Chapter 1: An Overview of Hydroponic Gardening
Chapter 1: An Overview of Hydroponic Gardening
Simply stated, hydroponic gardening is a way of growing plants without soil. More directly, hydroponic gardening is a way of growing plants using water as the singular method of nutrient delivery. You will see, in most instances, hydroponics defined using the words “without soil,” but the most important thing to know about hydroponics is that “with water” is more vital than “without soil.” The word “hydroponic” literally means “water works.” The word “hydroponics” is derived from two Greek words: “hydro,” meaning water, and “ponics” meaning labor or work. Thus, we might suggest that the practice of hydroponics in one in which we let the water do the work.
When we think of traditional gardening methods, we always think that soil is the important factor. This, however, is not necessarily the case.
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin was a French gastronome who lived in the late 18th and early 19th century. He is quoted as saying “Vegetables, which are the lowest in the scale of living things, are fed by roots, which, implanted in the native soil, select by the action of a peculiar mechanism, different subjects, which serve to increase and to nourish them.” He is also more famously remembered for saying: “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” Gastronomy is mentioned here because it is the science of food and eating. Gastronomy relates to hydroponics because hydroponics concerns the method by which plants “eat” or take in nutrients. Plants take in nutrients through their roots. It is not the soil that feeds the plants, but the solution that shares the soil with the roots. That solution is the water.
Historical Hydroponics
It is hard to say who discovered that hydroponics was a viable way of growing plants or how the practice of hydroponic gardening came into being, but it is known that hydroponic gardening has been around for thousands of years.
One of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, is considered a hydroponic gardening system. King Nebuchadnezzar constructed the hanging gardens for his wife in the ancient city of Babylonia (about 50 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq) around 600 B.C.
The ancient Greeks historians, Strabo (63 B.C. - A.D. 24) and Philo (20 B.C. - 50 A.D.), have left us some wonderful descriptions of this magnificent garden: “The Garden is quadrangular, and each side is four plethra long. It consists of arched vaults, which are located on checkered cube-like foundations… The ascent of the uppermost terrace-roofs is made by a stairway...
“The Hanging Garden has plants cultivated above ground level, and the roots of the trees are embedded in an upper terrace rather than in the earth. The whole mass is supported on stone columns... Streams of water emerging from elevated sources flow down sloping channels... These waters irrigate the whole garden saturating the roots of plants and keeping the whole area moist. Hence the grass is permanently green and the leaves of trees grow firmly attached to supple branches... For the root system is kept saturated and sucks up the all-pervading supply of water, wandering in interlaced channels beneath the ground, and securely maintaining the well-established and excellent quality of trees. This is a work of art of royal luxury, and its most striking feature is that the labor of cultivation is suspended above the heads of the spectators.”
It is believed that a mechanism called an Archimedes screw was employed to carry about 8,000 gallons of water a day from the Euphrates River ground level up to the top of the garden more than 300 feet high.
Another example of early hydroponic gardening can be found on the highland plateau of central Mexico. The highland plateau is where metropolitan Mexico City is situated. It was here that the Aztecs practiced hydroponic gardening using a system known as “chinampas.” Chinampas were floating gardens that some historians believe were begun as early as 1400 B.C., though there is no firm proof of them before about 1100 A.D. The word “chinampas” is derived from and very descriptive of the way in which the gardens were constructed. “Chinampas” is combined chinamitl (reed basket) and pan (upon). The gardens were constructed by draining an area of a lake. After the area was drained, reeds were woven over the area and the area was enclosed. The reed basket that was constructed above the lake bed was then filled with sediment from the lake bottom before the area was flooded again. In this case, the sediment was not used like soil, but more as an anchor for the bed. Crops such as maize, potatoes, amaranth, and chia were grown in these “floating gardens” that were constructed to help feed the hundreds of thousands of people that lived in the central Mexican plain.
The practice of growing plants in the manner of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the chinampas of the Mexican plains are just two early examples of hydroponic gardening. Aristotle, Marco Polo, and many others also have chronicled a wide variety of hydroponic gardening techniques from all over the world from China, to Egypt, to South America, but it was not until the 1600s that the science of plant nutrition was examined and chronicled.
