Grow Box

A Grow Box is a partially or completely enclosed system
for raising plants indoors or in small areas.

Grow boxes are used for a number of reasons, including lack of available outdoor
space or the desire to grow vegetables, herbs or flowers during cold weather months.
They can also help protect plants against pests or disease.

Grow box Hydroponic System

Grow boxes may be soil-based or hydroponic. The most sophisticated examples are totally enclosed, and contain a built-in grow light, intake and exhaust fan system for ventilation, hydroponics system that waters the plants with nutrient-rich solution, and an odor control filter. Some advanced grow box units even include air conditioning to keep running temperatures down, as well as CO₂ to boost the lant's growth rate.

These advanced elements allow the gardener to maintain optimal temperature, light patterns, nutrition levels, and other conditions for the chosen plants.

Metal frame Grow box

Growlight options include fluorescent bulbs, which offerrelatively limited light output; High Intensity Discharge (HID) bulbs such as High Pressure Sodium (HPS) and Metal Halide (MH); and Light-Emitting Diode (LED) "bulbs", which are becoming more energy-efficient.

Stealth Grow Box

With these grow boxes you’ll be able to do some indoor gardening discretely because they can easily blend in to your home interiors. These grow boxes were made specifically to look like and ordinary closet and cabinet so that you can easily install it anywhere inside your house and have no troubles on how to hide it.

These types of grow boxes are best for confined spaces because of its small size in which you can easily fit it to any closet. It is ideal to use these grow boxes especially when space is a concern and you want your indoor gardening discrete as possible.

If you are planning to grow more secretly, there are grow boxes
that are specially designed to meet your needs.

Stealth grow boxex:

All these stealth grow boxes are so discrete that people won’t recognize it that it’s a stealth grow box.

PC Planter Grow Box is the world’s smallest and most discrete Stealth Grow box You can find in the market.

You can conveniently place it under your desks or beside your desktop computer
to make it blend in with the surroundings.

400W HPS/MH Living Room Stealth Grow Box

The other stealth grow boxes are meant to be placed right next to your tv,
inside your bedroom, or as part of your office furnishings.

200 Watt Fully Automated Living Room Stealth Grow Box

With these Hydro stealth grow boxes, no one will even know that You are growing your indoor garden.

Farming for the Future

Living in space long term will require a sustainable environment. Plants provide fresh food, clean air, and clean water that will assist this effort, but plants need light to grow, and light requires energy.

Find out how plants use light to make their own food in a process called photosynthesis. See how NASA uses LED lights
to help grow plants in space. Design your own plant growth chamber like the ones used by NASA.

Unlike travelers on Earth who have the convenience of roadside diners and fast-food restaurants, the dining options for space travelers are limited.

As NASA's astronauts prepare to fulfill the Vision for Space Exploration with increasingly lengthy missions, scientists are trying to find a way for them to grow their own food.

Plants offer a promising solution in providing food to astronauts thousands of miles from Earth. They could grow crops that would not only supplement a healthy diet, but also remove toxic carbon dioxide from the air inside their spacecraft and create life-sustaining oxygen.

Image to left: Radishes are one plant species researchers are studying for possible use as a food crop on long-duration missions. Credit: NASA/KSC

Since the Space Shuttle and even International Space Station expeditions are relatively short-duration endeavors, astronauts do well with physical and chemical forms of life support. But for future long-duration missions and colonies on the Moon or Mars, scientists believe a life support system with a biological component (such as plants) -- called a "bioregenerative life support system" -- has several benefits.

"If you continually resupply and deliver commodities like food, that will become much more costly than producing your own food," says Ray Wheeler, plant physiologist at Kennedy Space Center's Space Life Sciences Lab. "You can achieve some autonomy with bioregenerative capability."

But developing such a system isn't as simple as planting some fruits, vegetables and wheat in space or on distant planets.

"It's not a quick-start kind of thing," Wheeler says. "You don't suddenly say, 'We need a bioregenerative system for the Moon because we want to stay there for 12 months, or five years.' It takes a long time to build and evaluate these systems."

Scientists are investigating how different amounts of three factors; light, temperature and Carbon Dioxide - affect plant growth. A fourth factor is the species and variety of plants.

Inside closed plant growth chambers at KSC, radishes, lettuce and green onions grow "hydroponically" in nutrient-enriched fluid. Light, temperature and carbon dioxide levels are carefully controlled. Scientists are comparing how plant species grow together in "mixed cultures" versus by themselves in "monocultures."

Image to right: Plant physiologist Ray Wheeler checks onions being grown using hydroponic techniques. The other plants are Bibb lettuce (left) and radishes (right). Credit: NASA/KSC

Why would this matter? First, some plants give off chemical compounds that can poison their neighbors, clearing the way for the aggressive plant to spread.

"It's not common in crop plants. You don't see problems with invasive lettuce growing all around," Wheeler says with a smile. "But we want to confirm it."

Also, some plants may use nutrients more aggressively than others. For example,
some species might be heavy nitrogen users that would be fine on their own
but would take away from other species.

The NASA-derived light distribution systems are low power, relatively cool, uniformly irradiate all leaves with wavelengths most efficiently absorbed by photosynthetic tissue, and automatically adjust emissions to target new tissues as plants grow in height or spread, without wasting photons by lighting empty space.

Another concern is the competition of plants for light, based on how they grow. If one species grows taller and spreads out wider than the species beside it, the larger plant may block the light from the smaller plants.

Apart from these environmental variables, scientists are examining the effects of different types of lighting on plants to determine which color best helps them grow. Another consideration is atmospheric pressure.

Image to left: Arabidopsis plants appear purple under red and blue light produced by light-emitting diodes. Scientists are studying plant growth under various light conditions. Credit: NASA/KSC

"We want to see how plants are affected if we reduce the pressure inside their environment, to make it more like that of the surface," Wheeler explains. "Some benefits of lower pressure would be more leeway in structural material choices, better visibility because you wouldn't need as thick a cover, and fewer leaks."

In the Vision for Space Exploration, NASA is already looking ahead to a future on the Moon, Mars and beyond. Thanks in part to the life sciences research underway today, tomorrow's astronauts may enjoy a more efficient life-support system... and some freshly grown food.

Here is a series of images of the wheat plants taken at three different stages of growth from within the BPS chamber.
These images are from preliminary tests of the Farming in Space Experiment and were taken by the NASA plant physiology researcher, Dr. Gary Stutte, principle investigator for the ISS experiment.

Anna Heiney, NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center

Space Farms Will be Customized for Diverse Environments:

Moon

A farm at the moon's poles could tap water ice trapped in craters. Burying the farm buildings will protect them from cosmic rays, micrometeorites and extreme temperatures.

Status: Researchers at the University of Arizona are operating a moon-farm prototype that yields 1100 pounds of edible plants. per year.

Earth Orbit

Plants in microgravity draw up water and fertilizer faster than roots can process them. Slowly trickling in fertilizer solves the problem and improves plant health.

Status: Russians on the International Space Station developed the technique by growing radishes, peas and barley.

Mars

The planet's protective atmosphere allows structures to be built aboveground.

Status: Italy's space agency is designing greenhouses that can endure Mars's low-pressure, high-carbon-dioxide environment.

Read more: Lunar Greenhouse Technology - NASA Space Farming - Popular Mechanics

Video: NASA Ames Research Center is Replacing 1000 Watt HPS with Apache Tech 120 watt LED grow lights.
6 Apache lights consume 990 Watts. Coverage 3' 6" x 14'

LED Grow Lights

The Importance Of Light Spectrum

In the world of LED Grow Lights the products vary dramatically from one company to the next, as does the information behind those products. I've often found myself confused at times by the contradicting information I find on many sites, which has lead me to do my own research as many often do. After all, with all the tri-band, quad-band, 6-band, 11-band, 12-band, and 15-band lights on that market, how do you know which one to choose?

HID Grow Lights - Why they're being Replaced ?

Most of us switching to LED Grow Lights have used an alternative form of indoor lighting in the past such as High Pressure Sodium (HPS), Metal Halide (MH), or High output Fluorescent (T5). Any of us who have used these lights know one important thing about them: they are limited by their spectrum. The majority of the light a HPS or MH bulb emits is in the 500-600nm range, much of which is inefficiently absorbed by plants. In fact up to 70% of the light a HID bulb creates can be completely wasted in a grow room. Why is this you might ask? It's because plants absorb primarily red and blue light, and need a special balancing of the light in those regions in order to grow optimally. HID lights are weak on both red and blue output, even though HPS is stronger in red while MH is strong in blue.

In the past when using HID you would want to utilize the spectral differences of the MH and HPS bulbs to your advantage, relying on the heavier blue output of the metal halide bulb in vegetative stage to keep plants short, and the HPS in bloom to allow them to stretch. The reality however, is that plants need a balanced amount of both red and blue in both stages of growth in order to grow optimally.

Limiting either of these wavelengths creates a stress response in the plant to either grow shorter, or stretch, but when they are balanced properly you get super tight internodal spacing in veg with monstrous flowers during bloom. That's what's so great about LED Grow Lights, in that you can use one single light source throughout the entire growth cycle. Many people are still under the impression however, that you need separate vegetative and bloom stage LED Grow Lights when this is simply not the case.

