You only need styrofoam boxes and cups, vegetable seeds, coco coir or saw dust, water and

a liquid complete fertilizer and voila!you can have your own vegetable garden in your own houses. This is the idea behind !"#an acronym for imple !utrient "ddition #rogram, the latest hydroponics system developed at the $niversity of the #hilippines at %os &anos '$#%&( )nstitute of #lant &reeding ')#&(. !"# also connotes the literal meaning of the wordeasy *ob, breeze, smooth+sailing, cinch, quic,.

)n -..., scientists #rimitivo /ose antos and 0ure,a Teresa 1campo, both university researchers, started to develop a low+cost hydroponics system. 2That was our ob*ective,3 4r. antos explained. 2)f we use the imported hydroponics system, farmers really cannot afford it. " small greenhouse can cost around #5 million. o we tried to explore other possibilities and leading to the development of !"# hydroponics.3

$sing coco+coir or saw dust acting as the growing medium that will hold the root system of the plant, 4r. antos said the !"# hydroponics technology is very successful growing leafy vegetables li,e lettuce, pechay, mustard and even upland ,ang,ong. 2Those are the crops that ) advice beginners to plant because they6re very easy to grow. &ut for those who have experience in soil less gardening, you can also plant tomato, watermelon, cucumber and eggplant.3

The main difference between !"# hydroponics and other forms of hydroponics systems, according to 4r. antos, is their nutrient solution, which they developed in their laboratory. 2This is what we call the complete fertilizer supplementation. !ormally, the fertilizers that you can find in the mar,et are *ust the basic nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium '!#7(, which we consider a misnomer. The nutrient solution that we have developed contains all the essential nutrients that the plants needed. This solution is now available in liquid form.3

"ccording to 4r. antos, the !"# hydroponics nutrient solution is very cheap. 2&ased on our economic studies, a farmer can easily get around more than 89: of their ;eturn+ 1n+)n+vestment ';1)( if they use this technology. )n fact, a farm in an /ose, &atangas has adapted this and also came up with that figure.3

4r. antos declared that in adapting !"# hydroponics, one has the option to spray insecticides or fungicides in the plant. 2You can actually combine organic and inorganic cultural methods. You can use botanical insecticide or you can merely pic, up and ,ill the insects yourself. )t6s really your choice. The only thing ) advice is that if you grow your

vegetables near the window, ma,e sure there6s morning sunlight there,3 said 4r. antos

"ssembling !"# <ydroponics ystem "ssembling !"# <ydroponics ystem

=aterials needed>

eedling plugs 'used cups( !"# nutrient solution ?rowing boxes 'used tyrofoam boxes( '1ptional( &enches or stand+where the growing boxes will be placed under a shelter. ;ain shelter 'or roof awning facing east for the earliest and longest sunlight possible( #lastic drum or orocan drum @ where the !"# nutrient solution will be mixed 'for commercial production only( #rocedure>

"rrange the growing boxes on the bench under the shelter. Ta,e off the coverAlid. Bill each growing box with around -9 liters of tap water. "dd of !"# " and !"# & solutions to each box of water then stir well. #ut bac, the cover of the box. #lace the seedling plugs on the holes of the cover. ee to it that all cups are 2inserted3 uniformly or level from one another. ee to it that the bottom of the box is touching the nutrient solution. )f not, add more water until the desired level is reached. 0xamine the boxes for lea,s and ma,e some troubleshooting. Cisit the set up every morning as early as you can to catch any insect larva that may eat the plants 'the larva is visible in the early morning. "fter that, they tend to hide already and harder to find(

0xpect the nutrient solution level to go down when the plants are much bigger than were they were still small seedlings. ;eplenish the solution when more than one inch from the cup bottom has been depleted. !0C0; allow the level of the solution to reach the bottom of the cupD ;eplenish until about -AE inch below the cup6s bottom.

