Hydroponics: Difference between revisions

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*[http://www.amazon.com/How-Hydroponics-Fourth-Keith-Roberto/dp/0967202612/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1307558672&sr=8-1''How-To Hydroponics, 4th edition''], a compact, practical book including plans for several systems
*[http://www.amazon.com/How-Hydroponics-Fourth-Keith-Roberto/dp/0967202612/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1307558672&sr=8-1''How-To Hydroponics, 4th edition''], a compact, practical book including plans for several systems
*http://www.hydroponicsonline.com/ An informative site. Also has forums.
*http://www.hydroponicsonline.com/ An informative site. Also has forums.
*[http://captainhydroponics.com/ Captain Hydroponics] Urban hydroponic designs and tips.


===Open-source systems===
===Open-source systems===

Revision as of 16:10, 4 February 2014

Main > Food and Agriculture > Controlled-environment growing


An example of vertically stacked hydroponics. A system like this would allow a person to be self-sustaining for vegetables in just a few square meters. This makes it particularly useful for urban settings.

Hydroponics is the practice of growing plants in nutrient-enriched water rather than soil.

Hydroponics is incredibly productive and requires little space. For example, Factor e Farm's experiments found that they could grow $1 of lettuce per square foot per week. And the Institute of Simplified Hydroponics has found that they can grow 2kg of vegetables a day on 20m2 of space [1]. Indoor growing in a greenhouse greatly reduces losses to pests.

See here for free instructions on building several different hydroponic systems. N55 have a design for a vertical hydroponic system here. See Wikipedia on hydroponics for more information.

Open source software for automating hydroponic systems.

Aquaponics is a kind of hydroponics that uses the water from fish tanks. This eliminates the need for an input of nutrients.

Open-source hydroponic nutrient

You can mix hydroponic nutrient cheaply using mineral salts that most chemical suppliers have. The necessary ingredients are:

  • Monopotassium phosphate (KH2PO4)
  • Potassium nitrate (KNO3)
  • Calcium nitrate (CaNO3)
  • Magnesium sulfate (MgSO4)
  • Boric Acid (H3BO3)
  • Manganese chloride (MnCl2)
  • Zinc sulfate (ZnSO4)
  • Copper sulfate (CuSO4)
  • Iron sulfate (FeSO4)
  • Ammonium molybdate

Links

Open-source systems