Understanding Calcium deficiency issues in plants
Calcium is one of the most difficult elements to properly supply to plants as its absorption is tightly linked to both chemical and environmental factors. It is very easy for…
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Disinfection of nutrient solutions in recirculating hydroponic systems
Plant growing systems that recirculate nutrients are more efficient in terms of fertilizer and water usage than their run-to-waste counter-parts. However, the constant recirculation of the nutrient solution creates a…
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Optimal air speed in a hydroponic crop
Wind speed is a particularly important, yet often overlooked variable in hydroponic crops. While growers in greenhouses will pay close attention to overall gas exchange characteristics (how much air exits…
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Advanced phosphorous fertilizers: Are polyphosphates worth it?
If you look into mineral phosphate fertilizers, most of them are of the orthophosphate variety, where phosphorous is present in the form of PO4-3 anions with varying degrees of hydrogen…
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Keeping plants short: Natural gibberellin inhibitors
In this series of posts, we have discussed the different techniques and synthetic chemical substances that can be used to keep plants short. We discussed why keeping plants short is…
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Five common mistakes people make when formulating hydroponic nutrients
It is not very difficult to create a basic DIY hydroponic formulation; the raw salts are available at a very low cost, and the target concentrations for the different nutrients…
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Using VH400 sensors to build an automated irrigation setup
I have written several posts in the past about the measurement of water content in media, I have covered some very low cost and easy to use sensors that can…
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Practical aspects of carbon dioxide enrichment in hydroponics
Carbon is one of the most important nutrients a plant consumes as it the largest component of a plant’s dry weight. Plants get this carbon mostly from the atmosphere –…
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The cricket IoT board: A great way to create simple low-power remote sensing stations for hydroponics
When you monitor variables in a hydroponic plant where more than a few plants exist, it becomes important to be able to deploy a wide array of sensors quickly and…
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Can you grow large flowering plants like tomatoes using the Kratky method? (passive hydroponics)
I have previously shared some tips on how to grow successfully with the Kratky method in my blog before (1). This growing system, which was developed in the early 2000s,…
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