Hydroponics

The term hydroponics comes from the greek words hydro meaning water and ponos meaning labor. Simply hydroponics means feeding the plants through nutrients in the water.

How does it work?

Well, the plants are grown in a medium which will help with the distribution of the nutrient-rich water. The plants then take in their nutrient directly while taking in water.

In our systems, we currently use coco coir and perlite, depending on the type of automatic watering system utilized. These growing mediums allow the nutrient-rich water to travel easily to the roots of the plant allowing them to receive the nutrition needed to grow. The nutrients, or fertilizer and supplements, used in our hydroponic vertical tower system are all naturally based. All of the liquid fertilizers are blended with a natural base, such as Seaweed Extract or Humic Acid, and all the dry formulations are from naturally occurring earth deposits or agricultural waste.

Hydroponics is absolutely the easiest way to grow almost anything. Think about it…The soil in your garden contains a lot of chemicals, but not necessarily those needed by the plants you wish to grow. Also, these chemicals are almost always out of balance; too much nitrogen, not enough iron, the wrong Ph or no organic matter for holding water and nutrients.

How do you know if chemicals in your soil are safe?

There are more harmful chemicals in your garden soil than one realizes. There are no petrochemicals in the fertilizer solution used in our system. Our fertilizer solution is a complete formula containing all the essential plant food and in the exact proportions needed by most plants. There is also the misconception that you need all these big tanks, pumps, heavy gravel, etc... This is not true with the hydroponic system we utilize. The lightweight insulated high-density Polystyrene pots changes the way we do hydroponic and organic growing.

You can do hydroponics with our system in two ways:

1.  Re-circulating (or re-cycling) the water and nutrients is the standard method. The water and nutrients are reused until they are out of balance, then they are dumped and the process is repeated. This is the part that most gardeners don’t understand and eventually make costly mistakes by trying to use the same fertilizer solution too long.

With re-circulating units, we recommend that you recycle the water and nutrients for a set period of time then apply the “used” solution on other plants not grown hydroponically. For example, the re-circulating system reuses the solution for two weeks before it is replaced. About five gallons is used on other plants every two weeks. This is a very small amount of water and nutrients to dispose of. If you feed this solution to other plants you will find that it may increase their growth and reduce some diseases.

2.  The other way to do hydroponics is by drip irrigation into a soilless mix. There is no re-circulation so the fertilizers do not get out of balance and there are no constant adjustments. This is called the “one pass” system or simple “drip irrigation.”

Basic ingredients of a hydroponic system...

Let’s look at the basic ingredients of a hydroponic system then it will become clearer… You need a “soilless” growing mix, a complete soluble formula, a nutrient tank and a pot to hold the plants. That’s it for a simple manual system. To automate the system add a simple timer and pump, some drip tubing and you are ready to garden the easy and practical way. It’s not only practical but economical as well.

After extensive research, we feel that this is one of the best ways for growing. The Urban Farmer is proud to offer these systems because we are an authorized dealer for the patented vertical growing system called Verti-Gro®. We bring you this patented hydroponic vertical tower system with different options that allow you to grow more efficiently and effectively.

The vertical hydroponic towers allow you to grow more in less space. Automatic watering systems allow you to have a more hands off approach while being water and energy efficient. Feel confident that your plants are receiving the exact natural nutrients needed to grow successfully.

We have systems available for patios and for the backyard. Please visit our Products page to learn more about our different residential systems available for purchase. Please contact us to find out more about our community garden projects.