Hydroponic plants

 
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Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil, in which all the substances necessary for nutrition are obtained from an aqueous solution.

For growing plants on hydroponics, a substrate made of fine expanded clay is usually used, since it has better water-retaining ability. Vermiculite and perlite may also be used. However, expanded clay pores accumulate plant-depressing salts over time. There are substrates made of granular polyethylene or glass. Of great interest are studies with substrates of ion-exchange materials that can be charged with ions of substances necessary for plants that can pass into solution as they are absorbed by their roots.

The filler for hydroponics should have the following properties:

  • easy to pass air and solution, well wetted by it;
  • do not enter into a chemical compound with dissolved substances;
  • have a slightly acidic or neutral reaction.

With proper operation, substrates made of granite and quartz are used for up to 10 years, from expanded clay and perlite for 6-10 years, and from vermiculite only 2-3 years.

Hydroponics at home

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1. When a nutrient solution is poured into a container or a special pot and the root system of the plant is placed in it. As the solution evaporates, water is added, and at certain intervals the solution is completely replaced by fresh water, since over time an imbalance of nutrient proportions occurs in the solution.

A significant drawback of this method is that the supply of roots with oxygen is difficult, and not all plants tolerate this.

2. For this method, two pots are used, one larger than the other. In a smaller pot, having many small holes, plant roots are placed and covered with gravel, expanded clay or other material. Then this pot is placed in a larger volume and a nutrient solution is poured, while the roots should be immersed in the solution for no more than 2/3. If it is necessary to replace the nutrient solution, the inner pot with the plant is removed, and the water is allowed to drain. The outer pot is washed and after placing the plant pot in it again, a fresh solution is poured.

Among flower growers, the second version of the hydroponic culture technique is most popular. In specialized stores, you can buy hydroponics pots for a long time. At the same time, the outer vessel is completely waterproof, made of various materials and has a beautiful decorative appearance. The inner vessel is usually made of plastic and is provided with a liquid level indicator. This device has marks at three levels - the minimum amount of solution, optimal and maximum. It would be more correct to top up the nutrient solution when the liquid level indicator drops to the minimum point. In this case, it is necessary to add water so much that the float of the liquid level rises to the optimal value.

The amount of liquid is brought to the maximum value only in cases when the plants are left without watering for a long time, for example, during vacation.

Transplanting plants from soil to hydroponics

The environment in which the plant's root system initially develops significantly affects its shape. The roots of plants grown in water are lighter, juicier and have more thin villi on the roots, almost invisible to the naked eye. The easiest way to grow a plant is hydroponically from a cuttings rooted in water. But if a plant grown in a soil mixture is transplanted to a hydroculture, then a number of conditions will have to be met, on which the further successful development of the plant will depend.

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First of all, it is important not to damage the root system by taking the flower out of the old pot, so water the soil well before transplanting.

It is best to lower the removed plant with its roots into a bucket of warm water, along with all the land that will not separate immediately. Lightly rinse the roots in water, then remove and release the roots from the ground as much as possible with your hands. If the lumps of earth are not removed, then carefully cut them off with scissors. It is very important to completely free the roots from the ground, as well as remove all rotten or damaged areas.

If there are too many damaged roots, then you can not plant the plant on hydroponics on the same day, but place it in a pot of warm water for 2 days with the addition of several tablets of activated carbon (10 tablets per 1 liter of water).

So, the plant is prepared. Now pour a little washed expanded clay or other filler into the inner pot, set the liquid level indicator. Place the roots of the plant, spread them, add the rest of the expanded clay to the top of the pot. Place the pot of the plant in an external vessel, fill it with water at room temperature or just above, until the float shows the optimal liquid level. A plant transplanted from the soil does not need to be immediately placed in a nutrient solution, it must stand for some time in ordinary water. It is better to add nutrient solution and fertilizers when the first batch of water evaporates and the level float drops to the mark of the minimum amount of liquid. This should happen in about two weeks.

Hydroponics solutions

F. Knop's solution, which is prepared by adding the following components to 1 liter of water, is widely used:

Calcium nitrate Ca (NO3) 2 1 g
Potassium phosphate monosubstituted KN2RO4 0.25 g
Magnesium sulfate MgSO4 0.25 g
Potassium chloride (potassium salt) KS1 0.125 g
Iron chloride FeCl3 0.0125g

DIY hydroponics

Each substance is dissolved separately in a small amount of water. Thus, 5 solutions should be obtained. Then about 700 ml of water is poured into a 1 liter container, then the first diluted solution is stirred well, the second solution is added, again thoroughly stirred, and so all 5 solutions. Then water is added to the container to total volume of 1 l.

Attention: no precipitate should form in the solution! It is impossible to dissolve all chemicals together, as well as pour water into concentrated solutions, as this will cause the appearance of a precipitate of calcium salts, and the balance of elements will be disturbed.

