Solar Panel Applications

The large, dark-blue panel atop a rooftop supplying solar-powered electricity is now a familiar image. Thousands of magazine stories have been written over the past 30 years accompanied by photos depicting them; even though relatively few homes have them. Such systems are often regarded as ‘the wave of the future’ always just out of reach, due to their relative rarity. The sticking points with these applications are always their cost and efficiency – even though there are dozens of cost-effective solar-panel applications available today.

Lawn lights are a popular example of these applications and come in the form of stakes about a foot long with lights mounted on the stake with solar panels on top of those. They don’t generate much power, but then not much is needed for them to do the job. They can be placed anywhere as they require no wires and can last for years without any maintenance since they use no batteries and the bulbs are ultra-long lasting.

Calculators that are purely solar powered have been in use for decades now and that same technology has recently been expanded to encompass laptops. While these don’t currently generate enough power to run a standard hard drive or monitor, solar power has been combined with new inventions to make that unnecessary as they use something called organic cells.

A standard solar cell uses layered wafers of silicon doped with phosphorus – other elements and more complex molecules however, are also subject to the photoelectric effect. Many organic molecules will shoot off electrons when struck with light; they’re not currently as efficient, but they make up for it by being flexible and super cheap – what is more; they can be incorporated into certain inexpensive plastic alloys. This makes it possible to make an affordable keyboard or monitor that can be folded or rolled-up. With this technology, it’s possible to roll up a computer like a newspaper and tuck it in your pocket; when you want to use it, it is unrolled and powered by the available light.

There are still more applications that can be powered by a solar system. One common use of solar power is electrical fencing – whether you need to power a dog retainer system or a cattle barrier, low voltage systems are often used to keep animals in check. A small stun doesn’t harm and is often enough to keep them from wandering outside the perimeter. Many animals can jump over standard fencing, but electrifying the system discourages these attempts.

Powered boats, like cars, have batteries that start the engine and power small electrical devices when the motor is off, running lights, speedometer and more; however, those batteries need to be recharged after use. In normal circumstances the running motor recharges the battery, replacing the power needed to start it.

Clearly, the fact that battery chargers exist means that the method doesn’t always work. However, when you’re out on the water, and in many cases even when you’re near the shore, it is nigh on impossible to use a standard charger. Electrical outlets aren’t always available in docks and never on the water; this means that a solar-powered charger can come in handy just when you need it most. That same charger can recharge the battery in your RV just as easily as your boat. But beyond that emergency use, a solar-powered system can be useful for an RV in lots of ways.

Many times an RV is stationary, with its motor off. Some have generators to power the RV at those times but generators are noisy and consume gasoline or diesel that produces smelly fumes. Not exactly what you want when you’re outdoors enjoying the fresh air, however, a solar power system can supply at least part of the energy needed. It can run a radio; power a DVD and/or TV, or a small refrigerator.

Electricity generation isn’t the only possible application either water heating is a popular home-oriented application for solar power.

Small parabolic dishes are used to focus the sun’s energy into a small area; energy which is then transmitted to a water storage system. Not all such systems are meant solely for inside the house; the hot water supplied can be used to bathe the dogs outside or provide an alternative to washing the car with cold water.

Any kind of washing chore is usually easier with warm water and water from the hose gets soon cools. A solar heating system can provide a reservoir of warm water to wash the exterior of the windows, supply a sink in the garage and other uses around the house and garage.

Today’s solar systems are more efficient and cost effective than ever. They provide householders with freedom from dependence on the utility companies for all their electrical and hot water needs – and this alone makes them a good deal.

How a Hybrid Car Works

How Hybrid Car Works: A Brief Glimpse of the Car of the Future

Many people are now getting frustrated with their usual gas-guzzling conventional car because of the constant increase in fuel prices. Because of this, more and more people are looking for alternative modes of travel. Some people with cars are now leaving it on the garage and walks from home to work almost everyday to conserve fuel and some are taking the subways, and other transportation services that exist in order to save money.

