WHY HYDROPONICS?

Well the answer is simple! Setting up your own hydroponic garden, whether it is housed inside an outdoor greenhouse, a garage, a garage, basement, or even an unused closet allows you to control all of the unpredictable elements that Mother Nature inflicts upon the outdor gardener. Outside, in the soil and surrounded by the elements, a plant faces many dangerous influences. Inside, all of these influences are directly controlled and monitored by you. In essence, you're basically playing God with the development of your plants, but don't let that go to your head.

HOW DOES HYDROPONICS COMPARE TO SOIL?

In soil, bacteria have to break down the dirt into the basic elements of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, as well as all of the trace elements. However, in a hydroponic system, all of your plant's essential nutrients are dissolved directly into the water that is continuously cycled to the plant's roots. This ensures that your plants not only have enough food to eat, but also the right kind of food to eat at the right time. By this, I mean that you can alter the make-up of your nutrient. Just like people, different plants require different diets. In soil, it is very hard to make sure that your different cariations of plants are getting the right kind of food that they need, but hydroponically, it is very simple.

Also, the delivery of nutrient to your plants is greatly improved. When a plant is growing in soil, it must send its roots out in search of food. When a plant is grown hydroponically, the opposite is true. It is the nutrient that is sent in search of the root.

WHAT ABOUT BOB....I MEAN, BUGS?

Bugs. Nobody likes bugs, with possibly the exceptions of other bugs, and some very strange people that you're probably better off not meeting. In a hydroponic garden, the grow medium is inert and sterile so that the environment is much more hygenic. Certain strains of insect are extremely persistent, however, so that there is the possibility of certain bugs attempting to set up a buffet table on your plants. But, when compared to the possibility of infestations in an outdoor garden, the difference is staggering. Insects infesting an outdoor garden is like a child wanting to eat at McDonald's...Insects infesting a hydroponic garden is like a child wanting to eat lima beans.

HOW MUCH ROOM DO I NEED?

There is also the space factor. These days hardly anyone really has as much property as they would like. An outdoor garden requires a lot of space, time and maintenance. A hydroponic garden is very economical in all of these areas, especially space. An area as small as 6'x 6' could easily provide a family of four with all of the vegetables that they would need, all year round.

IS IT ORGANIC?

Also, a hydroponic garden is very natural. It is a common myth that hydroponics is simply achieved by chemically altering a plant. This is not true. The word hydroponics comes from the two Latin words "hydro" and "pomos" which literally translate to "water-working". Hydroponics has been in use for centuries, the magestic Hanging Gardens of Babylon are an early example, but has only recently been given the attention it deserves. The science of hydroponics has been actively researched since the early 1940s. NASA now uses hydroponics to sustain their astronauts with fresh fruits and vegetables while they are in space; a decidedly huge improvement on Tang! And, countries such as Iran and Mexico that suffer a shortage of arable land use hydroponics to produce a large percentage of their produce. Even Hawaii and Australia support huge hydroponic greenhouse industries because of the incredible yield they can produce occupying such little space.

But, I seem to have strayed a little bit. A hydroponic garden is incredibly natural. The term "grow medium" refers to the substance that supports a plant's roots physically. In nature, that medium is dirt. And, dirt by definition is dirty. Without taking a soil sample to a lab, you would never really know what is in it. Also, the basic composition of soil could change drastically from area to area. By taking two separate soil samples merely ten feet apart, your findings would show variations in their make-up. Hydroponic grow media has been constructed to emulate all of the positive aspects of natural soil, while removing all of the inconsistencies and unknowns.

IF IT'S NOT GROWING IN SOIL...WHAT IS IT GROWING IN?

The purpose of the growing medium is to store and filter oxygen, water and nutrients, while supporting the root system of the plant. The medium must be porous enough to retain nutrient within easy reach of your plant's roots, while remaining capable of draining quickly enough so that your plant's roots get a good supply of oxygen. The medium should not have sharp edges, for if the medium moves, or settles, there is danger of cutting the roots. Also, the individual size of the medium is extremely important. The smaller the particles are, the closer they will pack together, and the result being that they will drain more slowly. Also, the more closely packed the medium is, the more it inhabits oxygen from easily reaching your roots.

Many materials that occur naturally are adequate for use as a grow medium. However, you should take care to follow these guidelines, and before using them, flush them thoroughly. Round pea gravel, or any rounded gravel, crushed brick, and some forms of lava rock can be used in your hydroponic garden. However, as the science of hydroponics has developed, so have some amazing forms of grow media.