The Science that drives Plant Growth

The main ingredients for photosynthesis are light, carbon dioxide and water. Just as our bodies require certain amounts of nutrients for proper cell division, plants require specific ratios of light for photosynthesis. Plants convert light energy into plant energy in their chloroplasts (much like the mitochondria in human cells). The chloroplasts produce Chlorophyll A and B, the two primary compounds that drive photosynthesis. These compounds absorb primarily blue and red light, more specifically, 439nm and 469nm blue, and 642nm and 667nm red. LED's give us the ability to target narrow wavelengths of light so they can be specificaly tailored to provide the proper"light" recipe for photosynthesis. So based on this information on Photosynthesis, a LED Grow Light needs 4 wavelengths to target each of the chlorophyll absorption peaks.

Photosynthesis is not the only process that affects growth rate and yield. In fact there are two other important sciences that can enhance yield dramtically if they are applied to a grow light. One is called the Emerson Enhancement effect which dictates that when 740nm far-red light is shone simultaneously 660nm, photosynthetic rates increase as much as 30%. The other is called quantum efficiency which focuses on the importance of balancing each of the 3 regions of PAR, specifically focusing on green. It's been learned in recent years that green actually plays a vital role on plant development, fruit ripening, and overall growth times, and that green penetrates deeper into plant tissues acting as a delivery agent for other wavelengths, as well as stimulating the lower chloroplasts.

Studies by NASA confirm that when green us balanced in with the green and blue wavelengths in the proper ratios, that growth times can be reduced up to 30% with a 30% enhancement in yield! The most familiar green for LED's is 525nm, which means in total I count 6 wavelengths that are essential for optimal growth. 4 stimulate photosynthesis, 1 stimulates the Emerson Enhancement Effect, and the last fulfills the quantum efficiency requirements for faster growth rates and bigger yields.

LED Grow Lights - What have we Learned ?

What we learned from HID lights is their weakness is producing a bunch of unused or wasted light. The strength of LED Grow Lights is being able to focus on the 6 wavelengths we discussed above, so that no light is wasted during the growth process. So what does that mean for all of these 11-band and 12-band or 15-band LED Grow lights? Quite simply it means that just like HID grow lights, they're producing a spectrum where much of the light is being wasted instead of absorbed by plants. Likewise what does it mean for the tri-band or quad-band lights? It means they're not developed enough yet to provide the types of results you need to outperform HID. Too little spectrum is just as bad as too much, and with the cost of LED Grow Lights you certainly don't want to choose wrong or you'll wind up paying a lot for it in the end.

The Goldilocks zone are those 6-wavelengths you really want to look for:
439nm, 469nm, 525nm, 642nm, 667nm, and 740nm.

The Cosmic Grow spectrum used in LED Grow Lights
uses a wave length ratio designed with balance in mind.

The closest LED Grow Light I have found that fulfills all of the scientific requirements I've researched, are the Penetrator LED Grow Lights from Hydro Grow LED. These lights use a 6-band spectrum with 440nm, 470nm, 525nm, 640nm, 660nm, and 740nm. They really seem to have a grasp on LED Technology, and provide a lot of great information on their site. In fact they had a few extra articles on green and quantum efficiency that I'd never seen before, which taught me even more than I know now. They truly appear to be a pioneer in their field, and that's why of any LED Grow Light on the market I would recommend theirs. Their 6-band spectrum is the real deal.

What is Hydroponics ?

Gericke originally defined Hydroponics as crop growth in mineral nutrient solutions. Hydroponics is a subset of soilless culture. Many types of soilless culture do not use the mineral nutrient solutions required for hydroponics.

Hydroponics is a subset of hydroculture and is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium,
such as perlite, gravel, mineral wool, expanded
clay or coconut husk.

Researchers discovered in the 18th century that plants absorb essential mineral nutrients as inorganic ions in water. In natural conditions, soil acts as a mineral nutrient reservoir but the soil itself is not essential to plant growth.

When the mineral nutrients in the soil dissolve in water, plant roots are able to absorb them. When the required mineral nutrients are introduced into a plant's water supply artificially, soil is no longer required for the plant to thrive. Almost any terrestrial plant will grow with hydroponics. Hydroponics is also a standard technique in biology research and teaching..

Hydroponic growing feeds ultra nutrient rich water directly to the roots of the plant. Feeding nutrients directly to the roots allows the plant to focus less energy on growing a root system and more energy on developing the stems and leaf structures. A nutrient rich powder or solution is added to the water to provide all the nutrients the soil needs.This practice is also more beneficial to the environment. Hydroponic gardening uses less soil and water than traditional gardening.

The first consideration when starting a home hydroponic garden is what you will plant. There are different set-ups and sizes that are optimal for different plants. Choosing wisely in the beginning stages will reduce frustration in the long run.

Hydroponic gardening can be very complicated, with computers and sensors controlling everything from watering cycles to nutrient strength and the amount of light that the plants receive.

On the other hand, hydroponics can also be incredibly simple, a hand watered bucket of sand with a single plant is also a method of hydroponic gardening. Most hobby oriented hydroponics systems are somewhere between the two extremes mentioned above.

The 'average' home hydroponic system usually consists of a few basic parts:

A growing tray, a reservoir, a simple timer controlled submersible pump to water the plants and an air pump and air stone to oxygenate the nutrient solution.

Of course, light
(either natural or artificial)
is also required.

The two main types of hydroponics are solution culture and medium culture.
Solution culture does not use a solid medium for the roots, just the nutrient solution.

The three main types of solution cultures are static solution culture,
continuous-flow solution culture and aeroponics. The medium culture method has a solid medium for the roots and is named for the type of medium,
e.g., sand culture, gravel culture, or rockwool culture.

There are two main variations for each medium, sub-irrigation and top irrigation.
For all techniques, most hydroponic reservoirs are now built of plastic, but other materials have been used including concrete, glass, metal, vegetable solids, and wood.

The containers should exclude light to prevent algae growth in the nutrient solution.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages

Some of the reasons why hydroponics is being
adapted around the world for food production:

No soil is needed for hydroponics
The water stays in the system and can be reused - thus, lower water costs
It is possible to control the nutrition levels in their entirety - thus, lower nutrition costs
No nutrition pollution is released into the environment because of the controlled system
Stable and high yields
It is easier to harvest
No pesticide damage
Pests and diseases are easier to get rid of than in soil because of the container's mobility

Today, Hydroponics is an established branch of agronomy.

Progress has been rapid, and results obtained in various countries have proved it to be thoroughly practical and to have very definite advantages over conventional methods
of horticulture.

There are two chief merits of the soil-less cultivation of plants.
First, hydroponics may potentially produce much higher crop yields.

Also, hydroponics can be used in places where in-ground agriculture
or gardening are not possible.

Disadvantages

Without soil as a buffer, any failure to the hydroponic system leads to rapid plant death.

Other disadvantages include pathogen attacks such as damp-off due to Verticillium wilt caused by the high moisture levels associated with hydroponics and over watering of soil based plants.

Also, many hydroponic plants require different fertilizers and containment systems.

To produce the mineral wool and the fertilizers that are needed to use this method,
a large amount of energy is required.

A number of hydroponic experts are now promoting
hydroponic solutions as cheap ways of producing food in areas with bad soil.
video platform video management video solutions video player
As hydroponic system use less water to grow than traditional farming
it is also a more efficient use of resources.

Fertilizers

Inorganic fertilizer use has also significantly supported global population growth.
It has been estimated that almost half the people on the Earth are currently fed
as a result of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use.

Labeling of fertilizers

In most countries the macronutrients are labeled with an NPK analysis.

The three numbers on the fertilizer label represent an analysis of the composition by weight. These three numbers correspond to nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (N-P-K) and always appear in that specific order. When a 4th number is included, it indicates the sulfur content (N-P-K-S).

To this date, the studies on this product and products like it are classified by State and Federal authorities as experimental. However, many of the studies suggest that plant foods containing Humic Acid Extracts may allow the plant to feed easier and as a bonus, may allow the soil’s locked-up nutrients become more available to the plant.

While the number for "N" represents the percentage weight of nitrogen, in some European countries, the other two components are not for the analysis of the element, but rather, the analysis of the "available" or "soluble" form of the element. In traditional chemical analysis, the tests used treated the sample so as to measure the equivalent P2O5 and K2O. For instance, some potassium-bearing rocks do not count as having available potassium.

Nutrient solutions

Plant nutrients used in hydroponics are dissolved in the water and are mostly in inorganic and ionic form. Primary among the dissolved cations (positively charged ions) are Ca²⁺ (calcium),Mg²⁺ (magnesium), and K⁺ (potassium); the major nutrient anions in nutrient solutions are NO−
3 (nitrate), SO2−
4 (sulfate), and H₂PO−
4 dihydrogen phosphate).

Numerous 'recipes' for hydroponic solutions are available. Many use different combinations of chemicals to reach similar total final compositions. Commonly used chemicals for the macronutrients include potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate, potassium phosphate, and magnesium sulfate. Various micronutrients are typically added to hydroponic solutions to supply essential elements; among them are Fe (iron), Mn (manganese), Cu (copper), Zn (zinc), B (boron), Cl (chlorine), and Ni (nickel). Chelating agents are sometimes used to keep Fe soluble. Many variations of the nutrient solutions used by Arnon and Hoagland have been styled 'modified Hoagland solutions' and are widely used. Variation of different mixes throughout the plant life-cycle, further optimizes its nutritional value.

