Hydroponics Solution-based Techniques
Hydroponics derives from two Latin words: ‘hydro’ meaning water and ‘ponic’, which means labor. Hydroponics is a style of gardening where the medium for planting is water not soil. This form of planting has been used for centuries after scientists discovered that soil only acts as a reservoir for nutrients and that plants do not essentially need soil to grow.
There are two types of hydroponics organic gardening: one that is solution based, and another one that is medium based. In the solution style of hydroponics the roots do not require a solid medium to grow, it just needs the nutrient solution. There are several types of solution based cultures; they are differentiated by how the nutrients get to the plant.[ad#insert]
In static solution cultures, plants are grown in containers with nutrient solutions. The containers can be made of glass, plastic buckets tanks or in tubs. The nutrient solution might be aerated or un-aerated; in either case, the hydroponics farmer should make sure that the nutrient level never gets to a level that is below the roots. Another form of solution-based hydroponics is the continuous flow style; it involves the nutrient flow passing through the roots in intervals of time.
Another solution-based hydroponics is aeroponics, in this culture style, plant roots are exposed continually or discontinually in an air chamber that is saturated with nutrients. The roots are then wet sprayed with atomized nutrients.
Gravity-fed system is a hydroponics culture where the plants derive nutrients via the flow of gravity. Nutrients are put into hydroponic pots that are strategically placed so as to allow nutrients to flow to the roots. Another style of solution based hydroponics is run to waste. In this style, the nutrients are applied to the hydroponics medium. To reduce costs, the medium can be washed and the nutrients that were not taken up by the plants can be reused again.
Another form of solution based hydroponics is called bubbleponics. In this, nutrient solution that is highly oxygenated is delivered directly onto the plant roots, or the zone around it. Closely associated with bubbleponics is deep water solution culture; in this plant roots are submerged or suspended in nutrient rich and highly oxygenated water. The main difference is that bubbleponics uses an elaborate system to deliver the nutrients to the plant. Whatever the technique, the hydroponics reservoirs are mostly made of plastic; but in some cases concrete, glass, etc. has bean used.