Over the next few days I thought we would take a look at the variety of substrates available to us when setting up our hydroponic system starting with Rockwool.
Rockwool is made using an ingenious process whereby natural basalt rock is mixed with chalk and then heated to 1600°C causing it to turn into lava. Once the mixture is melted, it is then spun like cotton candy, compressed and finally cut into a variety of sized cubes and slabs. Due to the manufacturing process, the resultant Rockwool is completely inert and is able to hold large quantities of nutrient solution (50% approx), the other 50% being made up of air. This promotes healthy root growth and helps prevents rotting due to overwatering.
ADVANTAGES
+ Plants can be started from cuttings or seeds and transplanted into larger blocks without risk of stress to individual plants and the root system.
+ Provides an optimum balance of nutrient retention and oxygen.
+ Can be used as part of a drip hydroponic system.
+ Simple to set up.
+ Plants can be grown in Rockwool and then later on planted into soil with the Rockwool still attached.
DISADVANTAGES
- Requires large amounts of space due to one plant one block.
- Slabs of Rockwool can be extremely heavy once wet.
- Cost, due to the fact that this material can’t be reused easily.
Hydroponics for the Home Gardener: An easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide for growing healthy vegetables, herbs and house plants without soil. (Gardening)
So maybe you are ready to take the next step on your way to becoming self sufficient and are bewildered by the shear amount of different types of lighting available to hydroponic enthusiasts.
Dont Panic
Lighting is actually simpler than it might appear once you understand a few simple facts.
- The color “temperature” of a bulb refers to the color spectrum that it emits. Temperatures for hydroponic purposes normally range from 2700 (High Pressure Sodium) to 4200K (Metal Halide). At the lower end of the scale, HPS emits a warm color (red) which helps plants to flower/fruit. Metal Halide on the other hand emits a very cool color (blue) which is ideal for growing leafy vegetables and most house plants.
- There are bulbs available that are balanced to provide the best of both the red and blue spectrums. These are normally called daylight bulbs.
- Which bulb you choose is directly related to what you would like to grow.
How Many Watts Do I Need?Wattage is important and determines how much light your plants will recieve (and how fast they will grow). As a general rule:
- A 1000 watt light will be ok for a 7 x 7 ft growing area.
- A 600 watt light will be ok for a 6 x 6 ft growing area.
- A 400 watt light will be ok for a 4 x 4 ft growing area.
- A 250 watt light will be ok for a 3 x 3 ft growing area.
The above assumes that you have no natural source of lighting in your growing area. If you are planning on growing cacti or some other high light needing plant, you may require more wattage than this.
The lights you choose to buy will depend on the type of things you would like to grow. For example, are you planning on growing just foliage type plants (most housplants)? If you, then you would be looking to purchase a metal halide fixture.
For most growing needs, I would recommend at least a 600 watt system. Remember that you cannot run a 600 watt bulb in a 400 watt ballast, so it’s always better to think bigger than you need rather than ending up buying another ballast later on.
Hi Folks, as the first post I thought I’d talk about why we would want to grow our food hydroponically.
If you have been interested in growing fruit and vegetables hydroponically for a while, you’ve probably mentioned it to friends and family. The first thing most people ask is “why would you want to?” Heck, you may have even got some strange looks! So lets address this perfectly valid question.
In a nutshell, hydroponically grown food tastes better, plain and simple.
Blandness
If you’ve ever tasted a tomato from a supermarket, you’ll no doubt know how bland tasting it was. There are many reasons why supermarket fruit and veg is bland, most of which resolve around money. You see, farmers get paid just the same whether they have a small crop of delicious tasting fruit and veg or a bumper size crop of tasteless produce. Obviously, the small crop is going to bring in less money overall as there is less of it! In response to this, modern farming attempts to get as much produce into a space as possible, taste suffering as a result.
Ripeness
Supermarket fruit and veg is picked before it’s had a chance to ripen properly. Why is this done you ask? Next time you take a look in your local supermarket, check out where your fruit and veg comes from. How much of it is grown in your country? Not much I’m betting. Most of the produce sold is imported from foreign countries. Because of this, and the haulage distances involved, it needs to be picked too early to ensure it doesn’t rot by the time it reaches the store! As a result, the taste suffers dramatically, especially for tomatoes.
Food tasted better years ago
You’ve probably heard our older generation say that food used to taste so much better in the olden days. Well folks, we didn’t have the intensive farming methods years ago! Couple that with the fact that food used to be grown and sold locally (meaning the local farmer could leave it to ripen, no long distance travelling to worry about), you can see why they are right. The good news is that you don’t have to put up with tasteless fruit and veg, with a few steps and simple equipment, you can be on your way to fruit and veg like you’ve never tasted before. As a bonus, your shopping bill will be much cheaper too.
