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Home Hydroponics
Home Hydroponics
Home Hydroponics
Ebook274 pages2 hours

Home Hydroponics

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You have read the news about tainted food? Also if you have been to the grocery store lately (if you eat) then you have noticed that food prices are inching up from month to month. Food is becoming a large part of the family budget.  Also, we have no way of knowing what is in our food unless we have some sort of lab. Because of big agriculture, we have no idea just how safe GMO foods are and they are ending up in all our foods. It is getting to the point unless you grow it or know who grew it, then you may be risking your health. I am not writing this to place fear in your mind, but to make you think. 

If you have a small property or a garage, then you could grow a large portion of your food. Hydroponics and Microgreens (there is a section on this) is a good way to provide good nutrient dense foods for your family. It's even possible to grow hydroponic food without electricity and Microgreens don't need electricity to grow.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateMar 10, 2024
ISBN9798224917723
Home Hydroponics

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    Book preview

    Home Hydroponics - Dennis DeLaurier

    Copyright

    This document is copyright © 2024 by Crescent Hill / Dennis DeLaurier,

    All rights reserved.  No part of this course publication shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

    Information contained in this BOOK IS offered as is and has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable by Crescent Hill and its authors. However, Crescent Hill and its authors do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information offered and published herein. Crescent Hill nor its authors shall be responsible for any errors, omissions, or damages arising out of THE use of this information. This BOOK is released with the understanding that Crescent Hill and its authors are not attempting to render engineering or other professional services. If such services are required, the assistance of the appropriate professional should be sought.

    Note: for any reason if any of the text used in this document is not used appropriately, please contact Crescent Hill using the email address at the bottom of this book. Thank You

    Contents

    Copyright

    Food Safety and Security

    Starting Thought - Why Hydroponics?

    Organic Growing

    Yuck Chemicals!

    The Question Answered

    Advantages of Hydroponics

    Bad Things about Hydroponics

    History of Hydroponics

    Water Culture Systems

    Aggregate Systems

    NFT

    Aeration (Bubbler) System

    Aeroponic System

    Floating Bed or Raft System

    Drip System

    Ebb and Flow System

    Wick System

    Which is Best?

    Growing Mediums

    Sand Culture

    Gravel (Aggregate) Culture

    Rockwool Culture

    Perlite Culture

    L.E.C.A. Culture

    Vermiculite Culture

    Coconut Fiber Culture

    Hydroponic Nutrients

    A Good Nutrient

    Nutrients and EC

    Water Problems

    Hydroponic System Plans

    Simple Simon System

    2 Liter Special

    Dip Stick Special

    Bubble Machine

    Dutch Treat

    Blue Box Special

    Down the Gutter

    1 Gallon Bubbler

    Soda-Pop Special

    Bubble Cloner

    Mister Cloner

    2 Liter Wick System

    2 Liter Wick System

    Round-er-up System

    2 Container Wick System

    2 Container Wick System

    Light Talk

    Measuring Light

    Fluorescent Lights

    Led Lighting

    Metal Halide Bulbs

    High-Pressure Sodium Bulbs

    Reflectors and plant distribution.

    Light Movers

    Glossary of Grow light Terms Courtesy Hydrofarm

    Cooling HID Lights

    Light Talk Conclusion

    Electrical Safety

    Shock Review

    Fatal Current Paths

    Conclusion

    Plant Information

    Carbon Dioxide in Your Grow Space

    CO2 – Things about it. How do you use it?

    CO2 Equipment

    Low Energy Hydroponics

    Extra for those who just want to grow Microgreens for their family.

    Contact The Author

    Food Safety and Security

    You have read the news about tainted food? Also if you have been to the grocery store lately (if you eat) then you have noticed that food prices are inching up from month to month. Food is becoming a large part of the family budget.  Also, we have no way of knowing what is in our food unless we have some sort of lab. Because of big agriculture, we have no idea just how safe GMO foods are and they are ending up in all our foods. It is getting to the point unless you grow it or know who grew it, then you may be risking your health. I am not writing this to place fear in your mind but to make you think. 

    If you have a small property or a garage, then you could grow a large portion of your food. Hydroponics and Microgreens (there is a section on this) are a good way to provide good nutrient-dense foods for your family. It’s even possible to grow hydroponic food without electricity and Microgreens don’t need electricity to grow.

    This book is a bunch of ideas on getting started. I hope you think about growing food as hydroponics is a good clean way to do that. Don’t just limit yourself to growing lettuce and tomatoes, but take a look at the large types of Asian greens that grow well in these systems and are very good for you. Many are cool or cold-weather plants.

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    Starting Thought - Why Hydroponics?

    In the last twenty or more years, people have become much more aware of what they are eating and how it is produced. I had a recent conversation with a good friend of mine who could not understand why I was concerned about food safety. He responded that all food is inspected by the government. While a little of this may be true, for the most part, only a very small portion of the food that this country consumes is actually inspected and even worse, little or absolutely nothing is known about the growing conditions. If human nature has anything to do with growing food and making money and I can say as a fact that it does, then your health will not be considered if a crop of expensive vegetables can be saved with pesticides. This is called the bottom line and if you realize this, then you should be concerned about how food is produced and what it contains.

