Ebb and flow VS Drip system

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Do you really need to read an entire article to determine which of two very similar hydroponics systems are best for you? I think so, because each of them have some small particularities that can make a world of difference for you in the long run. Find out which one is better suited for you in this versus article between a hydroponics drip system and an ebb and flow.

Building and Installation Difficulty

Both types of systems work on pretty much the same principles and are quite easy to set up if you’re buying a ready-made kit that you just need to install. Although both systems are slightly harder to build from scratch in comparison to water culture, the ebb and flow has a slight edge, due to the fact that the drip component in the system bearing its name is harder to get working. So ebb and flow hydroponics systems win a point at this category.

Reliability

When I say reliability, I’m thinking of how often a particular system breaks down and how much risks does it take. Another aspect of reliability I will take into account is the damage these systems produce if they do indeed break downbecause it’s not the same thing if your hydroponic system breaks and floods your entire greenhouse, or if it breaks and spills a few drips on the floor. And I guess you already noticed where I’m going with this, namely that an ebb and flow system does a lot more damage if something breaks, thus it is less reliable than a hydroponics drip system.

However, there are certain ebb and flow products out there that come with an automatic water pump controller that spots when something goes wrong and cuts off the water pump so it doesn’t make mess. And honestly, if you’re serious about gardening, you shouldn’t be caught without such a protection system. Still, for making us take this extra measure, the ebb and flow system loses one point to the continuous drip.

Efficiency

Efficiency refers to how well and how fast plants will grow in a specific system as well as how much of the supplies you will use will go to waste. From the perspective of growing efficiency, both systems do fairly well, so none gets the extra edge (after all, they work on almost the same principles, so there shouldn’t be large variations in performance either). But when it comes to supplies efficiencythe ebb and flow hydroponics system will prove to be quite the waster. Because it constantly floods the plant tray then pulls back the excess water/nutrients in the nutrient container, the pH levels in here will be on a constant fluctuation. This will force you to change the solution more often, since an unstable pH can have some nasty effects on your plants. On the other hand, although a hydroponics drip system will still have this problem; it will have it at a much lower rate, which gives it the edge in efficiency over the ebb and flow. 2-1 for drip!

Power Consumption

The fact that the drip system uses a special pump header to control the flow of water doesn’t affect power consumption at all. So the power these two systems eat up should be similar. But obviously, the main power hungry component is the lighting system, so whatever lighting system your hydroponics kit comes with will determine its power consumption ratio. Since the systems themselves are on equal terms in this category, neither one gets any points, leaving the final score 2-1 for the hydroponics drip system!

Hydroponics Worldwide A Look At Growing Systems Around The Globe

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The advent of hydroponic gardening has redefined the crop-growing industry worldwide. Western nations such as Canada and the United States, along with eastern countries such as Japan are currently at the forefront of the blooming hydroponics industry, maintaining a steady output of large yields and clean, healthy produce. East and west, the hydroponics industry is steadily growing around the globe. Commercial hydroponics is appealing because of its effectiveness and sustainability.

Leading nations are not the only ones profiting from hydroponics gardening technology – developing countries are also beginning to utilize hydroponics gardening systems because of their efficiency and the agricultural benefits of hydroponic growing.

Commercial hydroponics has grown exponentially throughout the world over the last decade. Small- and large-scale hydroponic farms can be found in countries such as Spain, New Zealand, Mexico and Australia. Nicaragua produces over 125 million pounds of hydroponically grown peppers annually. Thanks to the sustainability and efficiency of hydroponics gardening, countries like Nicaragua can perpetually produce crops while bringing in substantial revenue.

Countries such as Israel can benefit from hydroponics gardening systems because hydroponics prevents water from being wasted in the soil. Hydroponic systems both save and recycle water and nutrient solutions.

While hydroponics growing has an increasing commercial appeal, more individual households are also taking advantage of hydroponic systems. Design and construction of hydroponics systems also make hydroponic gardening appealing due to their portability.

Thanks to hydroponic growing, healthy and high-yielding crops are being grown in places such as Antarctica and the International Space Station. The hydroponics garden in Antarctica is used to provide the staff of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station with at least one fresh salad a day, and a variety of fruits and vegetables typically unavailable in the past.

Climate in indoor hydroponics systems is easily controllable, adding to the universal appeal of hydroponic gardening.

As the world population steadily grows (experts estimate the global population will reach 8.9 billion by 2050) hydroponics gardening systems may play an even more important role due to the sustainability and economic efficiency of hydroponics growing.

