Overview of Hydroponics

For novice growers, an excellent overview of the fundamentals of plant development and hydroponic gardening; including lighting, feeding, temperature and pH.

Beginners Guide to Hydroponics

Another article for novice growers, a simple FAQ regarding the technical aspects of hydroponic gardening.

General Troubleshooting

This section is written to help you tackle any problems that you may encounter.These are just some of the more common problems that can occur.

Cloning How-to

A beginner's guide to cloning with plant cuttings.

Why Coco and Run to Waste?

The key to optimised yields is an optimised environment (light, temp, RH, CO2 availability etc) and optimised nutrition. Get all of the factors right, all of the time, and you will reap optimum yields.

Run-to-waste is the term used for a hydroponics system where nutrients are not recycled. Run-to-waste systems (typically) use an inert medium that has similar fluid retention rates to that of soil. That is, run-to-waste mediums retain a high degree of moisture for an extended period of time.

Coco substrate has become the Australian grower’s choice since, perhaps, as early as 2000 - 2002. This speaks volumes about this medium….Simply, it is the best!

CO2 - An Explanation

Plants use CO2 in photosynthesis. Without CO2 photosynthesis effectively ceases. By increasing the naturally occurring atmospheric levels of CO2 it is possible to increase the rate of photosynthesis. This means cell division (growth) occurs more rapidly; which means plant growth occurs more rapidly. CO2 can increase yields by 10 – 30% and reduce growing times by 10 – 30%.

Why Digital Ballasts?

Digital ballasts use switching electronics and small frequency inductors to control current and voltage to the lamp. They contain a ‘microprocessor’ similar to what’s used in a home computer. This allows Digital Ballasts (or E-Ballasts) to run both M.H and HPS lamps, make adjustments for based on the type of lamp it's running, and will even compensate for degrading lamps by increasing output!

EC Conversion Chart

Electro Conductivity or Conductivity Factor (EC x10) is the ONLY Accurate measurement if relaying Nutrient strength to another person.

Vegetable pH / PPM / cF Values

Optimal nutrient pH, PPM & cF values for hydroponic gardening of vegetables.

Floor Mounted Carbon Filters

Ideally, carbon filters should be mounted close to the roof for greatest efficiency, as the warm stale air will rise towards the ceiling. For larger carbon filters their weight can make this difficult.

By following the steps below, you can use the stability of the floor to support your large, solid carbon filter, whilst still drawing away that stale warm air.

Fundamentals Of Water

Water and water treatment is a complex business.The quality of water, suburb-to-suburb, city-to-city varies significantly.

When you really think about it, once you have created the right environment, provided the right nutrition, and optimized everything in the grow room the rest comes down to water. Plain old water! Hydroponics at this point becomes 99% H20. So, how to get decent water?

Hydroponic Growing Systems

While there are many different hydroponic systems available on the world market they all can be broken into two categories. One is the recycling system and the other is the run-to-waste system.