However, there are some people who simply just need their car for their work. Because of this, many of this people are now considering selling their old conventional gas-guzzling cars and purchase a new kind of car that can cut fuel consumption by half. These new line of cars are called hybrid cars. Just imagine, you can effectively go more than 60 miles per gallon with hybrid cars.

Also, hybrid cars produce fewer pollutants than conventional cars. This means that not only will you cut fuel consumption by more than half, but you will also decrease the level of pollution that is poisoning the environment and people. With hybrid cars, everyone can benefit from it.

Now that you know about hybrid cars and is now considering to get one for your own, you now want to know how it works. You also want to know how it can relatively cut fuel consumption by half and you also want to know why it emits fewer pollutants than conventional cars.

First of all, you have to consider that hybrid cars can be quite expensive. However, when you compute the overall cost that you will spend on gasoline during the lifetime of the hybrid car and the conventional car, you will see that you will spend more money on conventional cars of the same weight class as the hybrid car with a higher retail price included and taxes.

Hybrid car buyers also enjoy tax incentives imposed by the government. So, when you purchase hybrid cars, you will enjoy tax breaks. Therefore, you will save more money.

The concept of the hybrid car is quite simple. Hybrid cars combine electricity, which is the cleanest energy source available, and internal combustion gasoline engine to run the car.

In simple words, hybrid cars utilize both electricity and gasoline energy to power the car. First of all, the hybrid car works when once you start the car and is in idle mode or not running, the gasoline engine is automatically shut off. This means that the car is purely running on electricity. This will explain why hybrid cars are very quiet. This will also explain why it can effectively conserve fuel consumption. Once you step on the accelerator, the internal combustion engine will automatically start up again. There are also hybrid cars that can run purely on electric mode. This is very useful if you are only using the car for local travels. You virtually don’t even need to put gasoline in the car.

However, in this type of hybrid car, you have to consider putting gasoline for long travels. You can even say that the gasoline will be used for back up power in case the battery is discharged. Most hybrid cars developed today don’t need to be plugged in like the electric car. The used kinetic energy when you are braking will be the one to recharge the battery.

This is how simple a hybrid car works. It will be comprised of a battery for energy storage, a generator, an internal combustion engine, a fuel tank, and an electric motor.

Now that you know how hybrid cars work, you now see how beneficial it can be if you are driving one. You will not only save a lot of money from fuel consumption, but you will also help save the environment by emitting far lower toxic fumes than conventional cars.

The Hydroponic Greenhouse

Greenhouses are used by many traditional gardeners and they also offer a good alternative to the hydroponic gardener as much of the same advantages apply in either setting. Hydroponics is, in fact, especially suited to greenhouses, because light, temperature and airflow are easier to maintain than in some other settings. If they are in a good hydroponic greenhouse fruits and vegetables such as strawberries, peas and many others; thrive – and flowering plants such as orchids are particularly suited to this type of environment.

Proper light control is one of the more challenging aspects of hydroponics because the medium in which the plant grows is obviously kept wet. When the medium is itself water, algae growth can be a problem. In a greenhouse it is easier to keep light from reaching under the surface; in addition to this the amount and angle of the light can be more easily controlled with shutters and shades etc.

Just like their soil based siblings hydroponically grown plants need ample light to grow well. Greenhouses don’t produce more light by themselves; rather they filter and diffuse it which keeps the interior warm and more uniformly lit. Greenhouses protect the plants from the cold exterior while at the same time letting in needed sunshine.

Many northern countries have low temperatures in the winter but several hours of sunshine daily – investing in a translucent polycarbonate greenhouse wall can easily keep a greenhouse at 100F/38C even in winter temperatures of 15F/-9C. It is also easy to install vents with fans which will keep the greenhouse from getting too hot. Temperature control for hydroponically grown plants is just as important, if not than it is for soil-based situations.

Utilizing a greenhouse to ‘keep the benefits and exclude the harm’ gives the hydroponic gardener the best of both worlds. Without a greenhouse the only alternative might be using the inside of the home – and for some people this can be a big disadvantage whereas a greenhouse, among other things, can provide a superior lighting and watering system arrangement. Few homeowners will want to give over a room to high pressure sodium or metal halide lamp fixtures and not everyone will want drip irrigation systems running through the spare room.