Market Gardening On A Budget

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Market gardening is a great job. Bringing fresh healthy food to appreciative customers can be enjoyable and profitable. But if you are on a budget, how can you start market gardening without breaking the bank? Here’s some suggestions to get started growing for market on a budget.

Step 1: Finding land to start market gardening. Here’s the good news: you don’t have to own a farm to be a farmer! In most rural areas, there is good land that is underused. Put the word out to your neighbours that you are looking for a small plot for a market garden. You can also find land by driving around and looking for fields that appear un-worked, without animals grazing. Ask local farmers if they might be interested in renting you a small plot; they may even take a share of the vegetables you grow in exchange. A plot as small as 5000 square feet can produce an amazing amount of food for sale.

Step 2: Covering your start-up costs. Here’s a way to raise the start-up capital you will need for seeds and equipment. Approach your friends, family, co-workers, boy scout troop, hockey buddies, in short everybody, and tell them you will be raising delicious, fresh, naturally-grown vegetables, and if they hurry they can get on the list to get some. You can ask them for a deposit to secure their share of the bounty from your garden, or even get them to pay you in advance for veggies they will receive throughout the season. This model of market gardening is known as Community Supported Agriculture, and is a popular and successful model to start gardening for money.

Step 3: Getting your equipment. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on market gardening equipment to get started. You can hire a local farmer to plow and disc your garden space for you. A simple light stand for starting seeds indoors can be built with florescent shop lights and 2 by 2 lumber. Shop light usually come with chains that will let you adjust their height as your plants grow. A market garden of up to an acre can be managed with mostly hand tools, often available cheap at farm auctions. If necessary, you can buy a used rear-tine roto-tiller, or rent one as required. Other recommended supplies include drip or soaker hose for irrigation, and a roll of floating row cover to protect your plants from weather and insect damage.

Step 4: Ordering seed. This is one place where you don’t want to skimp too much. Check the seed catalogs from different suppliers, and find the best prices and sizes of seed packets that suit your growing needs. It’s better to order too much rather than too little seed; if you run out in the middle of the season, more seed may be hard to find. And most seeds will keep for several years, so anything you don’t plant can be used next season.

Step 5: Putting it all together. You now have your land, some customers, start-up capital, and market gardening equipment. Now you actually have to grow the delicious vegetables your customers are expecting. To start with, you need a production plan for your garden. You need to figure out how much of each crop you need to grow, when to start growing them, and when they need to be replanted to ensure a continuous harvest. Your planning will be based on such factors as the length of your growing season, your date for last frost in the spring and first frost in the fall, the number of customers you have, and the equipment you have available. For example, if you have ten customers that each want one head of cabbage from you each week, you will obviously need at least that many cabbages available for harvest on a weekly basis. And since not every seed germinates, and there will be some losses due to weather or insects or disease, you should allow for a ‘safety factor’ when determining how many plants to start. To be sure you will have 10 cabbages ready for harvest, you might start 15 seeds to allow for losses. Follow this kind of analysis for each crop you plan to grow.

Step 6: Maintaining your market garden. Market gardening is real work, requiring regular daily attention to be successful. You will spend time each day in watering, weeding and feeding; the gardener’s WWF. One key to this is, don’t start too big a garden the first year. Perhaps just grow vegetables for a few friends, then as your experience grows you can increase the size of your garden.

Kitchen Food Dehydrators – A History Steeped In Piracy

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How do you feed a world that is becoming increasingly hungry? This is not a new question and one that according to the Food Preservation Team from the Department of Nutritional Science at the University of Missouri has been plaguing food engineers for decades if not centuries. According to their research achieving this grand goal cheaply and efficiently on a global scale is the challenge. Food preservation through dehydration may hold the key to feeding masses of hungry people. While the future of food dehydration may be stellar, its history over the last several centuries may hold some surprises.

Food drying or dehydrating is believed to be one of the oldest methods of food preservation throughout human history. It allowed hunter-gatherer societies to successfully travel, explore and hunt for different food sources. The development of agriculture was the single, major factor that made it possible for mankind to settle in permanent communities and transition from hunter-gatherer nomadic tribes. How to save or preserve these foods for a later date is a whole separate study. Research has showed that the first ancient stable, settled, civilization arose in Mesopotamia and Egypt in the Middle East. The uncovering of dried fruits, grains and dried, salt preserved fish and meat are traced back to over seven thousand years to these first ancient civilizations. Farming eliminated the constant need to search for food and allowed populations to grow through the production of a more stable food source. There are neither volumes of recorded history nor any one source of collected material on food dehydration. However very recent Middle Eastern archeological digs have un-earthed food samples which research determined to have been dried foods originating in ancient Jericho over 4000 years ago. In addition, Old Testament Biblical scholars have been able to isolate bits and pieces of scripture which mention the preservation methods of sun-drying and smoking foods over a hot fire as a means of feeding their people.

