While just about any type of plant can be grown hydroponically, the technique is most often used for growing vegetables or herbs. Benefits of hydroponics include larger harvests, faster growth, and less trouble with pests, disease, or outdoor growing conditions. If you’d like to try this soil-free method of gardening, you can purchase one of the many hydroponic kits for home use or create one yourself. Here are the basics of hydroponic gardening.
Types of Hydroponic Water Systems
There are three basic types of hydroponic grow systems. The simplest type of hydroponic garden is a wick system. In this very basic system, a wick connects the planting container and the water reservoir, providing a steady source of nutrient-rich water to the plants’ roots. This is an easy system to install yourself, but is only suitable for small plants such as microgreens or herbs. Flood and drain hydroponic systems require a submersible pump, but can be still fairly simple to create. The plant containers sit in a shallow tray or grow tube suspended over a reservoir filled with hydroponic nutrients. Periodically, the tray is flooded with water from the reservoir, thus allowing the plants to soak in nutrients through the drain holes in the containers. After a set period, the water drains back into the reservoir. This prevents root rot caused by excessive moisture. Usually, these systems flood and drain two to four times each day. In a water culture hydroponic system, the plants’ roots are continuously in the nutrient-rich water of the hydroponic tank. Planted containers float on a “raft” in the reservoir, or are suspended directly overhead, so the roots extend down into the water. A small bubbler—such as those used in fish tanks—aerates the water and prevents it from becoming stagnant. This is one of the easiest DIY hydroponic grow systems and works well for lettuce, herbs, and other lightweight crops.
Caring for Your Hydroponic Garden
Once you’ve set up your hydroponic kit or built your own grow system, installed your lights, and planted your crops, it’s time for basic maintenance. Clean the entire hydroponic system after harvesting crops.
Choosing Your Crops for Hydroponic Gardening
If you’re a newbie to the world of hydroponic gardening or have only enough space for a very small system, it’s best to start with the plants that are easiest to grow using this method. As a general rule, plants with shallow root systems do very well in hydroponic grow systems. Consider an herb garden of dill, basil, oregano, cilantro, and/or parsley. Leafy greens are also great choices: Lettuce of all types, kale, chard, watercress, and spinach are all healthy, tasty, and easy to grow. If you have a large growing area or want to experiment with slightly larger and more challenging crops, consider tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, celery, or bok choy.
Using Grow Lights
As home hydroponic systems are usually indoors, one of the most basic requirements is light. For almost all hydroponic systems, grow lights are necessary for maintaining a healthy garden. Serious hydroponic gardeners with large setups and big budgets typically choose LED grow lights or high-intensity discharge (HID) lights, but these are considerably more expensive than fluorescent bulbs. As a general rule, your grow lights should be on for 15 to 20 hours each day.
