Static and medium culture hydroponics

Hydroponics allows the growth of plants without soil. Plants, like all life forms, need nutrition to help them grow, which would usually be obtained from soil through their roots. It is easy to grow plants without using soil, with the help of a nutrient solution. The plants still derive all their nutrition through their roots, but in much greater concentrations than would be drawn out of soil, therefore promoting growth.

There are two different types of hydroponics, both of which can be carried out using cheap hydroponic systems. Solution culture and medium culture. Solution culture uses nothing but the nutrient solution. The static solution technique involves growing the plants in containers that have nutrient solution, this will need changing regularly to ensure the plants are receiving maximum nutrition. Continuous flow solution means the plants are in containers that have a constant flow of nutrient solution running over their roots, this eliminates the need for regular changing of the solution as it can be regulated in a central tank. Dependant on the complexity of the growing system being set up, a technique called Nutrient Film Technique or NFT for short, may be used. The water level is so shallow it is barely a film, which is where the technique gets it’s name from. The roots of the plants grow to form a thick mat on top of the solution which means they can achieve optimum nutrition levels.

Medium culture uses some type of medium for the plants to bed their roots into such as rock wool or gravel. The solution then flows through the medium, giving the plants adequate nutrition.  Gravel is one of the cheapest and easiest mediums to use in homemade hydroponic systems as it is very easy to sterilise and re-use. Weight is the only real disadvantage.

Lights are also used to promote growth using hydroponic growing systems. Where the plants are being grown will determine the type of lights that need to be used. There are varying spectrums of light available. You can purchase lights that allow you to increase the hours of sunlight the plants get. You can also purchase lights that give a spectrum to encourage growth.