Thursday 7th October, 2021

 Today I attended a short Hydroponics and Aquaponics course, to gather more information for my project. 

Lecture: 

Company: Best of both worlds 

Lecture notes:

Mr. Richard Sookhai Presentation:

Recently soilless plant growth has increased significantly in popularity mainly because of the quality and productivity of plant growth.

An advantage of soilless gardening is no need to fight off diseases and pests which are normally present in soil.

Soilless and home gardening are great for mental health, environmental awareness, and educational value.

 

What is Hydroponics?

The term hydroponics derives from the Greek word for water (hydro) and working (ponos) which translates to working water.

It is a form of agriculture, where plants are grown with soil.

The substitute for soil is nutrient water at specific intervals to maximize plant development.

  Historic timeline:

-Aztec floating gardens 1000AD

https://books.google.tt/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ncjoqjVgD94C&oi=fnd&pg=PR4&dq=aztec+floating+gardens+1000+AD&ots=KdvAnV2d1v&sig=x6QlkZGdeWFu6SSu-ISUbeTM4Rk&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

  https://www.jstor.org/stable/24931564

 

-Modern Day Rice Paddy

 

How it works:

  Container- holds plant, growing medium with nutrient solution added to water

 Growing Medium- used to support the plant roots.

 Nutrients- Delivered using water flow. A pump can be used to distribute water to the entire system.

 Plant/Roots- Roots are in direct contact with water.

 PH level- monitored and maintained at an optimal level.

 

Benefits of hydroponics:

v  No soil

v  Uses 95% less water compared to soil-based method

v  Less disease and pest due to environment

v  Less pesticides

v  Great for small spaces

 

 

Common hydroponic crop

• Lettuces, kale, spinach- protein, vitamins, and trace metals
• Small fruits: tomatoes, peppers- vitamin A, C, and folic acid
• Cucumbers-Trace metals, Vitamins B, C, and folic acid.
• Herbs (basil and mint)- Vitamin rich, trace metals and omega-3 fatty acid.

 

Factors for growth:

1.   Sunlight
2.   Water
3. Air
4. Soil / Nutrient water

What happens when nutrient water is exposed to sunlight?

·       Algae is formed.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44109387?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=hydroponics&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dhydroponics%26filter%3D%26so%3Drel&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A1f4f0a5773f485978db628364ed476b7