Tips for Hydroponic Growing

Hydroponics–or growing your plants in water or a liquid solution– is growing in popularity by leaps and bounds. The reasons why people love hydroponic gardening are self explanatory. Hydroponics are easy to accomplish, can take less gardening area and growth can be accomplished in minimal time.

The ways and means, the things that are used in hydroponic growth are as diverse as there are things to grow. Essentially however there are two basic method of growing hydroponically. They are water based and media based. Some systems will use pumps, timers, or other types of electronics to help you accomplish your plant growth, but the bottom line is, that your plants are growing in a liquid, not in the soil.

Whatever you use to grow, medium, water or whatever kind of system you use, a few simple tips will serve you well with the growing process.

Hydroponics grow best in natural light.

That’s a given. Whenever possible, make sure that you’re using natural light to accomplish the plants growth. There are of course times and spaces where this isn’t going to be possible. For those instances you’re going to need some method of artificial light to help your plants to grow. Make sure that you get the right kind of light for your type of plant. Yes, each plant needs a different type of light and lighting plays a major role in the growth of any plant, no matter what its growing in.

Keeping your plant about a foot away from a sunny window will assure that what you’re growing will achieve its full potential for growth. One of the largest determining factors of your success or failure in growing things hydroponically will be the selection of where the plants will be placed to give them optimum light.

Make sure however that you don’t have lights on during the night and that your plants can rest for four or five hours. Plants require rest to grow as much as they require light.

Your plants need food, just as you do.

The average plant needs about 15 nutritional components to grow well. Not all of them are equal in importance but all of them are necessary. Make sure that you offer enough nutrients to your plants to promote their growth. You will hear these termed as macro-nutrients and micro-nutrients. Take steps to study what your type of plant will need and then to offer them to your plants. Traditionally plants take that nutrition from the soil, but since your plants are not growing in the soil the nutrients they need will have to come from a fertilizer or a solution that you offer to them.

Assuring that you place plants which have similar needs together will assure that they grow well. . If you don’t, one or more of the plants will have problems with the type of nutrients or the amount of light and will not grow as you’d like them to.

Hydroponic gardening is a learning experience like any other. Many processed will play a part in how the plant grows and what kind of yield it achieves . Learn from your failures as well as your successes and keep notes to assure that your next effort is your best effort.