Belgian scientist, Jan van Helmont, was among the earliest researchers to record, through scientific method, that plants obtain substances such as nutrients from water. Van Helmont planted a five-pound willow shoot in a vessel that contained 200 pounds of dried soil. The vessel was then covered to keep out any possible contaminants. Van Helmont regularly watered the contents of the vessel with rainwater for five years. After this period, he noted that the willow shoot had increased in weight by 160 pounds. Van Helmont also noted that the soil lost less than two ounces. The conclusion that Jan van Helmont drew from this observation was that plants grown in dirt receive their nutrients, not from the dirt, but from the water. It was subsequently realized, at a later date, that plants also benefit from the oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air around them.
In 1699 British scientist, John Woodward, determined that pure water was not as good for soilless plants when compared to water that once had soil soaked in it, which led to the important understanding of how water holds minerals once it has been in contact with soil. It was this research that led to the first man-made nutrient solution for hydroponic gardening.
The idea of trying to grow plants without soil really started to take hold in the early 1900s when several researchers at the University of California, Berkeley continued to work in this field and coin the term “hydroponics.” In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Dr. William F. Gericke of the University of California broadened and expanded his indoor laboratory experimentation to include work on plant nutrition in a more practical nature by growing crops outside. Gericke called what he was working on “hydroponics.” This was the first time the word was used to describe plants grown in a water system. Gericke’s work is now thought to be the foundation for all methods of hydroponic gardening, even though it had been practiced for thousands of years before he came along.
The timeliness of Gericke’s work also coincided with the rise in the use of greenhouses and in the use of refrigeration as a means of storing and transporting food grown in one part of the country and shipped to another. One of the primary locations for this explosion in agriculture meant to feed a growing country was the California valley near the University of California at Berkley. The use of greenhouses, hydroponics, and refrigeration gained in popularity to bring out-of-season produce to consumers for additional profit.
But the various experiments that went on at that time were of limited success due to the materials they had to work with (gravel, wood, concrete, glass). When plastic became a commonly available building material, interest picked back up, and new hydroponics system concepts were experimented with.
One of the first truly successful uses for hydroponics in growing food was in 1938 when Pan-Am Airways created a commercial operation on tiny Wake Island so that they could use the island as a restocking point for flights. Similar principles were applied on otherwise barren Pacific islands during World War II to produce food for the troops.
In more recent times, NASA has been doing more intensive experiments with hydroponics as a clean and efficient way to raise food plants in space. Not only can growing plants produce food, they also will clean the air and produce oxygen. All of these factors make this a valuable program for NASA and hopefully with more research, we can expect to see new breakthroughs in hydroponics in the near future. According to the NASA.gov website, they are learning more about how varying combinations of light, nutrients, and carbon dioxide impact plant growth. They also are looking at improving yields by combining certain plants instead of only growing one crop at a time.
The Basic “How” and “Why” of Hydroponic Gardening
All hydroponics systems have a different way of functioning, but they all have a few concepts in common with each other. The very basic premise is that plants are grown with their roots exposed and suspended in some way (usually in an inorganic growing medium, such as vermiculite or clay pellets). The exposed roots are fed a water-based nutrient solution in order to feed and nourish the plants. The specific method for keeping the roots soaked in nutrients is how each system will vary from another.
Some systems will keep your plants continually immersed in a nutrient solution, and others run on timers to flood your roots at certain points of the day. Another option is to supply them constantly with only a thin stream of flowing liquid at the root tips. Still others will use a misting system for continual delivery of nutrients to the roots through the air. More on these different approaches can be found in Chapter 2. They all have their positives and negatives, usually involving their cost and complexity.
A plant’s roots are designed to take in water and water-soluble minerals. It is that nutrition that they need, not the soil itself. They will easily take in the solution that you provide without having to alter how a plant naturally functions.
Because some systems are maintained indoors, they also include lighting. Large banks of fluorescent lights are used to mimic the proper wavelength of sunlight. Though this is distinctly separate from the water systems, it is a vital part of the overall hydroponics setup.
Some hydroponic systems can be designed for outdoor use. These systems make it more difficult to control the environmental factors of light, humidity, and airflow.