Rockwool is one such advance. In its raw state, it closely resembles insulation. Acutally, this was the original use for Rockwool. It is essentially a spun aggregate; the process for fiberglass. Instead of spinning glass fiber, it is manufactured by spinning rock fiber. If you have ever seen the footage of a volcano exploding, or have been unlucky or adventurous enough to see it in person, you have probably seen Rockwool produced naturally. When the magma, or molten rock, is pushed upward violently from the Earth, it is to say the least...Hot Hot Hot! As it spills onto the ground, it bubbles and cools. These bubbles burst and send thin tendrils of rock into the air that wave in the wind. In Hawaii, the god of the volcano is known as Pele, and these tendrils have come to be known as Pele's Hair.

The greatest strength of Rockwool as a medium is measured by its transportability. When a seedling or cutting is started in a cube of Rockwool, it becomes one, single self-contained garden. The root system develops inside that one cube, and when it comes time to transport that plant to either an outdoor garden, or another hydroponic station, the plant is subject to almost no shock whatsoever. The cube can be transplanted directly to soil, peat, gravel, a larger bat of Rockwool, or clay or porcelain pellets.

Clay and porcelain pellets are another example of a manufactured media. They are available under many commercial names, Growrocks and Hydrocorn being just two. These pellets are small pebbles of either blown porcelain or clay, and while they resemble simple gravel, their inherent properties make them much more valuable. They possess the ability to retain nutrient better than gravel, they excel at supplying oxygen to your plant's roots, and they are extremely light and easy to work with. They are so light in fact that they will flat in water.

Another option is fibrous material, such as peat, vermiculite, or perlite. These are most effective in passive, capilary-action wick systems. A good example of a wick system is a flood table.

OKAY, BUT WHAT DO I PUT THE GROW MEDIUM IN?

A flood table, or an ebb and flow table as it is sometimes called, is a large shallow, flat-bottomed tub. This tub is continually flooded with nutrient, which is drained and recycled back into the reservoir. This table is filled with your grow medium, and as the nutrient is delivered from below, it is sucked upward through the medium, and made available to the plant's roots. This is how the system acquired the name "wick system".

This same "wick system" has been taken one step further by companies such as General Hydroponics. One of their advances has been the invention of a grow system called the "Aeroflo". This wick system is known as the "Nutrient Film Technique". The Aeroflo is a system of wide pipes that each supports eight net pots. Nutrient-enriched water is continually pumped from the supporting reservoir which half fills the pipes, then recycles back. The net pots are like standard nursery pots, with the exception that the surfaces of the pots are full of holes, hence the name. These pots allow the roots to extend past the boundary of their grow medium, so that they can gain direct access to the nutrient. Also, since the root is so unconstrained it receives an excellent amount of direct oxygen.

The Aeroflo systen comes in many sizes. The systems come in 16, 24, 40, 80 and 192 sizes, designed to help you maintain whatever size garden you desire. One of the system's major benefits is its compact size. The Aeroflo 80, which houses 80 plants, takes up as little as an 11'x 4' space.

Another system available for growing your plants is known as a "Drip System". This system has acquired its name from the method it uses to deliver its nutrient to your plants. A Drip system resembles a Flood system in that it draws its nutrients from a central reservoir. However, instead of pushing the nutrient up from below, it pipes it to what is called a drip stake. A drip stake is simply that, it is a small stake that slowly drips nutrient at the base of your plant stalk. This nutrient is then filtered through the grow medium, and what is not used by the plant is recycled back into the reservoir, ready to be used again.

Both flood and drip systems are excellent for hydroponic growing. The choice of which to use basically comes down to personal taste.

That in a nutshell, is what hydroponics is all about. At its truest essence it is the act of taking all of the unpredictable and uncontrollable forces of nature, harnessing all of their powers, and throwing away anything that that is detrimental.

Setting up a small hydroponic garden is kind of like setting up your own biosphere...you control the climate, the light, the heat, the nutrients, and all other influences affecting your plants. So, when you are rewarded with a delicious fruit, a succulent tomato, or a vivacious flower, you can take all of the credit. What you grew lived and thrived because of everything you did, nothing was left to chance. Congratulations, Mister and Misses Fillintheblank, you are the proud parents of a bouncing baby tomato weighing in at over four pounds! Tomatoes, pepper, cucumbers, lettuce, violets, carnations, roses, banana plants, and citrus fruits! The possibilities are endless. And you didn't even get your hands dirty. Stay tuned for part two in the January 2002 issue.