Plants will change the composition of the nutrient solutions upon contact by depleting specific nutrients more rapidly than others, removing water from the solution, and altering the pH by excretion of either acidity or alkalinity. Care is required not to allow salt concentrations to become too high, nutrients to become too depleted, or pH to wander far from the desired value.

Although pre-mixed concentrated nutrient solutions are generally purchased from commercial nutrient manufacturers by hydroponic hobbyists and small commercial growers.

Organic Hydroponics

Organic hydroponics uses organic fertilizer.

Conventional hydroponics cannot use organic fertilizer because organic compounds contained in hydroponic solution inhibit the growth of the crop roots, so it uses only inorganic fertilizer.

Organic hydroponics uses the solution containing microorganisms. In organic hydroponics, organic fertilizer can be added in the hydroponic solution because microorganisms degrade organic fertilizer into inorganic nutrients. In contrast, conventional hydroponics cannot use organic fertilizer because organic compounds in the hydroponic solution show phytotoxic effects.

In organic hydroponics, organic fertilizer is degraded into inorganic nutrients by microorganisms in the hydroponic solution via ammonification and nitrification. The microorganisms are cultured with a method of multiple parallel mineralization. The culture solution can be used as the hydroponic solution. Practical method of organic hydroponics is developed in National Agriculture and Food Research Organization NARO.

Organic fertilizers include naturally occurring organic materials, (e.g. chicken litter, manure, worm castings, compost, seaweed, guano, bone meal) or naturally occurring mineral deposits (e.g. saltpeter). Poultry litter and cattle manure often create environmental and disposal problems, making their use as fertilizer beneficial.
Bones can be processed into phosphate-rich bone meal.

DIY Aquaponics [Video]

Step-by-step how to build your own
3 bed Hidroponic System using IBC totes.

An intensive demonstration by Murray Hallam into the theory of CHOP 2 Aquaponics. Your requirement is to get yourself 3 x IBC containers or tote tanks as they are known in some parts of the USA. This is the fastest and easiest and cheapest way to get started in Aquaponics. IBC tanks of around 1000 litres capacity will give you stability and reliability to grow copious amount of fish and vegetables.

Murray explains the benefits and takes you through the tools you will need to complete the job. He then shows you all the steps you need to cut and separate the tank from the cage and takes you through all the stages in cutting out and preparing the grow beds and fish tank ready to be recommissioned as a fish and food production System.

Every step is explained in detail.

Murray will give you an overview of the auto-siphons.
He even built a glass siphon so you will see how it works in real time.

Murray estimates about 80% of the calls he gets are from DIY people keen to get started in Aquaponics but aren’t exactly sure how to begin. They are after a robust quality System
on a budget with components that are available anywhere in the world.

So in early 2010 Murray began to tinker with tote tanks.
Also known as IBC’s. These tanks are commonly available around the world to move a variety of commercial liquids.

Murray has implemented his CHOP2 design with these tanks to enable it to be built over a weekend by the home handyman.

The main plumbing fittings are explained it detail so you will understand what to use and why and where the fail points are and how to avoid them.

Watch Aquaponics DIY Video

In fact every tool used is discussed. The advantages of CHOP2 are obvious
and Murray felt that a CHOP2 system would also help eliminate problems for beginners.

DIY Hydroponics Project

DIY Chop 2 System Hydroponics Project

Murray Hallam's Chop 2 based System Aquaponics DIY Systemquaponics System

Documentary DIY Aquaponics (2011) 120 min.

Writer: Murray Hallam
Director: Frank Gapinski

Ecofilms

DIY Cheap 2 Liter DWC Hydroponic System

Build Cheap 2 Liter DWC Hydroponic System for clones.

Many people have the impression that hydroponic systems have to be either expensive, complicated or both,
but that's not necessarily the case.

Hydroponics is simply a method of growing plants without using soil, and any system that will give the plants what they need is a system that will work.

There are many different ways to set up a hydroponic system,
but one of the easiest is to use water bottles as the foundation.

You can make an easy, effective DIY DWC setup by using pop bottles for little cost.

Cut bottle 7 inches from the bottom.
Make sure to wash Your pop bottle to get rid of any bacteria.

The Air stone is going to go in something like this.

Drill a hole and stick the air stone in it.
After you put the air stone in, connect the tube to it.

Then drill some holes in the cap for the water in the reservoir to reach the Perlite.

Stick the top part of the 2 liter in the bottom part so they fit together.

Fill up the top part with Perlite then add water.
Distilled and Deionized water is best.

Now connect the other end of the tube to your Air pump.

Stuck an unrooted cutting in it to see what happens.
Take another top of a 2 liter and stuck it on top as a humidity chamber.

After 2 weeks roots are long enough for a soil transfer.

Cleanup and Maintenance

You will have to change the water in Your reservoir every few weeks,
as the plant grows, it starts to exhaust the nutrient supply.

Also be sure to check water level every couple days,
making sure it is not to low and is limiting the plants access to water,
and top it off as needed.

Watch out for Algal infestation

If You let light into the nutrient reservoir it is only a matter of time before the Algae and
also fungus move in. Perlite, especially in a humid environment, is a media that Algae does very well on. Paint the bottles black, but there is a risk of getting paint in your root zone, which could result in chemicals in your Veggies.

Things you will need:

Most can be found at your local Wal-Mart type store in the aquarium section.

2 liter pop bottle ($1)
Perlite ($2-$7)
Aquarium air pump ($5-$10)
Air stone ($1-$2)
Tubing ($2-$5)

Total cost to make this is between $11 and $22
depending on where you live and what you get.

The purpose of the Air Stone is to Oxygenate the water, this provides oxygen to the roots, which is essential for healthy plant growth, otherwise You would drown the plant.

You Can Use Hydroton (expanded clay pebbles) as a Growing Medium.
It works great and it really cheap. You Can mix it with Coco fibers.

Expanded clay is considered to be an ecologically sustainable and re-usable growing medium
because of its ability to be cleaned and sterilized, typically by washing in solutions
of white vinegar, chlorine bleach, or hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), and rinsing completely.

DIY DWC Hydroponics Bucket System

A Waterfarm bucket system offers growers a good way to grow hydroponically in a small space, but it can be expensive if you are just beginning to experiment with hydroponics.

Build a similar system for much less,
using parts available at any
large home improvement store.

DIY DWC Multi Bucket Hidroponic/Aeroponic Systems

Operating your Custom Hydroponics 'Recycler'

System Placement

When siting your 'Recycler' it is important to have all the buckets on a flat and even surface. To reduce draining time the system can be raised slightly off the ground on wooden planks and tipped at a 1° or 2° angle towards to the pump end. This increases run off to the pump and reduces maintainence times.

System Check

Once you have construsted your system fill the buckets with enough water to cover the drainage fittings . Go round the entire system and check for leaks. If a bucket is badly connected it is best to find out now rather than when the system is full.

System Fill

Once you have completed this check you can now fill the whole system with water. Our standard buckets hold 13.2 litres to the rim, so about 10-11 liters of water per bucket will be enough. It is vital that the water level reaches half way up the net pots. Do not place your plants in the system right now.

Now that the system is full, plug in and turn on the water pump. Water should spray through the nozzles into the buckets. Once the system is cuirculating you can add nutrients.

Standard buckets hold roughly 10 litres, so a standard 6 bucket system holds about 60-65 litres.This will give you a general idea of how much nutirent to add. Add one part of the nutrient at a time. Nutrient can be added to every bucket to reduce the time required to dose the whole system.

To adjust the pH (see 'Dosing pH') follow the same procedure for adding nutrients. Smaller systems will show an adjustment quicker than larger ones. If you use a pH meter test every bucket in turn until they all give the same reading.

This will give you a rough idea of how long it takes for the nutrient solution to recycle through the entire system. Any further testing can be done with the water level tube.

Any additives like root stimulator or growth enhacer can now be added to the system.

DWC vs RDWC System

Dosing pH

When adding either pH up or pH down to any hydroponic system always dilute the concentrated pH adjuster with water before combining with the nutrient solution. A 250ml beaker filled with water will be sufficient. This ensures there is no chemical reaction between the nutrient salts dissolved in system and the pH adjuster.

Introducing Plants

Once the nutrient solution is at the right levels your plants can be introduced to the system. You must first ensure that the plants roots and the clay pebbles around them are dipped in the nutrient solution before being place into the hole in the lid. This allows the nutrients to
soak into all the clay pebbles.

The high water level in your system combined with the recycling sprayer provides a high humidity enviroment for the plant roots.

Water Levels

When you start growing your plants the water level in each bucket should be as high as possible or at least half way up the net pot . If you intend to grow a mother plant in the system you can gradually drop the level by 30-40% and maintain that level. If you intend to go into flowering the water level can be dropped 60-70% by the end of eight weeks flowering. The level of drop depends on the size of the system and the age of the plants.

Plant roots absorb most of the oxygen they need from the air, not the water. Exposing the roots vastly increases oxygen absorbtion and therefore growth and yeild. This combined with the high humidity atmosphere produced by our 'Recycler' system's sprayers provides roots with an enviroment for explosive growth.

Water Top Up

When topping up your 'Recycler' the easiest method is to prepare the solution in a seperate container and then add it to the system. This can be done in a bucket for smaller systems and a seperate resivoir for larger systems of nine buckets and above. Concentrated nutrients can be added to the system via the 'water level' tube. Nutrients supplied in seperate bottles (A+B or 1,2,3) must be allowed time to recycle before dosing with the next part of the nutrient. The water level tube must be flushed between the introduction of different nutrient components.
Water Replacement

After the first two weeks of flowering we recommend replacinging the nutrient solution once a week and at most every two weeks. Unless you have your nutrients taylored perfectly your plants will remove the nutrients they need and leave the ones they don't. If the entire nutrient solution isn't changed regularly a toxic build of nutrients develops. This can dramatically affect pH, which slows growth and reduces yeild.

