There are many hydroponic
growing systems on the market in various price ranges but using inexpensive
canning jars is a budget-friendly option. With a little creativity, your
hydroponic mason jar garden can be an essential part of your kitchen.
Follow these simple steps to
make your hydroponic mason jar garden:
- Plant the seeds in the rockwool growing cubes. (See Hydroponics Part 1)
- While they are germinating, you can prepare the mason jars.
- Once the seedlings have roots extending out of the bottom of the cube, it’s time to plant your hydroponic garden in glass jars
- Wash the mason jars and rinse the clay pebbles.
- Prepare the mason jar by spray painting it black, coating it with tape or enclosing it in a fabric sleeve.
- Place the net pot in the jar. Screw the band onto the jar to hold the net pot in place.
- Fill the jar with water, stopping when the water level is about ¼ inch (6 mm.) above the bottom of the net pot.
- Filtered or reverse osmosis water is best.
- Add hydroponic nutrients. (for more information see Nutrients below)
- Place a thin layer of clay pellets in the bottom of the net pot.
- Next, put the rockwool growing cube containing the sprouted seedling onto the clay pellets.
- Continue carefully placing clay pellets around and on top of the rockwool cube.
- Place your hydroponic mason jar garden in a sunny location or provide adequate artificial light.
Without soil, the nutrients that plants need to live and thrive must be delivered directly to their roots (or occasionally, their leaves). Doing this in a practical, effective way is the goal of any hydroponic grower. But the goal of delivering the ideal amount of each nutrient to plants is not as simple as dumping hydroponic fertilizers into the system water.
To be ‘complete nutrients’ for hydroponic plants need to have the essential elements for growth these are:
- Nitrogen (N)
- Potassium (K)
- Phosphorus (P)
- Calcium (Ca)
- Magnesium (Mg)
- Sulphur (S)
- Iron (Fe)
- Manganese (Mn)
- Copper (Cu)
- Zinc (Zn)
- Molybdate (Mo)
- Boron (B)
- Chlorine (Cl)
The
levels that these elements are present in your hydroponic nutrient tend to vary
between brands, since there is no one single recommendation for concentrations.
Many nutrients may also contain some of the ‘beneficial elements’ such as
Nickel (Ni), Cobalt (Co), Silica (Si) or Selenium (Se). While these are not
‘essential’ (plants will still grow without them), they can be beneficial to
many plants.
Selecting and Preparing Nutrient Solutions:
You can create your own nutrient mix or get a
Hydroponic nutrient package from the store. For beginners, I highly recommend
you buy it, saving the experimenting and mixing your own nutrients when you get
a bit experience.
Normally, you will see listed in the
ingredients and formula of the solutions sold at the store are 3 numbers in
percentages. These are the 3 most important minerals that listed above -
Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K). For example, they come at the
ratio 10-10-10, meaning that each the nutrient is composed of 10% of the
solution. The rest of 70% is water, micro-nutrients, and other chelates that
assist the nutritional process.
Of course, that ratio will be different,
depending on a variety of criteria:
- Plants types
- Plant growth stage
- Parts of plants you want to bring the most yields (leaf, fruit, root)
- Light intensity, weather, temperature, the season of the year.
If you are to choose
available solutions for your hydroponic garden, the one thing to keep in mind
is that you should get the nutrient designed specifically for Hydroponics only.
Forget all about the all-purpose package which can be used in both soil and
hydroponics. Common fertilizers used in soil do not contain necessary
micro-nutrients that Hydroponics plants require.
Second, it is recommended to
use the 2 or 3 parts solution in the liquid. Normally, a liquid solution is
easier to work with than powder form because it easily digests in water, and
most of the liquid solution comes with pH buffers.
And you should buy the 3 part because it does help you later
when you need to blend and mix in different combinations for the plant's growth
purpose, and specific stage of growth.
Mixing a 3-part
solutions example:
- Check which stages of growth your plants are in order to mix the 3 parts with the correct ratio. Check the manufacturer instruction of your nutrient products.
- Start by adding fresh water to the reservoir.
- Add the Micro part first to the water. It contains elements like Calcium, Copper, Boron, Iron, Manganese and Zinc and some Nitrogen. Stir the solution
- Next is the Grow part. This contains ammoniacal nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, phosphate, potassium, and magnesium. Stir well.
- Add the Bloom Hydroponics solution. This contains phosphate, potassium, soluble magnesium and sulfur. Again, stir the solution.
- It's very important to Check the pH of the nutrient mix after getting all nutrients into your nutrient tank. Plants fail to take up important nutrients when the pH level goes out of its recommended range. The ideal one is between 5.5 to 6.5
- Don't forget to check the temperature of the solution. About 64 to 66 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal.
Harvest:
The growth rate on a hydroponic plant is 30-50 percent faster than a
soil plant, grown under the same conditions. The yield of the plant is also
greater. Scientists believe that there are several reasons for the drastic
differences between hydroponic and soil plants.
Resources:
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