What is Ebb and Flow Hydroponics and How Does it Work?

Ebb and flow hydroponics is a method of growing plants hydroponically that is known for its reliability, simplicity of operation and low cost of investment. Pots or a flood tray are filled with a grow media such as gravel, clay pellets, lava rock etc. These do not function like soil or add nutrition to the plants but will anchor the roots and will function as a temporary reserve of water and nutrients. The hydroponic solution floods the system four to six times a day and is allowed to drain away in between flood cycles.
With this system a water tight flood tray or pot, containing either clean gravel, clay pellets or lava rock is used as the rooting medium. The system is then periodically flooded for short periods of time (5 to 15 minutes) with a nutrient solution pumped from a reservoir. By placing the reservoir below the flood tray, with a over flow drain, the nutrient solution can drain back by gravity through the pump with the same line that supplied the water and nutrients during the flood cycle. Our favorite media is lava rock with this type of system. Lava rock drains quickly and traps air and will not leave a clay residue if using clay pellets, which can clog the water pump after time.

Aeration of an ebb and flood system is one of the most important things of the system. Let me explain, when the system floods it is in a deep water culture mode. Your reservoir may contain an air delivery system such as a air stone to keep the water saturated with oxygen and eliminate a pathogen problem. During the flood cycle the oxygenated air is pumped into the tray or bucket for 5 to 15 minutes. During this 5 to 15 minute period there is no additional air and oxygen being supplied to the tray or bucket. So even though you are now in deep water culture mode your plants are not receiving the amount of air and oxygen as if they were in a deep water culture system. The reason why is a deep water culture system has air constantly pumped into the reservoir 24 hours a day in which the roots are submerged. During the ebb cycle, or draining of the tray or bucket, air is now pulled down into the grow media supplying oxygen to the plants. At this point until the next flood cycle the roots again are being deprived of fresh air and oxygen.

Drawbacks to Ebb and flood hydroponic systems:
1. Pathogens in reservoir, flood tray or pot due to stagnated water during drain time which can contaminate the entire system due to the shared water source.
2. Limited amount of oxygen available during flooding of tray or pot.
3. Limited amount of oxygen available while in the ebb or drain stage.

Is there a solution to the problem above?  Ebb and flow hydroponic system to help eliminate the problems above. By adding Air Injection Technology at the very bottom of the media in your current flood tray or pot you will eliminate the drawbacks to a ebb and flood hydroponic system. You will also increase the plants growth rate and have healthier plants. 1. Pathogens in the flood tray or pot are eliminated because there is a constant supply of oxygen 24 hours a day weather in the flood stage or drain stage. 2. Constant supply of oxygen during the flood stage just like true deep water culture. 3. During the ebb or drain stage there is constant air being delivered to the plants roots 24 hours a day weather in the flood or drain stage. This will bring your current Ebb and flow hydroponics system up to date and will allow you to take full advantage of your ebb and flood hydroponics system at minimal cost.

Hydroponic growing leads to tastier vegetables

Growing vegetables hydroponically leads to a more expensive, but tastier veggie, cumberlink.com reports.

Tomatoes are the king crop in hydroponics because of the demand for them in early spring and late fall when field tomatoes aren't available. The challenge is to sell them at $2.99 per pound when field tomatoes are going for 99 cents, says Mark Toigo, 42, who has run hydroponic greenhouses for the last 15 years, among other duties, at the family-owned Toigo Orchards in Southampton Township, Cumberland County. Hydroponic grower Barb Rose, 52, co-owner of Beck-n-Rose of North Middleton Township, agrees with Toigo. She also developed a niche market in the last three years --- a few chefs at "better restaurants who care what tomatoes look and taste like," Rose says. She counts among her customers Fetter Brookside Market south of Carlisle, Mountain Lakes west of Carlisle, Oak Grove Farms of Mechanicsburg and the Butcher Shop in Chambersburg. For next season, all Beck-n-Rose produce is committed to current customers, says Rose, a former marketing manager for a start-up software company that sold last year for $40 million. "You do need to be a manager and a marketer" to be profitable, Toigo says, raising his voice above the half-dozen four-foot-wide fans that ventilate his 90- by 130-foot greenhouse off South Mountain Estates Road. He steps over piles of vines on the concrete greenhouse floor, the result of cropping the tops off tomato plants that have the last of the crop ripening on the vines. He will plant new tomato vines again in January for harvest beginning in April. Although growers would like to produce tomatoes through the winter, year-round tomato production isn't feasible this far north. They say it doesn't have the flavor of food grown in soil," says Brubeck, who sells mostly to restaurants and to some grocery stores in Cumberland, Dauphin and Lebanon counties.

