Never assume that a plant is ignorant. They may not have a brain so to speak and they are not able to move about freely, but a plant is far from being unintelligent. Plants don’t need to attend school to learn how to go about their business. A plant may never obtain a Harvard degree, yet those who seek to totally understand them can obtain an education as high as the level of doctorate and still not know everything about plants.
Plants need no clock or calendar.
Plants tell time by the light. A plant does what it does according to the length of daylight hours and intensity of the light. The number of daylight hours guides a plant as to when it is time to do each step of their growth and production. They are never late, nor do they loose track of time. Lighting is of huge importance to the indoor grower where direct sunlight is impossible to attain.
Plants will never tell a lie.
Isn’t it refreshing to know that there is an entire society of life that you can count on to be honest 100% of the time? A plant has no concept of anything beyond the truth. It would never occur to them to toss in a few irrelevant notions over the course of a day. They may not be able to utter a single audible word, yet they have much to say and tomes of knowledge to impart.
Aquaponic systems are being increasingly recognised as having potential for solving some of the many problems facing modern agriculture and aquaculture. MIKE NICHOLS profiles two very different commercial aquaponic systems that embrace new ideas and innovations.
Nick Savidov with basil crop and fish tanks in background.
The system of Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) was originally designed and developed by Dr Allen Cooper. The concept is described by Dr Cooper as follows: " A very shallow stream of water containing all the dissolved nutrients required for growth is recirculated past the bare roots of crop plants in a water tight gully.....Ideally, the depth of the recirculating stream should be very shallow, little more than a film of water - hence the name nutrient film. This ensures that the thick root mat, which develops in the bottom of the gully, has an upper surface which, although moist, is in the air. Consequently, there is an abundant supply of oxygen to the roots of the plants. "
Hydroponics, which literally means, ''working water,'' is the growth of plants without soil. The grower provides the plants with all of the nutrients they would usually get from the soil though water instead. Hydroponics can be used on a mass productions scale, or it can easily be scaled down for use by the home gardener as well. If you are new to hydroponics, growing hydroponic lettuce is a good place to start. The plants are easy to work with and forgiving to novice gardeners.
Most people do not understand pH in Hydroponics.
In all facets of growing plants, the most important success factor is disregarded. Regardless of whether you are growing plants in ground soil, containers or using hydroponics pH is very important. Knowing the range of pH level that each plant does well in is a grower’s key to success in any growing situation.
The secret to ultimate growth and bumper harvests is simple.
PH is measured on a scale of 1 to 14, with 7 being neutral. Below 7pH is acidic soil and above 7pH is alkaline soil. Many plants adapt to lower pH levels. Others turn a sickly yellowish green and begin declining, and some will die quite rapidly. While many plants adapt to a varying range of pH, each performs most robustly at the pH level it prefers. A crop’s ultimate pH can vary between plant types you want to grow.
You can’t get blood out of a rock.
Nor can a plant find nutrients in the rock wool you are housing its roots in. Your pH level is extremely important to hydroponic growing. With no soil present to provide naturally available nutrients, your crop is totally dependent on you to provide its every need. pH is the key element in maintaining balanced nutrients in every growing media utilized in modern growing.
They may not have a brain so to speak and they are not able to move about freely, but a plant is far from being unintelligent. Plants don’t need to attend school to learn how to go about their business. A plant may never obtain a Harvard degree, yet those who seek to totally understand them can obtain an education as high as the level of doctorate and still not know everything about plants.
