Hydroponic Setup Tips

• Take the garden indoors with a hydroponic setup. gardening girl image by Cherry-Merry from Fotolia.com

  Setting up an indoor hydroponics system is a great idea for those who are interested in gardening, but don't have the proper outdoor space to successfully grow crops. These systems are delicate and must be carefully controlled at every level, making them difficult to operate, even for experienced gardeners.

Basic Equipment

• Before choosing what kind of herbs, vegetables or plants to grow in a hydroponic system, it's important to have the basics squared away first. That means gathering the necessary equipment, to start. Depending on the amount of money being spent on the system, its foundation can be made out of many things, from cinder blocks and plywood (cheap, but unsteady) to PVC pipe and plastic tubs. The later materials are easy to find and, when assembled, provide a stable support system that is easy to maintain and clean. The system needs to be able to fit in a dark area. Other necessary equipment includes a high-powered fan, adequate lights, a pH test kit, a thermometer and a Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) meter, for reading impurities in water.

Lighting

• Hydroponic systems make use of artificial sunlight in the form of heat lamps, and the type of lamp used is important. There are a number of different types, each of which will affect the plants grown in different ways. T5 fluorescent lamps are simple, high-output lamps good for growing leafy greens like spinach or lettuce. These lamps are not good for plants that bear fruits or flowers, though, because they don't offer the full spectrum of light needed for these types of plants to grow. Lighting for these hydroponics systems should come in the form of high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps. These lamps use two types of bulbs: MH and HPS. MH bulbs are used during the initial growing stage, while HPS lights are used during the flowering stage.

Nutrients

• Before growing anything in a hydroponic setup, research what nutrients are necessary. When first starting out, buying premade hydroponics nutrient packages is the best way to go. Just check the ingredients and match them with the research done to make sure the plants get what they need. After the plants have grown, experimentation can take place. Try including some nutrient additives like vitamin B1 or silica to the mix and see what happens. Over time, noting the pros and cons associated with the additions and/or subtractions of various nutrients will lead to the creation of a custom nutrient mix for your hydroponic setup.