Hydroponics Beginner Guide - Grow Box Guide - Indoor Gardening Basics

Hydroponics Grow Box System Beginner's Guide to Indoor
Gardening

Topics will include:

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  What are hydroponics?

  
  


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  How hydroponics systems are operated.

  
  


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  Recommended lighting for your plants.

  
  


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  Reputable hydroponic retailers.

  
  

What are hydroponics?

Hydroponics is a form of gardening that uses water, nutrients,
and lighting. Basically, there are 3 phases included when growing with
hydroponics and a few components.

First, you will need what is called a grow box or a hydroponic
system. The grow box, or hydroponic system acts as an ecosystem to your indoor
garden. Although you can place the grow box outdoors, the system is concealed
from outside weather, therefore, it is always considered to be indoor gardening.

The components needed are the outer shell, the lighting
system, the hydroponic bucket (to hold plants), and a ballast. The outer shell
is a cover and ecosystem so that the lighting is not wasted and is focused on
the plants themselves. The lighting acts as sunlight to your plants in the grow
box. The hydroponic bucket is your main source of hydroponic activity. This
bucked needs only water and nutrients.

How hydroponic systems are operated.

There are 3 phases in hydroponic gardening.

The first phase is the mother/clone area. This is where your
first 3 plants are placed. You must grow these plants in soil and place them in
this area. This area has it's own lighting conditions in the grow box. What you
need to do is take cuttlings from your mother plant and place them in the clone
area. Your clones will develop and turn into tiny plants. The mother can be
reused over and over again.

The 2nd phase is the vegetative stage. This is where your tiny
plants become baby sized plants. They sit in this area for a short time until
that are mature enough so that the roots are at least long enough to be put in
the flowering stage. This area also has it's own lighting system. The grow box
has 3 different areas for growth - mother/clone, vegetative, and flowering
stage.

The 3rd and final stage is the flowering stage. The baby
plants (with roots dangling) are put in the flowering area. This area of the
grow box also has it's own lighting. The plants sit in this area for about a
month until they are fully grown. Although a month sounds a bit fast, you will
soon discover using hydroponics grows your plants much faster than traditional
gardening.

And finally, your plants grow to maturity and you can harvest
them. After harvesting, you should have other plants in the vegetative stage
that can be placed in the flowering stage.

Recommended lighting for your plants.

The lighting is one of the important aspects of any grow box.
In the older days, people used powerful lights that sucked up power, used too
much energy, and gave off too much heat. Now, the best type of lighting is HPS.
This is high pressure sodium. The reason for this is that HPS lighting is just
as powerful and gives off very little heat, and uses very little energy. A full
6 foot grow box system should only take as much energy as a refrigerator or
living room television. Grow boxes today typically use a 400w or 600w HPS lamp.
This ensures low power usage and gives off a very small amount of heat.

Reputable hydroponic retailers.

Serious growers should buy grow boxes, NOT grow tents. Grow
tents are much less effective than an actual grow box. If you are serious about
growing, then you definitely need a high quality grow box that does the job.

The biggest and most reputable online retailer for these grow
boxes is a company called Dealzer.com. Dealzer's website is seperated into 3
sections:

Commercial hydroponics, professional hydroponics, and discount
hydroponics. The average user usually buys from the professional category.
Professional grow boxes are usually used to make money. People grow veggies,
plants, and herbs and then sell the products. Commercial systems are used for
large distribution. Discount systems are mostly for personal growth and are
sometimes also used for retail.

Dealzer, being the largest grow box retailer, has over 50
models. The best of the grow boxes are listed on their home page. The super
closet deluxe is their best selling model. If you are unsure what you want, buy
the deluxe. You won't go wrong with it.

Dealzer operates 7 days a week, has live chat, and has a toll
free phone number; 888-HYDRO-81.

If you are going to buy a
Grow Box it is important to buy
from a reputable company. Dealzer.com is highly recommended and has won awards
on their systems for the past decade. A 3 years warranty and telephone support
are included with every order.

Hydroponics | How it works

There are a few different techniques of using hydroponic systems. Most manufacturers of grow box systems are fully aware of the different types and mix/match the different techniques with grow boxes they sell for maximum efficiency. This is one of the reasons it is important to buy a hydroponic system form a manufacturer, because you don't want to buy the wrong parts for your homemade hydroponic system.

The 2 types major types of hydroponics are the solution culture and the medium culture. The solution culture does not use a solid medium for plant growth, rather only the nutrients. The 3 types of solution culture techniques are:

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

The medium culture solution uses solid materials such as sand, gravel, or rockwool culture. The 2 main variations of this are subirrigation and top irrigation. It is now known that plastic is the best material for the hydroponic container when growing in a hydroponic system.

Static Solution Culture

In this form of hydroponic growing, plants are grown in containers of nutrient solution. Again, plastic is your best bet when setting up a container for hydroponic growth. The solution is usually gently aerated. The solution is also kept low enough that enough roots are above the solution so they get adequate oxygen. Holes are cut in the lid of the container to hold plants. There can be many plants, or just one, in each resorvoir. The nutrient solution in this system should be changed once a week. As the nutrient solution falls below the optimal level, water and/or nutrients should be added to keep it up.