Original source:
http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2005/08/07/business/busi01.txt

Indian family makes a breakthrough in hydroponics

by Mike Adams

Hydroponics, the practice of growing plants in water instead of soil, received a giant lift from a New Delhi family that created a purely organic nutrient mix that has sustained tomatoes and Arjun.

Original source:
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lmnu5&leftindx=5&lselect=2&chklogin=N&autono=202585

Details

An Indian hobbyist has created a purely organic nutrient mixture for growing plants in water. Although it is still an evolving science, hydroponic agriculture (growing plants in water solution rather than soil) is spreading fast the world over. The nutritional requirement of the plants in this system of soilless farming is met by the nutrient mixtures, called hydroponics fertiliser mixtures, added to the water in which the plant roots are kept submerged. These mixtures are made of chemical plant nutrients. A breakthrough has now been achieved by an Indian hydroponics hobbyist in creating a purely organic nutrient mixture for growing plants in water. This wholly chemical-free plant growth solution has been tested successfully for growing several plants, including common vegetables like tomato and arbi and some high value medicinal plants like Brahmi, Arjun and Cineraria. Indeed, a good deal of research is underway in this system of soilless farming in the US and Europe but not much headway has been made anywhere in organic hydroponics. Of course, some hydroponics enthusiasts abroad have been experimenting with various kinds of organic manures and mixtures of plants, but successful and commercially viable organic hydroponics models are still not available. His daughter, Shweta Singh, a Delhi University botany student, has been assisting him in discovering and further improving the biofertiliser mixture for growing plants in ordinary water. “I will work on it for a couple of years more before thinking of launching commercial production of this bio-fertiliser for hydroponics. However, if some government organisation, such as the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), comes forward, I am willing to cooperate with it in promoting organic hydroponics in India,” he says. He believes that nearly 200 commercially important plants can be grown by hydroponics technique.

Source: Article taken from Natural News, only for information purpose

Plant growth stage in Hydroponics Garden

A plant’s life cycle begins with germination, recognized by the above-ground appearance of a growing shoot. Mated to this shoot are two small, round leaves known as cotyledons (A). Once these leaves begin manufacturing food, the plant begins to grow and enters the seedling stage. During this time the plant develops it first set of true leaves, resembling those of a mature plant. The primary formation of a root system begins. The root development that takes place at this time is key to the rate at which the plant will continue to grow. Providing the proper environment for the roots will ensure that your crop will have a chance to flourish.

Once the root system can support further growth, the vegetative stage begins. Nutritional requirements at this time call for large amounts of nitrogen, required for the production of chlorophyll, as growth during this period is primarily stem, branch and leaf. The most substantial growth over the lifecycle of the plant occurs in the vegetative stage and will continue unless interrupted by a change in environment or lack of water/nutrients.

The final stage of the organisms lifecycle is the reproductive stage. Because the objective is now to reproduce, and thus carry on evolution, energies are directed to the manufacture of flowers, seeds, and fruit. The primary nutritional requirements begin to shift at this time from a high-N diet to a low N, high P-K diet. This is due to a considerable slow down in vegetative growth while reproduction takes place. This change prompts a switch in nutrient solutions from a vegetative formula to a flowering, or 'bloom' formula. Many hydroponic nutrients now come as a two part system for exactly this reason. In some plants, reproduction is triggered by a change in the length of daylight, this characteristic is called photoperiodism. It is this characteristic which governs when these plants may be sown and harvested if growing outdoors. Indoors, be sure to provide the proper photoperiod for your crop or they may never fully develop. Changing the length of artificial daylight can trick the plant into
flowering early. Commercial growers use this trick to deliver flowers to markets out of season and at a premium to vendors and customers alike.

If you are growing indoors, for lack of natural insects, you must play “bee” by pollinating the flowers on your plants manually. For tomatoes and peppers a delicate touch with a brush on each flower will help the plant pollinate itself to produce fruit. There are commercially available plant “shakers” that vibrate the flowering plants every so often to accomplish the same. I have found that the breeze from a strong circulating fan is usually sufficient to cause pollination indoors.