The Best Hydroponic Tower for Indoor Gardening

Now growing plants do not require one to have an outdoor space.

Indoor garden kits have made it easier for people to grow herbs and other small plants without any hassle.

Isn’t it amazing that one can grow plants they want without being concerned about bugs or other insects surfacing due to damp soils?

The Best Indoor Hydroponic Garden System or kits have made it possible.

Hydroponics is about growing plants in nutrient solution by submerging plants’ roots in it.

Hydroponic kits are fantastic, unlike the traditional way of growing plants, especially the herbs or lettuces that we need almost all year.

Set up the indoor garden before introducing plants.Construction requires space and planning.An indoor garden under construction offers a terrible environment for plants.Once the garden is set up and operational,it will be ready for plants.Step One:Choose an out-of-the-way space with little or no traffic.A corner of the basement or a spare bedroom is perfect.A 1000-watt HID,properly set up,will efficiently illuminate up to a 6×6-foot(1.8×1.8) room.The ceiling should be at least five feet(1.5m) high.Keep in mind that plants in containers are set up at least one foot(30cm) off the ground,and the lamp needs about a foot (30cm) of space to hang from the ceiling.This leaves only three feet (90cm) of space for plants to grow.If forced to grow in an attic or basement with a low four-foot (120cm) ceiling,much can be done to compensate for the loss of height,including taking cuttings,bending,pruning,and using smaller wattage lamps.Step Two:Enclose the room,if not already enclosed.Remove everything that does not pertain to the garden.Furniture,drapes,and curtains may harbor fungi.An enclosed room allows easy,precise control of everything and everyone that enters or exits,as well as what goes on inside.For most gardeners,,enclosing the indoor garden is simply a matter of tacking up some plywood or fabricating plastic walls in the basement or attic and painting the room flat white.Step Three:Cover walls,ceiling,floor--everything--with a highly reflective material like flat white paint or Mylar.The more reflection,the more light energy available to plants.Good reflective light will allow effective coverage of an HID lamp to increase from 10 to 20 percent,just by putting a few dollars worth of paint on the walls.Reflective white Visqueen plastic is inexpensive and protects walls and floors.Step Four:Constant air circulation and a supply of fresh air are essential but often inadequate.There should be at least one fresh-air vent in every indoor garden.Vents can be an open door,window,or duct vented to the outside.An exhausts fan vented outdoors or pulling new air through an open door usually creates an adequate flow of air.An oscillating fan works well to circulate air.When installing such a fan,make sure it is not set in a fixed position and blowing too hard on tender plants.It could cause windburn and dry out plants,especially seedlings and cuttings.If the room contains a heat vent,,it maybe opened to supply extra heat or air circulation.Step Five:The larger your garden becomes,the more water it will need.A 10×10-foot (3×3m) garden could use more than 50 gallon (3.8L) of water weighs eight pounds (3.6 kg);50×8=400 pounds (180 kg) of water a week!It is much easier to run in a hose with an on/off valve or install a hose bib in the room than to schlep water.A three-foot (90 cm) watering wand attached to the hose on/off value makes watering easier and saves branches from being broken when watering in dense foliage.Hook up the hose to a hot and cold water source so the temperature is easy to regulate.Step Six:Ideally,the floor should be concrete or a smooth surface that can be swept and washed down.A floor drain is very handy.In indoor gardens with carpet or wood floors,a large,white painter’s drop cloth or thick,white Visqueen plastic will protect floors from moisture.Trays placed beneath each container add protection and convenience.Step Seven:Mount a hook strong enough to support 30 pounds ( 14 g) for each lamp.Attach an adjustable chain or cord and pulley between the ceiling hook and the lamp fixture.The adjustable connection makes it easy to keep the lamp at the proper distance from plants and up out of the way during maintenance.Step Eight:There are some tools an indoor gardener must have and a few extra tools that make indoor horticulture more precise and cost effective.The extra tools help make the garden so efficient that they pay for themselves in a few weeks.Procure all the tools before bringing plants into the room.If the tools are there when needed,chances are they will be put to use.A hygrometer is a good example.If plants show signs of slow,sickly growth due to high humidity,most gardeners will not identify the exact cause right away.They will wait and guess,wait and guess,and maybe figure it out before a fungus attacks and the plant dies.When a hygrometer is installed before plants are brought into the indoor garden,the horticulturist will know from the start when the humidity is too high and causing sickly growth.Step Nine:Setting Up the HID LampStep Ten:Move seedlings and rooted cuttings into the room.Huddle them closely together under the lamp.Make sure the HID is not so close to small plants that it burns their leaves.Position 400-watt lamps 18 inches (45 cm) above seedlings and cuttings.Place a 600-watt lamp 24 inches (60 cm) away and a 1000-watt lamp 30 inches (75 cm) away.Check the distance daily.Hang a precut string from the hood to measure distance.