With a greenhouse elaborate systems can be placed in the precise position that is best for the plants; which is more convenient for the gardener. Convenience is of particular importance in hydroponics, since light and water amounts are more critical than they are in soil-based gardens. Soil-based gardens tend to be more self-regulating and without the need for special setups – even so it is easier to arrange nutrient feeding systems in a greenhouse. When it comes to hydroponically grown plants this is critical. Given reasonably good soil, plants will simply extract what they need and exclude what they don’t. In a hydroponic setting that has to be arranged by the gardener.

pH control offers the same problem and greenhouses the same solution as it is much easier for the pH to shift in a hydroponic garden. Because water is ever present acidity and alkalinity can change rapidly by large amounts and ions flow more easily in these circumstances. Working in a greenhouse allows the gardener to set up automatic pH control systems to reduce the amount of manual adjustment needed.

Greenhouses can be constructed or purchased ready made and they are an excellent investment for anyone interested in hydroponics.

Alternative Energy from the Ocean

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) was conceived of by the French engineer Jacques D’Arsonval in 1881. However, at the time of this writing the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii is home to the only operating experimental OTEC plant on the face of the earth. OTEC is a potential alternative energy source that needs to be funded and explored much more than it presently is. The great hurdle to get over with OTEC implementation on a wide and practically useful level is cost. It is difficult to get the costs down to a reasonable level because of the processes presently utilized to drive OTEC. Ocean thermal energy would be very clean burning and not add pollutants into the air. However, as it presently would need to be set up with our current technologies, OTEC plants would have the capacity for disrupting and perhaps damaging the local environment.

There are three kinds of OTEC.

“Closed Cycle OTEC” uses a low-boiling point liquid such as, for example, propane to act as an intermediate fluid. The OTEC plant pumps the warm sea water into the reaction chamber and boils the intermediate fluid. This results in the intermediate fluid’s vapor pushing the turbine of the engine, which thus generates electricity. The vapor is then cooled down by putting in cold sea water.

“Open Cycle OTEC” is not that different from closed cycling, except in the Open Cycle there is no intermediate fluid. The sea water itself is the driver of the turbine engine in this OTEC format. Warm sea water found on the surface of the ocean is turned into a low-pressure vapor under the constraint of a vacuum. The low-pressure vapor is released in a focused area and it has the power to drive the turbine. To cool down the vapor and create desalinated water for human consumption, the deeper ocean’s cold waters are added to the vapor after it has generated sufficient electricity.

“Hybrid Cycle OTEC” is really just a theory for the time being. It seeks to describe the way that we could make maximum usage of the thermal energy of the ocean’s waters. There are actually two sub-theories to the theory of Hybrid Cycling. The first involves using a closed cycling to generate electricity. This electricity is in turn used to create the vacuum environment needed for open cycling. The second component is the integration of two open cyclings such that twice the amount of desalinated, potable water is created that with just one open cycle.

In addition to being used for producing electricity, a closed cycle OTEC plant can be utilized for treating chemicals. OTEC plants, both open cycling and close cycling kinds, are also able to be utilized for pumping up cold deep sea water which can then be used for refrigeration and air conditioning. Furthermore, during the moderation period when the sea water is surrounding the plant, the enclosed are can be used for mariculture and aquaculture projects such as fish farming. There is clearly quite an array of products and services that we could derive from this alternative energy source.

Hydroponics Really Simple Plant Biology

Hydroponics is essentially a branch of horticulture or the practice of cultivating plants. Before one can cultivate well however, it is essential to have some knowledge of what plants need – and this is where botany comes in.

Some people are intimidated by the phrases ‘plant biology’ or ‘plant physiology’ and even the word botany. Certainly these sciences can be very complex and studying them is reserved for someone who is truly motivated or is a botanist by profession. However, even those who garden ‘by the seat of their pants’ can benefit from a small amount of such information, and it doesn’t have to be difficult to absorb.