As water levels are dropped towards the end of flowering, less replacement solution is required, reducing costs.

If you change your solution every week add plain water between changes.

Water Extraction

When removing water from your 'Recycler' place the pump at the lowest point possible. Place a bucket or something similar below the pump to catch the escaping water. You can now remove the down pipe from pump and fill up the bucket with water. It is also possible to attach a drainage pipe to the pump and drain the water this way. If you turn on the pump to extract the water it will evacuate the water faster than it drains, be careful that the pump does not run dry.

RDWC DIY Bucket Hydroponics System

Cleaning

When cleaning your system we recommend using Hydrogen Peroxide. This provides good cleaning power, is relatively harmless to you and any mild residue is unlikely to harm your plants.

Fill you system half way and add Hydrogen Peroxide according to the instructions for cleaning on the the bottle. Leave the system to run for an hour so the cleaning solution has time to work. Any stubborn dirt should be easily removed by this time.

Once clean fill the system to the top, leave to recycle for ten minutes and then drain fully.

DIY Bus Box Grow Box

Lettuce in Bus Boxes

Bus Boxes are food grade plastic and nice and deep. They're thick and sturdy and available online. The only difficulty is coming up with a system to keep the water in the bus box, and not rot the roots of your plants. An aquarium air pump seems to work fine. How to do it ?

This is butter crunch lettuce grown in restaurant bus boxes.

How It Works ?

We want a Water tight system that would no leak on the carpet, so I didn't want to drill any holes in the bottom of the bus boxes. Unfortunately plant roots don't like sitting in standing water all the time and this will cause them to rot. By pumping air to the bottom of the bus box you prevent root rot and encourage vigorous growth at the same time.

This method will work well for all herbs, including basil, flat leaf parsley, cilantro, chervil, dill, fennel, and any other plant the produces lots of leaves.

Getting Started

You can find bus boxes online at restaurant supply stores.
I like the ones made by Rubbermaid, but they cost a little bit more than some cheaper brands. The Rubbermaid bus boxes are very sturdy.

In addition you'll need an aquarium air pump and a large aquarium air stone, as well as some 1/4" hose to connect the two.

Air Stone in the Bus Box

Silicone air hose is much more flexible than that cheap, clear PVC stuff.

Growing Media

You'll need two kinds of growing media: Perlite and Coco coir.

DIY Hydroponics in Bus Boxes

Put the perlite in the bus box on top of the air stone.

Top it off with the rehydrated coco coir.
Reserve about 1/2" layer of coco coir for covering your seeds with.

Seed heavily. In the shot below I've divided the bus box up into 6 different regions and planted 6 different herbs. Or you can cover the entire surface with just one type of herb.

To help retain moisture during germination cover your bus boxes with clear plastic wrap.

Put your bus boxes under your grow lights.

You won't need to run the air pump for a couple of weeks,
but it doesn't hurt to plug it in now.
Turn the lights on with a timer, 16 hours on, 8 hours off,
and ignore your setup for about a week.

After a week remove the clear plastic and start watering regularly.
Plan on watering about 1 quart every 5 days for a month, then 2 quarts every 3 days.

Make sure that you leave the air stone on 24 hours / day in case you over water.
If you do over water it doesn't hurt the plants because the air stone keeps the water from getting stagnant.

After about 1 month lettuce should look like this.

You should be able to harvest 1 large salad per day per bus box.
Just pick a couple of leaves from each plant.

As your plants grow raise the grow lights to keep them about 2" above the tops of the leaves. Any closer and the leaves will burn, any further away and you are wasting light.

After about 2 months lettuce looks like this.

Feeding Your Plants

Use a quality Hydroponic fertilizer. It is important to use a Hydroponic fertilizer because a traditional fertilizer will not work without soil. The microbes that are present in soil will not be present in your hydroponic grow media, so you need a nutrient source that the plant can metabolize on it's own.

Results

This is a super simple and pretty well guaranteed way to get a good crop.
It's difficult to over water a setup like this, and just about impossible to make
a mess on the floor since there are no holes drilled in any of the bus boxes.

Vermiculite

Vermiculite`s Roles in the Hydroponic Medium World

Vermiculite is one of the main ingredients in growing medium used for media-based hydroponic gardens. It is a natural, non-toxic material that is very porous.

Vermiculite is usually never used alone. The reason why is because it breaks down after a year or so and as a result could
cause clogging and stagnation.

However, when mixed with other materials, such as perlite) or clay five to one mixture (five parts of the other material, and one part vermiculite) is very successful in helping plants to grow.

Perlite, one other ingredient that is often mixed with vermiculite is an amorphous volcanic glass. This material is known for its relatively high water content. This material as well as the vermiculite expands when heated. The breakdown analysis of perlite is that it contains small amounts of magnesium oxide, calcium oxide, as well as potassium oxide.

The growing medium of vermiculite and perlite are very common materials used in many hobby and commercial gardens. Water and nutrient solution is often sent to vermiculite and other growing materials, and is absorbed in the medium. Then, in the case of an emergency power outage (if the hydroponic system used involves the use of electricity) plants can survive temporarily on the stored water.

Hydroponic planting usually does not involve the use of soil. These materials described above would be some of the closest to soil that users would come. Other growing mediums have been used for hydroponic gardening as well, such as peat moss, expanded clay, rockwool, coco coir (compressed coconut husk), and rockwool.

The nutrient solutions that are used in growing mediums for hydroponic gardening include nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium. In addition, nitrates (or nitrogen) sulfate (or sulfur), and phosphate (or phosphorous) are often used.

In addition, minerals such as manganese, iron, copper, zinc, boron, chlorine and nickel are used for growing plants as well. Chelating agents are also used to help keep the iron soluble.

Those who are planting, whether it is using vermiculite or another growing medium, need to be careful that they do not add too many nutrients to the hydroponics system.

If the plants are fed too much they could burn out and dry out, instead of absorbing water like they should.

This is very important to remember, and growing mediums such as vermiculite can help keep your plants moist.

If you want to keep your plants properly fed, there are different types of irrigation systems that can be set to feed them automatically. Many of these involve the use of pumps or misters, which help keep your plant drinking the adequate amount of water, while at the same time helping the plants retain what they need to continue to grow.

In addition, there are some simple passive methods that do not require the use of any fancy electrical gadgets, but just discipline. These involve the types of irrigation, which usually involves the act of a plant soaking in water and nutrients directly through the roots of plants, instead of being fed through an automated system.

More and more hobby gardeners and commercial farmers are turning to the use of the hydroponic growing method. It is known to cost more up front but it also produces more as well. This growing method has other advantages as well.

One major advantage of hydroponics is that no pesticides are necessary when growing plants using this method. This helps make the garden safer for children as well as whole families. Some have claimed that the vegetables, fruits, and other foods grown also taste better as well.

Some of the types of crops grown using the hydroponic method include strawberries, lettuces, tomatoes, herbs, essential oil plants, and medicinal plants. Other vegetables such as cucumbers have sometimes been grown with this method.

Importance of Grow Tents

If you love a bit of gardening but don’t have the outside space to cultivate your plants then it can be frustrating to say the least. If however you consider that a grow tent provides an interior space in which it is possible to rear and tend a garden then this frustration can soon be undone.

For those that use hydroponics, grow tents are frequently highlighted as one of the most important pieces of equipment and an essential purchase before setting up your indoor growing space.

But why are grow tents so important to your indoor gardening efforts?

The importance of the grow tent is revealed if you consider it as a complete growing environment for your plants, a mini ecosystem that must contain everything your plants need to flourish and grow. Within it you are in complete control and must regulate the elements, determining how much light, water, air and nutrients your plants receive whilst reducing the chances of pests or disease.

As such, it is important to make sure that any grow tent you buy is well built and capable of totally encapsulating the world within. This means that it must be manufactured from 100% lightproof material and will ideally have reflective lining to maximise the amount of light your plants receive. Similarly it must have zippers and openings that can be covered so they are also light proof, this is so important because if your plants receive light suddenly whilst in a dark schedule, this can cause problems. There are plenty of cheap grow tents on the market.

GrowBox's allow you to easily control the day and night, because they do not miss the outside world within GrowBox.

As well as grow tents however it is also important to ensure that the equipment you are using to control and maintain this environment is up to scratch.

400W Digital Complete Kit. Complete kit for plant cultivation!
This is for total beginners, comes with all required equipment
and with clear instructions on how to set up the system.

The grow lights for example must be able to provide enough light for your plants whilst not overheating the room, typically good choices are metal halide,

Compact fluorescents - CFL grow lights.

or

high pressure sodium varieties.

In addition to lights you need to ensure that the ventilation in your grow tent is sufficient to stop overheating and to make sure that the air is circulated regularly. Your hydroponic system should have the capability to keep your plants suitably watered although you will have to carefully maintain and control the levels of nutrients added to the system.

By controlling these different aspects it is possible to create the ideal growing environment for your plants within the grow tent.

Get this balance right and it is possible to have healthy, productive and flourishing plants.