Pros and cons
You should consider the pros and cons of each system carefully before making any decisions about how to proceed. These pros and cons will vary from person to person and situation to situation. What works for one individual will not work for another. Several common threads on the pro side apply to any type of hydroponic system:
Control
Hydroponic gardening allows the gardener to be in greater control over his or her garden than what conventional outdoor soil based gardening will allow. With hydroponics, you will be able to provide mineral nutrients in the precise combination and mixture that you feel will best suit your plants. Also, if you have an indoor system, you can modify and adjust the lighting to various points on the spectrum to further fine-tune your gardening. If you like to tweak even the tiniest variable to try and improve your production, then you really should try hydroponics.
Cleanliness
Without soil, you will find that hydroponics is somewhat less messy than soil gardening. This may not be as important as other issues unless you are trying to garden indoors in a small space. Being able to avoid the dirt can be a significant positive if you are trying to grow plants in the corner of the living room or even in a closet. Your indoor system also will lower the risk of your plants being eaten by pests. There will be fewer insects with a hydroponics system, though this particular problem is not eliminated completely.
Increased productivity
Your indoor hydroponic garden, fed by a well-balanced mix of nutrients under optimum lighting, will not be subject to the whims of nature. Thus, you can expect to get high productivity out of your plants. Your growth results per square foot will be greater than outdoor soil-based gardening, and there will be fewer losses due to pests.
Growing out of season
Technically, off-season growing also would apply to any soil gardening that is done in a greenhouse, but it remains a decent positive side to hydroponics compared to outdoor soil-based gardens. With an indoor garden that is under your control for light and temperature, you can have crops from any plants regardless of whether they normally would grow in your region. Fresh fruit and vegetables can be harvested in the middle of winter. You no longer have to time all of your gardening by the seasons or calendar. After each harvest, you immediately can start a new batch of seedlings for the next crop.
Efficient water usage
While it may seem like a lot of water is used when growing plants hydroponically, it actually uses less water than conventional soil gardening because of the lack of waste and the ability to recycle the water (adding more nutrients when necessary). Outdoors, in a soil-based garden, much of the water that goes into the soil eventually soaks in beyond the reach of your plants roots or is otherwise drained away and unused. This one fact alone is motivating further research and development into hydroponics in dry climates or areas hit by drought. Being able to grow crops with less water is a huge positive in any scenario, as long as your hydroponics arrangement recycles as much as possible.
But even with these substantial positives, there are still a few negatives to running a hydroponic garden. You should be just as equally aware of these.
Cost
Yes, you easily can spend several hundred dollars putting a system together, but you do not necessarily have to. Many parts of a hydroponics system can be put together yourself with very inexpensive supplies from your neighborhood hardware store. Many of the system descriptions in Chapter 4 will include ways to cut costs by doing some of the building yourself. You could put together a small one-plant system to experiment with for under $20 if you stick to the simple designs and buy your parts at the hardware or pet store.
You should remember that all of the equipment costs are up front and mostly a one-time investment. Nutrient solutions will have to be purchased regularly though.
Another part of indoor hydroponic gardening systems that may add to their cost is the expense of the electrical power necessary to operate lights and fans. Having large lights on through the day, as well as electrical timers, pumps, fans, and more can be a sizable burden on your electric bill. Many people feel this is offset by the increased productivity, particularly if you are growing your own food.
Time and effort
Most parts of a hydroponic system will be automatic. With a few good timers, you can run your pumps without actually having to be around to do the chores yourself. This does reduce your workload but you still can expect to have to watch your plants closely on a very regular basis. Nutrient solutions have to be monitored and remixed/refilled; plants need to be watched for any problems or deficiencies; and many other factors need to be monitored as well. You have to keep track of CO2 levels, temperatures, lighting, and more. This is the negative side of the control coin. Thankfully, you can decide for yourself how “hands on” you want to be with daily chores and choose a system or technique that will minimize your effort.
All things considered, you will be able to make your hydroponic gardening systems as simple or as complex as you are capable of supporting. A system can be as simple as a jar of water or as complex as a greenhouse filled with artificial lighting systems, timed misting devices, pumps, and humidifiers. You can purchase a ready-made hydroponic gardening system, or you can design and build your own system.
Good advice for those brand new to hydroponic gardening is to start small, learn the ropes, and build a little at a time. Let your desire to expand and learn more be fuelled by your successes, failures, and inspirations.