Plants are living things but there is an important difference between plants and animals. Chief among those is a plant’s ability to absorb nutrients and generate what it needs – it does this by absorbing sunlight, which provides an energy source. At the same time, a plant can extract available chemical elements from the surrounding medium and transform them into food for itself.

Animals, on the other hand have to get their food from other sources, such as plants and other animals. Sunlight provides animals with warmth but not the energy to power their functions – however, there are exceptions as in all biology. Some extremely small organisms that are sometimes thought of as animals can perform plant-like activities and this makes them borderline cases.

The primary mechanism that most plants use to perform needed activities is photosynthesis which can be represented by a simple chemical equation:

6CO2 + 12H2O + light = C6H12O6 + 6O2 + 6H2O

Six molecules of carbon dioxide (6CO2) and 12 molecules of water (12H2O) combine by using energy provided by light. The chemical reaction produces glucose (C6H12O6), a type of sweetening agent. As with animals, the glucose is then later broken down to provide energy for various functions – a ‘side benefit’ to the gardener is that six molecules of oxygen (6O2) and six of water (6H2O) are given off.

That relatively simple chemical reaction allows plants to be self-sufficient. They take in available energy, pull nutrients from their surroundings and produce their own energy and food. It would be great if humans could do the same! However, there is more to the plant’s life than energy production and food consumption. In order to perform those functions plants have to be sturdy and able to breathe.

In order to carry out essential processes, the plant needs a stable structure. Since hydroponics is soil-less, that support has to come from somewhere. Externally it is supplied by the medium which can be supporting trays, strings, or rockwool, etc. Internally, the plant’s own cells provide that support, using available elements.

Calcium, for example, plays a large role in forming a plant’s cell walls these eventually build up into tissues that form different types and enable features that stand up to gravity, wind and other forces.

Plants, like animals, perform a kind of respiration – breathing. Many of us are taught in elementary school that plants take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. That’s true. But they also consume oxygen. They simply give off more than they consume.

Plants don’t have lungs of course, but they do have stoma (pores or holes) that allow them to take in CO2 and oxygen and expel some of the O2 and this process is called cellular respiration which is essential to root growth.

Preparing Your Hydroponic Garden

Hydroponics is fun experimenting with different plants grown in water or rockwool leads to a new appreciation of the factors required for them to thrive. With any successful project however, a certain amount of preparation is required.

The first, and most obvious thing needed is the plant itself, either in the form of seed or a pre-existing plant. Luckily, and with the proper care, nearly any plant can be grown hydroponically. Tomatoes are a favorite starting plant for those new to hydroponics. They drink up large amounts of water anyway and can grow to enormous size in containers without soil.

Since hydroponics doesn’t use soil to support the plant as it grows, some substitute has to be found. Water is the most common medium, but it won’t support a growing plant against gravity. The hydroponic gardener uses a number of different methods instead.

A small container with proper supports for the stem will do well – hose supports can be as simple as wooden ice cream sticks or plastic straws glued to the container or secured with string. There are also kits are available that will supply all the structural components the novice hydroponic gardener will need.

The container size will vary depending on what it is intended for but a good first try will be about 6-12 inches deep and 2-3 feet wide. A smaller container will work with smaller plants or gardens – but even a single tomato plant will require room to grow, so better to overestimate than start out too small. Transplanting is a more advanced activity that should be reserved for later.

Fill the container with water and reserve non-aqueous methods such as perlite or rockwool for later when hydroponics cultivation has become more familiar. Start with clean, but not necessarily distilled, water; plants in fact, grow better in water with minerals. However, the water you use should be free of organisms you can sterilize or microwave it to be certain.

The water will have to be aerated because plants grown in water still need to get oxygen from the medium for cellular respiration in the roots even though photosynthesis consumes CO2 and gives off O2. However, plants use up any dissolved oxygen quite quickly and this means it has to be added artificially. An aquarium pump and filter will do the job, but one designed specifically for hydroponics is best.

As with most plants, light is essential; there are some exceptions, of course – not all plants need to photosynthesize. Most plants will require 8-10 hours per day of intense light and that is best supplied by natural sunlight. It is possible to substitute, to a considerable degree, with artificial lights and sodium lamps and other types made especial for hydroponics are available.

