All plants require a mixture of natural elements - Potassium, Nitrogen and Iron etc. In conventional soil growing the plant extracts these minerals from the soil - In Hydroponics these minerals are dissolved in water and in perfect balance are fed to the plants roots.
The soil is not there just for the benefit of your plants. It also supports millions of Bacteria and other organisms, some of which feed off the roots of plants (parasites) and others which are in fact disease pathogens which can severely damage plant health or even kill them. Add to this the number of wild plants (weeds etc.) that also grow in competition to your plants. Hydroponics removes the plant from these potential problems and by doing so, plant health and vigour is generally improved.
No. Hydroponics dates back to “The Hanging Gardens of Babylon” and the ancient Aztec Indians also used Hydroponics extensively.
Definitely not, there are plenty of examples in nature of pure Hydroponic Growing, all that man has done is to take the most advantageous aspects of nature and use them to mans advantage.
NO! Hydroponics is the most environmentally friendly method of growing known to man. It does not strip the essential elements (the life blood) from the soil and therefore removes the risk of erosion and will in time allow more land area to be returned to its natural state which is essential for the future of mankind.
Because the Hydroponic Nutrient can be perfectly balanced to supply all the natural elements necessary for Plant health, hydroponically grown plants are generally extremely healthy thus reducing if not removing the requirements for excessive chemical sprays and because they have received a totally balanced Nutrient feed the plant is able to deliver the highest nutritional content to its edible fruits and vegetation.
A small Home System providing for 30 plants at a time will cost less than £7.00 a year to run (Cost of Nutrients and Power).
No - Hydroponics can be as simple or as sophisticated as you desire. For example a simple Home System can be run with no technical experience at all, simply mix I level teaspoon of Bag A and I level teaspoon of Bag B from an Cotswold Hydroponics Ltd Culture “S” Home Pack to each 10 litres of fresh water, use for one week topping up any usage of the initial volume with fresh water only. At the end of the week empty out and start again.
Over the years certain plant varieties have been identified as doing particularly well in Hydroponics and Cotswold Hydroponics Ltd propagates many of these varieties particularly Tomatoes, Lettuce, Cucumber and Beans and Herbs etc. Hydroponic plants are generally propagated in a soil less media to prevent the introduction of soil born bacteria into the Hydroponic growing system.
No! - This is a myth. Hydroponic growing can be carried out very successfully outdoors with no protective cover at all; in fact many crop types do better outdoors than they would in protective structures. The reason for using a protective structure (Glasshouse or shadehouse) is to lengthen the growing season and is purely a physical consideration for the plants rather than being a Hydroponic growing consideration.
All seeds carry their own food supply which is sufficient to feed the seedling up to the seed leaf stage, (The first set of leaves) and to provide the very small and tender roots with additional nutrition (fertiliser) can be damaging to the plant. Seeds should therefore receive plain water only until the emergence of the second set of leaves (First true leaves) at which stage the plant can be placed into the Hydroponic system. Where direct seeding into a Hydroponic media garden is preferable (e.g. Radish and similar varieties) it is sensible to water the seed during the initial germination period with plain water to dilute any adverse effects of the nutrition within the bed.
The book “Hydroponic Gardening” by Dalton & Smith is a very good handbook; written in everyday language or contact Cotswold Hydroponics Ltd and our technical staff will be there to help you.
No! - Over 80% of all commercial Tomato production in the UK is produced from Hydroponic growing systems.
With the now obvious dangers of using excessive quantities of man made chemicals on crops the trend is back to “Spray free” and natural (Organic) crop production - Hydroponics leads the field in this respect and many sensible management procedures are continually forging new break through’s towards producing higher yields and higher quality produce.
Throughout history man has strived to produce stronger plants, faster growth and higher yields from his cultivated crops. Science has assisted by providing many of the answers to the puzzles of what makes plants ‘tick’.
Selective seed production, cross-pollination, tissue culture, etc, of varieties has produced many vigorous and disease resistant strains and has increased the choice of quality cultivators to the grower. Science has also assisted in quantifying environmental parameters for given varieties, which has allowed the grower to select varieties not normally produced under his local climatic conditions and further, with accurately controlled environments within protective structures, has vastly extended the normal growing season for many varieties.
Soil scientists have greatly contributed over the years to overall crop production by virtue of developing more efficient soil management techniques.
It was not until the mid seventies, however, that the real breakthrough for intensive crop production was developed, when a group of technicians at the “Glasshouse Crops Research Institute” in England developed a low cost Hydroponic growing system called the N.F.T. (Nutrient film technique).
