Hydroponics and Aeroponics Basics

Hey gang,

Hydroponics and Aeroponics interests you right?????

Well obviously it does or you wouldn't be reading this and wondering how to start up your very own hydroponics gardening system.

Well first things first. Have you read the section under the archive menu in the side bar called “ABOUT” ? If not, here is a little recap about me and my experience with horticulture and home gardening, together with why I have decided to create a hydroponics and aeroponics site.

My name is Sally Newman and I am currently working as a Hydroponics and Aeroponics consultant for agricultural and commercial use. In the beginnings when I first entered into the work force I started off working in many nurseries and landscaping supply shops gaining wide array of vital experience. As more and more people started to move into smaller homes and units, I found that a lot of people were coming to me and asking how they could enjoy gardening with very limited space. At the time people were thinking of nice simple planter boxes or pot plant style garden. The major problem people were having when they came to me was that they really didn't want to be buying and lugging around heaps of bags and pots full or dirty soil which was messing up their cars and houses.

This got me thinking………

I thought that if I suggested to people about having a hydroponics system or aeroponics system so that they could produce good quality homemade hydroponic plants that it would both save them the expense of buying bags and bags of soil, and it would be a lot cleaner too. The other benefit was that they could produce plants all year around no matter what type they were trying to grow. I thought that this was great.

Heavens behold that when I mentioned Hydroponics and aeroponics to the customers, most of their reactions were….. Isn’t hydroponics complicated and expensive???? And what the hell is aeroponics????

Once I had had a few people reacting to my comments like this I thought I better start educating people on how easy it is to set up either a hydroponics system or aeroponics system. And from there I have been continually been asked questions on all types of hydroponics so I when away and continued my education and specialized in hydroponics and aeroponics.

Now, let’s get into it……….

Hydroponics, I hear everyone saying, yes it is growing foods or plants in a water system where no soil is being use. Correct, but there is a little more to it than that to fully get a true grasp on the matter.

Now I’m hearing everyone say, well what the hell is aeroponics? In essence, it’s similar and or another form of hydroponics. Most aeroponics systems are set up in house hold home in the kitchen with lettuce and herbs growing. I will get into it further into this post. Now let’s get on with the basics of both.


Hydroponics
Hydroponics is a great way to grow nutritious health food and beautiful plants. I really don't want to bore you all with the whole textbook and dictionary side of this topic. Hydroponics is from the Greek words hydro which means water and ponos which means labour.

Hydroponic gardening is a method of such things as growing tomatoes and other foods and plants using mineral nutrient solutions without having to use soil. The plants my be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or they also can be placed in such things as sand, gravel or mineral wool.

There are two main types of hydroponics systems and they are;

1. Solution Culture
2. Medium Culture

Solution culture
Solution culture does not use any solid medium for the roots, and only uses nutrient solution to feed the plants and give the hydroponics system life. There are three main types of solution culture are;

1. Static Solution Culture
2. Continuous Flow Solution Culture
3. Aeroponics.

Medium Culture
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.

Throughout my career when advising people about what type of hydroponics systems they should chose, I have always recommended a solution culture system. The reason for this is because they use less equipment and are a lot cleaner and easier to maintain.

Later on in future post and articles I will post up in depth information about each of these types of hydroponics systems for growing your hydroponic gardens.

Bellow is a little introduction into each of the types of solution cultures.

Static solution culture
In static solution culture, plants are grown in containers of nutrient solution, such as glass Mason jars, plastic buckets, tubs or tanks. The solution is usually gently aerated but may be un aerated. If un aerated, the solution level is kept low enough that enough roots are above the solution so they get adequate oxygen. A hole is cut in the lid of the reservoir for each plant. There can be as many plants per reservoir as you would like to grow within reason as reservoir size can be increased as plant size increases.

Continuous flow solution culture
In continuous flow solution culture the nutrient solution constantly flows past the roots. It is much easier to automate than the static solution culture because sampling and adjustments to the temperature and nutrient concentrations can be made in a large storage tank that serves potentially thousands of plants

Aeroponics
Aeroponics systems are where roots are continuously in an environment saturated with fine drops of nutrient solution. This method requires no substrate and entails growing plants with their roots suspended in a deep air or growth chamber with the roots periodically wetted with a fine mist of atomized nutrients.

Wow wasn't that a long post… Ohh well, now you all now a little bit about my background and the very basics of hydroponics and aeroponics. Hope to hear from you all soon, and happy gardening this weekend.

Stay safe :-)