If it is not possible to obtain a pure solution, and during the preparation iron gives a rusty precipitate, then iron chloride can be replaced with iron sulfate, but not in the form of a finished powder, but in the form of a solution. To prepare it, 1.5 g of iron sulfate is thoroughly mixed in 150-200 ml of water, 1.7 g of citric acid is mixed in another container in the same amount of water. Then mix both solutions, bring its volume to 500 ml, adding water. Next, you need to take 5 ml of the resulting solution and add to Knop's solution instead of iron chloride.

It should be noted that each hydroponic culture solution is suitable only for a certain group of plants, for example, Knop's solution is suitable only for plants that need a high calcium content. Some growers use highly diluted solutions of complex fertilizers as hydroponics solutions. However, it will be possible to understand whether the solution is suitable for the plant only after a while, judging by its growth and development.

If you consider the preparation of hydroponic solution to be a great difficulty, do not despair, the industry produces a lot of fertilizers for hydroponics. You can always choose something more suitable for flowering plants or deciduous.

Hydroponic systems

The pros and cons of hydroponic growing

This method has indisputable advantages:

  • it eliminates the cost of preparing and changing soils;
  • simplifies watering, feeding, there is no need to disinfect and heat the soil;
  • at the same time, it is possible to create optimal root feeding modes differentiated by the phases of plant growth and development.

However, hydroponic culture techniques have their drawbacks:

  • the need to carefully monitor the composition of the solution and the condition of the substrate, depending on the type of plant and water hardness;
  • periodic checks of root condition and water level indicator operation;
  • controlling the temperature of the liquid in the pot.

Hydroponics plants:

Here are a number of conditions by which it can be determined that plants are suitable for hydroponic cultivation:

  • plants that do not require cool wintering, i.e. overwintering at a temperature of at least 15 ° C, otherwise there is a possibility of rooting
    • ;
  • plants with a compact root system (i.e. not growing much) - otherwise you will have to change the pot too often;
  • plants that do not form tubers or rhizomes (for example, zamioculcas), because again there is a possibility of rot of the roots.
  • for hydroponics, as a rule, only perennial plants are used.

Here is a sample list of plants suitable for hydroponic culture: Aglaonema, Asparagus, Aspelenium, Anthurium, almost all Acanthus, Aspidistra, Bilbergia, Cissus, Hortense, Hibiscus, Diffenbachia (compact species only), Calanchoe, Paslen, Palms (only compact species), Spatifyllum, Streptocarpus, Uzambar violet, Fatshedera, Philodendrons, Ficus Benjamin, Hoya, Schefler, Epipremnum

History of hydroponics

The hydroponics method was based on the study of root nutrition of plants.

Many scientists have worked hard for decades to find out what the root extracts from the soil. It was possible to understand this as a result of experiments on growing plants in water (water culture method). In distilled water, certain mineral salts are dissolved, in addition to the salts of the chemical element, the significance of which for the life of the plant they want to find out.

The plant is grown on this solution in a glass jar. Experiments have shown that the plant develops well only if the salt solution contains potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, sulfur, phosphorus and nitrogen.

If potassium is excluded from the nutrient solution, the growth of the plant stops. Without calcium, the root system cannot develop. Magnesium and iron are necessary for the plant to form chlorophyll. Without sulfur and phosphorus, proteins that are part of the protoplasm and nucleus are not formed.

For a long time it was thought that only these elements are necessary for the normal development of plants. But then it turned out that the plant also needs very small amounts of other elements, which is why they called microelements.

At about the same time in the nineteenth century, the German botanist F. Knop, and in Russia K. A. Timiryazev and D. N. Pryanishnikov developed for scientific purposes the method of plant culture in aqueous solutions of inorganic compounds.

In 1936, William Gericke, an assistant professor at the University of California at Berkeley, tested the cultivation of vegetables in nutrient solutions, calling this method hydroponics. The first successful experiments in growing vegetables in solutions without soil in our country were delivered in 1938-1939.

Initially, hydroponic plants were grown exclusively in aquatic environments. But in water culture, the supply of roots with oxygen was unsatisfactory, the reaction of the solution was unstable, individual roots and entire plants quickly died away.

Therefore, purely aquatic plant culture did not find application, but later other methods were developed. Their essence boils down to the fact that the roots of plants are placed in some relatively inert substrate. The substrate and roots are immersed in a solution of all nutrients necessary for plants.

Depending on the substrate used, methods such as:

Aggregatoponics - when the roots are placed in solid inert, inorganic substrates - crushed stone, gravel, expanded clay, sand, etc.;

Chemoponics is a method in which moss, horse peat, sawdust and other organic materials inaccessible for direct plant nutrition serve as a root-inhabited substrate;

Ionitoponics substrate from ion exchange materials;

There is no aeroponics of a solid substrate, the roots hang in the air of a darkened chamber.

Practical application in the cultivation of indoor plants found only aggregatoponics, which is better known as Hydroponics.