Range of Hydroponic Gardening Systems
As mentioned earlier, hydroponic gardening systems can be as simple as a jar of water. Hydroponic gardening systems also can be highly complex. Truly, how you plan to begin and grow your hydroponic gardening system is only limited by your creativity, desire, and means. To some extent, the system you eventually end up with will be dictated by what you would like to grow. Some systems are better suited for growing particular types of plants than others. You might employ a different hydroponic gardening system to grow carrots than you would to grow tomatoes. The following review of basic hydroponic gardening systems will include some suggestions for the kinds of plants that might be better suited for the particular types of systems. Later chapters will go into more detail about the specifics of the systems, their designs, operations, and the kinds of plants that are suitable.
The simple jar
Perhaps, the best place to start your adventure in hydroponic gardening is simply to grow some sprouts. Sprouts, grown in a jar of water, are the most basic form of plants grown hydroponically. You do not need to build any systems, invest in any equipment, or spend a whole lot of time to grow seeds that will provide you with a basic education and a great deal of nutrition.
You can grow a whole host of seeds to sprouts in a simple jar of water, from beans, to grains, and vegetables. Sprouted seeds, beans, and nuts can be eaten raw or used to cook with in an infinite number of ways.
All you need to get started growing your own sprouts is a jar, seeds, and water. You can happily and easily grow large amounts of sprouts for many years with only those three items. The jar you choose is not a specially designed jar for sprouting; any glass jar will do. The best jars are quart-sized, wide-mouth canning jars. You can use any wide-mouth glass jar. The size of the jar will determine the amount of seeds that you will be able to sprout. Keep in mind the larger the jar, the greater your sprouting capabilities.
Sprouting seeds in a jar is simply a matter of soaking the seeds and making sure that you change the water regularly. Start your sprouts in a dark place, and as they begin to form, move the jar into indirect sunlight to allow them to green a little. It is that easy.
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Six Rules and Steps of Jar Sprouting |
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1. Rinse frequently. 2. Keep sprouts moist (not wet). 3. Keep sprouts at room temperature. |
4. Sprouts need plenty of breathing room. 5. Don’t over fill the sprout container. 6. Keep sprouts covered and in the dark. |
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Step One: Soaking Use 1½ tablespoons of seeds in a quart-sized jar. Screw on the fine mesh lid and partially fill the jar with warm water. Swirl to clean the seeds then pour out. Refill with warm water to cover at 3 times their depth and soak overnight, away from light. |
Step two: Draining and Starting Pour off the water. Place drained jar in a dark place, propped at an angle to allow any extra water to drain out. Turn the jar to spread out the seeds. Cover the jar with a towel and leave for 3 to 4 hours. |
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Step Three: Rinsing Rinse sprouts with cool, fresh water 2 or 3 times daily until they are ready to eat. When they begin to throw off the seed hulls, let the jar overflow with water and the hulls will float out the top through the screen. Turn the jar to spread out the seeds with each rinse. |
Step Four: Harvesting Pour the sprouts into clean water in a pan or sink. Remaining hulls will float to the surface. Skim off. Remove the sprouts, gently shake off excess moisture and drain in a colander. |
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Step Five: Greening After cleaning the jar and lid, return sprouts for greening back to the jar. Place in indirect sunlight, such as near a window. After the sprouts have greened (about a day) rinse, drain, and eat or refrigerate. |
Step Six: Refrigeration Sprouts will stay fresh in the refrigerator for a week if they are rinsed daily. To keep at their nutritional peak, give green sprouts an extra hour of sunlight after rinsing. Sprouts are frost sensitive, so keep them away from freezer compartment. |
You will learn about several hydroponic gardening systems in Chapter 4 that are only slightly more complex than this simple sprouting garden. Systems such as the bubbler system and the bucket system are, fundamentally, based on the same notion as the sprout jar. The differences in the systems are predicated on the changing needs of the plant as it grows from seed, to sprout, shoot, and fully mature plant.
You can consider several basic hydroponic gardening systems beyond the simple sprout in a jar system. Following are the working theories of each system. Chapter 4 covers the specifics of each system.
There are, essentially, two basic types of hydroponic gardening systems: static systems and dynamic systems. There are a number of varieties of each of these two types of systems. The difference between the two types of systems is somewhat described in their names. Static systems do not allow for the circulation of water. Dynamic systems allow water to circulate. The sprouting jar described earlier is a static hydroponic growing system.
