Tuesday 5th October, 2021
Types of hydroponics systems:
Wick System
A wick system is an easy form of hydroponics normally recommended for beginners to understand the fundamentals of hydroponics. These systems are relatively cheap and easy to build with minimal maintenance required. Wick systems do not require electricity, pump, or aerators, they rely solely on nutrient water distribution via a capillary action. Variation of nutrient water can increase or decrease by the size of the wick, or the amount placed into the system. A wick system can support small plants, herbs, and spices since these crops require small amount of nutrient water to obtain maximum yield.
Deep Water Culture System
Water culture system originated from the floating garden technique. This system is very easy to assemble since only a reservoir, air pump, Styrofoam, net pots, fertilizers, and plants are needed. A Styrofoam sheet is used as the floating medium to hold the plants which allows the plants roots to be submerge into the nutrient water. This system doesn’t require large amounts of fertilizer however the technique allows superior uptake of nutrients and oxygen for maximum yield. Little maintenance is required for this system and is mainly used for leafy vegetables.
Drip System
This system uses a reservoir, nutrient pump, air pump, drip manifold, drip lines and grow tray. It provides more control over the water and nutrient content to the system, which allows moisture to be retained. A pumping system in the reservoir distributes specific amount of nutrient water to each individual plant root. Thus, the nature of this set up requires a medium absorbent growth medium to maximize the slow dripping technique for the plant. Due to the flexibility of the system, this allows plants to grow within a scale. Requirements for maintenance is low in comparison to other hydroponics system and is relatively affordable.
Ebb-Flow System
This system is design based on the principle of flood and drain system. The system consists of a grow tray, reservoir, pump, timer, overflow pipe, distribution pipe, nutrient water, and plants in plastic pots. A water pump distributes nutrient water to the grow tray. Once maximum level is achieved, an overflow pipe sends the excess water back into the reservoir via gravity. Thus, the water is being recycled using a timer. Ebb-flow systems are relatively low costing and requires little technical assistance to operate the system.
Dutch bucket system
This system includes buckets with growth medium, reservoir, water pump, irrigation line, return line, drip emitter and plants. Nutrient water is distributed via irrigation pipe using the water pump. A drip emitter expels droplets unto the plants roots and excess water is flowed back into the reservoir using the return line. The dutch bucket system is like the drip system where it can control the nutrient water supply. Moreover, it also requires low maintenance and affordable. This system is best suited for large plants such as tomatoes, peppers, and vegetables.
Aeroponic system
Aeroponic system is the most evolved with respect to its technique being highly technical form of hydroponics. It includes a reservoir, water pump, timer, and mist nozzles. Plants roots obtain nutrient water via the mist nozzle spray since the roots are suspended in air. Using a timer, the roots are kept moist with light sprays every few minutes. This technique allows high nutrient absorption through the roots for maximum yield. Since the plants roots are suspended in the air this allows for high oxygen distribution to the plants for growth. The misting of the nutrient water requires fewer fertilizers and water content. Also, this type of system is very easy to clean since not many items are needed for construction.
NFT system
book available at the Alma Jordan library- ask if I could get access to it. Since he invented the NFT.
In mid-1960, Nutrient film technique (NFT) was developed by Dr. Allen Cooper in England (Gaikwad and Maitra 2020). The first design used a very small stream of water with the added nutrients which flow through the roots of the pants in a channel. As a result, a thick root mat was developed as the plant grew. Nowadays, NFT has evolved significantly into small to industrial sized systems for various leafy vegetables. The system includes a grow tray, reservoir, water pump, air pump and a return pipe. The system can be set up using two methods, horizontal and vertical oriented.
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