Starting a hydroponic setup may sound complicated but it can be done with a simple setup to make your plants grow. The process of hydroponics allows you to grow plants without planting them on soil. Compared with the normal process where plants get their nutrients from the soil, a hydroponic setup provides the nutrients directly to the roots by absorbing them from water. The nutrients are supplied at the time that the plants need them. As a result, plants can be healthier when grown in a hydroponic environment.
If you want to implement your own hydroponic setup, it is important for you to follow some basic guidelines. You have to setup a place for this purpose and ensure that your attention is given to make it succeed. You have to understand that the plants will be dependent on the nutrients that you will feed them. Hence, instead of dependence on soil, the plants will be dependent on the water that contains the nutrients that you will mix. You have to record the time and the quantity of nutrients to ensure that the correct amount is given. You can use the data as a basis for determining the health of the plants as they grow.
One of the hydroponic plans that you can setup as a starter is the ebb and flow approach. This requires that you setup two trays, installed with one on top of the other. The top tray will be the place for your plants to grow. You can use a growing medium such as pebbles, coconut fiber or sand. This will also make the plants to stand stable on the tray. In this hydroponic setup, you have to drill two holes in the top tray to make the water flow and be drained after the feeding. The bottom tray, on the other hand, will contain the water where the nutrients to be supplied are mixed. The water reservoir will have to be installed with a pump and timer. The supply of the nutrients will be done by the pump and triggered by the timer. The water will pass through a tube that goes to the hole. As the timer and counter are triggered, the bottom tray will let the fluid flood the top tray. After a given duration, the top tray will be drained and the water flows back to the bottom tray through another tube that goes to the second hole. This is the ebb and flow approach that you can use for your homemade hydroponics.
Your hydroponic setup will be successful if you record every detail about your plants and the level of nutrients that you provide. You can adjust your implementation according to the results that you get.