Static Hydroponic Growing Systems
Static hydroponic systems are most easily started and are the primary choice of the beginning small-scale hydroponic gardener. When you choose to begin a static hydroponic gardening system, you will choose either an open system or a closed system. The difference between the two systems is that in an open hydroponic gardening system, the nutrient solution fed to the plants is not recovered. In a closed hydroponic gardening system, the nutrient solution is recovered and used as long as the nutrient solution is viable and beneficial to the plants.
Because of the simple nature of the static solution system, you can create them in several ways. The main two forms of this nature are the raft system and the bucket system. Raft systems have plants floating on the surface of the aerated water solution, and bucket systems have the plants held in place. Bucket systems tend to be smaller and are used for individual plants or small groupings. The water does not flow, which makes this a simpler system to use and set up because it needs less equipment.
The primary types of static hydroponic gardening systems are:
Raft systems
This is most commonly used with lettuce, herbs, and other small leafy plants. The main reason for this is that the plants have to float on the surface of the solution, and larger plants make this impractical. The main pieces of equipment are floating components to hold your plants on the surface of the solution and a large container to use as a reservoir. You also need an aerator because the water is not moving.
You get a little more flexibility with your plants because they are not fastened in place like they are in most other systems. You easily can add another plant or two with additional floatation pieces. Some systems have one single floating piece with holes for the individual plants and some have each plant floating independently. To keep your plants floating, mesh pots can be placed in pieces of Styrofoam®.
A large plastic box or Rubbermaid® tote can be used for the reservoir, and any standard rigid Styrofoam from a home renovation store will work as a flotation device.
Raft System Diagram
Bucket systems
This is sometimes called a deep water culture because it has a much deeper reservoir of water than some of the other types. Each bucket needs a support for the plant, which is usually a net basket for growing medium attached to the underside lid of the reservoir and a bubbler. A bucket system can be very basic, often using Rubbermaid totes as the main reservoir. This is good place to start if you plan on going the DIY route, much like the raft system.
The roots grow through the medium and mesh basket directly into the pool of liquid below in the reservoir. The solution is already aerated due to the bubbler, and the top portion of the roots is suspended above the liquid for additional breathing space.
Simple Bucket System Diagram
Top drip
This is not strictly a static system, since the water is moving but it is closer to this style than any of the others. With a top drip, water is pumped from the bottom of the reservoir to above the plant support and growing medium. It then trickles down through the roots back to the reservoir. It is a continual loop. Bubblers are not needed because the constant motion of the water allows for natural aeration to take place and the water will not stagnate.
Aside from the top/bottom bucket arrangement, you also will need a pump with hosing to move the water from the bottom to the top. This is a very common type of hydroponic system, and it can be expanded to work with large trays of plants rather than just a single bucket. Hoses also can connect several buckets and a central reservoir with a single large pump.
Top Drip System Diagram
Wick systems
Wick systems are really the simplest type of hydroponics as they have no pumps or moving parts at all. Nutrient solution is drawn up from a small reservoir under your plants, into the main pot with the growing medium. Cloth strips or even short lengths of cotton rope are used as the wicks. Alternatively, the medium itself can be in contact with the water, and it will absorb naturally on its own. This approach will lead to wetter medium compared to the use of actual wicks.
This method is more like conventional “dirt gardening” because the plants roots usually are held completely within the mass of growing medium rather than exposed to the nutrient solution directly. The medium that you use for these types of arrangements must be absorbent (vermiculite, coco fiber, or moss) but also will need to have enough drainage throughout to allow for some air. The medium will stay constantly wet and can drown the roots otherwise.
The main benefit of using a wick system is the simplicity and the independence from a power source. Unlike the other options, this one will continue working just fine even if there is a prolonged power outage. Nutrient solution is not reclaimed or recycled through the system. You just have to refill the reservoir when the volume gets low.
A lack of air content for the roots makes this a less adequate choice for many plants though. Adding a bubbler to the reservoir can help, but once the water has soaked up through the wicks and the medium, most air content will be gone.
Wick System Diagram
Dynamic Hydroponic Growing Systems
As mentioned earlier, dynamic hydroponic gardening systems are those systems that recirculate the liquid nutrient solution through the system as long as the system is viable.
