Water management practices - The fundamentals of Hydroponic system

Water management practices - The fundamentals of Hydroponic system

What is hydroponics

As a new technology in precision farming, hydroponics has gained popularity throughout the world. Hydroponics refers to the process of growing plants in nutrient-rich water-based solutions. Hydroponics is a soilless cultivation system, here the root system is supported using an inert medium such as perlite, coco coir, clay pallets, peat moss, compost, vermiculite, etc. The basic principle of hydroponic is to allow the plant’s roots to come in direct contact with the nutrient solution such as N-P-K mix, Calcium nitrate, Epsom salt (magnesium sulphate), Ammonium nitrate, Hoagland solution) while also having access to oxygen, which is essential for proper growth.

Components of the hydroponic system

1.       Growing chamber
Anything other than metal or a material that corrodes or reacts with the nutrient solution can be used as a growth medium. There are many ideas for growing a tray, it can be perforated plastic, square, round, or rectangular, so you just must look around or come up with the simplest design.

2.       Reservoir
The size of the tank depends on several factors, how much space you reserve for hydroponics, the number and types of plants you grow, and the water needs of the plant.

3.       Submersible pumps
If you know the minimum amount of water pumped through the system, choosing a pump is easy. When choosing a pump, it is important to consider how high the water line of the tank pumps water to the roots.

4.       Delivery tubes
The dosing tubes are simply the medium that sprays the water/nutrient solution upwards so that the necessary minerals are transported into the grow room to the plant roots and back to the tank.

5.       Aerators or air pumps
The air pump is specially placed in the tank to help increase the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water and keep the water saturated with oxygen.

Fig.1: Components of hydroponics system

 

Types hydroponics

Nutrient film technique

A nutrient film technique is a hydroponic practice in which all the nutrients that plants need for growth are dissolved in a very shallow stream of water, which is circulated past their bare roots in a watertight channel.

Deep water culture

DWC systems use nutrient solutions suspended in net pots with a growing medium for securing the roots. Plants are placed in net pots with the growing medium on top to provide air directly to the roots.

Wick system

The wick system is the simplest type of hydroponic system that does not require electricity, pumps, or aerators. Among the different types of hydroponic systems, it is the only one that can be a completely passive system, which means that no electricity is needed. Since wick hydroponic systems do not supply the plant with a large amount of nutrient solution, these systems only work well for houseplants and small herbs. Plants that do not require a lot of water grow well in wick systems.

Ebb and Flow

In ebb and flow systems, plants are placed in large grow beds filled with growing medium. The grow bed is filled with nutrient solution until it reaches a certain point. Water only gets a few inches below the top of the growing medium, so it doesn't overflow. A timer controls the power of the water pump. After running for a predetermined amount of time, the timer turns the pump off, allowing the water to flow back through the pump and drain the grow bed completely.

Drip system

Drip hydroponic systems are easy to use, set up and configure in many different ways, making them ideal for those looking to make changes. In these systems, the nutrient solution is pumped through pipes directly to the roots of the plant. The ends of the tubes have drop detectors that allow the nutrient solution to flow at an adjustable rate that saturates the growth medium.

 Drip hydroponic systems can be non-circulating or recirculating systems. Non-circulating systems drip slowly and provide nutrients to the plant at a constant rate. Recirculation System Excess nutrients flow back into the tank as shown in the figure below.

Aeroponics

In an aeroponics system, plants are suspended in the air and a nutrient solution is sprayed onto the plant's root system. The nutrient solution is pumped into a pipeline equipped with fog nozzles. As the pressure increases, the mixture sprays the roots of the plant and the solution falls back into the tank.

Can organic fertilizers be used in hydroponics?

Organic fertilizers can also be used in hydroponics with proper precautions because organic fertilizer can attract pathogens and in this kind of hydroponic system if pathogen infestation takes place, it will be really very harmful, or it can actually take away the total planting system.

How to know the required quantity of nutrients for the solution

The drip system is a very common and simple technique that can be used for providing even solutions to each of the plants individually and the excess nutrient solution can be either return back to the reservoir or we may not even prepare that solution if we know the exact amount of nutrient that is required for the particular plant and that comes with a few experiences while you actually run this kind of system for some time.