Required Maintenance for a Complete Hydroponics System

Once a system is designed and built, it is now a self-contained complete hydroponics system that will virtually run itself. Click here for initial setup instructions There still may be some problems to deal with but if you are vigilant you can catch them early and 'nip them in the bud' (sorry, bad pun...) so to speak.

First and foremost, in my opinion, is to plan now for some means to support your plants as they grow. For a complete hydroponics system without growing medium this is especially important. Even with growing medium it is rarely dense enough to keep your larger plants from falling over when they reach a certain size. I'm talking plants with solid stems growing a couple feet like a green pepper.

And don't be fooled...like I was. A hydroponics plant will grow larger, faster and bear more fruit than a similar plant in a dirt garden. I actually tested this out...click on this link to see the results... grow test between hydroponics and dirt plants

Now back to the point. To keep a complete hydroponics system complete, meaning running smoothly and efficiently, there are certain periodic maintenance duties to perform to keep your growing system healthy. Let's start with tasks that should be performed daily, or every other day if you want - daily maintenance tasks

And there are the all important tasks to be done every 2 weeks or so... but first let me clarify a point about PH.

It is true that PH will gradually change over time in your nutrient solution and is at risk of sliding over the plant tolerance threshhold but do not worry about it too much. As long as you start with fresh nutrient solution that is close to neutral (7.0 PH) you will be fine as long as you replace evaporated nutrient solution with water on a daily basis and you perform the '2 week task list' which is in this link: tasks to be done every 2 weeks

This is a really good time to mention one of my favorite nursuries, Logee's Greenhouse, or 'greenhouses' to be more exact, located in Danielson, Connecticut. I am neither an affiliate of theirs nor do I receive any remuneration of any kind from them, I just happen to love the place. It is a complex of greenhouses in business since 1892 and it is absolutely breathtaking to see it. They grow any kind of plant you can imagine including some well-established orange trees that have been grafted over the decades to produce different varieties of fruit on different branches of the same tree.
Here are some pictures from my latest visit to Logee's on Nov 25, 2006. This shows a sample of some huge plants from a side greenhouse...