How to Grow Hydroponic Plants - Tips on Setting Up a Hydroponic Garden

You can either build your own hydroponic system or if you are a beginner, you can buy one.
The essentials of a basic hydroponic set up include:

  1. Lights
  2. Ventilation
  3. Grow medium
  4. Grow tray
  5. Overflow
  6. Nutrients and fertilizers
  7. Reservoir
  8. Enzymes
  9. Air stone
  10. Water pump

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Once the hydroponic system is set up, germinate the seeds and prepare the nutrient feed as instructed. When the plants are ready for transplant, place the roots correctly in the nutrient solution. Then, turn on the pump and watch them grow!

HOW DO I MANAGE MY HYDROPONIC GROW?
Closely monitor the system. At first, check the system twice a day, then reduce to once a day when you’re comfortable with how the system is running. Keep the water and nutrient levels consistent and pH level between 5-6. Finally, check the water pump regularly to ensure the tank doesn’t dry out which may cause the pump to burn.

Monitoring Plant Growth
Plants grown in a hydroponic system will grow quicker than conventionally grown plants. A way to track plant growth is to measure the following every 2-3 days:

  • Plant height: measure from the edge of the container to the top of the plant stem to ensure consistent measuring.
  • Number of leaves: count all leaves including newly emerging leaves.
  • Measure size of leaves: can be done for each leaf, or by choosing a sampling of leaves to calculate the average length and width.

Inspecting for Pests and Diseases
Even though a hydroponic environment is controlled, the plants should be regularly inspected for pests and diseases. Plants that are infested with pests or show signs of disease can quickly impact the health of neighbouring plants.

Look for insects, eggs, tiny webs, and any other signs indicating a pest has been present. Other signs of pests or disease can also include chewed, speckled, spotted, yellow, or brown leaves, especially on the bottom side of leaves. Wilting leaves, stunted plant growth, and brown slimy roots can also indicate disease.

If a plant is infested with pests or show signs of disease, it should be removed from the system immediately and treated separately until it returns to a healthy condition.

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Very cool guide! Thank you for sharing this! I love the growth in DWC, it’s truly an amazement to watch plants grow in hydro!

Would love to hear your tips on pythium (my one and only experience with DWC as a home grower!)

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Thank you for your comments @Jordan!

I will let our team know that you’re interested in an article on pythium, and see what they can put together for us to share!

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I didn’t take any pictures of it (I was pretty embarrassed,) but if you unleashed several boxes of instant Jell-O mix on your roots? That’s what it looked like. Pure snot. I used hardcore H202 (and I didn’t do my homework on concentrated H202, guess who got a nice chemical burn out of that?) and it would burn the slime off. Put the entire pot into a wash tub with a spray nozzle, could spray them up so they looked great, but next day, boom. Even went hardcore with some Physan-20, that’s when I gave and up decided to be a poster boy for watching your water temps and keeping things sterile lol!

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