The dripper hydroponic system has proven to be a very successful method of growing hydroponic vegetables for the home gardener. The crops have proven to be very prolific which is great for eating, but also because of this the space needed is much less than a traditional garden.
It is not too expensive to set up and of course the beauty of it is that once the system is purchased the only replacements are the plant medium, the nutrients and of course your plants.
Essentially what happens is that the plants are sitting in their pots, with the pots sitting in a tray and with a drip line running across the top of the pots. The pots will have a medium of some sort to hold the plants upright and these are usually, perlite, gravel, coconut husk or other mediums that are available. This media also keeps the plant roots moist. They don't actually feed the roots as such as this comes from the nutrient infused water, but they do stop the roots from drying out.
The tray will be up on a stand and from the tray a return drain will take the liquid back into a reservoir which is placed below the tray.
The system can be operated for as many pots as you like as long as the submersible pump is big enough to cope with sending the water out.
It is suggested that you have 13mm lines running out from the pump and take from that, 6mm lines to each pot. On the end of each 6mm line you have a dripper nozzle which will give a gentle spray of water to the top of the pot.
With the dripper system it is better to keep the water flow on at all times when the lights are on. It is possible to buy drippers that are adjustable and this is important so that the flow can be made to suit the particular plants and achieve optimal production.
This system is one of the most widely used systems in the hydroponic garden sector worldwide. In fact, there are large commercial gardens that use this system because of its simplicity.
You are able to set up quite a sizable number of pots off this system and you can see how by extending the system it could even be run as a vertical system for growing hydroponically.
The Basic Dripper System
50 Litre Reservoir
Submersible Pump for nutrient infused water
Irrigation and fittings to the setup (incl 13mm flexible hose, 6mm flexible hose)
Pots with holes (any number)
Other requirements would be a stand and tray
If you have only a small space in which to grow fresh vegetables such as lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, spinach, etc., then this could be just the answer for your growing problems.
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