Plants need nutrients. A good supply of NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium) fertilizer with certain trace elements is fine but you should look for those with the right percentage for growing in a hydroponic setting. Too much nitrogen, for example, can easily burn a plant living in water just as it can burn soil-grown plants. Pre-mixed solutions are the easiest to work with, but you need to ensure that they contain roughly the following elements or compounds:

Substance	Amount (per 25 gallons of nutrient solution)
Potassium Phosphate	1 tsp
Potassium Nitrate	4 tsp
Calcium Nitrate	7 tsp
Magnesium Sulfate	4 tsp
Boric Acid	1/2 pint
Manganese Chloride	1/2 pint
Zinc Sulfate	1/2 tsp
Copper Sulfate	1/2 tsp
Iron Sulfate	1/2 pint

Some water sources may already have some of these and water testing kits will help you ensure you have the right compounds and a close to neutral pH. You need to be prepared to change the solution about every two weeks.

A means of keeping the water at the right temperature is vital as most plants don’t grow well in continual cold and that is especially true of tomatoes! Unless the climate supplies all the warmth the plant will require a heating element is essential. You will also need a thermometer to measure the temperature.

Once you have your plants and the materials to support and care for them, then being a hydroponics gardener is just a matter of a little bit of research.

Plant Nutrient and Feeding Guidelines

All plants need nutrients to supply them with the elements needed for vital biochemical processes. Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) are the top three that are generally listed, but there are more than a dozen others. Magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), calcium (Ca) and several more perform essential roles in the life of hydroponic plants, just as they do in soil-based gardens.

Nitrogen is used by growing leaves; but despite the fact that the air is about 79% nitrogen, plants need it in the form of a supplement. The N2 molecule in air is very stable and plants don’t need to break it apart to use single nitrogen atoms. Phosphorus is essential to root growth and owing to its role in enzyme formation potassium aids in disease resistance.

There are other elements which perform a variety of functions to aid growing plants. Calcium, for example, is a large component of cell walls and also helps to deliver ions to various parts of the plant. Chlorine (Cl) is a component of chlorophyll and an important participant in photosynthesis. Iron is essential to the hemoglobin molecule, which is formed in plants as well as animals and it helps to transport the oxygen needed for cellular respiration.

Pre-made solutions are the easiest to work with when it comes to supplying all the elements that plants need. Dosage is important as it is with any compound. For very young plants, such as small cuttings or those that are just germinating, 1/3 teaspoon of calcium nitrate dissolved in a gallon of water is about right. Plants that are flowering will require more, about 3/4 teaspoon of calcium nitrate.

Water and temperature conditions are important factors when it comes to feeding your plants. Any solution should be applied at room temperature and this should also be the temperature of any water used in hydroponic gardens.

Dry plants should not be fed nutrients as it is possible for them to be burned by the nitrogen. However, this is rarely a problem with hydroponics, although one ‘branch’ which is known as aeroponics, where the plants are grown in air, can suffer that problem.

Allowing any water to stand overnight will help to evaporate any excess chlorine from home water sources. Mineralized water is preferable to distilled water for this purpose as it will contain calcium and other useful elements.

Regulate the pH to keep it as near neutral as possible. As plants take up nutrients they’ll tend to make the water alkaline. Add tiny small amounts of sulfuric acid to move it back to neutral. Sodium hydroxide will help shift excessively acidic water back to a neutral pH.

Hydroponically grown plants are more sensitive to nutrient levels and less able to self-regulate than those in soil-based gardens. In soil, for example, they can take up or shed compounds. Releasing compounds into the water medium doesn’t move them away from the plant. The hydroponic gardener will need to exercise more care to keep plants healthy.

Lighting the Hydroponic Garden

Most plants that are grown in a hydroponic setting require light, lots of it. This is because they photosynthesize to produce their own nutrients. They require warmth, not only to keep biochemical reactions going but to keep it going at the right rate. A hydroponic setting regulates many processes by the amount of light present, speeding some up and shutting down others.