This system was initially intended for the British greenhouse grower for traditional crops such as the Tomato, Cucumber and Lettuce etc. The phenomenal increase in yields coupled with the much faster growing times were very good reasons for growers in many other countries to adopt not only this particular NFT Hydroponic technique, but to also develop a variety of growing systems including methods such as media beds, rockwool bolsters, expanded clay, flood and drain, drip systems etc to produce a wide range of Hydroponic products, including vegetables, flowers and ornamentals. All these systems utilise the basic Hydroponic philosophy, modified to suit the specific crop requirements. Today, a wide range of Hydroponic growing systems are well established throughout the developed world and to a lesser extent, albeit rapidly expanding, in the emerging countries. The reasons for the successes accruing from the utilisation of a Hydroponic growing system were many and varied, some of the major considerations being:
The absence of soil born disease, meant that the plant could put all it's resources into growing useful tissue, instead of losing performance to the many soil parasites.
Plants, just like human beings, perform to optimum when not exposed to stress.
Water stress is a common problem in conventional growing, either too little, or too much water in the soil can place a plant into stress and consequently this leads to poor performance and in worse case conditions will result in the death of the
plant(s). Hydroponics removes this dangerous situation completely, allowing the crop full access to water for both growth and transpiration purposes. The correct design of the Hydroponic system removes any fear of too much water causing any problems to the well being of the crop.
Plants require a balanced supply of nature’s chemical elements. To provide a continuous, optimum supply of these in the soil requires a very high degree of soil management expertise. Hydroponics removes all the guesswork for the grower by providing a fully balanced nutrient formula, which is designed to promote optimum plant health and production. Possible nutritional deficiencies or toxicities can be rapidly diagnosed and confirmed by low cost laboratory analysis of the plant tissue or nutrient solution and, if found necessary, can easily be rectified by the addition of corrector element mixes to the nutrient tank.
The ability of plants to uptake the various elements essential for rapid growth is largely dependant upon the pH (acidity or alkalinity) of the growing medium around the plants root zone. Conventional soil growing often requires large amounts of lime, or other pH correcting materials in order to afford the plants the desirable pH growing range, more often than not, the truly desirable pH range never really being obtained, with the resultant, less than optimum crop performance.
The pH of Hydroponic systems is regularly tested and corrected. with the addition of either acid or alkali to the nutrient solution. In automatic monitoring and control systems (which most commercial Hydroponic systems
utilise) pH is constantly monitored and adjusted to 0.1 pH resolution, a degree of control, which could never be maintained in conventional soil growing.
As mentioned in paragraph d, Hydroponic systems lend themselves to fully automatic control of the nutrient solution status, continual monitoring and auto correction of both soluble salts strength (EC or CF
value) and pH value ensures optimum ion exchange conditions.
This results in fully balanced plant nutrition with it’s subsequent improvements to plant health and performance and consequent benefits to the consumer of such highly nutritious produce.
There are many locations where an ample supply of good quality water is often taken for granted. With the upsurge in intensive horticulture, with it’s consequential increased demand upon the available water supply, the realisation of just how precious and fragile is this resource, is now becoming very clear to many growers. Hydroponics promises the ultimate efficiency in water usage, unlike conventional soil production where thousands of litres of water is wasted in leaching and run off. The only water used in Hydroponics is that which plants consume. This advantage is increasing in value, as we become even more intensive producers.
There is a growing objection from the consumer to the excessive use of man made chemical sprays being used on products destined for human consumption, or other use. The reality of high intensity commercial crop production is that in order to maintain the highest quality, blemish free products it is necessary from time to time to employ the use of some preventative treatments, having said this it is also true that plants, like most living things, succumb to disease more readily when they are in poor conditions. In other words the stronger and healthier the plant, the greater is the resistance to disease attack. For this reason Hydroponically grown crops, due to the ability to promote top, crop health and condition, generally require minimal spraying or other treatments.
“There’s money in muck lad” This saying has been around for years and in the past there was every reason to agree that the ultimate wealth of man has to be controlled by mans ability to feed himself from the harvests from the soil. Unfortunately for the old timers who would expound such statements, times have changed. As an example of the economics of Hydroponic crop production let us consider the Lettuce. In soil grown Lettuce, wastage was an accepted aspect, in order to present a relatively clean product to the market, free of unsightly blemish, slugs, snails and of course “soil” it was necessary to remove sufficient of the outside leaf cover in order to remove any aspect which could harm customer acceptance of the product.
In today’s Hydroponics Lettuce growing systems, wastage is reduced to the absolute minimum, since the Lettuce are grown on benches above the ground. There are no slugs or snails and very obviously no soil either, therefore, the product is inherently clean and because of the extremely rapid growth to maturity the outside leaves do not have time to become hard and bitter, meaning that the total Lettuce is acceptable for consumption.
