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    LMC Class Lecture

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    Doug Bateman
    Doug and his brother Brad started a hydroponics company and believe hydroponics will be important for future food production as populations increase and agricultural lands decrease. Hydroponics grows plants in water and inert mediums with bottled nutrients rather than soil. It has been practiced for thousands of years and is important for places like NASA and zoos. The lecture will cover the basics of hydroponics including definitions, history, future importance, pros and cons of different systems like DWC, drip, and aeroponics. Lighting options for indoor gardens like MH and HPS will also be discussed.

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    LMC Class Lecture

    Uploaded by

    Doug Bateman
    29 views3 pages
    Doug and his brother Brad started a hydroponics company and believe hydroponics will be important for future food production as populations increase and agricultural lands decrease. Hydroponics grows plants in water and inert mediums with bottled nutrients rather than soil. It has been practiced for thousands of years and is important for places like NASA and zoos. The lecture will cover the basics of hydroponics including definitions, history, future importance, pros and cons of different systems like DWC, drip, and aeroponics. Lighting options for indoor gardens like MH and HPS will also be discussed.

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    Doug and his brother Brad started a hydroponics company and believe hydroponics will be important for future food production as populations increase and agricultural lands decrease. Hydroponics grows plants in water and inert mediums with bottled nutrients rather than soil. It has been practiced for thousands of years and is important for places like NASA and zoos. The lecture will cover the basics of hydroponics including definitions, history, future importance, pros and cons of different systems like DWC, drip, and aeroponics. Lighting options for indoor gardens like MH and HPS will also be discussed.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    29 views3 pages

    LMC Class Lecture

    Uploaded by

    Doug Bateman
    Doug and his brother Brad started a hydroponics company and believe hydroponics will be important for future food production as populations increase and agricultural lands decrease. Hydroponics grows plants in water and inert mediums with bottled nutrients rather than soil. It has been practiced for thousands of years and is important for places like NASA and zoos. The lecture will cover the basics of hydroponics including definitions, history, future importance, pros and cons of different systems like DWC, drip, and aeroponics. Lighting options for indoor gardens like MH and HPS will also be discussed.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    INTRODUCTION:

    Good morning everyone, how are you all doing? Today we will be presenting a brief
    introduction on hydroponics and indoor gardening. My name is Doug and this is my
    brother Brad, we started Flo-N-Grow Hydroponics Co. back in Feb of last year. We
    believe that one day the majority of food production will be accomplished by
    hydroponic gardens. For many reasons that we will soon go over, but mainly as
    population increases the exact opposite occurs for farming and agricultural lands.
    Obviously this trend can’t continue to support such a growing population.

    So before we start we have a few questions for you all…

    What comes to mind when you hear of hydroponics?

    What made you decide to join this lecture today?

    Is there anything in specific you want to know about indoor gardening?

    Is anyone thinking of starting a career in anything horticultural related?

    Has anyone grown outdoors or indoors before?

    Lets first start off on what hydroponics is and build upon that…

    1. Intro to Hydroponics:
    a. So what is hydroponics? The word hydroponics comes from the greek words
    hydro, which means water, and ponos, which means labor. Thus
    hydroponics is a method of growing plants in water and (or) and inert
    medium (such as rockwool). In contrast to soil growing, in which the plant
    gets nutrients from the soil mixture, hydroponic growing nutrients is
    provided via bottled nutrient fertilizers which provide the micro and
    macronutrients for fast and healthy growth.
    2. History of Hydroponics:
    a. To the public, hydroponics may seem new, but it has been practiced as far
    back by the egyptians via the hanging gardens of Babylon, and the Aztecs
    with their floating gardens. More recently during WWII the vast food
    production for the allied forces in the pacific to the current use in the NASA
    space station. Also, many large zoos are now providing their fresh produce
    on site via huge warehouses fitted with hydroponic systems that produce a
    vast amount of food for their animals. This saves millions in shipping alone.
    3. The future of Hydroponics:
    a. As you can see people need food to survive, and having the option to produce
    food locally no matter what the environment is a big plus. Being able to
    eliminate harmful pesticides, herbicides and preservatives is a much
    healthier choice as whole. And as mentioned before, the world’s population
    will not stop growing anytime soon, so to deal with this, food production as a
    whole needs to be reconsidered.
    4. Pros and Cons of Hydroponics:
    a. As with anything, there are going to be both pros and cons. Hydroponics
    has its fair share of both, though thankfully the pros outweight the cons
    by far.
    b. Some of the cons are the following:
    a. Need a clean source of water (could be a problem is some third
    world countries)
    b. Maintaining a reservoir properly can be tricky at first
    c. Problems that occur can arise quickly and have devastating results
    if not taken care of in a timely manner.
    d. Need a source of power to generate the pumps, timers, etc. etc.
    c. Now for the pros…
    a. If everything is running optimum, you can expect 30-50% faster
    plant growth.
    b. Up to 20% larger yields in comparison to conventional soil
    growing.
    c. You can grow “on site” year round no matter what the climate or
    enviroment.
    d. Since growing indoors, you don’t need harmful pesticides.
    e. You’ll conserve up to 80% water when using recirculation type
    hydroponic system. (in a world with increasing demands for clean
    water, this is a huge plus as normal conventional food production
    wastes huge amounts of water)
    f. Lastly its fun and a good hobby to have!
    1. Different Hydroponic Systems:
    a. DWC:
    i. Deep water culture systems or DWC are some fot he least
    expensive and easiest systems to build. They are usually made
    up of a bucket filled 2/3rds with water and a net pot filled with
    hydroton. The roots grow directly into the reservoir while the
    water is continuously being oxygenated from an air-pump and
    air-stone. Build one yourself and get started growing hydro for
    under 20 bucks.
    b. DRIP SYSTEM:
    i. Drip systems are commonly used in commercial grow facilities
    for growing long term crops like tomatoes and peppers.
    Nutrients are dripped onto the plant’s roots before being
    recycled back through the system’s reservoir. Drip systems
    provide plenty of aeration because the roots never are totally
    submerged. Drip systems may be runned continuously or may
    be turned on and off with a timer.
    c. EBB & FLOW
    i. One of the easiest and widely used hydroponic systems
    available. Nutrients are flooded into the tray by a pump and
    are absorbed by the plant’s roots. The excess solution is
    drained back down into the reservoir. The cycle repeats.
    d. Aeroponics System:
    i. The most advanced way of growing hydroponically. Plants are
    grown in an inert medium with roots suspended directly in air
    inside the grow chamber (usually a PVC pipe). At timed
    intervals, roots are misted by high pressure sprayers which
    break nutrients into small particles that easily saturate the
    roots. The roots are grown in a misty, highly oxygenated,
    humid environment with minimal grow media. Will provide
    the fastest growth over any other system!

    Now that we all have a good basic understanding of what hydroponics is and the
    different systems available, lets now look into more of the specifics in indoor
    gardening.

    Lighting:

    There are two major sources of lights used today in indoor gardens. That is MH and
    HPS. MH is used during vegetative growth

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