Hydroponics in floriculture
The essence of hydroponics is to use nutrient solutions instead of soil for growing plants. To fix the plant, that is, as a support for the roots, neutral substrates are used - sand, gravel, vermiculite, perlite, expanded clay, sphagnum moss, etc.
In industrial greenhouses, flowers for hydroponics are equipped with concrete racks with sides in 25-30centimeters. The bottom and walls of the rack are covered with asphalt varnish No. 5. A drainage tube with holes of 4-5 millimeters is laid on the bottom of the rack, through which the nutrient solution is fed to the roots of the plants. The substrate is washed with 5% sulfuric acid and water. For disinfection of the substrate, 1% formalin is used.
On the shelves filled with a substrate, plants are planted. When feeding the solution, make sure that it does not protrude above the surface of the substrate. Usually for this purpose, a siphon is installed inside the rack.30 minutes after filling, the solution is drained from the rack by gravity. In spring and summer, the solution is given in five to seven hours, in winter - two to three times a week.
A simpler, but less convenient way is to apply the solution from above - by regular watering, three to five times a week. When watering it is best to use as a substrate peat moss, chopped moss or sand, which are laid on pebbles or expanded clay.
Callas, roses, carnations, gillyflowers, ferozia, asparagus, nephroleps and many other plants are well suited for hydroponic culture in greenhouses.
As the nutrient solutions in production, the following are most often used in production in grams per 100 liters of water:
Solution 1
Potassium nitrate - 500. Superphosphate - 350. Ammonium nitrate - 200. Magnesium sulphate - 300. Chloric iron - 6. Boric acid -0.72.Sulfuric acid manganese - 0.45.Zinc sulphate is 0.06.Sulfuric acid is 0.02.
Solution 2( solution of E. Yu. Abele)
Ammonium nitrate is 240. Potassium nitrate is 560. Superphosphate is 500. Magnesium sulphate is 320. Iron vitriol is 6.0.Sulfuric acid manganese - 0,6.Boric acid - 0,8.Sernocid copper is OD.Molybdate of ammonium is 0.1.Cobalt nitrate is 0.1.Zinc sulphate is 0.1.
In addition to these solutions can be used solutions Knop, Pryanishnikov, Gelrigel and several others.
For hydroponics culture plants grown from seeds, cuttings are used;less often replant old plants. In any case, before transplanting, the roots are washed from the ground and planted so that the root neck is two to three centimeters below the surface of the substrate.
In the first days after planting, the plants are watered with clean water. Then apply the solution, but reduced in five to ten times the concentration. Gradually, the concentration is increased and after 10-12 days it is watered with a 100% solution. In winter, solutions of 40-60 percent concentration are used.
Care for plants is to regulate the nutritional regime, spraying, pruning, prischipke, removing the dried parts.
At home, boxes or pots can be used for hydroponics.
A wooden plastic or iron box measuring 75x30x15 centimeters is covered from the inside with varicom, asphalt or polyethylene film, filled with pebbles, gravel or other substrate. To drain the water in the bottom of the box make a hole with a drain groove. The miscible solution can be used for a second time. After planting, the plants are abundantly watered first with clean water, and then with a weak solution and, finally, with a solution of normal concentration. The nutrient solution is prepared from basic fertilizers( nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) and trace elements.
For a pot and box culture, you can use any of the industrial solutions. Solutions of macro- and microelements are prepared separately, dissolving the substances in the order that they are given in the tables.
You can prepare solutions for future use, for convenience more concentrated, with subsequent dilution.
Potassium hydroponic culture is most convenient at home for greening premises. The best substratum for this purpose is expanded clay with a particle size of 0.1-0.3 centimeters. A pot with a planted plant is placed in a deep saucer. First, the plant is watered from above with nutrient solution, and then fill the saucer so that it covers part of the pot. Through the hole below the solution will enter the substrate to the roots of the plants. In pots with saucers very well grow many ornamental and deciduous and flowering plants, as well as succulents, including cacti.
For cacti by the agronomist AA Novoselov recommends the following nutritional mixture, in grams per 0.5 liters of water( reserve solution):
Calcium nitrate - 35 Ammonium nitrate - 10 Potassium phosphate - 10 Potassium sulfate - 10 Magnesium sulfate - b Ironlemon-ammonia - 4 Boric acid - 0,2 Manganese sulphate - 0,3.
To prepare a working solution, 10 cc.centimeters of the reserve solution are diluted in one liter of water and used for irrigation.
A variety of hydroponic pot culture is the cultivation of plants in double pots: the inner one, smaller in size, is inserted into the second one - the outer one, filled with nutrient solution per gram. On the walls and bottom of the inner pot, holes for the roots are made. The bottom of the inner pot is 5-10 centimeters from the bottom of the outer pot.
Before planting the plant, the inner pot is filled with a substrate. Once the roots of the plant have come out through the holes, the solution level in the outer pot is reduced so that between the bottom of the inner pot and the surface of the solution there is an air layer of 4-8 centimeters.
The main care for the plant is the regular addition of the solution. The solution is usually renewed after a month and a half.