For centuries, much of the European diet depended on dried cod, known as salt cod or bacalhau (with salt) or stockfish (without). It formed the main protein source for the slaves on the West Indian plantations and was major economic force within the trade routes of the day. The next mention of food drying doesnt emerge again until around 1630. At about this time in history a band of French mavericks began appearing up and down the Yucatan peninsula and Caribbean islands. They were known as the buccaneers. The term buccaneer was actually derived from the Caribbean Arawak word buccan which is referencing a wooden frame for smoking meat. The meat of preference at the time was the plentiful, slow moving manatee or sea cow. From this became derived in French the word boucane and hence the name boucanier for French hunters who used their wooden frames to smoke meat from feral cattle and pigs on Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic). History of course tells us the rest of the story about the buccaneers. English settlers occupying Jamaica began to spread the name buccaneers with the meaning of ruthless pirates when in reality it was referring to their ability to dry meat. The name became universally adopted later in 1684 when the first English translation of Alexandre Exquemelins book The Buccaneers of America was published.

Along with an amazingly colorful history which includes ancient roots and ruthless piracy, food dehydration is even today on the forefront of cutting edge food engineering and preservation. Todays food dehydrator is a surprisingly simple capsule of modern technology and historical know how. Todays typical kitchen food dehydrator has electronically generated air flow along with micro-processor governed temperature control. In place of the wood frame on the beach is an amazingly compact, ergonomically designed piece of history that fits snuggly on a kitchen counter. With multiple level trays, even air flow and constant temperature control a person can dehydrate a large volume of fresh fruits, veggies and meats literally over night. The simplicity, efficiency and very low cost of the modern food dehydrator is once again taking center stage in the complex world of food preservation and engineering. Developing nations and countries that have endured natural disasters are re-discovering the practicalities of food dehydration to feed their hungry masses. The buccaneers of yester-year had no idea how their simple practice of meat drying on the beach would become a modern means of feeding a hungry world.

Home Hydroponic Automated Home Gardening

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Hydroponic is very common these days that even a 9-year-old child already knows what hydroponic is. In home gardening settings there is what we call automated home gardening with the use of hydroponics. This home hydroponic system is a gardening system that allows us to grow plants without the use of soil. With home hydroponic system you can also grow plants without them actually ever seeing real sunlight. It uses plant light to impact and make use of photosynthesis which is the process by which a plant takes in light and turns it into a fuel. A home hydroponic system can grow any kinds of plants from edible to non-edible plants, from seasonal to off-season plants, and even plants that only grow in certain climates.
Hydroponic is very common these days that even a 9-year-old child already knows what hydroponic is. In home gardening settings there is what we call automated home gardening with the use of hydroponics. This home hydroponic system is a gardening system that allows us to grow plants with out the use of soil. With home hydroponic system you can also grow plants without them actually ever seeing real sunlight. It uses plant light to impact and make use of photosynthesis which is the process by which a plant takes in light and turns it into a fuel. A home hydroponic system can grow any kinds of plants from edible to non-edible plants, from seasonal to off-season plants, and even plants that only grow in certain climates.
We all know that growing plants in soils needs proper skills and experience to achieve success. In gardening, there is what we call green thumbs these are people who are so luck when it comes to growing plants. But with a home hydroponics system you dont have to have a green thumb or skills and even experience in growing plants from soil because home hydroponic system will automatically work the gardening for you. Its as if you are just operating a home appliance which usually only go through a plug and play process. Home hydroponics system is as easy as one-two-three. All you have to do is to place the stating pods of plants into the designated holes in a home hydroponic system, put some nutrient pellets, add water in the system, and lastly turn on the plant lights to start the ball rolling. There are also led lights in a home hydroponic system that will tell you if you need more water or nutrients in it. Plants grow exponentially and you will have to constantly add more water and nutrients as these plants suck up more and soaking up much more. So basically thats how a home hydroponic system works the gardening conveniently for you.
Home hydroponic system is science and an art at the same time. Science since it involves photosynthesis and hydroponics and art because the sense of growing things and gardening is part of the package. It is said that home hydroponic system is the future of growing anything using water and nutrients without the plants ever touching soil and the use of artificial light to jump start the process and make the process of photosynthesis actually happen.