Hydroponic Gardening: A Guide for Beginners

The first thing you have to do when you want to set up a hydroponic garden is choosing a system that fits your needs best. The important factors to take into consideration are: the space available, what type of plant you want to grow and the quantity, the time you have in maintaining the system, and cost.

The three basic hydroponic systems recommended for beginners are Ebb and Flow, Water Culture, and Wick. These three could be established from separate components or bought complete from a hydroponic store or online.

Wick Hydroponic System: This set up is the simplest and easiest one, because they're no moving components. It includes a water reservoir and hydroponic nutrients above it, and a container with growing medium. A wick connects the two containers, which draws nutrient-rich water up to the growing medium where it's being absorbed by plants.

This hydroponic system is excellent for learning the basics, but it may not work very well with big plants or those that require much water, like the lettuce. This is because the wick is not able to provide water quick enough. This set up works very well with peppers, herbs, and micro greens.

Water Culture:

This is another very simple hydroponic system. In this set up, plants are placed into a platform made of Styrofoam that sits on top of the water reservoir. An air pump is included to the water reservoir to supply oxygen to the roots. This is ideal for plants that need much water, but not for more long-range plants like tomatoes.

Ebb and Flow Hydroponic System: This set up is a bit more complex but very versatile. It works by inundating the growing medium with nutrient solution, then draining it back to the water reservoir. You'll need a submergible pump with a timer in order to do this. One of the biggest advantages of this system is that you could use the timer to customize the watering schedule of plants based on their size, the number of plants, humidity, temperature, etc. Also, you have the option of putting plants in individual pots for easier customization or for filling the whole tray with the growing medium and directly planting in the tray.

Choosing What Plants to Grow

You can grow virtually any plant with hydroponics, but for starters it's best to begin small. The best plants to start with are vegetables and herbs that need little maintenance, grow quickly, and don't have a wide variety of nutrient requirements.

You want plants that grow fast, so you'd be able to assess how well your hydroponic system works, and adjust it as needed. It's a huge disappointment to wait for several months until harvest time only to find out that your set up isn't properly working.

Plants that are maintenance free are excellent for beginners, as they let you focus on studying the system. With enough knowledge and experience, you can try growing more complex vegetables.

Good Plants to Start With:

Greens like spinach, lettuce, lake, and Swiss chard.

Herbs like parsley, basil, mint, cilantro, and oregano.

Fruits and vegetables like hot peppers, strawberries, and tomatoes.

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