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What You Must Know about Organic Hydroponics Fertilizer
There is a difference between organic and hydroponics fertilizer and the issue of organic hydroponics fertilizer cannot be fully or properly understood until the differences are acknowledged. Organic hydroponics fertilizer can be considered as an incredibly positive thing, when all matters are taken into consideration.
When most people think of hydroponics, they think of plants that are grown with their roots suspended directly into water, with no growing medium. However, what most people dont know is that there are literally hundreds of methods of hydroponic gardening.
The Basic Hydroponics System and how they Work
There are actually six basic types of hydroponic systems, which are: wick, water culture, ebb and flow, drip, N.F.T., and aeroponic. While there are hundreds of variations on these types, all of these variations are a method or combination of these six.
The wick system is easily the simplest type of hydroponic system, and can use a variety of growing medium, including: perlite, vermiculite, pro-mix, and coconut fiber to name the most commonly used. The most major drawback of this system is that often times the plants turn out too large or otherwise use large amounts of water, therefore using up the nutrient solution provided faster than the wick can supply it.
The water culture form is the hydroponic system of choice for growing leaf lettuce, as very few plants other than lettuce will do well in this type of system. This is primarily due to the fact that lettuce is such a water loving plant. The most major drawback with this form of hydroponic system is that it does not work well with large or long-term plants.
The ebb and flow system is an incredibly versatile system that can be used with a variety of growing mediums. The major drawback for this type of hydroponic system is that with some types of growing medium, such as gravel, growrocks, and perlite, there is a vulnerability to such things as power outages and pump and timer failures. However, this problem can easily be relieved by using growing media that retains more water.
Drip systems are the most widely used form of hydroponic systems, and because of a recovery system that uses nutrient solution more efficiently, the use of a more inexpensive timer is allowed because a recovery system does not require precise control of the watering cycles. However, the major drawback of this system is that it requires more periodic checking and adjusting.
The N.F.T. form of hyrdroponic system is popular because there is usually no growing medium used other than air, which therefore saves the expense of replacing the growing medium after every crop. The major drawback of this form of hydroponic system is that they are very susceptible to power outages and pump failures, which as an end result can become costly.
Finally, the aeroponic system is the most high-tech out of all the six basic hydroponic systems. A timer controls the nutrient pump much like other forms of hydroponic systems, with the major drawback to this method being that the aeroponic system needs a short cycle timer that runs the pump for a few seconds every couple of minutes.
Why Organic Hydroponics Fertilizer is a Good Thing
Organic hydroponics fertilizer is important because of many reasons, primarily because of the increasingly popularity for growing such things as organic vegetables. The use of organic hydroponics fertilizer has become notorious in itself primarily for this reason, and it offers a positive solution to those who are interested in growing organically. |