Hydroponics Glossary A-G

A

abscisic acid
A growth-inhibiting hormone.

abscission
The dropping of leaves, flowers, or fruit by a plant. This can result from natural growth processes (e.g., fruit ripening) or from external factors such as temperature or chemicals.

abscission layer
Specialized cells, usually at the base of a leaf stalk or fruit stem, that trigger both the separation of the leaf or fruit and the development of scar tissue to protect the plant.

absorption
The intake of water and other materials through root or leaf cells.

accumulated heat units
The number of hours in a growing season. Usually calculated at temperatures above 50°F, but can be calculated at other temperatures, depending on the crop. A day's heat units (above 50°F) are calculated as: Daily values are then totaled for the season, with values less than zero ignored (but not deducted from the total).

acid soil
Soil with a pH below 7 on a pH scale of 0 to 14. The lower the pH, the more acid the soil. See pH.

actinomorphic flower
A flower possessing radial symmetry. Any cut through the center divides the flower into two equal parts.

active ingredient
The chemical in a pesticide formulation that actually kills the target pest.

adjuvant
A substance that, when added to a pesticide, reduces the surface tension between two unlike materials (e.g., spray droplets and a plant surface), thus improving adherence. Also called surfactant. Check out the adjuvant, Dutch Master Penetrator.

adventitious
Growth not ordinarily expected, usually the result of stress or injury. A plant's normal growth comes from meristematic tissue, but adventitious growth comes from nonmeristematic tissue.

adventitious bud
A bud in an unusual place on a plant, often on an internode. This may be the result of an injury. Suckers and water sprouts usually grow from adventitious buds.

adventitious root
A root in an unusual place, often where a branch contacts soil or damp material. A plant can not be reproduced from cuttings or layering unless adventitious roots develop.

aeration
Mechanically loosening or puncturing soil to increase permeability to water and air.

aerial root
A root emerging above the soil level. aerobic Active in the presence of free oxygen.

aeroponics
A variation of hydroponics that involves the misting of plant roots with nutrient solution.

after-ripening
The seed maturation process that must be completed before germination can occur.

aggergate fruit
A group of small fruits derived from several ovaries within a single flower.

aggregation
The process by which individual particles of sand, silt and clay cluster and bind together to form soil peds.

alkaline
Refers to medium or nutrient solution with a high pH; any pH over 7 is considered alkaline.

alkaline soil
Soil with a pH above 7 on a pH scale of 0 to 14. The higher the reading, the more alkaline the soil. See pH.

alkaloid
A nitrogen-containing compound frequently used as a chemical defense by plants.

allele
Different forms of the same gene; allele "A" may produce a tall plant, while allele "a" gives a short plant.

allelopathy
The excretion by some plants of compounds from their leaves and/or roots that inhibit the growth of other plants.

ammonium (NH4+)
A plant-available form of nitrogen contained in many fertilizers and generated in the soil by the breakdown of organic matter. See nitrogen cycle.

anaerobic
Active in the absence of free oxygen.

angiosperm
A member of a class of plants characterized by the formation of flowers and seeds in fruits.

anion
A negatively charged ion. Plant nutrient examples include nitrate (NO3-), phosphate (H2PO4-), and sulfate (SO42-). See cation.

annual
A plant that completes its life cycle in one growing season.

annual ring
A cylinder of secondary xylem added to the wood in a single growing season.

antagonism
The effect of a deficiency or toxicity of an element that restricts or interferes with the uptake.

anther
The pollen-bearing part of a flower's male sexual organ. The filament supports the anther; together they are referred to as the stamen.

anthocyanin
A blue, violet, or red flavonoid pigment found in plants.

anvil pruner
A pruning tool that cuts a branch between one sharpened blade and a flat, anvil-shaped piece of metal. These have a tendency to crush rather than make a smooth cut.

aquaponics
The integration of aquaculture (the raising of marine animals, such as fish) with hydroponics; the waste products from the fish are treated and then used to fertilize hydroponically growing plants. Visit our Aquabundance Aquaponic Systems.

apex
The tip of a stem or root.

apical bud
A bud at the tip of a stem.

apical dominance
The inhibition of lateral bud growth by the presence of the hormone auxin in a plant's terminal bud. Removing the growing tip removes auxin and promotes lateral bud break and subsequent branching, usually directly below the cut.

apical meristem
A region of actively dividing cells at the tip of a growing stem or root.

arboretum
An area devoted to specimen plantings of trees and shrubs.

asexual reproduction
See vegetative propagation.

aspect
Direction of exposure to sunlight.

assimilation
The building of cell matter from inorganic and organic materials (carbohydrates and sugars).

atomic weight
The relative weight of an atom.

attractant
A material that lures pests.

autotrophic nutrition
A form of nutrition in which complex food molecules are produced by photosynthesis from carbon dioxide, water, and minerals.

auxin
One of the best known and most important plant hormones. Most abundantly produced in a plant's actively growing tips. Generally stimulates growth by cell division in the tip region and by cell elongation lower down the shoot. Growth of lateral buds is strongly inhibited by the normal concentration of auxin in the growing tip. Visit our selection of plant hormones.

available water supply
Soil water that is available for plant uptake. Excludes water bound tightly to soil particles.

axil
The upper angle formed by a leaf's stalk (petiole) and the internodes above it on a stem.

axillary bud
A bud that forms on an axil.

axillary bud primordium
An immature axillary bud.

B

bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)
A bacterium used as a biological control agent for many insect pests; primarily mosquitoes, fungus gnats, and caterpillars. Take a look at Mosquito Dunks.

bacterial soft rot
See botrytis.

bacterium
A single-celled microscopic organism having a cell wall but no chlorophyll. They reproduce by cell division.

balled and burlapped (B&B)
A plant dug with soil. The root ball is enclosed with burlap or a synthetic material.

band
To apply a pesticide or fertilizer in a strip over or along each crop row.

bare-root (BR)
A plant with little or no soil around it's roots; a common method of selling deciduous plants and small evergreens.

bark
All the tissues, collectively, formed outside the vascular cambium of a woody stem or root.

basal
(1) At or near the base of a branch or trunk. (2) At or near a plant's crown.

basal break
New growth that develops at the base of a branch or near a plant's crown.

beneficial insect
An insect that helps gardening efforts. May pollinate flowers, eat harmful insects or parasitize them, or break down plant material in the soil, thereby releasing nutrients. Some insects are both harmful and beneficial. For example, butterflies can be pollinators in their adult form, but destructive in their larval (caterpillar) form. Visit our selection of beneficial insects.

berry
The fleshy fruit of cane fruits, bush fruits, and strawberries.

biennial
A plant that germinates and produces foliage and roots during its first growing season, then produces flowers and seeds and usually dies during its second growing season.

biennial bearing
Producing fruit in alternate years.

biosolids
A by-product of wastewater treatment sometimes used as a fertilizer.

blade
The flattened part of a leaf.

blanch
To exclude light from plants or parts of plants to render them white or tender. Often done to cauliflower, endive, celery, and leeks.

blight
Rapid, extensive discoloration, wilting, and death of plant tissue.

bloom booster
Fertilizer high in phosphorus (P) that increases flower yield. Check out Grotek Monster Bloom Booster.

blossom-end-rot (BER)
A physiological and nutritional disorder on fruit creating a black, leathery, sunken appearance on the blossom end of the fruit – often associated with poor watering, root death, and calcium deficiency. Check out Technaflora MagiCal to prevent blossom-end-rot.
blotch
A blot or spot (usually superficial and irregular in shape) on leaves, shoots, or fruit.

bole
See trunk.

bolting
Producing seeds or flowering prematurely, usually due to heat. For example, cool-weather crops such as lettuce bolt during the summer. Leaf crops are discouraged from bolting by removal of flower heads. See deadhead.

bonsai
One of the fine arts of gardening; growing carefully trained, dwarfed plants in containers selected to harmonize with the plants. Branches are pruned and roots trimmed to create the desired effect. botanical insecticide An insecticide, such as rotenone or pyrethrum, derived from a plant. Most botanicals biodegrade quickly. Most, but not all, have low toxicity to mammals.

botrytis
A fungal disease promoted by cool, moist weather. Also known as gray mold or fruit rot.

bract
A modified leaf, usually small, but sometimes large and brightly colored, growing at the base of a flower or on its stalk. Clearly seen on dogwoods and poinsettias.

bramble
A spiny cane bush with berry fruits (e.g., raspberries and blackberries).

branch
A subsidiary stem arising from a plant's main stem or from another branch.

break
(1) Any new growth coming from a bud. (2) See bud break.

broadcast
(1) To sow seed by scattering it over the soil surface. (2) To apply a pesticide or fertilizer uniformly to an entire, specific area by scattering or spraying it.

broadleaf evergreen
A non-needled evergreen.

British Thermal Unit (BTU)
Amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water 1°F.

bud
A small protuberance on a stem or branch, sometimes enclosed in protective scales, containing an undeveloped shoot, leaf, or flower.

bud break
The resumption of growth by a resting bud.

bud head
A swollen or enlarged area where a bud was grafted to a stock.

bud scale
A modified leaf that forms a protective covering for a bud.

bud sport
See mutation.

bud union
The suture line where a bud or scion was grafted to a stock. Sometimes called the graft union.

budding
The grafting of a bud onto stock of a different plant. The bud is the scion.

budstick
A shoot or twig used as a source of buds for budding.

buffering action
The ability of a nutrient solution or raw water to resist changes in pH

bulb
An underground storage organ consisting of a thin, flattened stem surrounded by layers of fleshy, dried leaf bases. Roots are attached to the bottom. See corm, tuber, rhizome.

bulbil
A small bulb-like organ that sometimes forms in place of flowers.

bulblet
(1) An underground bulbil. (2) A tiny bulb produced at the base of a mother bulb.

buttress root
An enlarged, aboveground root giving support to a tree trunk.

