Hydroponic gardening was once a fringe movement that not many people knew anything about. Today, in the days of over-farmed and over-crowded land, many farmers and gardeners are taking hydroponic gardening seriously and using this method to grow food and other plants with much success.

Hydroponic gardening is similar to regular gardening, but with one notable exception: there is no soil. When the soil is removed from the growing process, the plants do not have to concentrate so much energy on sending their roots out to find nutrients. The nutrients in hydroponic gardening are supplied directly to the young roots. The plants can then spend their energy growing up and out, and producing more fruit or flowers.

This ingenious method allows plants to be grown indoors, around the year, and in any climate. You don't have to worry about soil diseases or flooding, and pest interference is kept to a minimum. An indoor hydroponic garden is almost like a self-contained farm. More on Using Varied Hydroponic Garden Piping Layouts To Grow Healthy Plants

A water pond filter is useful to help maintain the garden in balance. The internal Lowboy Filter is a low-maintenance in-the-pond mechanical and biological pond filter designed for ponds from 100 to 1000 gallons. In a properly planted and stocked pond, the Lowboy Filter will help keep pond water crystal clear. The filter contains two large filter pads with a total of 908 square inches of surface area, plus plastic bio-balls and aqua rock bio-media. This filter is easily adaptable to all pumps for your water garden and is easy to clean and maintain. Maximum flow rate is 500 gph and filters up to 1000 gallons.

Previous articles have addressed various nutrients and their roles in aquatic plant] uptake, metabolism, enzymatic adaptations, physiology and cycling. This month’s methods for supplying nutrients to submersed aquarium plants: the substrate and the water column. These two locations have been hotly debated over the last 20 years and very intensely since the introduction of PMDD(Poor Man’s dosing Drops, or some referred to them as Poor Man’s Dupla Drops) back around 1995-1996.

For the best results with aquarium plant substrate, I highly suggest that everyone reading this also read the Sears and Conlin paper. Water column: Paul Sears and Kevin Conlin among many others from the APC mailing list helped to developed a low cost simple plant nutrient formulation using KNO3, MgSO4, K2SO4 and the CMS+Boron trace mix. This approach was based upon Liebig’s law of minimums and the prevailing limnology of northern lakes and papers from such researchers as Phillips et al 1978.

More on Approaches To Supply Nutrients For Aquatic Plant Care

Aquatic plant growth is often measured as a change in total area, length, volume, height, wet or dry weight. These approaches may not always be an appropriate measure of growth at a particular phase of plant development, e.g., a germinating seed or tuber or bulb may show an overall loss in dry weight due to the utilization of food reserves during respiration, although the seed is definitely growing as evidenced by its emerging roots and shoots. You can learn more about artificial aquarium plants at the Barr Report. The relative growth rate (RGR) which is the size increase per unit interval of time has two ve|components: the net assimilation rate (NAR) and the leaf area ratio (LAR). The NAR is the rate of increase of dry weight per unit time per unit of leaf surface which is a measure of the amount of photosynthetic product going into plant material. The LAR is the ratio of leaf area to dry weight which is the measure of the proportion of the plant that is active in photosynthesis.

More on The best Aquatic Plant Resource On Planted Aquariums

When it comes to a new growth technique for the amateur gardener, it always pays to start off small and work your way up as you go along. This principle applies to hydroponics, the method by which plants are grown without soil. Hydroponic kits are the best way to get your feet wet and decide if this new growth method is right for you.

Choosing The Right Kit

Before you can choose from the many hydroponic kits on the market today, you should decide which hydroponic system is best for your beginning needs. For the most part, the water culture and the wick method are the easiest to understand and set-up, particularly on a small scale. However, you are just as likely to find uncomplicated ebb and flow or nutrient film kit options as well.

Price may well be a deciding factor and both the system as well as the size will dictate how much the hydroponic kits will cost. Simple kits will start near $100 and climb up to hundreds of dollars based on the amount of extra equipment as well as the number of plants you plan to cultivate at one time. More on Ease Into Hydroponics With Hydroponic Kits