Getting all the data to evaluate a problem in a hydroponic crop
Problems are an inevitable part of being a hydroponics grower. Even experienced growers will sometimes face issues when moving between environments or plant species as things change and new challenges…
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Building a DIY control infrastructure for a hydroponic crop: Part one
Controlling an entire hydroponic crop using electronics is not a trivial task. This includes everything from the automated control of things like relative humidity and ambient temperature, to other variables,…
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Five common misconceptions around nutrient management in hydroponics
After many years of experience as a consultant in the hydroponic industry and interacting with dozens of different customers growing different plants with different systems, there are some common misconceptions…
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Five tips to successfully manage your nutrient solution in a recirculating hydroponic setup
Although a significant portion of hydroponic growers use run-to-waste setups – where the nutrient solution is ran through plants and then lost – the industry is now moving towards the…
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A new conductivity model in HydroBuddy
On my previous post you can read about how I ran experiments to develop a conductivity model using empirical data in order to improve our ability to predict EC values…
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Keeping plants short: Using day/night temperature differences (DIF)
In this article series about “keeping plants short”, we have explored the reasons why short plants are desirable and how this can be achieved using gibberellin inhibitors. However this is…
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Monitoring the quality of fertilizer stock solutions
Hydroponic concentrated nutrient fertilizer manufacturers are not held to any routine quality standards by regulatory authorities in most countries. Although fertilizers need to be properly registered and their intended minimum…
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Why red and blue LED grow lights never took off
Anyone who has been growing plants for a while has probably seen a chart showing the absorption profile of chlorophylls A and B, as shown in the image below. From…
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In-depth books to learn about hydroponics at an advanced level
Growing plants without soil requires a lot of knowledge. As a hydroponic grower, it is now your duty to provide the plant with the needed chemical and environmental conditions that…
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Keeping plants short: Why is it important?
Plants have evolved to grow vertically – to reach more sunlight – and horizontally – to increase their surface area and capture more sunlight. However, vertical growth is almost always…
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