Tuesday, 12 January 2016

What Happens In A Hydroponics Store

By Thomas Scott


Hydroponics as a division of hydroculture entails growing plants in the absence of soil. Only water and nutrient solutions are used. Sometimes water is not used, but nutrients solutions alone in which terrestrial plants are immersed. Water is supplied to such plants. Water and nutrient delivery can be achieved through various methods including directly hanging root systems inside nutrient solutions, placing root systems containers with substrates, and misting the roots.

Substrates replace soils in cases where plants are suspended in the substrates. Various kinds of substrates exist today. Major ones include sawdust, perlite, pebbles, wood chips, rockwool, and sand. Substrates are made with great ability to allow gaseous exchange and prevent water loss. Root systems grow deep into the substrates to offer support. Many people in the world are engaged in this form of agriculture because it presents several benefits. Today one can spot a hydroponics store anywhere.

The history of this technology is a long one. Francis Bacon was the first person to write a book on the technology in the year 1627. The book was printed several years after Bacon had already died and since then, people gained interest in the technology. A lot of research was done around that time with several publications coming out since 1699. A lot of modifications have been done to original findings and inventions.

Today, solution culture and medium culture are the two key types of hydroponics in existence. Solution cultures are named so because they lack a solid medium. Medium culture have a solid medium for providing plants with support.

Solution cultures are further subdivided into three major subgroups. The subgroups are aeroponics, continuous-flow solution culture, and static solution culture. Medium cultures are named according to the type of medium used for instance rockwool culture and gravel culture. The two cultures can further be divided according to the kind of irrigation used. There are two kinds of irrigation systems in wide use today, that is top irrigation and sub-irrigation.

Today, most hydroponic reservoirs in use are manufactured from plastic materials. However, formerly, other materials including wood, metal, concrete, glass, and vegetable solids were in wide use. In fact, there are still some reservoirs made of such materials. The reservoirs must never be exposed to sunlight to prevent growth of algae.

Nutrients are dissolved before being supplied to plants. Nutrients are usually in form of ions and inorganic form. The number of recipes used to make hydroponic solutions is huge. The desired composition is attained by mixing numerous chemicals together. Potassium phosphate, potassium nitrate, magnesium sulfate, and calcium nitrate are among chemicals used to provide macronutrients. As plants continue to absorb water and nutrients from soils, salt concentration increases to harmful levels. Close monitoring is required to avoid that.

The technology is being exercised on large scale in several countries. The constant supply of nutrients to plants coupled with lack of pests leads to high yields. However, plant growth is limited by lower levels of Carbon dioxide and restricted sunlight exposure.




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