What is Hydroponics

Have you been thinking of giving hydroponics growing a try? Hydroponics is a type of farming that allows you to grow your crop at any time during the year. You don’t have to simply rely on the soil and hope for preferable weather.

With hydroponics, you don’t need soil or conventional fertilizer for growth. By growing your plants in a water based environment, you have the ability to control their entire environment. With the use of modern hydroponic growing systems, custom lighting, and nutrient products, the possibilities are endless.

Types of Hydroponic Systems

There are six types of hydroponic systems out there with multiple brands and variations.

Wick Systems: When you use a wick system for hydroponic growing it will not need any air or water pumps. Nutrients and water are transported to your plants root zone through a wick. This can appear as a root or even a type of felt material. The best way to successfully grow plants with a wick system is to make sure that your growing media can provide water and nutrients to the plants well. These are a great choice for smaller plants.

Drip Water Culture (DWC): A DWC system uses a reservoir to contain your nutrient solutions. The roots of your plants hang above to obtain the correct amount of oxygen, water, and nutrients. An air pump is used to pump bubbles into your solution. This will keep your roots from drowning. Most of the time your plants can be placed in a foam board or whatever kind of top you are using for the drip system. The plants can be placed in net pots with your preferred growing media. A drip system is great because it is user friendly and produces less waste.

Nutrient Film Technique (NFT): This commercial hydroponic system grows plants in a channel. Your nutrient solution will constantly circulate throughout the channel. Your plants can be placed in net pots with growing media along the channel. These systems are also great for reducing waste.

Ebb and Flow (Flood & Drain): An ebb and flow system will not expose the roots of your plants to your nutrient solution all the time. Your grow tray with your selected growing medium will be flooded a few times a day depending on the needs of your individual plants. To initiate this flooding cycle, a combination of the reservoir, water pump, and a timer is used. Once the grow tray has been flooded the solution will go back into the reservoir to wait for the next cycle to start. Ebb and flow systems are also energy efficient and can be customized to fit the needs of your plants.

Aeroponics: In an aeroponic system, your roots will hang above the nutrient solution. With this kind of system, the nutrient solution is misted on the root zone of your plants. You can set the system to mist in small amounts or in a constant cycle. These systems are nice because they allow for a greater amount of oxygen to reach your plants.

Drip Systems: A drip system is very popular among commercial growers. In this system, a pump is used to supply water and nutrients to your plants. Small emitters are used to drip this solution onto the plants. These are great because they give you a ton of control over when you feed your plants.

Benefits of Hydroponics

There are many helpful benefits to hydroponic farming for commercial growers. By taking a standard outdoor soil growth out of the equation and replacing that with a more controlled environment like you have with hydroponics, you can have complete control over your plants during each stage of their life. A hydroponic garden can be custom created in any indoor space and they are great for saving water. Since you are able to control the exact environment of plants grown in a hydroponic operation, your plants will taste better, have higher nutrient values, and produce higher yields.

Not only is hydroponic growing good for you and your business, but the environment as well. By having the ability to recycle water and some nutrients, you can reduce the resources that are needed to produce plants. A hydroponic growing operation also allows you to grow more in a smaller space.

Hydroponic Products from MORR Inc.

At MORR Inc., we have multiple hydroponic products, solutions, and hydroponic environmental controllers that allow you to completely customize and control your plants environment. We’ve highlighted a few of our favorites below.

Grow Media:

When it comes to growing media, Cultilene and Riococo are wonderful choices for hydroponic systems. Cultilene offers a wide assortment of grow blocks, cubes, slabs and other growing media while Riococo also offers many great high-quality blocks, plugs, grow bags, and more.  

Lights:

One of the best lighting options for hydroponic growing is our RedFlag products light bar. It has LED natural and red spectrum lighting. This light can help you to improve your yield and control the growth rate of your crops.

Hydroponic Plumbing:

At RedFlag, we have many of our own plumbing products including multiple PVC options, circulation pumps, and hydroponic pumps to fit your individual hydroponic systems. Our PVC true union ball valve has been created with the highest quality molding process and is an industry favorite for durability and long term use.

Another great hydroponic plumbing product is our cylindrical cone bottom tanks with polyethylene support stands. This tank and support stand combination provides easy access to drain fittings and is very reliable.

Dry Bulk Fertilizer:

At MORR Inc., we also supply farmers and growers with a large selection of dry bulk fertilizer options. Below are some of the products we’d recommend.

• RedFlag Blends RF Grow: This fertilizer is meant to be used during the vegetative stage of growth and supplies plants with all their needed micro and macro nutrients.
• RedFlag Blends RF Bloom: An essential product for the bloom phase of plant growth, this helps your crop to get everything that they need at this stage.
• RedFlag Blends Iron Cal Mag: More potent and cost effective than other fertilizer on the market, this solution is an excellent source of Nitrogen, Calcium, Magnesium, and Iron.
• Haifa Chemicals: A specialty blend of plant nutrients, Haifa chemicals provide high efficiency solutions for plant growth.

Should I incorporate hydroponic farming into my business?

As a farmer or grower, there are many options and opportunities out there to utilize hydroponic growing in your business. Here at MORR Inc., we provide you with time tested and environmentally friendly solutions for optimum plant growth. If you would like to know more about our hydroponic growing products, feel free to reach out to us with any questions.