#lease find below a basic recipe for preparation of <ydropnics !utrient olutions for various stages of plant growth 'Cegetative, Blowering F Bruiting(. This is a general purpose recipe. To =a,e

-99 %iters of !utrient olution

alt

Geight in ?rams

Cegetative !utrient '..8 > 8.H > --.I(

Geight in ?rams

Blowering !utrient '8.8 > J > -J.5(

Geight in ?rams

Bruiting !utrient 'J.E > 8.. > -I.K(

oln "A& Lalcium !itrate @ La'!oI(E -8J.HI #otassium !itrate @ 7!1I 88.E. -9J.5H H5.9H -E.-H IK.HH K5.9E -9 ml -99 ml E--.K5 H5.9H 55..H IK.HH KI.5. & " " " & IK.HH KI.5.

ulphate of #otash @ 7E 15 -E.-H =onopatassium #hosphate @ 7<E#15 & =agnesium ulphate @ =g 15 M H<E1 & Trace =ix -9 ml -9 ml -99 ml

Lhelated )ron -99 ml

Trace =ix for - % Loncentrated

olution Geight in ?rams Ninc ulphate 'Nn 15( E.E9 -8.5

=anganese ulphate '=n 15( Lopper ulphate 'Lu 15( &oric "cid '<I&1I( EJ.K9 9.J

odium =olybdate '!aE=o15(

9.E8

)ron Loncentrate olution for

-%

Geight in ?rams Lhelated )ron 'Be04T"( -..5J

<ow to #repare the solution. )ron Lhelate olution @ Ta,e - %itre bottle and add the Lhelated )ron to 899 ml of water and dissolve it. 1nce dissolved top up the bottle to - % capacity Trace =ix olution @ Ta,e - %itre bottle and fill it with 899 ml of water. "dd each of the trace element salts individually and dissolve one by one. 0nsure that you add the next salt only after the previous salt it completely dissolved. "fter all trace elements are dissolved top up the bottle with water to - % capacity

Ta,e two 8% cans and label them as olution " and olution &.

olution " -( Ta,e a 8 % can and label it as olution " E( Bill about 5 liters of water in the can I( "dd Lalcium !itrate and dissolve it completely 5( "dd #otassium !itrate dissolve it completely 8( "dd -99 ml of the )ron Lhelate solution K( Top up the can with water to ma,e it 8 % in capacity

olution & -( Ta,e a 8 % can and label it as olution & E( Bill about 5 liters of water in the can I( "dd each of the salts and dissolve in the can one by one. 0nsure that the next salt is added only after the previous salt is completely dissolved. 5( "dd -9 ml of the trace mix 8( Top up the can with water to it 8 % in capacity

!ow you have two 8 % cans of olution " and olution &. This is good for ma,ing -99 % of the !utrient olution. )n case you need to ma,e -9 % of the solution fill the reservoir tan, with 8 % of water and then add 899 ml of olution " and mix it thoroughly. !ext add 899 ml of olution & and mix it thorughly. !ow fill up the reservoir to the -9 % capacity.

" note about Gater Ouality and p<. Gater Ouality @ )t is very important that the quality of water is good. oftened bore water is a big no no for <ydroponics due to the addition of !aLl during the ion exchange process. )deally you should be using ;1 water or ;ain water. )n case you have to use municipal water let it sit for a day to get rid of the chlorine but ) doubt how good the water our municipalities supply. )n a later post ) will give more information on creating your own recipes based on ##= and ta,ing water quality into consideration. p< @ )t is important to maintain the correct p<. You would need a p< meter to chec, for p<. o far ) never had a need to decrease the p< 'acidify( of the solution when using ;1 water. You can use Loo,ing oda for increasing the p< while vinegar or citric acid or diluted ulphuric acid 'battery acid( for decreasing the p<.

4isclaimerALredits> The !7# part of the receipe has been adopted mainly from 7eith ;obertoPs wonderful boo, @ P<ow to <ydroponicsP. The Trace elements part is gathered A culled from the many good people at the hyrdo forum on ?ardenGeb and the sample recipe by 4aniel BernandezPs <ydroponic &uddy Lalculator. )f this is in violation of any copyrights please feel free to report this post to the admin to have this post deleted.