A Beginner’s Guide: Hydroponics

This article explains what hydroponic gardening is and how it works. Hydroponic Gardening is beneficial for any small-based root systems such as strawberries, herbs, or small leaf lettuce. To build a hydroponic drip irrigation bucket system you will need: a 5-gallon bucket with lid, reducer, ½” clear tubing, ½” x ¼” Bushing, hose bar adapter, plumber’s tape, drill with 5″ hole saw bit and a 2″ hole saw bit, submersible pump with 3.5-foot cord, nutrient brand, irrigation stake, seedling, and 5″ net pot.

Steps:

1. Keeping your net pot in mind, you will need to cut a hole in the top of the 5-gallon bucket lid with the 5″ hole saw bit. Make sure the net pot fits.
2. Drill a hole in the side with the 2″ drill bit to fit the pump’s cord through. Drill another hole off to the side of the 5″ hole on the lid to feed the clear tubing through.
3. Thread the cord through the hole, and attach the clear ½” tubing to the pump. Then feed the clear tubing through the top hole and attach the reducer. Fill the bucket with about 3 gallons of water and your nutrient.
4. Firmly secure the lid, and test that the water comes out of the reducer.
5. Place the plant into the net pot and place the irrigation stake into the soil with the reducer that has the ¼” tubing attach

Any type of hydroponic drip system will be able to provide your plants with much more nutrients than any other classic planting system. Nutrients are provided to the top of the grow media by gravity or a pump which draws much-needed oxygen into the media as the nutrients drain out.

This method should work well for almost any type of plant. The only downside to this type of planting is that pumps can fail, and drip lines can get clogged. Hydroponic systems provide a steady stream of nutrients to the plant and allow it to grow faster and bigger.