Ebb and flow
This system creates a tidal effect, periodically flooding the root chambers with nutrient solution and then letting it drain back away. They also sometimes are called a flood-and-drain system. These are the most common systems for larger gardens once you have gone past the initial beginner stage. After the trays in which the plants are situated are flooded, the nutrient solution is allowed to drain. The drained nutrient solution in this dynamic system is collected and recirculated as long as the nutrient solution is viable.
Each of the systems mentioned above can be designed as open or closed systems, depending on how you choose to deal with nutrient solution. Chapter 4 will discuss, in greater detail, the specific designs of each of these static systems.
Nutrient film technique
This type of hydroponic arrangement is more commonly known as just NFT. The system is a little more advanced and not usually attempted by beginners until they have a little more knowledge about hydroponic equipment.
A thin film of water is pumped continually past the ends of the roots giving your plants a regular supply of nutrients while also leaving most of the root mass exposed to the air. This prevents drowning of the roots that can happen in too much water.
Aeroponics
An aeroponic approach is significantly different than the others because you are not working with liquid nutrient solutions in the same way. Your plants are suspended in their mesh pots but their roots hang loose in a large open chamber. Frequently through the day, solution is misted or sprayed into the chamber to nourish and moisten the roots.
Aeroponic systems are included here as a dynamic system because the more sophisticated aeroponic systems will recirculate the nutrient rich mist that feeds the plants with a system of pumps and fans.
Like the other systems noted above, you can choose not to recirculate the nutrient solution, but as aeroponics is somewhat more advanced than the simpler form of hydroponic gardening, it has been included here as a dynamic system.
Range of Hydroponic Media
Though your plants will get all of their nutrients from the solutions you provide, they still have to have some sort of physical support for their roots. There are many different options for this; some are organic, and some are man-made. In many cases, there are minimal difference between one type and the next even though many hydroponic gardeners may swear by one medium over another. You might have to do a little trial-and-error research to see what works best for you.
Before making a choice, you will need to know the basic features that a good growing medium should have. Fundamentally, all materials will be light and porous so that they can hold a mix of air and water within them and still allow for roots to grow freely between the particles. They also should be chemically inert so that they do not contribute to the nutrient mix that your solution is providing. That would defeat the main purpose of hydroponics.
A selection of materials is listed below, and there will be further discussion regarding this topic in Chapter 5, but there is no limit to what you can work with. If you have access to similar but unlisted materials, feel free to experiment. Also, there are many benefits to mixing two or more of these materials together to get the perfect conditions for your plants.
You will want to consider the absorbency of your medium and what kind of hydroponic gardening system you are going to employ. Some systems rely on the medium to hold water between pump runs, so you should keep that in mind. Common hydroponic gardening system growing media includes:
Hydroponic Nutrient solution
The water used in hydroponic gardening is, primarily, a nutrient delivery system. You will recall that earlier in this chapter in the section related to the history of hydroponic gardening, that British scientist, John Woodward, determined that pure water was not as good for soilless plants when compared to water that once had soil soaked in it, which led to the important understanding of how water holds minerals once it has been in contact with soil. It was this research that led to the first man-made nutrient solution for hydroponic gardening. Woodward’s research in 1699 held true. Most water does not have adequate amounts of the specific nutrients necessary to support the life cycle of a plant, so you will be required to add nutrients to the water in your hydroponic gardening system. Chapter 6 will offer greater detail regarding plant nutrients. Specific formulas of nutrient solutions employed by hydroponic gardeners will be discussed in greater detail, and you will learn that different plants, like different people, may require and benefit from different nutrient solutions. The chapter also will include a section on fertilizers. Plants, like people, also may exhibit symptoms of nutritional deficiencies. As a hydroponic gardener, you will need to know how to spot these deficiencies and how to alter the plant’s nutrition to deal with problems as they occur.
Taking the First Step
For the reader that is an absolute beginner to the practice of hydroponic gardening systems, it is advised that the best way to begin is to start small. Whether “small” means starting by growing a few sprouts in a jar or putting together a small inexpensive do-it-yourself system, a small step at the beginning will help the reader understand the overall process; what it entails; the amount of time; the space requirements; and many other issues that may arise in beginning a new venture.
The following chapters of this book are meant to take the reader, step-by-step, through the process of understanding and beginning a home hydroponic gardening system. The book will start at the very beginning of the process by discussing horticulture in general and move to the specifics of hydroponic systems, the equipment needed to construct them, and the knowledge and materials needed to sustain them.