During photosynthesis plants take in carbon dioxide and water to produce glucose and oxygen. The glucose is used as an internal energy source and much of the oxygen is expelled; but the color and intensity of the light they receive plays a large role in how plants do that.

The fact that leaves are generally green and/or yellow shows that those colors are being reflected. The other components of white light (which is a mixture of many wavelengths) are mostly absorbed by plants – but some are taken in more efficiently than others at different growth stages. The wavelengths that we perceive as red in the spectrum range are used more during growth phases. Blue on the other hand is absorbed more to produce flowering or fruiting.

Since few hydroponic gardens are simply left out in the sun to take their chances, a lighting scheme is required to assist them in all those activities. Plants that sit near an open window or which are grown outdoors largely self-regulate the wavelengths they absorb, where the whole spectrum is abundant. On the other hand plants that live indoors can only take up what is available – this makes it important to ensure that they have all they need, both in terms of intensity and wavelength.

Indoor lights are typically less intense than natural light as they provide less overall energy and therefore plants may need to be supplemented with natural light. In some cases it may be necessary to use special lights to provide the total amount of light energy needed for warmth, photosynthesis and other useful tasks. However, the mixture will vary from one climate to another.

Indoor lights come in a variety of types, prices and wavelengths, some are better than others for plants. Incandescent lights for example provide a lot of heat – and this is the reason that they are relatively inefficient in electricity usage. However, incandescents at the red end of the spectrum produce strongly while they produce a lot less in the blue range.

In contrast to incandescent lights many fluorescents tend to produce greenish light. This is because they are filled with mercury and the interior coatings that produce light in the visible range may be better or worse at producing a white-approximating spectrum. However, in the long run these are much cheaper to use.

A relatively inexpensive setup can be achieved with a mixture of incandescent and fluorescent lights. A 30-watt incandescent with a 100-watt equivalent fluorescent provides a good balance of wavelengths – fluorescents use much less electricity so the wattages can’t be directly compared.

Metal halide and sodium lamps make for very good lights for hydroponic gardens even though they are more expensive. Metal halide lamps produce well in the blue range and sodium lamps provide more reddish light. The bulbs can’t be switched between fixtures so it is necessary to buy a housing fixture that is appropriate to each type.

Some newer LED lamps will produce a very broad spectrum and some can be adjusted to favor one wavelength range. However, they are expensive and many will not produce the same output as other types. In addition to this plants vary in the intensity of light they require; you should try to ensure that medium light plants receive at least 1,000 foot-candles while others will need 2,000 foot-candles (about 20 watts per square foot) or more. A good light meter will tell you how much is being given off, or you can sometimes find the rating listed on packaging or advertisements.

Plants that receive sunshine will need from 8-10 hours per day. If only artificial lighting is used, the number rises to between 12-14 hours per day. For some plants and lighting schemes 16-18 hours per day may be needed as the specific number depends heavily on the type of plant.

Plants For Your Greenhouse

Ok, you’ve put a lot of effort into planning and building (or installing) your greenhouse. You’ve got tabletops, benches, pots, shelves, cabinets, watering systems and a dozen tools to help. Now, you get to really enjoy what greenhouses are all about – plants!

The ‘green’ part of greenhouses is usually the most fun, since that’s why you get one in the first place. But here, too, you’ll want to do some planning and careful execution. That planning should start at the same time as that for the greenhouse itself. The structure and its contents should be well matched for optimal results.

Fortunately, you’ve got hundreds of choices.

Consider first where you live. Even in a greenhouse, the amount of sunlight per day throughout the year, humidity and temperature levels and other variables need to be accounted for.

Northern Idaho, for example, has long, dry summers. New Hampshire, even though it’s also in the northern latitudes and gets about the same amount of rain and sun, is much more humid. You can only control humidity to a certain level.

If you get plenty of sunlight in the summer and early fall, or can compensate with artificial lights, tomatoes love greenhouses. The high heat makes them grow great and, since they are easily injured by frost, they appreciate the protection in the Fall.

Some citrus fruits, like oranges and lemons, are nearly impossible to grow outdoors in certain locations. It’s simply too cold much of the year. But you can compensate in the greenhouse and actually grow your own.