C

calcium carbonate (CaCO3)
A compound found in limestone, ashes, bones, and shells; the primary component of lime. Check out Xtreme Gardening CalCarb.

callus
Tissue that develops when cambium or other meristematic tissue is wounded.

calorie
Amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 cubic centimeter of water 1°C.

calyx
The collective term for the sepals (the cup, usually green, between a flower and its stem).

cambium
The living, growing layer of cells between the xylem and phloem. In woody plants, it is located just beneath the bark.

candelabrum
A strong, dominant rose cane with accelerated growth that originates from a bud union and explodes with many blooms.

candle
On a pine tree, new terminal growth from which needles emerge.

cane
The externally woody, internally pithy stem of a bramble or vine.

canker
A localized lesion on a limb or trunk, usually due to disease or injury. Part of the bark or wood appears to be eaten away or is sunken.

canopy
(1) The top branches and foliage of a plant. (2) The shape-producing structure of a tree or shrub.

capillary force
The action by which water molecules bind to the surfaces of soil particles and to each other, thus holding water in fine pores against the force of gravity.

capillary water
Water held in the tiny spaces between soil particles or between plant cells.

capitulum
(1) A dense, short, compact cluster of sessile flowers (stalkless and attached directly at the base), as in composite plants or clover. (2) A very dense grouping of flower buds, as in broccoli.

carotene
A orange-yellow pigment located in the chloroplasts.

caterpillar
See larva.

catfacing
Disfigurement or malformation of a fruit. Fruits typically affected include tomatoes and strawberries. Although not fully understood, catfacing is thought to be caused by insects or adverse weather during fruit development.

cation
A positively charged ion. Plant nutrient examples include calcium (Ca++) and potassium (K+). See anion.

cation exchange capacity (CEC)
A soil's capacity to hold cations as a storehouse of reserve nutrients.

cell
The smallest structure in a plant.

central leader
(1) A trunk or stem extending up through the axis of a tree or shrub and clearly emerging at the top. (2) A system of pruning that uses the central leader as a basic component.

cell wall
The outer covering of a plant cell.

cellular respiration
The chemical breakdown of food substances, resulting in the release of energy.

cellulose
A plant substance forming part of the cell wall.

cercus
A thread-like or sometimes forceps-like tail near the tip of an insect's abdomen (usually a pair). Plural: cerci.

chelate
A complex organic substance that holds micronutrients, usually iron, in a form available for absorption by plants. Check out Sequestrene Iron Chelate.

chlorophyll
The green pigment in plants. Responsible for trapping light energy for photosynthesis.

chloroplast
A specialized component of certain cells. Contains chlorophyll and is responsible for photosynthesis.

chlorosis
An abnormal yellowing of a leaf.

chiller
A refrigeration unit used to reduce the temperature of water or nutrient solution.

chromosome
A threadlike structure within each living cell which contains the cell's genetic material.

cladode
A flattened stem performing the function of a leaf, as in a cactus pad.

cladosporium
Any of several fungal diseases that afflict plants; commonly called leaf mold.

clay
The smallest type of soil particle (less than 0.002 mm in diameter).

climber
A plant that climbs on its own by twining or using gripping pads, tendrils, or some other method to attach itself to a structure or another plant. Plants that must be trained to a support are properly called trailing plants, not climbers.

cloche
A plastic, glass, or plexiglas plant cover used to warm the growing environment or protect plants from frost.

clone
A plant group whose members have all been derived from a single individual through constant propagation by vegetative (asexual) means, e.g. by buds, bulbs, grafts, cuttings, or laboratory tissue culture. Visit our selection of cloning and propagation products.

closed system
A hydroponic system, like nutrient film technique (NFT) systems, that recirculates the nutrient solution. C:N ratio The ratio of carbon (C) to nitrogen (N) in organic materials. Materials with a high C:N ratio (high in carbon) are good bulking agents in compost piles, while those with a low C:N ratio (high in nitrogen) are good energy sources.

cold composting
A slow composting process that involves simply building a pile and leaving it until it decomposes. This process may take several months or longer. Cold composting does not kill weed seeds or pathogens.

cold frame
A plastic-, glass-, or plexiglas-covered frame that relies on sunlight as a source of heat to warm the growing environment for tender plants. Check out the Juwel Double Cold Frame.

cold hardening
The process where plants prepare for low temperatures.

cole crops
A group of vegetables belonging to the cabbage family; plants of the genus Brassica, including cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, turnips, and brussels sprouts.

coleoptera
An insect family made up of species having horny front wings that fit over their hindwings. Includes beetles and weevils.

collar
A swollen area at the base of a branch where it connects to a trunk. Contains special tissue that prevents decay from moving downward from the branch into the trunk. See shoulder ring.

compaction
Pressure that squeezes soil into layers that resist root penetration and water movement. Often the result of foot or machine traffic.

companion planting
The practice of growing two or more plants together in the hope that the combination will discourage disease and insect pests.

compatible
Different varieties or species that set fruit when cross-pollinated or make a successful graft union when intergrafted. See pollenizer.

complete flower
A flower having all of the normal flower parts.

complete metamorphosis
A type of insect development in which the insect passes through the stages of egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The larva usually is different in form from the adult. See simple metamorphosis.

composite head
A inflorescence composed of many tightly-packed, small, ray and disc flowers.

compost
The product created by the breakdown of organic waste under conditions manipulated by humans. Used to improve both the texture and fertility of garden soil. See humus. Visit our selection of compost bins and red wiggler compost worms.

compound bud
More than one bud on the same side of a node. Usually, unless growth is extremely vigorous, only one of the buds develops, and its branch may have a very sharp angle of attachment. If it is removed, a wider angled shoot usually is formed from the secondary (accessory) bud. Ashes and walnuts are examples of plants that typically have compound buds.

compound leaf
A leaf in which the blade is divided into separate leaflets.

conductivity
The scale, described as electrical conductivity (EC) or conductivity factor (CF), that is used to measure the strength of nutrient solution. Visit our selection of solution testing equipment.

conifer
A cone-bearing tree or shrub, usually evergreen. Pine, spruce, fir, cedar, yew, and juniper are examples.

conk
A fungal fruiting structure (e.g., shelf or bracket fungi) formed on rotting woody plants.

contact pesticide
A pesticide that kills on contact. Visit our selection of pesticides.

controlled environmental agriculture (CEA)
The growing of plants in structures as greenhouses that permit the regulation of optimum environmental conditions for the crop year-round regardless of ambient weather conditions.

cordon
(1) A method of espaliering fruit trees, vines, etc. to horizontal, vertical, or angles wire or wooden supports so maximum surface is exposed to the sun, resulting in maximum fruit production. (2) A branch attached to such a support.

cork
The protective outer tissue of bark.

cork cambium
A layer of cells in the cambium that gives rise to cork.

corm
An underground storage organ consisting of the swollen base of a stem with roots attached to the underside. Crocus and gladiolus are examples of plants that form corms. See bulb, tuber, rhizome.

cormel
A small, underdeveloped corm, usually attached to a larger corm. See bubil and bulblet.

cornicle
A short, blunt horn or tube (sometimes button-like) on the top and near the end of an aphid's abdomen. Emits a waxy liquid that helps protect against enemies.

corolla
Collectively, all of a flower's petals.

cortex
Cells that make up the primary tissue of roots or stems.

corymb
A usually flat-topped flower cluster in which the individual flower stalks grow upward from various points on the main stem to approximately the same level.

cotyledon
A seed leaf; the first leaf from a sprouting seed. Monocots have one cotyledon; dicots have two.

cover crop
A crop dug into the soil to return valuable organic matter and nitrogen to the soil. Legumes such as clover, cowpeas, and vetch are common cover crops. Also called green manure.

critical photoperiod
The maximum day length a short-day plant, and the minimum day length a long-day plant, require to initiate flowering.

cropping cycle
The time period during which the plant grows from seeding until final harvest and its subsequent removal.

cross-pollination
The fertilization of a ovary on one plant with pollen from another plant, producing an offspring with a genetic makeup distinct from that of either parent. See pollenizer.

crotch angle
The angle formed between a trunk and a main scaffold limb. The strongest angle is 45° to 60°.

crown
(1) Collectively, the branches and foliage of a tree or shrub. (2) The thickened base of a plant's stem or trunk to which the roots are attached.

cultivar
A specially cultivated variety of a plant that most often is reproduced vegetatively. For example, 'Transparent' is a cultivar of apple. See variety.

cuticle
(1) A relatively impermeable surface layer on the spidermis of leaves and fruits. (2) The outer layer of an insect's body.

cutin
(1) A waxy substance on plant surfaces that tends to make the surface waterproof and can protect leaves from dehydration and disease. (2) A waxy substance on an insect's cuticle that protects the insect from dehydration.

cutting
A piece of leaf, stem, or root removed from a plant and prompted to develop into a new plant that is genetically identical to the parent plant.

cyme
A flower stalk on which the florets start blooming from the top of the stem and progress toward the bottom.

cyst
The swollen, egg-containing female body of certain nematodes. Can be seen on the outside of infected roots.

cytokinin
A plant hormone primarily stimulating cell division. Visit our selection of plant hormones.

cytoplasm
The living protoplasm of a cell, excluding the nucleus.

cytoplasmic membrane
The membrane enclosing the cytoplasm.

