Learn the roots. Grow with understanding.
Hydroponics field guides
Explore every growing method, mix nutrients with clear units, and build a system you can understand, maintain and improve.
Growing methods ↗
DWC, NFT, ebb and flow, drip, passive systems and aeroponics—from equipment to harvest.
From reservoir to roots.
Follow a nutrient film system from its first inlet to its last root. Learn what each part does, what to inspect, and how the pieces work together.
12 min + model exploration →Growing methodsDeep water culture: build an aerated root bath
A complete single-vessel DWC workflow, from water level and air delivery to nutrient management and harvest.
6 min + guided practice →Growing methodsEbb and flow: flood, drain, observe
Build a flood table, size its working water inventory and tune irrigation from the medium’s actual wetting and drying.
6 min + guided practice →Growing methodsDrip and Dutch buckets: deliver to every plant
Design a serviceable bucket system for larger crops, then measure irrigation uniformity and drainage.
Interactive tool · 6 min + guided practice →Growing methodsKratky: manage the water and the air gap
Grow a short-cycle crop without circulation, with enough starting solution and a fixed support that preserves the developing air zone.
6 min + guided practice →Growing methodsWick systems: test capillary delivery
Build and evaluate a passive wick planter before asking it to support a mature crop.
6 min + guided practice →Growing methodsAeroponics: build for spray access and failure
Inspect a low-pressure spray chamber, verify root coverage and plan for the short buffer when delivery stops.
6 min + guided practice →Comparisons ↗
Side-by-side decisions between methods, crops and equipment, with the trade-offs and their sources made explicit.
Kratky vs DWC for lettuce: pick by power, season and scale
Both methods hang lettuce roots in stored nutrient solution; they differ in where oxygen comes from, how much water each plant needs on day one and what fails first.
7 min + guided practice →ComparisonsNFT or DWC for leafy greens: flowing film or still bath
Compare a sloped channel carrying a thin film with an aerated tank of standing solution: outage behaviour, root temperature and oxygen, footprint, harvest and cleaning.
8 min + guided practice →ComparisonsDutch buckets vs ebb and flow for tomatoes
Decide whether drip-fed buckets or a flood-and-drain table should carry your tomatoes, judged on root volume, irrigation control, shared water and access.
8 min + guided practice →ComparisonsHydroponics or aquaponics: which system to build first
A first-system decision between a mineral-fed reservoir and a coupled fish-and-plant loop, made on startup time, inputs, pH, animal duties and failure speed.
7 min + guided practice →ComparisonsAeroponics vs NFT and DWC: what a timed spray changes
A low-pressure spray leaves roots in air between wettings; compare oxygen access, what a stopped pump leaves at the root, clogging, cleaning and crop fit with a nutrient film and an aerated bath.
8 min + guided practice →ComparisonsReady-made kits vs DIY hydroponics: sites, light, pods and repairs
A boxed countertop garden and a drilled bucket meet the same needs; they differ in who chooses the light, the consumables, the meter and the spares.
8 min + guided practice →Buying guides ↗
How to specify pumps, meters, lights, media and containers from published criteria, before comparing suppliers.
Choosing an air pump for DWC and aquaponics: DO, depth, backup
An air pump is bought against a dissolved-oxygen reading at your diffuser depth, not against the litres per minute printed on its box.
8 min + guided practice →Buying guidesChoosing a submersible pump for NFT and ebb and flow: specify before you shop
Specify a submersible pump from delivered flow at your head, the duty your method demands and the drain-back your table needs.
Interactive tool · 7 min + guided practice →Buying guidesChoosing EC and pH meters: range, resolution, calibration, probes
An EC or pH meter is bought against the solution band you must hold and the calibration routine you will keep, not against the digits on its display.
Interactive tool · 8 min + guided practice →Buying guidesChoosing grow lights for leafy greens: buy the DLI, not the watts
A grow light is bought against the daily light integral your greens need at canopy height; photon flux and efficacy get you there, watts do not.
