Are you ready to start your hydroponic gardening system? If yes, what do you need for hydroponic gardening, and the basic components you need to look for? There is a lot of space for creativity when making a hydroponic gardening indoor system. If you aren’t familiar with everything you need for your indoor hydroponics gardening system, this article is a perfect match for you.
To deepen your knowledge further about indoor hydroponic farming, this article has a comprehensive list of hydroponics supplies, tips on how to use the materials in the right way, and solutions to some of the most common questions. To discover more, keep reading!
What’s Hydroponic Gardening?
Hydroponics gardening involves growing plants in a container with a water and nutrient solution. Essentially, hydroponic gardening means the entire process of cultivating vegetables, fruits, flowers, and other types of plants without soil. When compared to traditional farming, hydroponics is better in some ways.
Plants usually have higher yields and can grow closer, requiring less space. Another benefit is that it requires less water than conventional gardening since water doesn’t travel through the soil to be absorbed by plants. On top of that, weeds won’t be a problem, and your plants can grow from anywhere, including indoors, with grow lights to help extend the lifespan and growing season.
What are the Basic Components to look for?
The basic components you need to look at are categorized into three main groups, which include growing systems, planting, and maintenance. Below, you’ll find insights on when, how, and why to use them. Let’s dig deep to discover more.
Hydroponics Growing System: What Do You Need?
In order to build or set up your hydroponic gardening indoor system, you need water, a water reservoir, light, PVC pipes or tubes, net pots and grow trays, seeds, fertilizers or nutrients, air stone and pump, water pump timer, temperature control, and a PH meter.
Water
Water is the most important component of an indoor hydroponic gardening system. While it seems the easiest component to source, you cannot use just any type of water. Even tap water isn’t safe.
Tap water can only be used if treated properly beforehand. Your tap water may contain chlorine components, and apart from that, you also need to take into account water PPM (parts per million).
When choosing water for your hydroponic system, you need to consider several things, including chlorination, chloramination, and water PPM. Ensure the water doesn’t have hypochlorite or chlorine since it’s toxic to tiny organisms.
As a result, it can kill important bacteria in the nutrient reservoir. If you want to use your tap water, expose it to UV rays for 24 hours to break down the chlorine component. Another thing you need to avoid is chloramination – a combination of ammonia and chlorine, which is harder to break.
Also, it’s toxic to fish, meaning not suitable for aquaponics systems. You can use a carbon filter, sterilants, or sodium thiosulfate to make your water chloramine-free. Your water’s PPM (parts per million) should range between 200 and 300.
Recommended water options for your hydroponic gardening indoor system include distilled, filtered, and reverse osmosis.
Water Reservoir
A water reservoir helps store and deliver nutrients to your plants. You need it in order to prepare your nutrient solution. Anything that holds between 15 and 20 liters of water can be your water reservoir, ranging from household storage bins to buckets. When picking a reservoir, you should consider the color, lid, and size.
In terms of color, opaque and black are the best, as they help to prevent algae growth while keeping the solution dark. Place your reservoir near a water source and away from direct sunlight to avoid rapid PH and temperature changes that can affect your plants’ health.
Light
Similar to their soil-grown counterparts, hydroponically grown plants also need heat and light to grow, remain healthy, and make food. Several light sources are available to pick from, including natural and LED lights. Additional light options include high-pressure sodium, incandescent lights, and fluorescent lights.
Tubes/PVC Pipes
You need to have a drain tube and a fill tube for your hydroponic reservoir. These tubes allow you to connect your reservoir to the tray. The main function of the drain tube is to pull the water to the reservoir after flooding to allow for recycling and reusing.
What Do You Require for Hydroponics Planting?
Without these important materials, you cannot grow plants; net pots, grow trays, seeds, and nutrients/fertilizers. Plants require a support structure, and net pots are the most popular.
These tiny pots with slits or holes allow roots to access the nutrient solution. Substrates fill the net pots as they act as the soil. Some of the most common substrates include perlite, rockwool, pumice, hydroton, coconut coir, and gravel.
Plants require 17 nutrients to develop and grow healthy. In a hydroponic gardening system, plants usually have access to oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. While potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen are important nutrients, plants also need iron, nickel, zinc, boron, copper, sulfur, calcium, magnesium, manganese, and molybdenum.
Liquid and dry fertilizers are the most common types. Dry fertilizers, in most cases, come as a multi-part mix, but others are pre-mixed.
What Do You Need for Hydroponics Gardening Maintenance?
You need several devices during water preparation as well as maintenance checkups. They include a temperature controller, a pump and air stone, a PH meter, and a water pump timer. So should you build or purchase a hydroponic gardening system?
While you can build your own hydroponic system, it can be challenging, especially when you are a newbie. As a result, you can simplify everything for yourself by purchasing a ready-made one. Remember to consider the plant type, budget, and space when purchasing.
Consider Gardyn Hydroponic Gardening Indoor System
Gardyn provides a viable solution to individuals who want to buy a hydroponic gardening indoor system. It ensures you enjoy fresh produce across the year with zero pesticides and more nutrients. The system you’ll receive isn’t not only better for you but also fits perfectly in your home and utilizes AI-powered technology.
This technology provides unparalleled plant density of produce, self-sustaining water management, revolutionary machine vision, and a wide range of plant portfolios. All these are under an eye-catching and elegant tower design umbrella.
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