropnics Q&A: The Basics Of Hydroponics By Harry Gurney

 

* What is hydroponics?
Hydroponics is commonly referred to as "the cultivation of plants in water". However, studies show that various media can support the growth of the plant. The definition was broadened to "the cultivation of plants without soil".

* What is aeroponics?
Aeroponics is classified as a hydroponic method where roots of the plants are continuously or discontinuously placed in an environment soaked with fine drops such as a mist or aerosol of nutrient solution.

* What are the advantages of hydroponics?
The most apparent advantage of hydroponics is its manageability to control the plant-growing environment. Other benefits of hydroponics are:

• Restricted supply of enough water only
• Avoid high labor cost than traditional cultivation method
• No need for high cost of soil fertilizer
• Certainty of plant production

* Are there different kinds of hydroponics?
Actually, there are many different types of hydroponics. The major divisions are either media-based or water culture.

Under media-based hydroponics are the following:

• Flood and drain
• Drip system
• Wick Feeding

On the other hand, water culture hydroponics involve:

• Raft Cultivation
• Nutrient film technique

Still, other techniques fall under the water-culture category.

* How much time does a hydroponic garden require?
Starting a hydroponic garden requires time, commitment and dedication. It needs plenty of time if you want to make sure that the plants are in good condition at all times. It will also take you longer to mix the nutrient solutions. From time to time, it is necessary that you check on the pests or diseases that will attack your plant.

The time element also depends on the kind of hydroponic garden you plant as well as how big and complex it is. The time element also depends on the type of plants you want to grow.

* Can I grow hydroponic plants indoors?
Definitely, growing hydroponic plants can also be done in your indoor garden. You just need to maintain a temperature that ranges from 60 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. There must be a sufficient supply of water as well. You'll need to maintain the nutrient solution that you will apply everyday.

* What should I use for a light source?
Light is also one of the requirements for plant growth in a hydroponics system. Most of the cultivated plants need sunlight. However, when you grow plants indoors, artificial light such as bulb light is necessary. The intensity of the light that you are going to use must be high but make sure that it does not significantly raise the temperature.

* Do hydroponic plants grow faster than the plants in soil?
It will depend on how you manage the techniques that you are going to use in hydroponics. If the methods are followed properly, the growth of hydroponic plants will be faster than those planted in soil and the duration could even be longer. It will also vary with the kinds of plants. There are plants that grow faster with hydroponics but there are also those that do not.

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About The Author:
Harry Gurney is a regular contributor to hydropnics- and gardening-related books and resources such as e Hydroponics. Website: http://www.e-Hydroponics.com.

Article Source: http://www.articlecube.com

How To Make Your Own Organic Garden Fertilizer By Denise Loubert

 

Like many people, I have found myself wanting more control over the quality of what I eat. And so – like many people today, I decided to grow some of the herbs and vegetables that I eat the most. Growing them organically seemed the most logical way to know that what I put into my body is not only tasty, but good for me.

To grow organically however, requires learning what that means, and that is where my education began. Online, there are several definitions of what the word organic means.

The USDA defines it this way – anything that is produced without antibiotics; growth hormones; most conventional pesticides; petroleum based fertilizers or sewage sludge based fertilizers; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation. Or to put it more simply, food that is grown without artificial fertilizers or pesticides.

Now, there are two ways you can get the organic garden fertilizer for your garden. You can go out and buy it, and there is nothing wrong with that. I did it for quite a few years. It can be confusing sometimes, you don’t always know if what you are buying is truly organic, but there are a few companies out there that have a good reputation and you can feel comfortable buying from them. In fact, I sell them on my organic garden fertilizer website because I do trust them.

The other route is to make it yourself. This may sound extreme, but the truth is it is not that hard. There was a time when finding the right ingredients took some work. Many of the ingredients were not generally available unless you lived near a few good feed stores or had access to lime through special sources. These days, however, the internet can put you in touch with many wholesalers of all of the ingredients and you can have it all shipped right to your home. What is even better – it is less expensive than commercial organic fertilizers, and it’s much better for your soil life than harsh synthetic chemical mixes.

Here is my basic formula to produce a correctly balanced fertilizing mix composed entirely of natural substances:

Mix uniformly in parts by volume:

• 4 parts seed meal
• 1/4 part ordinary agricultural lime (finely ground)
• 1/4 part gypsum (or double the ag lime)
• 1/2 part dolomitic lime

I recommend adding the following ingredients for your best results. Guano, rock phosphate and kelp meal may seem costly but they add considerable fortitude to the plants and increase the nutritional content of your vegetables. I have also found that they make my plants more resistant to insect infestations.

