Exhibition

An exhibition was in Vigyan Ashram of Mr. Kalbag, founder of the Vigyan Ashram. Lot of students, farmers, professionals visited the exhibition.
In exhibition, I explained about the Hydroponics systems in the poly house.  There are 3 types of hydroponic systems in the poly house and they are as follows:

1. Deep Water Culture
2. Nutrient Film Technique
3. Flood and Drain

1. Deep water culture hydroponics:

Deep water culture (DWC) is a hydroponic method of plant production by means of suspending the plant roots in a solution of nutrient-rich, oxygenated water. Typically, DWC is used to grow short-term, non-fruiting crops such as leafy greens and herbs.The plant grows in a net pot filled in a cocopit, the roots develop immersed in a water based mineral solution constantly oxygenated by an air pump.

Benefits of DWC:

1. Suitable for big plants
2. Growth is fast

Drawback of DWC:

1. Doesn’t work for longer growing period.
2. Keeping oxygen level is critical.

2. Flood and drain hydroponics:

Flood & drain system obeys a very basic and simple technique. It floods the root system of the plants with proper solution of mixed nutrients. Instead of continuous manner, this works periodically. Thus it is very easy, efficient and manageable. Its  just simply fill the pots with water and drain the same. Plants grow very well in flood and drain. We can connect many plants/pots in series. A timer turns on the pump, and nutrient rich water is pumped through piping from the reservoir tank to the main pots of the system. 

In flood and drain hydroponics, plants receive sudden nutrients. This system does not require special aeration system like other hydroponic system.

3. Nutrient film technique:

In the NFT system, there are 2 main components: the grow tray (or channel) and the reservoir that contains water and nutrients. In the grow tray, there are net pots that contain the growing media to hold the plants and reserve nutrients from the nutrient solution. The NFT system uses a pump to deliver water to the grow tray and a drained pipe to recycle the unused water nutrient solution. The excess nutrient solution will flow out of this pipe and move into another channel or tube, where it is recirculated through the system again.

Benefits of NFT System:

1. NFT saves the water.
2. Low cost and maintenance
3. It is best for lettuce
4. Constant flow reduces fungal risk.

Drawbacks of NFT System:

1. Not suitable for larger roots plants.
2. Plants roots can clog the channel
3. it is an active system