Buyer’s Guide to Hydroponic Systems—A Walk through the Water Garden

The decision to invest in an indoor hydroponic growing system is a step toward food independence and sustainability. Whether you build your own hydroponics system or assemble a viable waterfarm from manufactured components, you’re about to embark on an enviable adventure. Will you choose static solution, or continuous flow? How will you select media and nutrients? Which cultivars will nourish your family?

For every space, every budget, and every need, there is a hydroponic gardening sys- tem. With very little money, you can cobble together your own custom grow system. If you’d prefer a high-end hydroponic grow system installed by an expert, you can purchase the garden of your dreams. And if you fall somewhere in between these two extremes, you’ll still find the right hydroponic setup.

The Nitty Gritty Dirtless Brand

Searching for simplicity? At its most basic, your hydroponics growing system consists of two pieces: containment for your plants, and containment for your nutrients. With these in place, you may choose to set up with some type of media in the first container (to hold the plants in place), and some type of nutrient in the second container (to nourish the plants). Most systems will also use a pump, which circulates the nutrients through the media.

If you’ll maintain your hydro system indoors, you have the happy option of controlling all the elements. You’ll need a good light source and enough ventilation. From there, the sky is the limit. You can begin growing right away, or you can expand your horizons with extras like cloning systems, environmental controls, air pumps, CO2 regulators, and more. Hydroponics is a hotbed of innovation. The technology is always getting better!

Uncommonly Easy

Hydroponics systems may use one of two techniques. Medium culture, in which your plants are rooted in Rockwool, Perlite, vermiculate, expanded clay, coconut husks, or even sand, is more common. However, you can obtain wonderful results using solution culture, in which the roots of your plants are exposed directly to the liquid nutrient solution, without any solid media for the roots.

Drip Systems are among the most common set ups. A hydroponic drip system uses a pump to push the nutrients through the medium. You can control the rate of the drip, depending on how fast the medium drains.

Ebb and Flow Systems are also known as Flood and Drain Systems. Unlike the cont- inuous slow supply of the Drip System, Ebb and Flow periodically floods the medium with nutrients, which then slowly drain out before the next flood.

Deep Water Cultures are even simpler, with the plants situated directly in the nutrients, and an air pump used to keep the water circulating and the plants from drowning.

Hand Watering Hydroponic Systems, as their name implies, require you to hydrate them regularly with a solution of nutrients dissolved in water.

But this is merely the tip of the iceberg. Beginning with the same theories and techniques, hydroponic enthusiasts have developed increasingly sophisticated methods for hydroponic growing: Nutrient Film Technique, Dutch Bucket Method, Ein Gedi System, Raft System, Vertical Gardening, Aeroponic Systems, Grow Boxes and Grow Machines, Propagations Systems, Passive Subirrigation, and Run to Waste, to name a few.