Hydroponic Systems Blog

Welcome to my blog on all things hydroponic! The purpose of this blog will be to cover all hydroponic topics, answer questions, offer advice and help and to maybe get some of my questions answered...

I'm Larry, by the way and I have been growing plants hydroponically for a number of years, mostly outside so I've gained a lot of practical experience but there is always room to learn and I hope to learn from some of your experiences. Sometimes it's our failures that generate that fast learning curve and I must admit that I have many failures to share.

When I was first learning about hydroponic gardening it seemed that every one had something to say about how to do it (and wanted to sell me something) but nobody ever explained how to actually build, start up and maintain a system... So when I first created my website I had one purpose in mind - to include detailed instructions to build and maintain an ebb and flow system. I hope people have benefited from it and sometime in the future I plan to include detailed instructions on how to build a simple NFT system.

OK...now its time to turn this over for any comments. Anyone?

August 24, 2006 22:20 - The baby facts about Organic Hydroponics

Baby facts? Yes. Organic Hydroponics has been 'played' with for a number of decades but has never really been researched so as a growing technique it is still in it's infancy.

The earliest experiment I have found was the Montreal Project where raised bed organic garden growboxes were built on rooftops of the inner city and tomato plants were grown with some success using the Mittleider method.

Various experiments followed in Japan, I believe, and in India with only small sucess. So, as of yet, there is no defined process in implementing organic growing methods and there are no means of measuring what nutrients and how much are in organic fertilizers.

When I speak of 'organic' in terms of gardening I'm referring to general organic guidelines implemented by several countries. 'Organic' means a natural substance, unaltered chemically and this applies to organic hydroponic fertilizers as well as to pesticides. A naturally occuring substance to use as fertilizer can be a pile of manure or compost which is placed in a net sack and steeped in water for which to water the plants. Different amounts of compost, for instance, will have different amounts of nutrients...so how is a standard process to be defined?

August 26, 2006 14:37 - Plant pests; can't live with them and very hard to get rid of them...

Plant pests - they will always be plaguing the gardener. Whether in the middle of summer or indoors in the dead of winter, there is always some little critter ready to munch on, live on, live in or suck dry your plants. So how do we deal with them? We can counterattack in 5 different ways outlined below starting with the most toxic and most effective to the least toxic and least effective:

1. Harsh chemicals are the most effective but do we really want this toxic residue in our nutrient water getting into our plants? Not really...
2. Insecticidal soaps are the next best method and supposedly leave no toxic residue once dry. It kills insects on contact so if you miss some bugs in the initial spraying they will just multiply and reinfest the plant.Click here for and explanation of insecticidal soaps
3. Dunk and Dip means turning a plant upside down if possible and dunking the entire plant in warm soapy water for a second or two. This may work in some instances but seems to be more of a method to slow the down the infestation process.
4. Manually removing bugs from the plant will only work if they are large like caterpillars but is effective to some degree although very labor intensive.
5. Introducing other bugs to hatch and eat the bad bugs you can actually order the larvae of bugs that dine on aphids or spider mites. This is a great method except that by the time you order the larvae, receive it in the mail, apply it and let them hatch it may be too late...

For a description of many kinds of insects that will dine on your garden, visit hydroponics-at-home.com/plant-pests.html

August 27, 2006 13:05 - Secrets of Hydroponics Gardening

What are the 'Secrets of Hydroponics Gardening'? Read this article to find out...

(Read Article)

August 28, 2006 20:03 - Highlighting the popular tomato plant...

Consider the tomato plant; one of the most popular garden plants, ever - at least in the United States. Virtually any grocery store sells tomatoes and on many you will find a sticker labeled 'hydroponically grown'. And did you ever take notice of how bland and tasteless these store-bought tomatoes have become?

This is not an accident. You did not just happen to pick a 'bad' tomato, they all taste equally bland. Why? Large commercial ventures have developed their own genetic strains of tomatoes by selecting only those that produce excessive amounts of fruit and are a deep red in color. Unfortunately, taste is not a selection criteria and seems to have also been 'weeded out'.

This is all the more reason to grown your own plants and tomatoes do especially well in hydroponics growing systems. Seeds purchased from seed catalogs are from tried-and-true strains of tomatoes selected for taste along with disease resistance. I strongly recommend you grow your own...

And while you are at it consider growing some heritage tomato varieties. These are older, different tomato genetic strains that have fallen out of popularity and are in danger of disappearing forever. You can find heritage tomato varieties of different tomato shapes, sizes, colors and taste. And as different as they all seem to be from one another they do have one factor in common; they all taste wonderful so 'give it a try'...

August 29, 2006 19:42 - Another look at Aeroponics

Referring to my web page on aeroponics I mentioned that it was 'not the most user friendly system available' and that a 'pre-made system might be best'.

To put it bluntly - I was wrong... Building an aeroponics system is no more complex than any other system and has definite weight advantages also (less usable nutrient solution and no growing medium). In fact I may build such a system and post my plans for it.

What I am thinking of is a plastic clothes storage container for the nutrient solution and another with top for the growing container. Include a submersible pump, tubing and a simple mister that can be purchased just about anywhere in the United States designed to turn on at preset intervals and spray you down in the hot weather to cool you off. How perfect is this?

Simply add nutrient solution, sink the pump, connect the mister and place the mister in the growing container, snap on the top and drill holes through the top to insert plants. Then plug the whole thing into a timer...

August 30, 2006 21:46 - To grow hydroponically or to grow in dirt? That is the question...

And the answer is ...either, although hydroponics does offer some definite advantages over dirt gardening (check General Hydroponics for more information).

The real question is; once a plant is grown hydroponically can it be transplanted into a dirt garden? Yes, it can. Hydroponics offers extreme flexibility in transplanting. A hydroponically grown plant can be transplanted into a dirt garden by simply rinsing the roots and transplanting (being careful to only hold the plant by the leaves so as not to damage it).

Can a dirt garden plant be transplanted to a hydroponics system? Easily, by simply rinsing all dirt off the roots and transplanting although it would probably work best for younger, underdeveloped plants. Adult 'dirt' plants will have a large root system in order to supply the necessary nutrients to the plant through a dense medium such a dirt. Roots may have to be trimmed when transplanting to hydroponics which will shock the plant severely. Hydroponic adult plants have smaller root systems because all nutrients are easily supplied to the plant allowing more 'energy'to be directed towards plant growth.

August 31, 2006 09:49 - A safe homemade non-toxic spray to deal with plant pests and disease

Once disease or plant pests attack your garden they can be extremely hard to get rid of. As an alternative you can make an non-toxic spray that will actually kill bateria and some bugs by changing the PH on the surface of your plant. Many types of plant disease and pest require a specific environment in which to flourish so by temporarily changing their environment by spraying an acidic or alkaline mixture onto the plant you can eradicate some problems.

And the best part is that the spray is not toxic to us or your plants! Here is the recipe:

Organic Plant Pest/Disease Spray

• 1 teaspoon (heaping) baking soda


• 1 tablespoon cooking oil


• 1/2 teaspoon dish soap


• 1 gallon water

Put this mixture into a spray bottle and spray the affected plant with it once a day. This mixture is extremely effective in treating powdery mildew but must be reapplied each day until the infection is gone.