If you're planning on making a hydroponics vegetable system, you have six options to choose from and this article covers them all, detailing the advantages and disadvantages of eachDespite being around for a century, hydroponic vegetable growth technology as we know it today, was not popularized until the 1930s. Since then, this technology has gone far beyond being used in remote locations and is now a growing industry that rivals classical soil-based agriculture. Even more so, a lot of do-it-yourself and home based hydroponic vegetable growth systems have been marketed over the past few years, becoming an increasingly popular trend as people learn about their benefits. Six types of hydroponics vegetable growth systems have been defined and I plan on covering all of them as well as explaining how they work.
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The Wick Hydroponics Vegetable Growth System
The Wick is the most basic hydroponics system and it's probably the easiest to create. It's basically a tray held on top of a reservoir, with a wick connecting the two. The nutrient solutions you'll be using to grow the vegetables are drawn from the reservoir to the tray and an airstone connected to an air pipe will filter and oxygenize the water based solution.
Advantages of the Wick
- easy to create, even if you're not a technical person
- cheap
- can use a variety of growing mediums
- the system is passive
Disadvantages of the Wick
- the system cannot support larger amounts of plants (or large plants) due to the fact that the wick cannot transport the nutrient solution as fast and in the quantity needed
- not a lot of room for improvements when compared to other hydroponics vegetable growth systems
The Water Culture Hydroponics Vegetable Growth System
Another very simple design, which means it's great for do-it-yourself people. The principle behind the water culture system is that the plants are held in the water and nutrient solutions using a Styrofoam floating "plank" that is placed directly on the reservoir. Again, an air pump and airstone are used to oxygenize the system.
Advantages of Water Culture Systems
- Water loving plants will…well, love it
- Straightforward design that doesn't require a lot of components
- Cheap to make
Disadvantages of Water Culture Systems
- Plants that aren't specifically keen on loads of water will do much better with other hydroponic vegetable growth systems
- Large plants cannot be grown in it
The Drip Hydroponics Vegetable Growth System
Drip systems are probably the most common of the six, but they're more popular with large greenhouses rather than home based hydroponics systems. Just like with the Wick systems, a growing tray is placed on top of a reservoir full of water and nutrients, but this time there's a submersed nutrient pump that's connecting the two. A timer is attached to the pump, controlling the flow of solution from the tank to the tray, drip by drip (hence the name). Some systems come with an overflow hatch in the tray, so if the pump floods the tray with too many nutrient drips, these fall back down into the reservoir.
Advantages of the Drip System
- Very efficient, since it reuses nutrients that end up being in excess in the tray
- The timer handles everything automatically, so this system will require less attention
- Can grow larger amounts of vegetables
Disadvantages of the Drip Systems
- Recovering extra nutrients that get in the tray is a double edged sword, since when these come back, they alter the pH of the general solution over time
- More expensive than the Wick and Water Culture hydroponics vegetable growth systems
The Flood and Drain Hydroponics Vegetable Growth System
Quite similar in design to the Drip, the Flood and Drain hydroponics system handles the nutrient pump a bit differently. Instead of dropping the solution into the tray where the vegetables are grown drip by drip, it temporarily floods the tray, shuts itself down and allows the excess solution to drain back down and so on.
Advantages of Flood and Drain Systems
- Can be used with a large array of growing mediums
- Can sustain large amounts of vegetables, or larger ones since there's no risk that they run short of nutrients when the flood cycle occurs
Disadvantages of Flood and Drain Systems
- The system is more vulnerable to power outages
- You have less control over the pump, so in case you get a broken pump or timer, things could get messy
- If the flood/drain cycle is interrupted by some reason, the roots of the vegetables will be dried out
The Nutrient Film Technique Hydroponics Vegetable Growth System
Nutrient Film Technique, or NFT for short is a system that works without a timer and shares some similarities with all of the above mentioned hydroponics vegetable growth systems. Just like with water culture systems, NFT ones suspend plants over the nutrient solution, with only their roots dipped inside it. A nutrient pump continuously flows solution inside the tray where the plants are suspended, just like with wick systems. And like with drip or flood ones, the solution that is not absorbed flows down back into the reservoir, where it is recycled.
Advantages of NFT Systems
- Continuous flow, so no extra work is needed in setting timers
- Uses air as the growing medium, which eliminates the need to change the medium after each crop, like you would with other hydroponic vegetable systems
Disadvantages of NFT Systems
- Because they're suspended in air, plant roots can dry out very fast if a problem occurs and there's no more solution pumped in the tray
- Less control over the entire system
- Vulnerable to power outages and pump failures
The Aeroponic Vegetable Growth System
It might sound confusing that you're growing plants in a hydroponic (water based) system that is called aeroponic (air based) but in truth this one uses both mediums to work towards your goal. It's also the most high tech of the six, which means it's more expensive and less popular with home systems. Aeroponic growth systems have a rather different design from the rest, with the plants being suspended in mid air, with their roots in the reservoir. Nutrient solution fills the reservoir half-ways, with a pump inside it that regularly pumps out a mist inside the reservoir, which gets sucked in by the plants' roots. A timer will be attached to the pump, in order to control the release of mist every few minutes.
Advantages of Aeroponic Systems
- Simple design, although it's hard to produce it on your own
- Nutrients in mist are sucked in faster by roots
Disadvantages of Aeroponic Systems
- Being suspended in the air, roots will dry out fast if the mist pump breaks down
- Timer needs to be checked out regularly, since the pump needs to work on short cycles