D

damping-off
A disease caused by many different organisms. In the most conspicuous cases, a seedling's stem collapses at or near the soil surface, and the seedling topples. Another type rots seedlings before they emerge from the soil or causes seeds to decay before germinating.

day-neutral plant
A species capable of flowering without regard to day length. See short-day plant, long-day plant.

deadhead
To remove individual, spent flowers from a plant for the purpose of preventing senescence (going dormant) and prolonging blooming. For effective results, the ovary behind the flower must be removed as well.

deciduous
A plant that sheds all of its leaves annually.

decomposition
The breakdown of organic materials by microorganisms.

deep flow/raft culture
A hydroponic system commonly used for lettuce production in hot climates where the plants are supported on top of a bed of nutrient solution by Styrofoam boards floating on the solution.

defoliation
The unnatural loss of a plant's leaves, generally to the detriment of its health. Can be caused by high winds, excessive heat, drought, frost, chemicals, insects, or disease.

dehorning
A drastic method of pruning a neglected tree or shrub. Entails the removal of large branches, especially high in the crown, a few at a time over several seasons.

dermaptera
An insect family made up of species having chewing mouthparts and a pair of large, forceps-like appendages near the tail. Wingless or with one or two pairs of inconspicuous wings. Earwigs are an example.

desiccation
Drying out of tissue. determinate
A plant growth habit in which the stems stop growing at a certain height and produce a flower cluster at the tip. Determinate tomatoes, for example, are short, early-fruiting, have concentrated fruit set, and do not require staking. See indeterminate.

dethatch
To remove thatch (a tightly intermingled layer of stems, leaves, and roots, living and dead, that forms between the soil surface and green vegetation of grass).

diageotropic
Horizontal growth of a plant part.

diatomaceous earth
The fossilized remains of diatoms (a type of tiny algae). Check out the Viagrow™ Diatomaceous Earth.

dicot
A plant having two cotyledons (seed leaves).

dicotyledon
See dicot.

dieback
Progressive death of shoots, branches, or roots, generally starting at the tips.

differentiation
A change in composition, structure, or function of cells and tissues during growth.

dioecious
A plant species having male and female flowers on separate plants. An example is holly. See monoecious.

disbud
The selective removal of some flower buds so the remaining buds receive more of the plant's energy and produce larger, showier flowers. Roses, chrysanthemums, and camellias often are disbudded.

disc flower
A small, tubular flower in the center of a composite head.

division
The breaking or cutting apart of a plant's crown for the purpose of producing additional plants, all genetically identical to the parent plant.

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid
The substance that the genes which carry genetic information is made of.

dominate species
The most abundant species in a plant community.

dormancy
The annual period when a plant's growth processes greatly slow down.

dormant bud
A bud formed during a growing season that remains at rest during the following winter or dry season. If it does not expand during the following growing season, it is termed a latent bud.

dormant oil
A horticultural oil applied during the dormant season to control insect pests and diseases.

double, semidouble
A flower with more than the normal number of petals, sepals, bracts, or florets. May be designated botanically by the terms flore pleno, plena, or pleniflora. double worked Grafted twice, i.e. grafted to an intermediate stock.

drainage
The ability of soil to transmit water through the surface and subsoil.

drip irrigation
A type of irrigation system by which each plant is fed individually with a small drip tube and the flow is regulated by an emitter commonly used in most hydroponic systems. Visit our selection of drip irrigation products.

drip tip
A pointed leaf tip helping to drain water from the leaf surface.

drip zone
The area from the trunk of a tree or shrub to the edge of its canopy. Most, but not all, of a plant's feeder roots are located within this area.

dripline
An imaginary line on the ground directly beneath the outermost tips of a plant's foliage. Rain tends to drip from leaves onto this line.

drupe fruit
See stone fruit.

dwarfed
Restricted plant size without loss of health and vigor.

deep water culture (DWC)
A hydroponic method of plant production by means of suspending the plant roots in a solution of nutrient-rich, oxygenated water, also known as bubbleponics. ebb-and-flow a hydroponic system in which the plants are sub-irrigated periodically and the nutrient solution drains back to a central cistern for subsequent cycles.

E

ebb-and-flow
A hydroponic system in which the plants are sub-irrigated periodically and the nutrient solution drains back to a central cistern for subsequent cycles

ecology
The science of relationships between organisms and their environment.

economic threshold
The level at which pest damage justifies the cost of control. In home gardening, the threshold may be aesthetic rather than economic.

egg
A female sex cell.

electrical conductivity (EC)
A measure of the ability of a nutrient solution to conduct electricity, which is dependent upon the ion concentration and nature of the elements present. Visit our selection of solution testing equipment.

emasculate
To remove a flower's anthers.

embryo
The dormant, immature plant within a seed; the "germ" referred to in wheat germ.

embryo culture
See tissue culture.

enation
Epidermal outgrowths on leaves or stems.

endodermis
A layer of cells in roots between the cortex and the vascular tissues.

endosperm
The nutritive tissue within the seed of a flowering plant. Surrounds and is absorbed by the embryo.

enzyme
A biological catalyst that aids in a specific biochemical process, such as converting food from one form to another.

epidermal hair
A filament of cells arising from an epidermal cell.

epidermis
The outermost layer of cells covering a plant's leaves, roots, and young parts.

epigeous germination
Seed germination in which the cotyledons are raised above the soil surface.

epinasty
An abnormal downward-curving growth or movement of a leaf, leaf part, or stem.

epiphyte
A plant growing on another plant for support.

espalier
The training of a tree or shrub to grow flat on a trellis or wall. Espalier patterns may be very precise and formal or more natural and informal.

ethylene
A gaseous plant hormone (C2H4) produced in abundance by ripening fruits and damaged tissues.

etiolation
The condition where a plant is grown in darkness, resulting in pale and elongated stems and underdeveloped leaves.

evapotranspiration
The loss of water from a plant through evaporation and transpiration; critical to the uptake of minerals and cooling of the plant through movement of water within the entire plant.

evergreen
A plant that never loses all of its foliage at the same time.

excise
To remove or extract, as an embryo from a seed or ovule.

excurrent
A tree form in which the main trunk remains dominant with small, more or less horizontal branches. Fir and sweetgum are examples.

exfoliating
Peeling off in shards or thin layers, as in bark from a tree.

exoskeleton
The outer support structure of an insect.

exotic
Non-native.

F

F1, F2, F3, etc.
Filial generation - the F1 generation is the result of crossing two different varieties; a cross of two F1 plants produces F2 seed; and so on.

fallow
To keep part of a garden unplanted or in a cover crop during the growing season.

family
A broad group of plants with common characteristics.

fasciation
Distortion of a plant that results in thin, flattened, and sometimes curved shoots.

feeder roots
Fine roots and root branches with a large absorbing area (root hairs). Responsible for taking up the majority of a plant's water and nutrients from the soil.

fermentation
The partial breakdown of food molecules to yield ethyl alcohol, carbon dioxide, and energy. Fermentation occurs in the absence of oxygen.

fertility (soil)
The presence of minerals necessary for plant life.

fertilization
(1) The fusion of male and female germ cells following pollination. (2) The addition of plant nutrients to the environment around a plant.

fertilizer
A natural or synthetic product added to the soil or sprayed on plants to supply nutrients. Visit our wide selection of fertilizers.

fertilizer analysis
The amount of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (as P2O5), and potassium (as K2O) in a fertilizer, expressed as a percentage of total fertilizer weight. On the N-P-K fertilizer label, the percentage by weight of nitrogen (N) is always listed first, phosphorous (P) second, and potassium (K) third.

fiber
A long, thick-walled cell that dies at maturity.

fibrous root
A root system that branches in all directions, often directly from the plant's crown, rather than branching in a hierarchical fashion from a central root. See taproot.

filament
The stalk supporting a flower's anthers.

flagging
Loss of turgor and drooping of plant parts, usually as a result of water stress.

floricane
Second-year growth of caneberries. Produces fruit on laterals.

flower
The reproductive branch or structure of an angiosperm plant.

flower cluster/truss
A group of flowers that form from the stem of tomato plants which when pollinated produce the fruit.

foliar fertilization, foliar feeding
Fertilization of a plant by applying diluted soluble fertilizer, such as fish emulsion or kelp, directly to the leaves.

food
An organic substance that provides energy and body-building materials, especially carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.

force
To bring a plant into early growth, generally by raising the temperature or transplanting it to a warmer situation. Tulips and paperwhites are examples of plants that often are forced.

form
(1) A naturally-occurring characteristic different from other plants in the same population. (2) The growth habit (shape) of a plant.

formal
(1) A garden that is laid out in precise symmetrical patterns. (2) A flower, such as some camellias, that consist of layers of regularly overlapping petals.

frond
Specifically, the foliage of ferns, but often applied to any foliage that looks fern-like, such as palm leaves.

fruit
The edible portion of a plant that is closely associated with a flower. Botanically, a fruit is a ripened, mature ovary.

fruiting habit
The location and manner in which a fruit is borne on woody plants.

fungicide
Any material capable of killing fungi. Sulfur and copper sulfate are two common mineral fungicides. Visit our selection of fungicides.

