Hydroponics at home. Video
A modern and fashionable hobby even among professional florists is hydroponics. This method of growing plants without using soil has turned from a scientific experiment into a real passion for many residents of large cities who cannot afford to grow flowers in the usual way.
Hydroponics is an experimental technique for growing plants without using land or soil-like substrate. Initially, the technique was developed to reproduce plants that cannot live in soils due to the presence of a mass of foreign elements in them, as well as due to the low supply of oxygen.
It was found that some of the plants develop much more actively, bloom and bear fruit in the aquatic environment than in the soil, and therefore the soil was replaced with an aqueous solution saturated with mineral elements, which covered only part of the root system. The first studies were carried out on tropical flowers, but practice has shown that habitual chlorophyria and even tomatoes develop well in water.
Types of systems in hydroponics
In fact, hydroponics is more suitable for industrial use than for home use, because the structures that are needed to grow plants in an aquatic environment are very expensive and bulky. True, in fairness, it should be noted that designers, having caught the mood of the public, today offer real art objects in which you can successfully grow indoor flowers and exotic plants right in the apartment.
In addition, a relatively new direction in hydroponics has become the cultivation of plants on a solid, non-nutritious substrate – in other words, on a highly aerated platform, which serves only as a basis for the plants to catch on to it with roots and have resistance. They receive food from the aquatic environment, with which this base must be regularly supplied.
For example, one of the most common substrate materials is coconut shells, which are pretreated to dissolve the potassium and iron they contain. Coconut fiber swells well and retains air, the plant extracts the necessary substances from its many pores. It is on coconut shells that tea roses and orchids are often grown at home.
If you want to try to grow flowers using the described method, start with the most unpretentious – Siberian roses. They are undersized, but bloom profusely twice a year. Just place the base in the vessel and fill it with the solution. It is advisable to purchase the solution in a specialized store, although it can be prepared at home. You will need: – liquid fertilizer like “Uniflor”; – calcium nitrate; – soft water without impurities (checked by litmus paper).
Dilute a 25% solution of nitrate with water at the rate of 2 milliliters per 1 liter of water. Dilute the fertilizer in the same way, at the rate of 1,5 liters of “Uniflora” per liter of water. Let the liquids settle, then mix in an unenamelled container. The plant nutrient solution is ready and can be poured over the base of your choice. The base must be saturated with the solution for at least one day, and only after that flowers can be placed in it.
Rarely, but flowers require fixation on the base. Don’t be afraid to use regular cotton threads
Growing plants in the popular aqua soil can also be attributed to hydroponics. The method is stunningly simple, and thanks to the abundance of colors in the base material, it is also beautiful. In a transparent vessel (ordinary glass vases are often used), you need to pour unboiled, but settled water by a third. Pour the required amount of dry aqua soil into the solution, which will quickly absorb moisture and fill all the remaining space.
Plants with well-washed roots are simply planted into the resulting base (do this with your hands, without the help of objects that can damage the integrity of the aqua soil) and sprayed twice a day. The base contains a lot of nutrients, and the ability of the aqua soil balls to retain moisture inside allows air to flow freely to the roots of plants.
A little trick: it is better to plant tall plants in aqua soil when the base is not completely swollen, but takes only half of the vessel. Then the plant will be placed to the desired depth and will be stable in slippery material.
Colorado psychologists have proposed making hydroponics part of a program to rehabilitate people suffering from depression and fear of loneliness. The fact is that the phobias of patients, who for the most part have neither families nor friends, are based on the feeling of a complete lack of society’s need for themselves, people feel unnecessary. The way to get them out of this state is to take care of something. For many years, doctors have used a tamagotchi toy as a “medicine”, which needs to be fed, put to bed, etc. on schedule. But the toy does not grow or develop, unlike flowers.
Replacing Tamagotchi with hydroponics, where regular watering and aeration is a condition for the life and development of plants, has become a real revolution in the treatment of many people who have not only got the opportunity to occupy themselves, but also see the result of their efforts, and therefore feel their need.