Strawberries are another favorite for greenhouse gardeners. Commercial strawberries are expensive and many people have concerns about pesticides. You can grow your own and control costs and quell health concerns.

Radishes, onions, carrots, lettuce and spinach like cooler temperatures. They can really do well in a controlled environment like a greenhouse.

Then, of course, there are the traditional ‘hothouse’ flowers – orchids first and foremost. Orchids in the wild grow up higher because they benefit from the breezes. You can simulate that in the greenhouse with a simple fan and ventilation system.

Orchids can also be very expensive and growing your own can be a great way to save money and still have beautiful flowers. For the truly ambitious, there are dozens of competitions across the country for orchid growers. Be careful of getting bitten by the ‘orchid growers bug’, though. It can turn into an all-consuming hobby!

But lots of other flowers make great choices for greenhouses, too. Practically anything you would grow in an outdoor garden will do fine in a greenhouse, provided you have proper sunlight and shade control. Keep in mind, too, that some plants don’t do as well in pots unless they are large enough that the roots have plenty of room to spread.

Most bonsai are outdoor plants, though some benefit from the protection of a greenhouse in high winds and cold winters. Take care that the species you select is suitable for a high temperature, high sunlight and humid environment.

Sooner or later, though, it’s time to stop planning and start gardening. Enjoy!

Hydroponics Growing Media

Plants grown in a hydroponic setting require support and water just like any other plant. As a result of its name; many people who are new to hydroponics might be forgiven for thinking that plants are always grown in water. This is certainly done, but there are many other choices og media. Hydroponics is really just soil-less plant growing, with some other substance which provides the support and nutrients fed in ways other than through earth.

Using Rockwool

One of the most popular choices is a material called rockwool. This is a type of basalt that is specially processed to provide a strong, porous base. It is mostly inert, so it won’t decay or leach compounds into the water very much. Since it is porous, it provides good drainage. Rockwool is also lightweight and inexpensive.

Rockwool cubes are often used but small slabs are also available. There are pre-drilled holes in that allow for placing and growing seeds – any cubes containing plants that don’t survive can be easily removed. The cube can be cleaned and replaced with another seed to try again, or simply left out to provide additional space for the survivors. This way, the hydroponics tray can be regulated easily so that there are a limited number of plants competing for air, light, space and nutrients.

Despite its lightweight and porous nature, rockwool provides a very sturdy medium for growing plants. It gives good support to developing roots. At the same time it helps regulate the water temperature as it is a good heat conductor. Adding rockwool will alter the pH of the environment slightly at first, but this is easily controlled using a pH kit.

Though rockwool has many advantages for a hydroponic gardener, most people will want to experiment with different media at some time and there are a number of options available.

Using Sand

Ordinary beach sand is one common medium and it drains well compared to ordinary clay-infused soil. In a hydroponic setting however, it doesn’t do as well as most other possible media on the other hand it is extremely easy to use and certain plants take to living in sand very well. Certain orchid species in the wild, for example, grow naturally in wet sand.

Using Gravel

Ordinary aquarium gravel is used in some settings as it provides a strong, clean supporting medium that can also be attractive. But it can crumble and this means it will have to be cleaned and filtered well before use. Because it’s very heavy, a good pump will be required to keep air and water flowing through the system properly – otherwise, plant roots may dry out.

Using Perlite

Perlite is a more popular alternative than gravel. It is a type of volcanic rock that is heated to form small, lightweight pebbles resembling glass beads. Perlite is popular because of its ability to retain air. Since hydroponically grown plants will quickly deplete any dissolved oxygen, perlite will help the pump keep the water oxygenated.

Using Vermiculite

Vermiculite is similar to perlite as it is also made into small pebbles to provide a flexible supporting medium for hydroponic plants. It draws in water from passive systems by capillary action, and this in turn helps to automate the watering and nutrient feeding tasks. Since it holds even more water than perlite it may exclude air so it needs to be used in moderation. For this reason many people will use a mixture of perlite and vermiculite. If you are new to hydroponics then experimenting with different options can provide a lot of fun.

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