fungus
A plant organism that lacks chlorophyll, reproduces via spores, and usually has filamentous growth. Examples are molds, yeasts, and mushrooms. Check out the Xtreme Gardening Mykos Pure Fungi Organic Fertilizer.

fusarium
Any of several fungal diseases that afflict plants; commonly called dry rot or wilt

G

gall
A growth on plant stems or leaves caused by abnormal cell growth stimulated by the sucking of some insects (e.g., aphids) or by viral, fungal, or bacterial infection.

gamete
A sex cell, male or female.

gene
A unit of genetic inheritance. generative growth reproductive phase of a plant in which it produces flowers and fruit.

genus
A group of related species, each of which is distinct and unlikely to cross with any other. A group of genera forms a family, and a group of families forms an order. See species.

geotropism
The turning or curving of a plant's parts in response to gravity. A root growing downward is an example. Geotropism is controlled largely by the hormone auxin.

germination
The initial sprouting stage of a seed. Check out the Viagrow™ Progagation and Cloning Kit.

germination inhibitor
A chemical substance preventing seed germination.

girdling
The cutting, removing, or clamping of bark all the way around a trunk or branch. Sometimes, girdling is done deliberately to kill an unwanted tree, but often it results from feeding by insects or rodents. Wires and ties used to support a tree can cause girdling, as can string trimmers.

glabrous
Hairless, but not necessarily smooth.

glaucous
Covered with a grayish, bluish, or whitish waxy coating that is easily rubbed off. Blue spruce needles are an example of glaucous leaves.

gradual metamorphosis
See simple metamorphosis.

graft union
See bud union.

grafting
The act of inserting a shoot or bud of one plant into the trunk, branch, or root of another, where it grows and becomes a permanent part of the plant.

gravitational water
Water in excess of a soil's capacity. Drains downward to groundwater.

green cone
An enclosed composting unit often used for composting food waste.

green manure
See cover crop.

groundcover
Plants used in lieu of grass for holding soil and providing leaf texture.

growing medium
Materials that are sometimes used in hydroponic growing to support the plant's roots and, sometimes, to hold nutrient.

growing season
The period between the beginning of growth in the spring and the cessation of growth in the fall.

growth regulator
A compound applied to a plant to alter its growth in a specific way. May be a natural or synthetic substance. See hormone. Check out the Humboldt Country's Own Bushmaster.

guard cell
Leaf epidermal cells that open and close to let water, oxygen, and carbon dioxide pass through the stomata.

gum
A sticky, water-soluble plant secretion that hardens on contact with air. guttation plants having high root pressure under high relative humidity conditions will exude water at their leaf margins through specialized cells.

gutter NFT
A nutrient film technique water culture system in which plants are grown in small gutters or channels. Check out the Aeroflo 36 site Aeroponics System.

gymnosperm
A member of a class of plants that forms seeds in an exposed condition, often in cones.

Destroying the Myths

about hydroponics

Myth: Hydroponics is a new technology

The Pharaohs of Egypt enjoyed fruits and vegetables grown hydroponically.

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, was believed to be a hydroponic garden. In India, plants are grown directly in coconut husk; hydro at the most grassroots level. If hydroponics is a "new" technology, it is a new technology in general use for thousands of years. Hydroponics is not new, just different.

Myth: Hydroponics is artificial or unnatural

Plant growth is a real and natural happening. Plants require basic, natural things for normal growth. Hydroponics supplies the plant with what it needs, when it needs it. There is no genetic mutation that takes place inside the equipment nor are there any mysterious wonder chemicals introduced to the plants roots that trick them into thinking they're on steroids.
With the production of more refined nutrients,
it is now possible to grow completely organic produce with hydroponics

Myth: Hydroponics is bad for the environment

This is totally false.

Growing plants hydroponically is far more earth friendly than conventional gardening on numerous levels. As we are coming to realize that water is our most precious resource the first point worth noting is that hydroponics uses 70 to 90 percent less water than conventional gardening.

The second greatest ecological benefit is that no fertilizer runoff escapes into our lakes, rivers and aquifers. These two items alone, water conservation and the non-pollution of lakes and streams, are major plus values.

Myth: Hydroponics is a space-science far too sophisticated
and high-tech for the average person to understand or master

As we've stated, hydroponics is growing without soil and no bells
or whistles are required to accomplish this.

An inexpensive bucket or nursery pot, filled with a hydroponic growing medium and hand watered with a hydroponic nutrient is hydroponics. A sheet of Styrofoam filled with net cups and floating on an aerated tank is hydroponics and as a point of fact, this system is very popular for elementary school science projects.

The technological potential for automation and total environmental control is virtually limitless but in no way required to have a beautiful and abundant hydroponic garden.

Basic hydroponics can be taught to the very young, the very elderly and anyone open to learning a few new tricks.

Myth: Hydroponics is far too expensive

Not at all. As with any hobby, there's always a new toy to buy or things you may want to upgrade as you expand your knowledge.

Gardeners are dedicated to their passion and whether that is bonsai, orchids, organics, kitchen gardening, etc., there are always things to spend money on. However, it is also just as easy to achieve amazing results while staying within any size budget.

Myth: the use of Hydroponics is not widespread

Wrong again. Hydroponics is used extensively the world over. It is used in countries where the climate prohibits or limits growth and where the soil is too poor to support large-scale crop production.

It is also used in countries, including the USA, where once fertile soil
has been so abused and over farmed that it is now depleted or toxic.

In British Columbia, 90% of all the greenhouse industry is now hydroponic.

Myth: Hydroponics must be used indoors

Hydroponics is as easy to use outdoors under the sun as it is indoors.
One advantage to gardening indoors under grow lights is that you, not Mother Nature, control the seasons, making the growing season twelve months long.

However, that is still true whether you grow in soil or hydroponically.

Soil gardening can be done indoors and hydro can be done outdoors.

Myth: Hydroponics requires no pesticides

This is one myth that we wish were true.

The need should be greatly reduced because a strong healthy plant is much less susceptible to attack than a weaker plant. Also, soil-born pest will be totally eliminated but even in an indoor environment, intruders still find their way in, catching a ride on your person or sneaking through tiny crevices. Monitor any garden carefully so you can catch problem insects when they first appear and your need for toxic products will be minimal.

Myth: Hydroponics produces huge super-plants

This myth has some foundation in truth but there is an important aspect to consider. Every seed, like all living things, already has a genetic code that will determine its general size, yield potential and flavor. Hydroponics can't turn a cherry tomato into a beefsteak tomato but it can turn it into the best cherry tomato it can be. Therefore, start with the best genetics possible.

Getting a plant to grow to its highest potential in common soil is difficult because of the hundreds of variables in the soil's make-up which influence the plant and its growth. It is the ability to control these variables that makes hydroponics superior to conventional gardening. In addition, factor that a plant in soil expends a great portion of energy working for its food in a way that hydro plants do not. The diva existence of a hydroponic plant allows it to send that extra energy into faster growth, dense vegetation, larger yields and more flavorful produce.

Dr. Howard M. Resh, in his book HYDROPONIC FOOD PRODUCTION, cites vegetable yield increases that are dramatic; identical cucumber plants produced 7,000 pounds per acre in soil but 28,000 pounds per acre when grown hydroponically and tomato yields that ranged from 5 to 10 tons per acre in soil but 60 to 300 tons per hydroponic acre. The reported results are typical for practically any plant.
Said another way, to produce the total number of tomatoes consumed annually in Canada (400 million pounds) requires 25,000 acres of soil. Hydroponically, it would require only 1,300 acres.

Myth: Hydroponics is used primarily for illegal purposes

Henry Ford once received a letter from a depression-era bank robber responsible for the deaths of several law enforcement officers, killed in their attempt to stop him as he fled the crime scene. In his letter, he thanked Mr. Ford for making his Model A Ford such a good getaway car.

The use of hydroponics for illegal purposes is stressed by the law enforcement community whenever an efficient and successful growing operation is uncovered. This paints a false and slanderous picture of an industry and method which may well hold the key to solving world hunger. The percentage of hydroponic systems being used for illegal purposes parallels the percentage of Ford Motor cars used in bank robbery getaways. Somehow, the multitude of hydroponics systems used in normal, legitimate growing operations just doesn't make it on the evening news.

Yes, hydroponics is popular with illegal growers.

This popularity is founded on the same principles that make it popular with legal growers:
Bigger, better, higher quality crop.

Grow Box

Grow Box

Farming for the Future

LED Grow Lights

What is Hydroponics ?

Fertilizers

DIY Aquaponics [Video]

DIY Cheap 2 Liter DWC Hydroponic System

DIY DWC Hydroponics Bucket System

DIY Bus Box Grow Box

Vermiculite

Importance of Grow Tents

Hydroponics Glossary A-G

Destroying the Myths

Myth: Hydroponics is a new technology

Myth: Hydroponics is artificial or unnatural

Myth: Hydroponics is bad for the environment

Myth: Hydroponics is a space-science far too sophisticated and high-tech for the average person to understand or master

Myth: Hydroponics is far too expensive

Myth: the use of Hydroponics is not widespread

Myth: Hydroponics must be used indoors

Myth: Hydroponics requires no pesticides

Myth: Hydroponics produces huge super-plants

Myth: Hydroponics is used primarily for illegal purposes

Myth: Hydroponics is a space-science far too sophisticated
and high-tech for the average person to understand or master