Add to this fact that because the Lettuce is grown in a system which in itself does away with most of the reasons for having to spray
to protect the crop, the consumers can be assured that when they purchase a correctly grown Hydroponic Lettuce, they are buying the youngest, sweetest, most nutritious and cleanest product that up until now it is possible to produce. Almost every time you purchase “Fast Food” (McDonalds etc) if it contains Lettuce then you are probably eating Hydroponic Lettuce.
In Summary:-
Today’s market places demands upon the grower. Today’s business climate places demands upon the grower. Today’s ‘green’ society places demands upon the grower. Therefore, the grower has to look at crop production methods that will return a profit, while minimising these
pressures.
The use of Hydroponic growing systems, which give the grower so many advantages to assist in realising his goals are:-
Higher quality product
Higher yields
Automated water and feeding
No more weed control
Vastly reduced disease control
No more pythium, phytopthora Fusarium etc: Less percentage of product wastage
Extended growing seasons
Physically and nutritionally ‘clean’ products Reduced crop management labour costs
All of which add up to ‘COST EFFECTIVE’ crop production.
Those who have already made the change to Hydroponic growing methods are in no doubt as to the advantages both they and the consumer are gaining, by consistently and efficiently producing a high quality product, with is resultant premium financial returns.
Cotswold Hydroponics Ltd has the experience and the technical expertise to devise a growing system to cater for your needs, whatever the location or crop type involved.
Subsequent to the appropriate location research, systems can be designed and supplied for operation in most environments, although it has to be recognised that some extreme environments may be prejudicial to obtaining a cost effective operation.
Cotswold Hydroponics Ltd is able to provide on site assistance, during preliminary design, through to construction and can further negotiate to provide “on site” growing management training, or undertake to train clients and/or their staff in all facets of crop production, including post harvest treatments, product presentation and marketing skills.
It is true to say that ten years ago the range of products being grown by Hydroponic means was limited to five or six popular salad lines. Today, almost all crop types including fruit and vegetables, cut flowers and ornamentals are successfully produced and commercial growers have quickly exploited those, which have proven to be cost effective when produced by Hydroponic means.
In order that Cotswold Hydroponics Ltd can provide it’s customers with an estimate for the most appropriate system design, it is necessary for the customer to provide sufficient details to allow for realistic costings, details for preliminary estimates would include:
i. Water quality and quantity available to site.*
ii. Crop to be grown
ii. Daily, weekly, monthly or annual production required.
iv. Site location including geographical and climate details.*
v. Design to equip existing structures. *
vi. Design to include new structure.
vii. Design for outdoor production.*
viii. Energy sources available to site.
*i.
A complete chemical and possibly bacterial analysis is required. Cotswold Hydroponics Ltd can undertake full chemical analysis.
*iv.
Details of the site would include, any natural fall in ground levels, north/south aspect, any shade or shelter to site. Weather pattern including temperature and humidity parameters, prevailing wind, average sunshine hours each month, plus any extraordinary aspects of the proposed site and it’s location.
* v.
Give full details (sketch plans) of existing structure including details of age, covering, ventilation provision and “on-site” location relative to any above mentioned details.
* vii.
The climate information is especially important when considering outdoor production systems, in particular, details such as hail storms (if any) severity of rain fall, wind direction and speed plus seasonal weather patterns etc, to allow for adequate protection of the crop.
Very obviously the more detailed the information provided to Cotswold Hydroponics Ltd the more accurately the project can be
assessed, however, experience has shown that ball park estimates are usually sufficient for the customer* to evaluate the overall financial viability of a project.
* In order to reach a sensible decision upon a proposed project it is necessary for the customer to carry out a considerable research programme for himself which would include:
Local market potential for selected product.
Provincial market potential.
Export market potential.
If shipping the products out of area, is adequate, reliable and frequent transport available to pint of sale, allow packaging and product transportation costs in budget.
Secure genuine statistics of average (annual) returns to grower of said product for at least the past five years.
Check that the proposal and site qualifies for legal rights to use water and drainage for this purpose.
Check that the proposed site has no legal encumbrances, liens or lease considerations which could be deleterious to the long term well being of the project.
Secure realistic costings for the provision of all labour, expendables, transport, energy, insurance, local or industry levies, ground rents and/or rates, capital finance and interest charges etc.
Prepare realistic budgetary data including cash flow forecasts for at least two seasons ahead.
Confirm availability of total project finance before any major “on site” work commences and allow sufficient working funds in budget to support the operation for the total period prior to cash flow generation.
The above information is offered only because experience has shown that the business aspect of commercial growing tends to be a weak link in project planning and operation. Cotswold Hydroponics Ltd does not offer ongoing financial budgetary services; rather it concentrates on the areas of its true expertise, being the design and technical operation of Hydroponic growing systems.
Please contact our office for any further information you require to help you in the development of your project, be it a small installation around the home or a multi hectare commercial project, we have the technology and the experience to assist you.