Continuous Flow Solution Culture

In this form of growing, the nutrient solution is constantly passing through the roots. The nutrient solution is kept low enough so that the roots get oxygen as well as nutrients. This solution is one of the more productive techniques when dealing with thousands of plants. Flow rates through the roots should be at a rate of 1 liter per minute for optimum results.

Aeroponics

The aeroponic system is basically a system where the roots are continuously fed nutrients and solution through a mist, aerosol, or fogger. It is not a continuous mist that sprays on the roots, but a periodical mist. Excellent aeration is the main advantage of aeroponics. The aeroponic system is great when dealing with up to 100 plants, but more challenging when dealing in the thousands of plants.

Passive Subirrigation

This form of hydroponic growing is a method where plants are grown in an inert porous medium that transports water and fertilizer to the roots by capillary action from a separate reservoir as necessary, reducing labor and providing a constant supply of water to the roots. This method is considered the simplest method in the hydroponic growing industry, but not necessarly a highly desired form when compared to other growing systems like aeroponics.

Ebb and Flow - Flood and Drain Subirrigation

This method involves a tray above a reservoir of nutrient solution. The tray is filled with a growing medium and planted directly. Alternativly, the pots of the medium stand in the tray. A timer causes a pump to fill the upper tray with a nutrient solution at regular intervals, after which the solution drains back down into the reservoir. The medium is continuously flushed with nutrients and oxygen. The upper tray fills past the drain, and then recirculates the water until the pump is turned off, and then the water in the upper tray drains back into the resevoir.

Top Irrigation

The Top irrigation hydroponic method consists of nutrient solution periodically applied to the medium surface. This can be done manually once per day in large containers of some media, such as sand. Usually, it is automated with a pump, timer and drip irrigation tubing to deliver nutrient solution as frequently as 5 to 10 minutes every hour.

Deep Water Culture

In this method of growing, the plants are suspended with the roots dangeling in nutrient rich, oxygenated water. The 2 items of importance are a plastic bucket and a nets to hold the plants up. The net used should be a high quality net capable of holding up to 60 pounds of weight. Most manufacturers use a special type of netting when producing grow systems.

How Do Hydroponics Work?

Hydroponic systems are a form of indoor gardening ecosystems that provide the user with a space to grow essentially any plant type they wish. The way it works is by using a complex combination of effects that help raise the plants from a baby to adult plant. Hydroponics is also knows for speeding the plant growth to up to 10 times the speed of traditional gardening. Hydroponics is also known for growing organic plants because of the lack of hormone injection.

In the hydroponic industry, we provide ecosystems to help grow your plants in a controlled envirement. As complicated as this may sound, the grow boxes are very user friendly. The way a grow box is built is very important. For one thing, all plants need light. Most manufacturers place a combination of lights ranging from a tek light, to a 1000w light, and even flourescent lights. Although, there are many lighting systems (such as UFO lights), these are the primary lights usually placed in a grow box. Also, the size of a grow box usually determines what kind of lights will be placed inside of it. Another important aspect of a grow box is the DWC hydroponic system. This "bucket" is where all the magic happens. Since there is no need for soil in a grow box, this bucket is comprised of mostly nutrient and water. Of course, the user would have to post the nutrients manually. Since the roots are dangled in the water below it, and the lights are shining on the plants around it, the plant itself is fully fed at all times for optimal growth. In essence, only the light and the hydroponic bucket are the key ingredients for organic plant growth right in your home.

Of course there are other parts that comprise a well rounded grow box. These parts include, but are not limited to, fans, a ballast, the outer shell of the unit, ect.. There are also luxury upgrades that may be purchased with each grow box. Some of these include the Co2 system (sprays Co2 to plants for rapid growth - up to 50% faster), an aeroponic fogger (releases nutrients in the air for rapid plant growth), air conditioning, a total automation package, sea of green, a remote control security system, ect...

Most hydroponic systems are also considered automated. There are also many low cost (under $500) tents that are not automated. For example, Dealzer sells only automated, 'plug and play' grow boxes. Although many grow boxes are automated, the industry has came up with something called a total automation package. The total automation package actually has light movers, tops of nutrients automatically, and has a low water alarm, amongst other features. The total automation package is therefore considered a thinking piece of equipment, or a "Smart" system.

In essense, hydroponics will grow any plant, herb, flower, ect.. faster and organically. As Albert Farajian, owner of Dealzer.com says, "Hydroponics are exploding on the world market because of the organic food craze". He also mentioned, "People realize that they can now grow organic foods right in their own homes saving them money and stopping themselves from eating hormone infested foods." Hydroponic system owners report full harvests of fresh, organic foods at a shocking rate of 30 day harvests! One may wonder - How will traditional gardening compete with the speed of growth and health benefits hydroponic gardening offers in todays market?