    As a child, I was always amused when my Grandmother always said that when growing a garden you should plan to feed the bugs as well. This statement was actually true, as my Grandmother never used pesticides in any of her gardens and the only bug prevention was picking any obvious bugs off plants which quickly became part of the soil. The chicken manure and kitchen waste provided the only fertilizer the plants ever got. Needless to say, as I look back on this, I was never worried about going into that garden and picking a juicy ripe tomato and eating it right there. It never occurred to me to wash it off or even worse, take some soap and water to it!

    Hydroponics is growing plants in a nutrient solution (water-containing fertilizers) with or without the use of a medium. These mediums (discussed in detail later) can be things like sand, gravel, vermiculite, Rockwool, perlite, peat moss, and sawdust. The medium is used to provide mechanical support for the plant and to hold nutrients. In almost all cases, the medium does not provide nutrients to the plant it supports and is composed of inert substances that do not react with the plant or the nutrient.

    Some systems (liquid only) do not use supporting mediums and the roots of the plant are fed by being immersed in the liquid nutrient. Additionally, some systems recycle the nutrient (closed system) and some use the nutrient only once. Finally, some systems borrow from all the above-described systems.

    What type of system is best for you? Hopefully, after going through this e-book, you can decide what direction you would like to take. You can build your own system with the supplied plans or purchase a commercial system which comes with every thing except the plants. Hopefully, you will be as excited as the author is about hydroponics and will enjoy growing fresh vegetables right in your home.

    Why would anyone want to grow plants using a hydroponics system? There are many answers to this question and if you want to give hydroponics a try, then you probably will agree with some or all of the reasons.

    The main reason I started the hobby was the desire to grow my own vegetables and be assured that they did not contain pesticides and other chemicals that are not good for any living thing. I also really enjoyed just watching things grow. And finally, I liked the fact that I was doing something that was interesting and fun! Although the systems are quite simple, they will need your devoted attention at times as all things worth doing are and there is some effort that must be made to obtain those prize vegetables.

    The world is quickly running out of good quality water and one of the great things is that hydroponics uses only 1/4 (or less) as much water as a garden planted on Mother Earth. So hydroponics is a great way to save water. The world is also quickly running out of land that can grow crops. Hydroponic gardening can be done anywhere. Large hydroponics sites can and have been built in the middle of a desert and on land that was barren and completely nonproductive. A hydro garden can be built in an apartment in the middle of New York City or on a rooftop. Groups of people in the inner city could grow all the vegetables they could ever eat.

    Hydroponics is a good, healthy, earth-friendly way to feed the world. Hopefully, you found your reason in all of this and why you want your own system.

    Organic Growing

    I must admit that I had at one time had mixed feelings about organic growing, but before you get ready to write me a nasty letter let me explain what I mean. First, organic gardening is a fantastic way to use the huge piles of bio-mass that we place in landfills every day. What we do with grass clippings and the waste we produce in the kitchens across this country is almost beyond comprehension. Because organic growing is very earth-friendly, everyone who grows flowers or plants should use this method if at all possible. What I do object to is the idea that all food should be grown this way. It is not possible to produce enough food using this process to feed the world (at the moment). While what happens in this world affects all of us, you as an individual have the opportunity to control what happens in your little part of the world. This, I think is the main advantage and power of growing organic produce.

    It is this simple idea that each of us can produce good, wholesome, and pesticide-free food in our back yards that makes organic growing worth doing. All this leads me to the point of this chapter. I think that there is another way that is just as good as organic growing, and that is the use of Hydroponics. It is my feeling that almost anyone in almost any environment can grow food using hydroponics. That is very hard to say about any other method.

    Post Script

    The Author also supports organic growing on his farm and has borrowed from the hydroponic industry many methods of growing in organic soil. At present, I am building a large high tunnel and will produce organic and hydroponic vegetables. To reduce work, I am using grow bags for my organic food production.

    ––––––––

    Grow Bags

    These bags can be used for organic and hydroponic growing using a drip watering system.

    Yuck Chemicals!

    When I explain to people that I grow most of my vegetables using hydroponics there are normally only two responses I get. The first is very enjoyable as it usually starts with a little history of hydroponics and ends with a real interest shown by the listener. The second response is the chemical response. Gee, don't you grow your plants in water containing chemicals? or just a big Yuck. Normally my response to the chemical thing is to ask them what they think I do with all those chemicals. Usually, this leads to an understanding on my part that the chemical response is caused by ignorance. The definition of ignorance is not something bad but just means that they do not have all the facts. These facts are:

    ·  The whole living world is made up of and uses chemicals.

    ·  The chemicals that I use in my hydroponics garden are the same ones that exist in the soil of their organic garden. I just don't use their soil.

    ·  Plants in an organic garden need the same chemicals that a plant in my hydroponics garden needs.

    ·  A lot of the chemicals they use and I use exist in common drinking water.

    The Question Answered

    This chapter began with a question. As in all good things worth doing, the answer to any question may come from you and your experiences or just your own personal choices. When I first started hydroponic gardening it felt a little strange. In the area where I live, there was only 1 hydroponics store and was too far away to spend any time bending the poor store owner’s ear. I quickly found that hydroponics was not a daily topic of conversation with anyone I knew and just mentioning the word caused puzzled looks on people’s faces. At home, things were no different. My wife was just as puzzled as anyone else. With all these walls to climb over I

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