Hydroponic Gardening E-Book

Terri Carr

• Herausgeber: Youcanprint
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

No soil? No sunlight? No problem. A hydroponic growing system gives you the power to grow plants anywhere. Even if you live in an area where water is scarce, a hydroponic system is the answer you've been looking for. Hydroponic systems are sealed and do not allow evaporation, making water loss virtually nonexistent. Simply suspend your essential nutrients in a water-based solution and circulate them to the plant roots in a contained network of vessels and tubes. This accessible guide provides the solid information you need for hydroponic gardening success. Farmer Tyler shows you, with detailed step-by-step photos, precisely how to create these systems, and how to plant and maintain them. All the information you need to get started with your home hydroponic system is included: Recipes for nutrient solutions Light and ventilation sources Comprehensive equipment guide Growing and maintenance instructions 12+ hydroponic system builds Complete crop selection charts

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

Hydroponic Gardening

 A Beginner Guide to Learn How to Design and Build Your Own Sustainable Hydroponics System, for Growing Plants and Vegetables at Home

Terri Carr

© Copyright All rights reserved.

This eBook is provided with the sole purpose of providing relevant information on a specific topic for which every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that it is both accurate and reasonable. Nevertheless, by purchasing this eBook, you consent to the fact that the author, as well as the publisher, are in no way experts on the topics contained herein, regardless of any claims as such that may be made within. As such, any suggestions or recommendations that are made within are done so purely for entertainment value. It is recommended that you always consult a professional prior to undertaking any of the advice or techniques discussed within.

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CHAPTER ONE

How plants work in Hydroponics

Probably the most important prerequisite for running any Hydroponic system successfully is a clear understanding of how the plants work. With this knowledge, you will be able to see why the component parts of a hydroponic system are included, and why certain actions will produce better growth in the plants, while others may be detrimental to their health.

How Plants Grow

A young root tip evolves from a seed that pushes down its direction into the soil.

You will quickly gain an understanding of how most plants work by looking at how trees grow. The story begins with the seed that is the dispersal unit within a tree's life cycle. Each autumn, the parent trees scatter thousands of seeds across the forest floor, sprouting later in spring.

Germination starts when the dry seed draws off the soil in water and the seed softens and swells. A few days later, by cell division, a tiny root will grow, developing into a visible root that emerges through the seed coat, bends downwards and enters the soil. Then the root grows tiny root hairs, by which the new tree absorbs the water it requires for growth. The minerals which the developing tree requires are dissolved in the water. In a few weeks, branch roots start to develop, which would in turn will chuck off more branch roots as they evolve stouter.

Surprisingly the root system remains shallow. Deep tap roots are rare, for roots in the surface layers of the soil fulfill their functions best. The growth in the size and substance of the roots of a tree is maintained through the healthy function of the green leaves of the tree.

Photosynthesis

A few days after the seed emerged from the first roots and made their way underground the seed would also have produced its first small shoot. All seeds of the tree contain one or more leaves of seed, called cotyledons. The upward growth of the first little shoot of the tree continues for the remainder of its life. The aerial shoots like the tree's roots are nourished on the shoots by the leaves which develop. Photosynthesis is named the key process. This literally means' making up with the help of light' translated from its Greek language. Photosynthesis is essentially the process through which plants trap and utilize light energy.

Green plants appear green, reflecting green light and absorbing the other colors which make up' white' light. Chlorophyll is the pigment that gives plants this green colour, and this substance is mainly used to trap light. Chlorophyll that regulates the photosynthetic reaction is found in different cells in the leaves called chloroplasts. Plants need to absorb sunlight, because it gives them the energy they need to produce the food they need for growth.

The Production of Food in a Plant’s Leaves

The leaves on a plant are constantly filtering a stream of air through their tissues, which are open-textured with many air passages. Air consists of about four parts of nitrogen to one of oxygen, plus a tiny but significant amount of carbon dioxide. The plant needs carbon to create new tissues producing what we see as growth. The chlorophyll in the leaves, using energy from sunlight, extracts the carbon dioxide from the air and combines it with water to make chemicals called carbohydrates.

A familiar type of carbohydrate is sugar. Glucose sugar is a soluble type of carbohydrate produced by photosynthesis that is able to flow freely throughout the plant providing the food necessary to nourish every kind of growth and also supply the energy for every vital process. The leaves, shoots, roots, the woody stem, flowers and finally the fruit and seeds are all built up from it. Plants use the energy stored in carbohydrates through a process called respiration.

You can see that photosynthesis is an important process for plants for without it the carbohydrates or sugars needed by the plant for growth, would not be produced. It is also an important process for humans because during the process of trapping light energy, oxygen is separated from water and released into the atmosphere. Green plants therefore remove the carbon dioxide that humans and other animals breathe into the air and release the oxygen we depend on to survive.

Transpiration

Between 80 and 95 percent of a plant’s weight is made up of water. Plants take in supplies of water through their roots losing up to 98 percent of their water intake through a process called transpiration. This occurs when the air passing through the passages in the plant’s leaves carries away large quantities of water. The flow of air is necessary so that the plant can obtain the carbon needed to produce carbohydrates. The plant also needs to maintain its water supply. It is not surprising therefore that the root systems of plants are extremely efficient at extracting water from the soil while other structures within the plant can efficiently transport it against the force of gravity, up to 100 metres high in some trees.

Transport Systems within a Plant

There are two main types of vessels that allow water and nutrients to flow upward from the roots in the form of sap, and carbohydrate solution to flow through the whole plant. The xylem vessels contain the sap that flows up into the leaves from the roots, while the phloem vessels contain the carbohydrates produced in the leaves that flow around the plant and down to the roots where they can be converted to starches and stored. In most plants these two-way pathways, the xylem and phloem are organized into vascular bundles that run up within the stem of the plant. Upon reaching the leaves of the plant they take the form of veins.

The xylem and phloem are arranged in branches and trunks of trees, in a different pattern. They are grouped underneath the bark on either side of a layer of cells, called the cambio. The root sap rises on the inside of the cambium layer while on the outer side of the cambium layer the carbohydrates or sugar sap descends through the Phloem tissues called Bast.

On this side of the cambium layer, the carbohydrate solution produces new growth which, when combined with a shrinking of these cells in the summer, forms the growth rings visible when you cut through a tree. The cells open again each spring allowing the sap to escape, and a new ring of change growth to emerge under the bark.

Plant Nutrients

The xylem in plants carries not only water but also dissolved minerals into the water. For healthy growth, plants need the most, if not all, of at least seventeen different elements. Nine of these elements; large amounts of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, calcium, and magnesium are required, called macro nutrients.

The first three: carbon, hydrogen and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water, the rest from soil.