Interactive tool · 8 min + guided practice →Buying guidesBuying growing media: grade, pre-treatment and salt checks
A growing medium is ordered by grade, expanded volume and intake checks for dust, pH and salt, not by its material name.
8 min + guided practice →Buying guidesChoosing net pots, collars and plant spacing for NFT and rafts
A net pot is bought against the hole it sits in, the plug it holds and the head it carries, so spacing comes first.
8 min + guided practice →Buying guidesChoosing inline fans and controllers for an indoor grow space
Buy a fan for the air it delivers through your duct and filter, not the free-air figure on the box; a controller only switches what the fan can already do.
8 min + guided practice →Nutrients & mixing ↗
Elemental ppm, EC, fertilizer recipes, stock solutions and reservoir management.
Nutrient mixing: from grams to elemental ppm
Scale two documented fertilizer examples, read the bag analysis and calculate what actually enters the final solution.
Interactive tool · 6 min + guided practice →Nutrients & mixingEC, pH and the meter “ppm” scales
Calibrate your instruments, record unambiguous units and interpret concentration without pretending EC is a nutrient analysis.
Interactive tool · 6 min + guided practice →Nutrients & mixingStock solutions and injectors
Calculate a dilution factor, keep incompatible salts apart and verify what the injector delivers.
6 min + guided practice →Nutrients & mixingReservoir management and solution replacement
Use a water-and-nutrient ledger to distinguish top-ups, rebalancing and a complete batch change.
Interactive tool · 6 min + guided practice →Nutrients & mixingWhy pH drifts up in hydroponics: measure the cause before adding acid
Separate source-water alkalinity, nutrient uptake, mixing changes and meter error with a repeatable measurement log.
6 min + guided practice →Nutrients & mixingNutrient deficiency symptoms in hydroponics: narrow the possibilities, then test
Leaf position and symptom patterns guide an investigation. Meter readings, the mixing record and laboratory results determine the correction.
6 min + guided practice →Nutrients & mixingMasterblend 4-18-38: the three-part recipe and its elemental ppm
Three bags against one published row: what each part adds, why calcium nitrate goes in last and alone.
Interactive tool · 7 min + guided practice →Nutrients & mixingJack’s 321 explained: grams per gallon, mixing order and elemental ppm
Jack’s 321 is one published mixing example for a two-part fertilizer plus Epsom salt; this guide turns its three gram figures into elemental ppm and shows where the readout stops.
Interactive tool · 7 min + guided practice →Nutrients & mixingReading fertilizer labels: N-P-K, the analysis panel and nitrogen form
A soluble fertilizer label states nitrogen, phosphate and potash by mass, then an analysis panel and a derived-from list; read all three before a gram goes into a recirculating tank.
Interactive tool · 7 min + guided practice →Nutrients & mixingAdjusting pH in hydroponics: acids, bases and alkalinity
The pH reading tells you which way to push a solution; the water’s alkalinity tells you how hard, and most adjusters leave a nutrient behind.
6 min + guided practice →Media & propagation ↗
Match root support, moisture and drainage to the method; start and transplant healthy plants.
Choose media by water, air and service
Compare coir, mineral wool, expanded clay, perlite and propagation plugs in the system that will irrigate them.
6 min + guided practice →Media & propagationFrom seed to a working root system
Start consistent seedlings, establish root contact and transplant without importing avoidable problems.
6 min + guided practice →Crops & environment ↗
Leafy greens, herbs, fruiting crops, light, temperature and humidity.
Leafy greens and herbs: plan a repeatable crop
Choose a first crop, manage spacing and harvest timing, and avoid forcing every herb into lettuce conditions.
6 min + guided practice →Crops & environmentFruiting crops: support and stage-specific nutrition
Use a documented tomato ppm table to understand growth-stage changes, with irrigation, support and pollination in the plan.
