Susan Slobac our expert of the day, writes:

Hydroponics is a method of indoor gardening that does not use soil as a growing medium for the plants. Plants can be grown in a water solution, or in other growing mediums such as rockwool or coir. Hydroponics is an ideal method of growing plants where soil may be less than ideal for gardening, as well as places where there is no land available to garden, such as in urban areas in cities.

All plants need three components in order to grow and thrive: water, light and food. Without any one of these, the plants will die. Food is vitally important to the plant, in order for it to grow and eventually reach maturity, where it will reproduce by flowering or fruiting. In terms of indoor gardening with hydroponics, food is a specialized component because of the soil-less growing factor.

How do hydroponic plants eat?

Plants grown hydroponically are fed using a hydroponic nutrient solution. In many hydroponic indoor gardening systems, the plant’s roots are grown in water. The crown of the plant is suspended by many and various means above the water, allowing the roots to float in the fluid.

Vikram kuamr our expert of the day, writes:

JQ Zen our expert of the day, writes:

It is not difficult to get your hydroponic system set up. Most of the Hydroponic Gardening guides for beginners include a section on build-it-yourself hydroponic system. They provide a parts list, a tools list, and simple step-by-step instruction on how to build your own hydroponic system.

However, once the hydroponic unit is in operation, quite often, the beginners will discover problems, some of which cannot be easily solved after the system has already been built. The followings are some of the common problems encountered.

Problem#1

There is a concern on just how much nutrients to be poured over the aggregate. Because for those hydroponic systems using a “light proof” container concept, you will not be able to see through the containers or down through the aggregate. So it is very difficult to gauge the amount or level of nutrient solution. Without this visibility, it is quite likely that the plants will be killed by either under or overfilling.

The viable solutions can be either put a visual indicator showing the nutrient solution level or water sensors for automatic system.

Problem#2

Jerbob Johnsen our expert of the day, writes:

Have you wanted to learn about growing your vegetables using kitchen window hydroponics? There are awesome about hydroponics available online. You will not only find the information on how to grow your vegetables using hydroponics but will also find thousands of incredible daily bargains on nutrient for hydroponic tomato plants, how to grow Aloe Vera in hydroponics and DIY hydroponic bubblers. It is fun, doesn’t take up much space and imagine the table conversation with your guest when you serve them fresh home grown tomatoes that you grew inside your home. If you stop and think about it, that is pretty cool.

Several years ago before hydroponics became popular, I was in a grocery store that had a bubbler hydroponic grow that was producing their tomatoes for sale. This was quite a huge store so it was pretty impressive. I remember, getting up on my tip toes to see what I could find. I was really surprise to see no soil and then I was trying to figure how this was done. I am sure they didn’t use a cheap hydroponic pump but state of the art hydroponic system. I went away very impressed and wondering if I could do it also.