• 1 part bone meal rock phosphate or high phosphate guano
• 1/2 to 1 part kelp meal (or 1 part basalt dust)

Add the fertilizer in the spring when you are amending the soil in preparation of your first planting and then add from time to time throughout the year in small amounts. Once you start making your own fertilizer, and see the end results in your garden, I think you will agree that for the time and money it is one of the best investments you will make in both yourself and your garden.

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About The Author:
Deni Loubert has been an organic gardener for over forty years, beginning in the early days of organic gardening and has continued to both eat and garden organically whenever she can. She recently created http://organic-garden-fertilizer.com as a website resource for organic gardeners.

Article Source: http://www.articlecoop.com

Keep Pests Out Of Your Vegetable Garden By John Chambers

 

If you have a vegetable garden then you know that can you lose quite a bit of the harvest to pests every year, this is why people adopt various methods of pest control. Plants that receive poor care are much more susceptible to pest problems than plants that get the proper fertilizers, water, and cultivation. First you'll want to choose plants for your garden that have a natural resistance to pests.

Few plants are actually resistant to insect problems, but you will find that many are resistant to common garden diseases. If you've grown your garden from seeds don't save your seeds to use in another garden project.

This is because seeds can carry these illnesses. To reduce the risk of disease, you should work with dealers that are known for selling high-quality seeds that are not prone to diseases.

If you buy transplants, make sure that they are strong and healthy. If your plant appears to be young or old, or spindly and weak, then you may not want to try and transplant these plants as they may not survive through the transplant shock and can be more susceptible to certain pests.

A good strategy for warding off soil based diseases is to rotate the crops in you garden on a yearly basis. Alternating corn with other crops is a good system.

Following corn with cole crops such as broccoli, cabbage, and greens, cole crops with solanaceous crops such as potatoes, peppers, and tomatoes, and solanaceous crops with legumes such as beans or peas, then legumes with corn again, is an intelligent four year rotation plan that you might go with.

You can control pests by weeding volunteer plants from the soil, and keeping cull piles and debris from the crop out of the way. It is not a good practice to save plant residues for mulching as many pests are able to survive in the residue.

Better mulching choices include straw, leaves and materials that are not leftover from the garden. Mulch is useful for keeping the ground moist and preventing weeds, but it has one major drawback that you should keep in mind. Mulch can serve as a home for certain pests, which introduces them to your plants unseen.

Good sanitation will also keep your vegetable garden disease free. Before any intricate cultivation or transplants make sure that you wash your hands and your tools thoroughly with soap. Believe it or not, gardeners that use tobacco products need to wash their hands especially, because many plant viruses can be passed through tobacco to your garden.

Weeds can also provide a place for garden pests to survive and they can end up attacking your plants. Certain weeds exist that will actually attract the pests to your garden all by themselves, so keep weeds out of your garden and also away from the exterior of it as well.

There are many potentially nasty things that can dwell in weeds and damage your plants including aphids, beetles, leafhoppers, many other insects, nematodes, and mites. Keep your garden well weeded and make sure to clear away any Johnson Grass, it is a perennial weed which can often hide harmful pests.

A good tool to use to keep the pests at bay in the garden is moisture control. Water early in the day to help prevent diseases from setting in.

This one simple rule can help you avoid a host of problems. You will likely suffer from fungus in watering your plants at night, since fungus loves wet and warm environments; watering at night keeps the moisture on the plants for greater amounts of time.

You can erect a small shield around your transplants to keep any insect pests away from them. You only need a shield that goes into the ground a few inches.

Any material from cardboard to leftover roof shingles and empty milk jugs can be used for this. Those barriers will protect the young plants from grubs, cutworms, wireworms, and other destructive insects that feed at or below the surface of the soil.

Although you can introduce your own type of predator insect to destroy an existing problem, you should take care to avoid this practice if you are able. It's much better to encourage natural predators, such as spiders, ground beetles, syrphid flies, lacewings, ladybugs, and praying mantises, to take up residence in the garden.

Pesticides are the last option you should go to if you are having a hard time removing a pest population from your garden by non-chemical means. Be sure to use any chemicals according to the directions on the label. When a label advises you to wait for a certain amount of time between treatments, you should follow this strictly, or else you may damage your garden.

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About The Author:

As a person looking for pest control, please visit here to learn more on the topic of organic pest control services.

Article Source: http://www.earticlesdirect.com