6 min + guided practice →Crops & environmentLight, temperature and humidity
Measure the growing environment at the canopy and root zone, then adjust one limiting condition at a time.
Interactive tool · 6 min + guided practice →Crops & environmentLettuce tipburn and bolting: check the canopy as well as the tank
Separate damaged leaf margins from reproductive growth, then investigate calcium delivery, climate, light and cultivar choice.
6 min + guided practice →Crops & environmentHydroponic lettuce from seed to harvest: EC, pH, timing and spacing
A lettuce-only crop plan: published germination, transplant, solution, temperature, light and harvest figures, and the calendar that ties them together.
7 min + guided practice →Crops & environmentBasil in deep water culture: warmth, EC, pinching and downy mildew
Basil thrives in an aerated root bath if you treat it as the warm-season crop it is, feed it at its own published range and cut it so it branches instead of flowering.
8 min + guided practice →Crops & environmentHydroponic tomatoes by growth stage: seed to crop termination
A whole-crop timeline for indeterminate tomatoes in Dutch buckets: transplant size, training, pollination, cluster pruning, irrigation and topping.
6 min + guided practice →Crops & environmentStrawberries in Dutch buckets and NFT: plant, feed low, pollinate
A long, salt-sensitive crop that wants a buffered root zone, a low-EC solution, pollination every day or two and cool nights; the container sets your margin for error.
7 min + guided practice →Crops & environmentPeppers and cucumbers in hydroponics: spacing, support and fruit set
Cucumber and bell pepper share a drip-fed bucket row on different clocks: a fast vine on one stem run warm, and a slower crop pruned to two stems and run cooler.
7 min + guided practice →Source water ↗
Water analysis, alkalinity and treatment before the first nutrient batch.
Equipment & layout ↗
Pumps, measured flow, water inventory, drainage and structural access.
Pumps, head and delivered flow
Choose a pump from its operating curve and verify every branch under real installation conditions.
Interactive tool · 6 min + guided practice →Equipment & layoutVolume, drainage and physical layout
Account for every litre in circulation and every path it can take when the pump stops.
Interactive tool · 6 min + guided practice →Build, operate & troubleshoot ↗
Commissioning, observation, cleaning, fault finding and a complete operating budget.
Commissioning and daily care
Turn assembled equipment into a repeatable operating system, with a first-crop checklist and a useful log.
6 min + guided practice →Build, operate & troubleshootTroubleshooting and sanitation
Trace symptoms to measurable causes, contain a problem and clean the system without creating another one.
6 min + guided practice →Build, operate & troubleshootOperating costs and sensible scaling
Build a complete cost ledger, measure energy and labor, and expand from usable production evidence.
Interactive tool · 6 min + guided practice →Build, operate & troubleshootBrown roots in hydroponics: staining, stress or root disease?
Root color alone cannot diagnose rot. Combine symptoms, delivery checks and a plant diagnostic sample when disease is suspected.
6 min + guided practice →Build, operate & troubleshootAlgae in hydroponic reservoirs and channels: find the light, protect the flow
Inspect exposed nutrient solution, restore access and flow, and plan cleaning between crops without guessing a chemical dose.
6 min + guided practice →Build, operate & troubleshootHydroponics system planner: parts, quotes and running costs
Turn a growing method into a purchasing worksheet. Record quantities, check compatibility, separate unknown prices and calculate the electricity for each operating schedule.
Interactive tool · 6 min + guided practice →Build, operate & troubleshootHow much electricity does a hydroponic system use? A worked month in kWh
A hydroponic unit’s electricity is a short list of devices multiplied by measured watts and real hours; two illustrative months show the arithmetic.
Interactive tool · 8 min + guided practice →Original teaching models and worked examples, with extension and manufacturer sources where applicable. Independent specialist review is pending. Numerical tools verify accounting equations; they do not certify a crop recipe or fish system.